No, this is not an MVP crying sour grapes due to not getting a free PUTM. Rather, this is a post to bring to light some realities....

Are you fed up with putting money in Michel Fournier's pocket????

First off, as a support site, should Michel be allowed to recoup his costs? Yes.

However, lets run some numbers...

Numbers as high as 20,000 members of the UT fly around. To be conservative, lets say that only 25% of these folks are active...

This leaves us with 5,000 members. This is not pie in the sky as there are over 2,000 folks on the FoxForum.

Now, when I log in, 50-65% of the folks on average that are logged in are PUTM's. To be conservative, lets use the 50% number.

Using some 3rd grade math skills, I come up with the following:

2,500 * $125CDN = $312,500 CDN...

OK, OK... I am now willing to give myself a 50% margin of error. However, that still translates into $156,200 CDN. In US dollars, that is $104K. Not bad.....

It costs nowhere near that amount of money to run this site. And, I am sure that Michel uses the pipe for other aspects of his business.

Of course, this is all speculation on my part. However, it seems like Michel likes to cry poor. He is free to come up here and dispute my thoery...

Remember, it is YOU that makes this place valuable. The fact that YOU are here is what's important. Anybody and everybody can provide content.

As for the MVP program. I could careless if he gives a free PUTM to MVP's or not. However, he should not expect to ride the MVP program coat-tails either...

Personally, If I ran this place, I would charge everybody $5.00 a month for access. There would be a substantial discount for folks that paid for 12 months in advance. Any and all profits would be dumped back into forum, and as always, the books would be open. MS MVP's of course, would get free access. Also, free access would be provided for folks with special circumstances.... Between that and the advertising, there is little question this place would be in much better shape... At the very least, you would not deal with the BS rules.

Think about this....

With all the money this place takes in, why can't messages be downloaded in XML format. Have expanding and collapsing threads as is the case in CIS.... The list goes on...

Look, I pay $40 US for DevX, and the services are about 100 fold better than what is here..... Even if I paid for the PUTM, that would still be the case...

I guess I am tired of the "sympathy for Michel Parade..."

If you are fed up with Michel making money off your back, you will agree...

As Foghorn Leghorn says: "Numbers don't lie...."