MVP Question

[Sunny]

Is this "person" a real MVP (The Real Truth http://pcbutts1) ?
Sample of the ducking and weaving from a Usenet group post :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey stupid newbie dipshit, I make over 10 posts per day in the MS
newsgroups
using my real name which is searchable on the MVP site and at least 10
using
The Real Truth which is not.

--
The Real Truth http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/
*WARNING* Do NOT follow any advice given by the people listed below.
They do NOT have the expertise or knowledge to fix your issue. Do not
waste
your time.
David H Lipman, Malke, PA Bear, Beauregard T. Shagnasty, Leythos.

 

[Sunny]

NO.

Not under another name ? (As claimed)

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

NO!

Not under another name ? (As claimed)

 

[Sunny]

Thanks, the clown seems to use your name, and others, in vain,

 

[Andrew McLaren]

Is this "person" a real MVP (The Real Truth http://pcbutts1) ?

NO.

You can find a list of all current MVPs at Microsoft's MVP site:

https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx

Most of the Vista MVPs are under the "Windows Desktop Experience" category,
I think.

The MVP award lasts for 12 months. If someone continues to get selected,
they could remain an MVP for years on end. But if you drop your MVP, you
disappear off the list. So former MVPs are not listed.

Cheers,

Andrew
(former MVP

 

[Bob Lucas]

I asked a similar question several months ago. The responses
revealed the proverbial can of worms.

Barring forgeries, you can be reasonably sure that if a person is
listed on the website, then that person is an MVP.

However, the website at
mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx only provides
details of those MVPs that want to share their information
publicly.

As far as I am aware, there is no complete listing of current
MVPs available to the public. Unfortunately, not all MVPs choose
to share their information publicly - so even if a particular
name does not appear on the listing, that person might still be
an MVP.

From a personal viewpoint, that is unfortunate, because it is far
too easy for imposters to make false claims. Although I can
appreciate why an individual might not want to publish any of
his/her biographical details, it is difficult to understand why
any contributor to a public newsgroup who claims to be an MVP
might be unwilling to appear in a complete list of names.

After all, I would be reluctant to accept advice or receive
treatment from a person who claims to be a medical practitioner
or other consultant, but is not listed by a relevant professional
body. Why should advice from an MVP be any different?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Sunny" <[email protected]>

| Thanks, the clown seems to use your name, and others, in vain,

That "clown" has impersonated PA Bear and myself on numerous occasions.

 

[Leythos]

After all, I would be reluctant to accept advice or receive
treatment from a person who claims to be a medical practitioner
or other consultant, but is not listed by a relevant professional
body. Why should advice from an MVP be any different?

You should not trust ANY advice you get on Usenet, you should ALWAYS
check it against other sources. One clear indication of a person/post to
not trust is their history of being foul/nasty and including
pornographic links in non-porn groups, like PCBUTTS has in the past.

 

[Alister]

You should not trust ANY advice you get on Usenet, you should ALWAYS
check it against other sources. One clear indication of a person/post to
not trust is their history of being foul/nasty and including
pornographic links in non-porn groups, like PCBUTTS has in the past.

I think you need to be careful not to overstate your case.
You CAN trust advice given on Usenet, so long as you take the consensus
of more than one poster, or you have learned to trust a particular
poster from past successful outcomes.

Alister

 

[Ron Badour]

Bob,

I have never understood why some folks don't want their MVP status
known--maybe it is job related (works for a MS competitor); however, I
suspect that these same folks never make a claim in the newsgroups that they
are an MVP.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[Andrew McLaren]

However, the website at mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx
only provides details of those MVPs that want to share their information
publicly.

Yes, that's right.

The MVP programme is far from perfect. But in my experience, most genuine
MVPs are willing - and indeed, greatly desire - to have their details openly
published. So while the list is not a 100% guarantee, it's a pretty good
guide.

You'd have to wonder about any professional who doesn't want to stand
publically identified and accountable. To continue your doctor analogy, it's
like seeing a doctor who says to you "Sure, here's my medical degree - but
I've liquid-papered over my name; I don't want to reveal my personal
details". Would you trust such a doctor? Maybe, but ... uh, probably not

The MVP programme works okay for the smaller product categories, like SQL
Server or .NET. They're small enough, that everyone knows everyone else
anyway. Windows Desktop doesn't scale quite so well, the scope is so huge:
hundreds of millions of users, and hundreds of MVPs; there's not much real
"community" apart from what is enforced by the technology. Microsoft is
unlikely to spend more money improving MVP verification, unless there was
some very tangible benefit; eg preventing serious abuse. A few clowns in
newsgroups, pretending to be MVPs, doesn't quite meet that bar. It's risk
mananagement ... perfection is very expensive; so they shoot for "near
enough".

 

[Leythos]

I think you need to be careful not to overstate your case.
You CAN trust advice given on Usenet, so long as you take the consensus
of more than one poster, or you have learned to trust a particular
poster from past successful outcomes.

Not true at all, as there are many groups where "consensus" is wrong.
Like anything that you would find important in life, validate it on your
own before accepting it as true/valid.

You can not trust advice given in Usenet any more than what you could
from a person on the street that you don't know.

 

[Leythos]

You'd have to wonder about any professional who doesn't want to stand
publically identified and accountable.

And you would also have to wonder how a person claiming to be an MVP
could post filthy comments, post links to Pornographic materials that
they claim to have created, impersonate other members of the
community...

 

[Gordon]

And you would also have to wonder how a person claiming to be an MVP
could post filthy comments, post links to Pornographic materials that
they claim to have created, impersonate other members of the
community...

And have downloads on their site containing viruses.....

 

[Bob Lucas]

However, the website at
mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx only provides
details of those MVPs that want to share their information
publicly.

Yes, that's right.

The MVP programme is far from perfect. But in my experience,
most genuine MVPs are willing - and indeed, greatly desire - to
have their details openly published.
[snipped]

I wish that were so. However, when I scanned through recent
contributions to this newsgroup, I quickly found one from a
regular contributor who describes himself as "MS-MVP [Mail]".

Based upon the quality of his contributions, I have little doubt
that the gentleman is an MVP. However, a search against his name
at https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx reports
"No results were found for your search criteria".

Surely, it should be possible to check a name against the
definitive list of MVPs (even if an individual MVP does not want
to disclose his biographical or other details). Furthermore, I
would have no objection to the use of a pseudonym, if an MVP has
a genuine reason for anonymity.

Incidentally, I use Windows Live Mail as my Newsreader client
program. WLMail includes some Community Features, which allow
for a special icon to appear against contributions by MVPs.
However, very few postings bear the icon.

 

[Rob Moir]

I think you need to be careful not to overstate your case.
You CAN trust advice given on Usenet, so long as you take the consensus of
more than one poster,

Of course there are lots of apple and linux fans out there who think it's
literally impossible for those operating systems to be affected by malware.
The fact that they have a consensus of opinion doesn't make them any more
correct.

or you have learned to trust a particular poster from past successful
outcomes.

This is a bit more of a reliable indicator - assuming you only apply it to
areas that the person you're taking advice from is a known expert in. The
fact that I know Windows and Mac OSX quite well doesn't mean people should
accept my advice on Linux, for example.

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

If a MVP doesn't wish to have any listing for any reason, it is a privacy
thing that MS must honor. There are cases where that is so, to protect the
MVP.

And, if a known MVP or several known MVPs tell you someone is *not* a MVP,
you can take it to the bank.

As MVPs, we do in fact, know.

Tom
:
:
: : >> However, the website at
: >> mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx only provides
: >> details of those MVPs that want to share their information
: >> publicly.
: >
: > Yes, that's right.
: >
: > The MVP programme is far from perfect. But in my experience,
: > most genuine MVPs are willing - and indeed, greatly desire - to
: > have their details openly published.
: > [snipped]
:
: I wish that were so. However, when I scanned through recent
: contributions to this newsgroup, I quickly found one from a
: regular contributor who describes himself as "MS-MVP [Mail]".
:
: Based upon the quality of his contributions, I have little doubt
: that the gentleman is an MVP. However, a search against his name
: at https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx reports
: "No results were found for your search criteria".
:
: Surely, it should be possible to check a name against the
: definitive list of MVPs (even if an individual MVP does not want
: to disclose his biographical or other details). Furthermore, I
: would have no objection to the use of a pseudonym, if an MVP has
: a genuine reason for anonymity.
:
: Incidentally, I use Windows Live Mail as my Newsreader client
: program. WLMail includes some Community Features, which allow
: for a special icon to appear against contributions by MVPs.
: However, very few postings bear the icon.
:

 

[Rob Moir]

I wish that were so. However, when I scanned through recent contributions
to this newsgroup, I quickly found one from a regular contributor who
describes himself as "MS-MVP [Mail]".

Based upon the quality of his contributions, I have little doubt that the
gentleman is an MVP. However, a search against his name at
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx reports "No results
were found for your search criteria".

Surely, it should be possible to check a name against the definitive list
of MVPs (even if an individual MVP does not want to disclose his
biographical or other details). Furthermore, I would have no objection to
the use of a pseudonym, if an MVP has a genuine reason for anonymity.

But this (and the doctor analogy I've seen elsewhere) assumes that the MVP
"stamp" means something other than the person who has it is a known
contributor to the Microsoft support community, with a good record of
helpful contributions. That isn't the case.

I'm *not* knocking the MVPs because I was one myself for 8 years, but the
presence of a MVP tag doesn't mean that advice is always going to be correct
or is magically more valid than that of someone without the tag (If a
Windows Vista "desktop" MVP posts in a SharePoint server newsgroup, they
still have the MVP 'tag' even though they have no special qualifications in
that area, right?). Some people who are MVPs choose not to identify
themselves in newsgroups because they don't see the point, don't want the
attention, or whatever.

Incidentally, I use Windows Live Mail as my Newsreader client program.
WLMail includes some Community Features, which allow for a special icon to
appear against contributions by MVPs. However, very few postings bear the
icon.

I was still a MVP when this ability to tag MVP posts in newsgroups and
"rate" posts was first proposed by MS, and I remember 2 things from back
then:
1) Quite a lot of MVPs were against this tagging and rating for a number of
reasons, for example, people tend to rate very good advice poorly just
because it isn't what they *wanted* to hear... think about the patient who
hates their doctor for "nagging" them to quit smoking.

2) There were quite a few hoops to jump through to make these tags appear
and work properly in the newsgroup interface. If this is still the case,
then people may not want to jump through those hoops.

Regards
Rob

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

That "clown" has impersonated PA Bear and myself on numerous occasions.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." <w>

 

[Jim]

Is this "person" a real MVP (The Real Truth http://pcbutts1) ?
Sample of the ducking and weaving from a Usenet group post :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No , s/he isn`t an MVP .