There are many passionate and thoughtful comments expressed, particularly since the announcement on the extension of the M+ elite status and reduced qualification criteria for each elite level.
After reading all the comments, I believe we are lumping three separate issues into one major discussion:
1) Form (or lack of) communication to the GS members. GS is outside of the M+ program.
2) Speculation (or needing some form of indication) whether qualification criteria will be reduced for 2021
3) Views on whether GS should get the same extension for an extra year as other M+ elite levels
I think on 1) the communication piece, as one of very early batch of GS members going back to close to the beginning, my experience has been that the communication to GS members are infrequent and are very targeted. Because the exclusivity of GS and changes to GS membership each year, it is hard to send out mass broadcast emails in the past. I am sure with the improvement of technology, UA is able to manage an up to date list now, but most of the communication is through personalized phone calls and emails or through dedicated web pages. It is not surprising that each individual GS member has to reach out the GS agent through dedicated email and phone number. I agree UA could do a better job in this regard.
On 2) - Indication on whether GS qualification criteria will be changed.
On this matter, I think UA has been consistent. We have been speculating every year in this forum about annual qualification criteria. UA has never said or indicated anything publicly since day one. It is always looking at travel trend for the year and then decide qualification criteria for the following year. Why do we expect anything different now? We have, over the years, come up with "urban myths" such as hub-based qualification $ level, $50K for initial qualification or requalification, higher than $50K for initial invite or lower than $50K for requalification, average cost of BIS, etc, etc, etc. I must admit, I have never figured it out despite being a GS member for a long time, but it is fun to speculate. I do know I did make GS in 2009 based on spent in the year of financial crisis (2008) when my spent was a lot lower than normal, if that is any indication for the current situation.
On 3), whether to extending GS status for an additional year
This is the one that is more passionately expressed. I feel this is tied to 2). UA needs data to analyze. I did say I have been a GS for a long time including a period when it was called something else (the concept was the same but benefits were different), and I do remember Post 9/11 my 1K was extended for an additional year, but my other equivalent GS status/benefits were not (this was 19 years ago, so my memory may no be correct), but I had a lot less travels even before 9/11, and had no travel for the remainder of 2001 after 9/11. I was just happy to maintain 1K for a token of flights I took for the entire 2001. Based on that experience, it may seems a blanket extension was not considered back then. Now, UA is a different airlines, most of the people who managed the program are likely gone and UA was a leader back then versus being a follower now.