George

>>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.<<

OK. But as of very recently (try the latest Foxtalk) there are MVP's who are undoubtedly experts, but who do not seem to attend on-line forums at all. They have risen above it, it would seem, and are now life-MVP's.

>>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.<<

The nature of a self-selected elite is that it protects and promotes its members. If, as you say, people whose message count in UT is <5 during 2000 and similar in the MS groups are nevertheless selected by MS Support Professionals as the most suitable recipient of an award for technical assistance to others... QED.

Perhaps if Garrett posted the list of VFP MVP's here, we could do a straw poll of whether people know who they are.

Regards

JR