Hello to todays Community Win.

Providing feedback is a topic coming up every now and then. There are a few options people are more aware of than others. For example, the wiki article "Feature Requests for TechNet and MSDN Profiles and Social Platform Tools" ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4703.feature-requests-for-technet-and-msdn-profiles-and-social-platform-tools.aspx ) is linked often when there's the question posted on the forum how to provide feedback. And of course there's the forum on the TechNet site which can be used to provide feedback.

One of the options not so often linked (even though linked in the article above) is the Suggestion Box ( http://communityninjas.uservoice.com/forums/155543-general-site-feedback ). However, for a site with voting system to work, the more users the better. So if you haven't checked the site out yet, go give it a visit, vote on the ideas posted, leave your own suggestions and make it a community win!

Have you used the portal already?

Florian

Hello and welcome everybody to our Wednesday - Wiki Life post.

What platform is the most influential one for an IT expert? Is it YouTube? Facebook? Or Twitter? In my opinion that's a matter of personal preference, but let me alter my question a little bit. What platform is the most influential one for a wiki ninja? In the past we have talked about YouTube and which impact the ninjas have on Twitter. Like said, it's a matter of personal preference. My favorite platform for looking for new things is Twitter.

But how do I find people to follow?

Good question! There are a lot of amazing people on Twitter, but if you look on my Twitter profile you'll see that I don't follow much of them.

Why?

That's also a matter of personal preference (like the most in this post). I'm looking on Twitter what people have written once a day and I have a look at every single tweet. Normally that takes ten to twenty minutes, but what would happen if I follow more people (or someone who tweets twenty times a day)? I think you got the point.

But how do I find the right people to follow?

Depends, for example I don't use Twitter as a medium for a lot of conversations. If I find someone interesting I first have a look at his/her profile if he's/she's a chatty person. If that isn't true I'm looking for the posts that are interesting for me. If that's true I'm clicking the follow button. Simple as that. I mentioned that I find people on Twitter, but how do I find them? Most of the time I know these people personally or I like their blogs.

But how can I find them faster?

That's the point where the TechNet Wiki comes in. A great article to find a lot of interesting Twitter accounts in an easy way exists since January. Most of them are more for IT Pros than developers, but hey ... it's a wiki article. Feel free to add other accounts (or your own)!

So, let me give you two action items

1. Tell me how do you use Twitter! Do you use it in the same way as I do or is your way completely different? Just leave a comment to this post! I'm looking forward to a great discussion.
2. Add the Twitter handles of your personal favorites to the article!

- German Ninja Jan (Twitter, Blog, Profile)

Today's Tuesday Article Spotlight is on:

Wiki: How to Insert a Formatted Code Snippet and Code Block on TechNet Wiki

This article originally comes from the ducky mind of Tony Soper:

I recently made some changes to the article, including building out this section:

How to Use the Format Code Block Tool

The TechNet Wiki Editor has a Format Code Block option (). Click it, insert some code, select a language, click Preview to see it, tweak the code, and then click OK. The source code is now formatted and into your article!

To add line numbers on the left side of your code, click the checkbox in the middle, Display Line Numbers.

Clicking the Format Code Block button opens the following popup window. But there is no option to select the Small Basic programming language. See Small Basic: How to Format a Code Block.

 So again, please go check out all the resources in this article here:

Wiki: How to Insert a Formatted Code Snippet and Code Block on TechNet Wiki

Before I go, I want to say goodbye to Tony Soper, in a Wiki Ninja way. I think it's fitting for me to say goodbye in a blog post that's all about me making his wiki article better. There's no bigger compliment you can make to Tony Soper, than to help make his Wiki articles better. =^)

First, Tony wrote our third blog post on this site, back on 11/1/11: TNWiki Article Spotlight – Windows PowerShell Survival Guide. Tony was our first non-Ed blogger. See all of Tony's posts on this blog in this Tony-tastic tag: tony soper.

Here is my video interview with Tony Soper:

That video interview is from  Interviews with Wiki Ninjas -> Tony Soper + Eric Battalio = Survival Guides and so much more! But that was near the end of 2011. Let's rewind back to early 2010...

Second, Tony was a prolific Wiki-er early on. He taught me how to do very important things that really annoy other people, like name a TechNet Wiki tag after yourself so that you can track all your articles. Here are his 369 articles: tonyso

In all unseriouslessness, Tony was a member of an early incarnation of the TechNet Wiki Community Council, and here's a tag slice I whipped up of every Wiki-related article that Tony Soper wrote: Booya. (Thanks to Craig Lussier for showing me how to combine tags.) My point is that Tony was aces at observing what content we could possibly need about the TechNet Wiki and dropping it in, little by little, knowing that he and the community would slowly craft it over time. And we did.

Third, he was the one who originated the annoying phrase, "Jump on in. The Wiki is warm!" I have since honored this sensational accomplishment by adding more annoying phrases to my closing statements, such as "Wiki while you work" and the one at the end of this blog post. So thank you Tony Soper for teaching me how to annoy others.

Fourth, Tony and I trained others together on what I call, "how to celebrate, evangelize, and fully utilize the community catalyst and social-authoring excellence that's known as TechNet Wiki." But mostly I made fun of his duck image.

And so, we wish Tony Soper a fortuitous journey as he leaves Microsoft and gets other people to fall in annoyance with him. Annoyance and love are very similar (you'll know if you ever loved anyone).

Tony Soper, have a good bye. 

If it's TechNet Wiki, then boy is it sticky.

    - Ninja Ed

This week's Interview with a Wiki Ninja is with one of our top Spanish contributors (see the list here):

José Mendez

Who are you, where are you, and what do you do? What are your specialty technologies?

I am a Senior .Net Developer at Bosz Digital a multinational company based in Costa Rica, (I am From Cuba), doing mainly web applications and web sites in .Net/C#. I also contributed in my company by training others in javascript and Sitecore. My speciality technologies are .Net/C# ASP.NET WCF, WPF, and WP7+.

Also I am an independent entrepreneur, creating Windows Phone applications.

What are your big projects right now?

Right now my big project is a Windows Phone web browser called: "Evolucion browser",  is an app for  WP versions 7.5 / 8.  The main objective is to improve the user experience of WP when browsing the web. and it does! This application is available in English, Spanish, and French.

What is TechNet Wiki for? Who is it for?

TechNet Wiki is for sharing the knowledge in Microsoft technologies and adjacent technologies, for improving what others write, and for helping the community. It is for everybody who wants to learn or improve their knowledge of Microsoft technologies.

What is it about TechNet Wiki that interests you?

The possibility to help others, the satisfaction of having helped hundreds of people around the world. (I love to share :) )  Also, sometime it is impressive when other users make contributions and improve your articles with a different point of view, and you can learn from it.

What is your favorite blog post you've written?

My favorite article is: How to execute a method (code behind) in JavaScript (es-ES). I think it is very helpful, and programmers use a lots. is interesting to have a way to execute functions or methods in the server side, from the client side in ASP.Net.

What do you do with TechNet Wiki, and how does that fit into the rest of your job?

I use the TechNet Wiki to publish articles that would benefit the community. Also for my job, when for example, I work on a new technology or area, I always try to do an article about it, because it's easy with just a little time to go back to the TechNet Wiki article and read it again to remember it and learn it.

What are your top 5 favorite Wiki articles?

1. PLINQ (es-ES)
2. ASP.NET MVC (en-US)
3. Navigation on Windows phone (es-ES)
4. Updating Windows Phone Icon button dynamically (es-ES)
5. Simple Data Binding in XAML (en-US)

 

==================

Thank you, José, for the interview and for your great contributions to the Spanish community on TechNet Wiki!

   - Ninja Ed

Before I get started with my first post as a Wiki Ninja blog author, I’d like to thank Ed Price for bringing me on board. I am truly looking forward to this journey.

When I was a young tech, I had the privilege of learning the disciplines of information sciences while working in the field with a wise librarian. This was the kind of mentoring you can only receive while directly working with someone who is a master at their craft. This person laid the foundation of my approach to solving information management problems as we worked and collaborated together for years creating and refining information systems. His information consumer centric methodologies are ingrained in me and upon reflection, I certainly would not be the consultant I am today if it weren't for this learning experience. I feel that the most important takeaway from his teachings was "knowledge is information in context".

In my opinion, an information system is always determined to be successful by its users. The system must achieve the goals and solve the problem for which it was designed to address. It must be easy for content contributors to add new content and to keep content up-to-date. A successful information system, whether its design is structured (think library catalog) or social (think Wiki), has to provide multiple ways for content consumers to find information as some people are natural browsers while others are natural searchers.

Enter the TechNet Wiki.

The TechNet Wiki is a social fusion of all things Microsoft by and for technology users worldwide who virtually congregate to collaborate, learn and share experiences on their technology of choice. “It’s a positive community that's helping each other, constantly improving the content. That’s a community I want to be part of” (Peter Geelen - Wiki Ninja Interview - 2011)

I Wiki because I want to learn.

I Wiki because I want to share and help others.

I Wiki because I want to collaborate with others who share my interests.

Technology is ever changing and constantly evolving. As technologists, we are all students for life. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, there is always more to learn. The TechNet Wiki as a platform enables a social context of collective knowledge and experience. The TechNet Wiki is successful because it is a community of individuals who willingly contribute to the success of others.

Most of all, I Wiki because it’s fun and I enjoy it.

Why do you Wiki?

Craig Lussier
Blog: http://www.craiglussier.com
Twitter: @craiglussier