VMTN Community Forums – Master
VMTN Master!
I woke up this morning and as usual, when I’m not on an active engagement, I logged into the VMTN community forums to see what people where asking.
If you are not familiar with the VMTN community forums, it is well worth dropping in! Chances are, if you have ever typed a question about VMware technologies into a search engine, the VMTN community forums will return results. In its own words the VMTN Community forums is “3 million VMware enthusiasts & customers connecting to share knowledge, resources, opinions, and experiences globally 24/7”
Anyway, I saw a notification and some feedback for an EVC issue I’d been helping someone with yesterday. I jumped in to have a look and noticed I’d achieved the next status level on the VMTN community forums 😊
The status levels are a way of VMware recognising users who are most active and helpful within the VMTN community forums. This is done by awarding points for content, which breaks down as follows;
- Correct Answer – 10 Points
- Helpful Answer – 6 Points
- Reply to an Answer – 1 Point
- Create a Document – 1 Point
- Create a BlogPost – 1 Point
- Post a Status Update – 1 Point
The number of points you gain on the VMTN community forums all add up to grant a status level. These range from ‘Lurker’ with 0-5 points right through to ‘Guru’ with 20,001 – 50,000 points. I’m not sure what happens if someone gains 50,000 points?
[I just checked by having a quick look at LucD’s profile (sitting with 78,363 points) and he is marked as a guru]
I first signed up to the VMTN community forums in September 2006. It’s hard to believe that I’d first started using this resource back in 2006, eleven years ago. Since the VMTN community forums never forget, I can even look back and see the first post I made eleven years ago, replying to a thread about issues with VCB behaviour (that is VMware Consolidated Backup, for those fortunate enough to be unaware of that acronym).
My own participation has very much followed the path of my career, when I’ve been busy I’ve not been able to participate as much, when I took a sabbatical and travelled for three years my participation dropped to zero. However, when I’ve had a little bit of time available to me, I’ve always done what I did this morning. Logged into the communities and see if there are any issues I can help with.
For me it’s a great way not only of giving back to the community, but to also gain exposure to issues, problems and resolutions that I might not have witnessed first-hand. Not a bad trade off as this all helps in building my own experience and exposure.
So I’m now a VMTN Master and get a crown next to my account name, next stop Virtuoso, it might take another decade to get there, but with the VMTN community it is most defiantly the journey that matters not the destination.
Thanks
Simon
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