>George
>
>>>You have to be both active in the various on-line communities they monitor, and your responses must demonstrate a high degree of technical accuracy<<
>
>That is true for some MVP's, but there is also an "inner club" populated by MVP's who retain status year after year while rarely, if ever, descending to "on-line communities" such as UT to provide technical assistance. I don't begrudge such people, but their presence breaks the integrity of the MVP status and indicates that there is a self-selected elite that has different rules and is therefore "more equal" than others who are or might want to be MVP's.

It might be better for me to defer to Garrett here. Let me say that, AFAIK, this is no longer the case. If he thinks some more information is appropriate, I hope that he'll post here.

>Saying this does not belittle the handful of experts who regularly attend this forum and fully deserve their status.
>
>Instead of promoting/selecting each other, perhaps MVP's should be picked by ordinary people in these forums? An election, if you like? If that happened, perhaps we'd suddenly see a lot more "experts" showing up in "on-line communities" to help out those MVP's that show up willingly and earn their status.

They don't select each other, John, and perhaps this was the case years ago, but it certainly hasn't been since at least 1998. They are selected by MS Support Professional who do the evaluations.

>Are you a MVP, George? FWIW I'd vote for you if I had the chance.

Yes, I am, beginning in 1999. Thanks for the kind words.