> It's not that they were kicked off. The policy to provide free PUTM
> was not renewed by the company that runs this site.

Well, what's the difference? The UT basically gave us (the MVPs) the two-finger salut, stating that after after the MVP program helped to push the UT and helped make it what it is today, we are not longer needed and therefore have to pay for our membership. Not a really big deal, but strange if you really think about is. Especially considering that MVPs are still used for advertising on the start page of the Universal Thread.

To be honest, to me, the UT lost some of its appeal. Weird rules for posting messages, weird rules for advertising, and the like. The UT simply makes it very hard to be supported. To me, for instance, it is very important to advertise my products and services. The UT has banners, but all the rules, again, are weird. This forces us to find other places, causing more diversity and less efficiency. Not exactly good for anybody...

> We [sysops] did get a partially confidential e-mail explaining the
> decision which I will summarize in a new thread.

We (MVPs) received an eMail as well, listing a couple of surprising statements.

The fact that MVPs just lost their special deals is especially surprising considering the big threads caused when Microsoft canceled the MVP program several months ago. At that point, it seemed to be a disaster for everybody. I tried to help out and initiate contact with Microsoft to find a solution for the problem (obviously with very little advanteges to me). Now, that the MVP program was reinstated, a big change of mind seems to have taken place. MVPs don't seem to be important or appreciated anymore.

Oh well, strange world...

Markus