Hi Doug:
Well, you have inadvertently asked three of the questions I find most
difficult to answer :-) I really struggled with answering this, and I thank
you for making me do it :-)
To begin with, I am sure you have indeed helped many people with your
answers, and I hope you will help many more. I, for one, congratulate you
on your effort, and your knowledge!
I am one of many MVPs who believe that chasing "ratings" is not a proper
thing to do. It's a bit like touting for business in these news groups:
it's not "illegal", but most of us wouldn't do it.
But I guess your implied question is "Will getting a high rating help win
the MVP award?" And that's a tough one to answer. It certainly won't hurt.
But I doubt if it will have any effect, one way or the other.
The process that considers us for the MVP award considers a wide range of
factors. Our posting record is only part of it.
When considering our posting record, they assess how many "correct" answers
we give over the past 12 months (and compare that with the number of wrong
answers we give during the same period ...). The ratings you speak of
(which are different on the Microsoft, Google and Yahoo servers...) are not
visible to, or considered by, the mechanism that considers candidates for
the award. That may change in the future, but currently, the system can't
see those ratings at all.
Currently, the assessment is made by human beings: experienced and
knowledgeable Microsoft staff assess a sample of our work manually, and
grade the answers for correctness and completeness. Ultimately, the result
is a person's judgement.
These days, posting in the groups is not enough to get or maintain the
award. The score is heavily biased towards other activities, such as
websites, blogs, and particularly, face-to-face public engagements.
It is also worth mentioning that a person who is obviously here just to get
the award is unlikely to actually get it. The criteria has a very strong
component of "public service" in the old fashioned sense of that term. They
tend to be looking for the kind of person who is not only highly skilled,
but enjoys helping others for its own sake, without expectation of 'reward'.
Why did I accept the MVP award, back in 1997? Well, eventually they
convinced me that I had earned it. Certainly not immediately. I remember
that I refused to believe it when the first email turned up from Microsoft.
I thought it was Spam, and send a very rude response!. Then it took me a
while to believe that it wasn't a mistake :-)
It's great to have you he I really value your contribution. I really
hope you're having fun :-)
Cheers
On 5/2/07 7:19 PM, in article
, "DougieVan"
wrote:
Would you say then that it is the consensus of MVPs that trying to earn the
medals is not a proper goal? Why then are the medals awarded?
--
Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410