I have a friend who has been gold for 3 years.
he has only done 270 status credits this year and his reassessment is sept 2005.
he mostly travels BA and elal
I have another friend who has been gold for 3 years and has done 600 status credits and his assessment still says jan 05

(ps I know this for a fact as I look after both of their FF accounts)

he mostly travels Qantas
so they are doing it for some and not for others but you would think they would look after the one who travels qantas not the partners