I knew this would eventually come up. I 100% agree with Barbara's comment on this. In fact when I first became a SysOp, I was already a PUTM. When this expired, I got an auto-reminder to renew, which I did and was glad to do so. However, this notice was unintentional and Michel rejected the renewal. This led to an enhancement [over a year ago] where, by default, SysOps are no longer notified because their services are partially compensated by a free PUTM. The rest we do voluntarily.

However, because I have received so much value from this site, I have paid for my PUTM. I further believe that, if there is going to be complimentary PUTM for members, it should be to SysOps or based on merit. Not all MVPs who are members contribute while other non-MVPs contribute substantially. I think that was the big burning rub with the now defunct free PUTM for MVPs.

>Mark,
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>One other facet to this... would you feel the same if the putm was taken away from the sysops? i.e. would you pay to carry out your sysop duties?
>
>FWIW, I don't think that only the MVPs and sysops deserve free putm. I think that anyone that has a high enough post rate of correct answers to other's questions ought to have a free flag. It benefits the UT far more than it costs.
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>>The SysOps have been privately discussing the current state of affairs regarding MVPs, PUTM, Blue Envelopes, etc., that have been overly [IMHO] consuming bandwidth here lately. Some things are confidential, but other points can be summarized, and hopefully, put this to rest.