>>But there were some people who even would ask specifically what was required to get an MVP.

And vendor publications to this day that answer that question.

At one stage there was a community sparring event in which one belligerent accused another of a secret deal including a VFP MVP award in exchange for promoting NET to this community. You'll know how that sort of suggestion would be received in academic or professional circles. The muted IT response IMHO served as confirmation that vendors didn't force their way into a dominant position in IT. I concluded that IT had been such a blast that people didn't have time or interest in securing their professional and political flanks when there was so much cool stuff going on. Those were the days.