"Tech Interests" profile example seems a little Redmond-centric

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Permalink Reply by Matt Simmons on November 17, 2009 at 4:44pm

I think it probably stems from the origin of the forum, not any desire to exclude non-Windows admins. I don't think it's a big deal either way, but if you thought enough of it to mention it, others may think the same thing and not vocalize it.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on November 17, 2009 at 4:57pm

Yes, as I thought about it and considered the genesis of this community it made sense that Exchange and Sharepoint where the two examples given. Not a big deal, but as I'm trying to figure out this community's burgeoning culture it seemed that there was actually a dearth of Microsoft techs here. That's what made the words "Exchange" and "Sharepoint" stand out to me.

Certainly if you feel welcomed here then it must not exactly be turning away non-Microsoft admins. =)

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Permalink Reply by Matt Simmons on November 17, 2009 at 5:59pm

Nope, but I make myself at home wherever ;-)

I haven't really found any large online community of Microsoft people. I've seen a decent number of questions on ServerFault, and it seems like Experts Exchange has a lot of MS based stuff, but it's difficult to label those sites as a "community".

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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on November 17, 2009 at 6:14pm

Petri.co.il's forums are fairly Microsoft-centric with a number of MVPs including the legendary Simon Butler AKA "Sembee". Site owner Daniel Petri himself is an Exchange MVP. Other than that and Microsoft's own TechNet forums, I haven't found a MSFT "community" either except for individual technologies like IIS, SharePoint, SBS, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Ayer on December 1, 2009 at 5:01pm

Hi, Wesley!

The honest answer is that Michael and I didn't know how much sys admins would segment themselves by technologies. If we had had to pick one constituency, we'd have plumbed for the Redmond crowd, just because that's where we have the strongest professional interest. Also, if we organise events, it's most likely to be on something Microsofty, because of who our contacts are.

However, we're delighted that people from across the technological gamut are joining... And fortunately, we can edit the profile question at any time.

Naturally, we'll keep some common sys admin topics in there. Not only does it help new members determine whether the network is for them, but that field also helps us filter out bogus people.

So thanks for picking our nit -- and please do keep giving us your suggestions!

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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on December 1, 2009 at 5:59pm

Thanks for the clarification! When I first joined, I wasn't aware that this group was something of a RedGate side project so I didn't take into account those potential influences. Now that I'm more familiar with the group I think I can see things clearer. I just read your blog post here that indicates that this site was created out of observing a lack of good Microsoft communities (contrasting with the Linux side of things). I also assumed right out of the gate that you and Michael were Level 80+ Arch-Magician-Admins (+15 attack points when using platinum support contracts) and had just pulled this community together for the lulz.

That kinda brings up an interesting topic though: How much of a RedGate offshoot is this group? What level of official participation / sanctioning does RedGate have here? ...and does that mean that discussions extolling, say, GFI Mail Archiver will mysteriously disappear? =) Is this really the "SysAdmin Network" or more like the "Potential RedGate Customers Network". =) No snark was intended in that last question. Just askin'.

However, I could see this place taking on a life of its own depending on those who join and their participation level. It will be interesting to see how it blossoms over time. The one-year anniversary is coming up soon, no?

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Ayer on December 1, 2009 at 7:33pm

Thanks, Wesley -- I'm glad to hear that it wasn't obvious that this site has some backing from our employer. Hopefully, that alone is some evidence that this is not a cynical marketing ploy.... Or you could assume we are just very bad at marketing. Take your pick :-)

Michael and I have one cardinal rule for our work on this site: there shalt be no Red Gate marketing. For the health of the network, we discourage other people marketing too aggressively either, but we absolutely will not censor anything positive said about any competitor (which, for the record, has happened and is still visible). Nor do we ban competitors being members, which has also happened. The more the merrier.

We spend our time here with full permission of our lords and masters, and they give us a little funding for things like the mailing list service we use and our Slingbox giveaway, but again, we're pretty careful not to associate the company with these things. Deliberately. That is not what our involvement in this group is about.

We believe that we all gain by being a part of this community. As you point out, it's laid out in SysAdmin Network – what’s it all about? There seemed to be no good place to discuss sys admin issues. For us vendors, the better we understand our market, the better we can serve it. I won't pretend that this doesn't help us make money, but when it comes to learning, vendors and customers are not on opposing teams. Our interests lie in the same direction.

So, no, we're not 'Arch-Magician admins' (though I am mistress of a sprawling empire of non-production virtual machines and CIO of a Linux-centric home). We've got plenty to learn, so it's worth it for us to put some energy into trying to build this place up. But really we're grateful to people like you who keep the conversation flowing!

Are we really getting close to our first anniversary? Good grief, that flew. Probably not going to reach our target of 10,000 members, but at least we've got quality :-)

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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on December 2, 2009 at 4:15am

"I'm glad to hear that it wasn't obvious that this site has some backing from our employer. Hopefully, that alone is some evidence that this is not a cynical marketing ploy"

Very good point. I'm not hardened enough yet to think that absolutely everything is a marketing ploy... but I'm getting there since I've been reading more and more B|Net articles. =) With that explanation in mind (thanks for fleshing out this topic), I hope to see this cadre turn into a larger and more conversant community over time. As you have probably already noticed, I think I've ended up as something of a welcoming committee for new users in the hopes that it will make people feel more welcome. =)

I'll be on the lookout for good SysAdmin party favors for the anniversary... maybe we can convince Charm City Cakes to make a cake like they did for LOPSA this year? I'm not too handy with a piping bag unless I'm inserting it directly into my mouth. Yum.

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