Dear 7 readers,
I’m on vacation this week. I probably should have taken a vacation from Twitter and SharePoint all together as well, but I didn’t (shame on me). This is the very first post that I’m going to write that is more from “Dan” than about SharePoint. Guess I’m Sharing Dan, instead of Sharing the Point. So, there’s your warning, feel free to close the browser window now if you don’t want to know a little something about who I am.
Let me say this first. 1) I hate politics. 2) With social media comes real human emotion
Joel Oleson has recently posted an idea about a new SharePoint Community group, SharePoint Knights. There has been a great deal of chatter about it on Twitter and Blogs. Some positive, some negative.
You can pretty much decipher that for the most part, MVP’s are bashing the idea, while non-MVP’s think the program may be useful. However, it’s the way people are saying things that are just upsetting to me. I’ve lost respect for people today. It’s sad. I’m a Taurus (yesterday was my Birthday), and a little stubborn. Okay, not a little, a lot stubborn. I think I’m sad because I know that once you lose my respect, you have a pretty darn slim chance of gaining it back. And I really respected these individuals and looked up to them as professionals, and participants in the technical community.
Off track for a second…
Want to hear something scary? I don’t go to church. I’m a Christian, and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and savior. But I refuse to go to church due to politics. I once was very involved with the Church, but I got burned on the politics. The politics, for me, defeated my reasons for going to Church. I lost respect for the Church and what it stood for. In fact, I could write a book about this – but I guess deep down I blame Church Politics for the death of my brother.
Okay, back on track now…
SharePoint Knights
I think it’s a good idea and has lots of potential. I see nothing wrong with there being another recognition system out there for community involvement other than the MVP program. I think the neat part about the Knights, is that it appears to be community driven and for the community. Its definitely going to evolve, as do all programs.
Joel tweeted that he thought of me as a SharePoint Knight. And well, ummm, thanks! That is humbling.
SharePoint MVP Program
I don’t know ditty squat about the MVP program except this: 1.) Information that is provided on this site: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ and 2.) I’m not an MVP.
I have been told that I’ve been nominated before. And well, ummm, thanks! I found it cool to have been nominated. Mainly because the majority of the SharePoint Professionals that I look up to, are MVP’s. So the fact that I was even nominated (someone thought I was worthy to be looked up to, this was my perception) was very humbling.
Community Recognition
Community recognition should be encouraged: Regardless of Knight / MVP / MVP & Knight / None of the Above
Do you use the TechNet forums? It has a star based recognition system for how many answers you provide. The TechNet forums aren’t part of the MVP program specifically (that I know of). Yet, it also calls out the Answerers that are MVP, so there are MVP’s out there using the TechNet forums. So, there already is a recognition system out there that people participate in, MVP’s and Non-MVP’s.
According to Joel’s post, it looks like ‘Galleons’ (Knight Points) will be also awarded for forum answers. To me, it seems like SharePoint Knights will be a recognition system, for MVP’s and Non-MVP’s, for recognition through-out the community.
I think recognition systems are great. I don’t care if you are a Knight. I don’t care if you are a MVP. I don’t care if you are MVP and Knight. I don’t care if you are none of those! Regardless of your “Awards” and “Titles”, please do contribute to the community. What I hate seeing is the community being political within the community.
My community future:
I use to be active on the TechNet forums, but became less active as I became more active on Twitter. I found Twitter to be more social engaging for me, and I tend to be a chatter box so it fit me well. Not now. As of this moment, I have a serious bad taste for twitter, because it invoked emotions in me that I don’t care to feel. I felt discontent, and disappointment. Because I was able to ‘engage’ socially with people, I also had to see sides of people that I didn’t like. I guess it’s a personal flaw of my own, that I can’t filter out these things. I still will be on Twitter, but probably not as much as I use to be. I’m going to put the majority of my time and efforts elsewhere.
I plan to continue blogging.
Nothing beats the rewarding feeling of having someone post a thankful comment on your blog. Knowing that my post helped them figure something out is just great.
I plan to continue being active at SharePoint Saturdays within driving distance of Charlotte.
Nothing beats the rewarding feeling of networking with other SharePointers. They are fantastic events where I get to share, and learn. Plus some good times with good people.
I plan to continue being active in User Groups.
Users groups are great times as well, where you can catch a good presentation, give a presentation to help others, and facilitate a learning environment for the people in your backyard.
I plan to re-engage on the TechNet forums.
I miss helping out on the forums, and it’s time I get back to basics – Helping. So many times forums have helped me, I love giving back to the source that bailed me out more than once.
Community Awards
MVP Award, Knighthood, TechNet Stars, Technorati Blog Ranking, # of Followers on Twitter, etc…: Hopefully none of those matter to you so much that you lose sight of what community is truly about. It’s about giving to the community. Give in whatever way you want, but don’t bash the ways of others. Don’t make it political, for politics will surely be the demise of any community efforts.
“Well done is better than well said” –Benjamin Franklin
Vacation
I’m going to answer a couple of needed work emails, and then I’m disconnecting from the world. It’s time to really take a break. I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of self-reflecting and thinking, hopefully next week I’ll return with an energized level and a positive outlook. Right now, I just don’t have it.
Keep it real, meat and potatoes for life.
- Dan
