Wiki Contributions and Guru Awards? What's it all about?

Hello MSDN reader!

As this is a new audience, I thought I'd start by covering some basics by posting some responses to forum questions about why and what this is all about.

"Why post or repost to the Wiki when we have the forums?"

A forum question/solution does not change once posted/answered, just like wiki/blog. They are exactly the same as far as the "issue" is concerned. However, many people regularly copy their forum posts over to the wiki.

Many people now share their technical know-how with the community by posting to TechNet Wiki, rather than blogs, as Wiki pages are higher ranked than blogs.

Charitable, kind people who figure something out by searching want to post it back to save other people the time, but a forum is mainly for questions, so the wiki or a blog is the best answer. Therefore wiki/blog posts are "true GIVING" - without having to be asked, as opposed to forum answers.

Proactively thinking "I'm going to save someone else the time for this live/current issue I've just battled with" is IMO true community spirit. That's something we should all want to encourage, hence the monthly TechNet Guru Competition.

"Why should I join the competition?"

There is real benefit to participating. This is an excellent way to get on the radar of many of the people that matter within the upper echelons of Microsoft development. There are 2-4 full time Microsoft employees judging each category, and these are major players in each, like the actual developers of the technology.

That is one of the main benefits of this. You'll get your name known to a great big circle of very influential players in your specialist field. Previous winners are already being invited into other circles. Many move from these inner circles to even more important roles within the MSDN and TechNet community. If you wanted to work for Microsoft, this is an excellent path in.

For boosting your CV, or becoming an MCC or MVP, TechNet Guru relates directly to them all.

With this competition, we are starting to build up a picture of who the main community players are out there.

Read more about this month's TechNet Guru competition here.