I am still a little confused myself with this whole situation, but I'll try and make sense of it all here. Basically people who were signing up to beta test the Windows Live Messenger 8.1 beta have been receiving acceptance e-mails.

Currently connect testers who beta tested the Windows Live Messenger 8.0 betas have automatically been re-accepted to the beta. They were sent emails a few days ago and had to click a link to activate their testing role. These testers have had this opportunity ever since they were accepted to beta test MSN Messenger 7.0 nearly two years ago. However, some connect testers have not received any re-activation emails yet and the whole situation is becoming confusing.

Also I have heard rumors that people who have never been a connect tester for Messenger have started to be accepted for the 8.1 beta. I have also had a few contacts now saying they have been accepted despite not being a connect tester before, but all this seems in the minority, it could even be regional.

So if you are a current connect tester for Windows Live Messenger 8.0 and have not received any re-activation emails of any kind, try contacting Microsoft, but this only applies if you are a connect tester, and I am not even sure if that will work. If you want to apply to become a new connect tester (like me) visit this link and fill in the correct details. Good Luck.