Back in 2004, I thought I knew enough to be dangerous with IT. Whether it was RedHat, Mandrake (hey don’t judge), Solaris, that odd little GSX box in the corner, or the suite of DoD software that I was supporting, I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing. I knew these technologies pretty well. Or so I thought. I was already blogging, I had already moved my awesome geocities page to a early blogging platform, and was migrating again to some early version of wordpress, running on some shiny new desktop in my basement that was also my ipchains firewall. I was ubercool.

After going to my first CIALUG meeting what I realized though was that I was missing the most important part of linux and opensource in general. Open collaboration. When I went home, something had changed. Sure, I’d learned something, sure I’d talked about my awesome new mythtv box I was working on, but something different had happened. There had been a fundamental shift in the importance in my mind of community.

For those of us active in any community, this cohesion can be a profound, life changing thing. We get angry when people/companies threaten out culture, and the linux community, really, as a collective, isn’t the most socially elegant group out there.

When my work started focusing more and more around vmware, the blogging community that had sprouted up around vmware was something I could relate too. There was that sense of community, that sense of passion that Scott writes about, and I was drawn to it. It’s great being a part of a community, where you can contribute what you know, and continue to learn more yourself.

Along with a host of great blogs the VMUGs were (and still are) a great way for new (and existing) members of the community to reconnect, share information, and stay engaged. The only thing that is glaringly different was and is that the VMUGs are run by vmware corp. That’s just the way that it is, I’m not saying it’s bad or good, I’m just saying; that’s the way it is.

The elephant in the room with the vmware community as a whole is that we’re a community of use. Although some of us exist inside the corp firewall of vmware or EMC proper, we don’t, as a community, develop the software. We use it. Nothing wrong with that, but there is a fundamental difference in the community surrounding vmware and the community surrounding linux distro X or software package X. Even the wonderful and completely awesome work that is being done /w powershell is completely dependent on the existence of a financially viable company. The code doesn’t stand separate. (Some would point out here that “linux” in general isn’t really developed by the “community” at this point either. Best left for a separate conversation I suppose)

This difference impacts the way we write, and what we write about. We’re “users” and we await the latest feature, ready for that surprise shock and awe that accompanies it. We like to be “in the know”, aware of the next feature that is going to come out before anyone else. But when we do know. WE SHARE. Sharing that information, the best configurations, a PS script, the awesomeness that is the community powerpack, the mini monitor by Nick Weaver, these are the things that make our community work. The forums are great, and the amount of data in there is insane. Someone once said that the average time to get an answer to a well described problem on the vmware forums was under 10 minutes. That’s free support for vmware, delivered in the best way possible. From your peers. From another person who has been there before.

Are you still with me? This brings me to the topic of Scott’s post.

While I blog, In my head, I instantly translated this to, “participating in the community for the right reasons.” Why? He mentions twitter, and really, there are more places to get recognized by “Company X” than just via a blog and twitter. And most people I know don’t just blog about tech stuff, heck, I don’t blog just about vmware or linux. I blog about, well, just look up and to your right.

So how could someone participate for the wrong reasons? I’m not an active participant in the forums, but there is REAL value in doing that. I’m not the most regular attendee to our VMUGS, (I don’t like driving the distance of Paris to Brussels for a VMUG………shocked, I’m sure) but there is REAL value in participating in the VMUGs. I’m not the most regular blogger, but again, to those that do, however often, there is REAL value in doing that.

That value, that sharing of knowledge, is important to those that also involved, or more importantly, to those that are just now trying to figure out how to get involved.

I’ll wrap this up for the 2 of you that made it this far. Participate in the vmware community however you can best contribute. We don’t care what your reasons are, you may be an employee just doing your job, you may be a ROCKSTAR vmware admin with time to assist, you may be a published technical author, a vmware instructor, shoot, you may be all of the above, just get, and stay, involved. We’ll all be better because of it.

And if you’re blogging for the wrong reasons, well, keep blogging. you may surprise yourself down the road.

In my head, if we start to judge the why people are writing, the potential creeps in where we’re setting an elitist bar that tries to separate out an “us” from “them”. I’ve never seen that play out well in any community that I’ve been a part of. That growing number of blogs you see that concerns you? Chances are they are people that look up to you, so get personal. If you have a concern, ask them.

And to the email I got from the person asking if they may be looked at differently for starting a blog after Scott’s post, the answer is NO. A resounding NO. DO IT. Honestly, we don’t care why you’re doing it, just get involved.

The VMware vExpert Award is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year. vExperts are book authors, bloggers, VMUG leaders, tool builders, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others. These vExperts have gone above and beyond their day jobs to share their technical expertise and communicate the value of VMware and virtualization to their colleagues and community.

Huge thanks to @jtroyer and the folks that picked the winners this year. I’m still in a bit of shock, I’m hugely exited for what’s in store for this year. Looking at the list, I’m humbled to be included. Thanks again vmware!

-Theron

For information on blogger’s rights, please visit the EFF.

DCB? FCoE? Eh?

Please go and read the post yourself, but here’s the general outline to give you a flavour: