Hi Chen ----

I have mixed feelings about your idea. One one hand, there are probably people who could benefit and contribute more if PUTM was more accessible. On the other hand, Michel is running this site as a business and is not a non-profit organization. Perhaps if you could demonstrate the value of PUTM to your employers they would pay. OTOH, basic membership is free. There are a lot of sites of this nature that do not offer free membership.

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>Sorry for draging you into this thread. However, I am really glad that you obtained the MVP status you deserve (I did give my support in a thread nominating you months ago).
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>I really think that UT should have different rates for PUTM for people from different countries. I am a Chinese. I worked for the Chinese Academy of Sciences some ten years ago and I made about $30/month, and if I were still there I would have made at most $100/month now. Why cannot UT allow members from poorer countries to pay less in order to become PUTM, say 50$/yr or even 25$/yr for the poorest countries?
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>>Hi Evan,
>>There is no difference in access :) Blue is another kind of white, AFAIK PUTM paid by MS (or Michel's kindness for MVPs).
>>Mine going directly from yellow is solely my shame. I always wanted to be white too but it was practically impossible (those living or lived in east better understand this). You have more reasons to celebrate thanksgiving day than do I :) Before 2 years ago I didn't even have access to inet + nothing other than online help files (and of course English I learned). OTOH to my big chance when I got onto inet, UT was there and I found it at the beginning :)
>>Being blue is not only up to us I think. It was with a huge support of UT members and I'm gratefull to all of you.
>>Cetin