>SNIP
>
>>>Congrats! You deserve it very very very much. And being UT POY may well be the legitimate reason for MS to assign you the MVP status too.
>>
>>
>>You're kidding right? The UT is a tiny blip on the radar at MS. Recognition is given for participation in the MSDN groups, community activity, publication, etc.
>
>So it has changed? It used to be that recognition was given for technical assistance provided on any VFP forum, not just MSDN groups. It falls under 'community activity.' There are other VFP MVPs who earned recognition by providing assistance on other non-MSFT forums.

MS does monitor the UT, but, IMO, little credence is given to performance here. It is considered along with major activities in other areas. The most important, as far as I understand it, is MSDN technical newsgroups. By community activity, they mean presenting at code camps, user group meetings, blogs, msdn participation, etc. There was a recent thread where a couple of MVP's posted their activity over a couple of months. It is substantial and requires a great deal of time and dedication.