>> I'm going to give you some specifics of many aspects of the SQL community work (and to a lesser extent, the .NET and SharePoint communities).

Count 'em up, but please be accurate: for clarity, the quote to which you respond starts 'You show me a community "leader" who cynically counts up his contributions in the manner you suggest...' so please lets not pretend that there's a blanket statement about contributors. Of course there are those who do it for the love of it- as was the case with all of the first MVPs who had no expectations of reward and were honored for the sake of it. But since the benefits and counting up got attached, others are aiming for the pat on the head and another year of vendor feed. You know it's true.

>>And I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you of your posts in fall of 2007 about the process of the Lifetime Achievement Awards!

Same deal: real communities choose their own leaders in the Free World. If that doesn't happen then there are lots of descriptive labels.