remind me - do

User Events

always fire when a record is created through SuiteTalk?

I believe it always fires but also the form matters way more for suitetalk in what you can set/get.

I thought this was also preference driven - on the "SOAP Web Services Preferences" page?

Not "always". Depends on some preference. https://netsuite.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/40934 <runServerSuiteScriptAndTriggerWorkflows>true</runServerSuiteScriptAndTriggerWorkflows>

there is also account wide preference that you can enable or disable by default. check Setup > Integration > SOAP Web Services Preferences

thanks all