I don't go to PH anymore, too many cookie cutter prototypes, often with some annoying self-importance. I do think there are neat collections which are fun to browse, but it's not a platform for launching, or discovering the next thing in tech or anything quite like that. Mostly entertainment... I might have felt differently almost a year ago. Not sure what exactly changed.
And yeah, the elitism is a thing too, but now it's pretty much open to everyone... pretty trivial to get an invite.
Seriously. My first introduction to PH was when Tuft & Needle was linked to it a few years ago. For several months after that I was hooked daily to the site. I couldn't believe all these innovative companies existed that I could have never found on HN. But once they started to get popular the quality of the products just went down the drain. The number of apps that make it to not just the front page but often on of the top ranked that "help you meditate" or "help you break life habits" is unreal. Also the "elitism" is shown through the fact that most of the products are now products used by startups whereas in the beginning it used to be mostly products the general public can use. I rarely use PH anymore. I'll take a look at it here and then, but definitely not a main source of discovery anymore.
And yeah, the elitism is a thing too, but now it's pretty much open to everyone... pretty trivial to get an invite.