Al,
If you finish reading that thread in AA forum, you will notice it was just a rumor, not true. AA still collects each 500 mile upgrade for 2,500 miles.
See this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/007635.html
Edit to add link to relevant thread.
[This message has been edited by Guava (edited 02-05-2002).]