How to become a MVP?

[Paras Wadehra]

A question to all the MVPs out there - how does one become a MVP? Whats the
criteria and how are they selected? If any Microsoft guy reads this, please
give me the details as I would like to become a MVP!

 

[Chris Lanier [MVP]]

Hi, You can read all about it at

 

[Hilary]

Well one of the first things you need is to be able to figure some
things out on your own...like going to google and doing search on MVP.
Gets you all the info you need and more...

 

[Testy]

Why? It is a totally worthless designation.

Testy

 

[Mark Tangard]

Check the links recommended elsewhere in this thread, but also read the
perhaps more realistic piece at http://word.mvps.org/AboutMVPs/index.htm.

 

[purplehaz]

Why do they contact potential mvp's by email. Many people (and usually the
good ones) use fake email addresses in newsgroups, not just a munged
address, but a fake one. How would ms contact them in that case? It might be
beneficial to put the answer to this question on that page as well so that
user don't start putting in their real email addreses hoping to get an email
while in newsgroups.

 

[Lem]

I guess you have to munge your email so that it can be deciphered by a person,
rather than using a completely made-up address (sort of a reverse Turing test?).

 

[purplehaz]

I suppose, but what if you don't want to munge it. What if you want no one
to ever see your real email address and you don't want to have a useless web
email account either? Putting email addresses in newsgroup post now-a-days
is certainly a big issue and maybe the mvp contact people should look into
it or alternative contact methods.

 

[mark7]

At the website you show, I noticed that Microsoft provides MVPs with knowledge-ware
tools that make answering questions easier. So the obvious question is, if that helps
in troublshooting XP, could it be made available to others? If it helps by making it
easier to find a problem, and the answer, at an MS website, I could use that.

 

[Lem]

In that case, I suppose they'd have to post a "To purplehaz" message here in the
ng. I've seen a few of those here, including some from one MVP/MSFT person to
another. On a related issue, the current (Feb 04) issue of Comm. ACM has an
interesting article on a form of "reverse Turing test" called CAPTCHAs --
"Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart."
As the article says, these "are used by Yahoo, Hotmail, PayPal and many other
popular Web sites to prevent automated registrations." They also could be used
to deal with spam -- see www.spamarrest.com. (I have no connection with
spamarrest or any other developer of similar technology)

 

[Cindy Winegarden]

In 3dcXb.72442$fD.21951@fed1read02,

At the website you show, I noticed that Microsoft provides MVPs with
knowledge-ware tools that make answering questions easier. So the
obvious question is, if that helps in troublshooting XP, could it be
made available to others? If it helps by making it easier to find
a problem, and the answer, at an MS website, I could use that.

Microsoft gives us a choice of and MSDN or TechNet subscription. Having
software installed locally, that we might not otherwise be able to afford,
helps with answering questions, especially cross-platform ones. All of this
is available to anyone.

Microsoft also provides us certian information that is covered by
non-disclosure agreements. This might be, for example, access to Beta
software before it's actually released, so we can learn and be ready to
answer questions when the software goes live. Some Beta software is
available to MSDN subscribers; some Betas must be applied for, but by no
means is everyone included in a Beta an MVP.

 

[kurttrail]

Why? It is a totally worthless designation.

Well it does get you a free MSDN subscription.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

 

[BR549]

It would be much to simple to make the answers to common problems available
to the end user. They need to make it as difficult to find answers as
possible.

 

[Lem]

The sad truth is that no one has to MAKE answers to common problems hard to
find. If there's one thing in common with all software developers that I've
ever known, it's that they HATE to document what they've written. Thus, the
task of documenting s/w is left to persons other than the developers -- who can
never know it in as much detail. When you compound that with the sheer size of
on OS like Windows, together with the bottom-line driven decision to dispense
with hard copy manuals, it's not surprising that it's almost impossible for an
individual end user to figure out what's going on when complex s/w misbehaves.
The pooling of intellectual resources made possible by ng's such as this is
probably the most efficient way to solve almost all of the "common problems"
that users encounter. (Of course, knowing how to use Google and the MS KB
doesn't hurt either).

 

[Cindy Winegarden]

In [email protected],

It would be much to simple to make the answers to common problems
available to the end user. They need to make it as difficult to find
answers as possible.

Hi BR549,

I'm not an OS person, but I use a computer for many, many hours each day,
and I've run into many common problems in technology areas beyond my
expertise. I almost never post questions - I hit up Google Groups and the
largest majority of time someone has asked about a similar problem, and the
answer is there for those like me.

 

[kurttrail]

Why do they contact potential mvp's by email. Many people (and
usually the good ones) use fake email addresses in newsgroups, not
just a munged address, but a fake one. How would ms contact them in
that case? It might be beneficial to put the answer to this question
on that page as well so that user don't start putting in their real
email addreses hoping to get an email while in newsgroups.

If Malke see this, maybe she can answer you, as she uses a fake address.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

If I see someone who I believe should be considered, and their address is
faked, I simply ask them to contact me privately.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

...and more ;-)

Tom
| Testy wrote:
|
| > Why? It is a totally worthless designation.
|
| Well it does get you a free MSDN subscription.
|
| --
| Peace!
| Kurt
| Self-anointed Moderator
| microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
| http://microscum.com
| "Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
| "Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"
|
|

 

[mrtee]

Or they send it to an address that hasn't been used for some time. But you might still collect mail from there. I do.

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| If I see someone who I believe should be considered, and their address is
| faked, I simply ask them to contact me privately.
|
| --
| Best of Luck,
|
| Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
| Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!
|
| Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
|
|

 

[all thumbs]

Just keep going like you are your almost one already, just need a necktie
now.