Hi, Tracy,
My own personal opinion (which might not be too far off from yours) is this:
In the last year, there are about a half-dozen people who contributed to at least 90% of the solutions on the .NET forum. Off the top of my head, I can easily name twice that number on the Fox and SQL Server forums (and then there's Sergey, the one-man gang).
IMO, these individuals should receive free PUTM memberships as well as free subscriptions to the UT magazine.
This is not only a deserved good-will gesture, it should also be considered a means to grow the UT in the future. I hope UT management strongly considers this in the future.
Kevin