>As far as staying on topic, perhaps you are right. The original topic had to do with the discontinuance of free PUTM for the Microsoft MVP. Could you tell me this, did the MVP's have to pay to use the FoxPro forum on Compuserve when it was "the" place to be to learn about FoxPro?

Gregg,

Yes, Microsoft did sponsor the CSi accounts for the MVPs until they left CSi. When MS left then Compuserve pciked it up themsleves under their own program.

Please keep in mind that I am a Technical Advisor here on the UT and therefore am not directly affected by the recent change in things.

I really believe that the issue at hand, from an MVPs perspective, is not whether or not to pay the fee. It is an issue of working for free versus paying to work. For the most part, MVPs answer considerably more questions than they ask (that is part of the qualification evaluation). Also MVPs tend to know other MVPs, so when an MVP has a question that is urgent it is usually handled through email or a phone call and not a public post here or anywhere else. MVPs have access to a private newsgroup at Microsoft where only MVPs can go.

So, then, the questions for an MVP who is not part of the staff here on the UT is this, "I give my time and experience freely to people in helpig them get going with VFP. I have a choice, I can do that in the UT and pay for the membership, I can do it on the UT and use only Basic membership, or I can do it somewhere else where there is no fee involved. I have a limited amount of time available to give away because my family expects to eat and have a home. I have to decide where and what I will do."

With that purely logical and non-emotional decision process at the crux of the issue for the MVP, I think it is a mistake to discontinue the PUTM for MVPs here on the thread. I think it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if the MVPs were provided a situation where that decision was not a difficult one that required any sacrifice on their part beyond the time committment they already give.

If I were in that situation, I would certainly be evaluating my presence here in the UT due to simple personal finances, "do I really want to pay to be able to answer peoples questions for them on the UT, or do I just stop going to the UT and spend more of my time on other services?" I made the exact same decision a few years ago regarding compuserve and I left there and came here.