I first heard the term "community" related to SQL Server back in 1999, when I participated in the original planning meetings to form an international user group, which eventually became the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS). Although I had been participating in online help forums, starting with CompuServe in 1992, and had been given the Microsoft MVP award every year since 1993, I never really thought that what I was doing was related to community. I just liked reading about what other people were doing with SQL Server, and because I had experience with Sybase going back to 1987, I found that there were many questions I could answer. I discovered that I really enjoyed helping people out. I liked the idea of a user group organization, primarily because I thought the idea of a big conference devoted just to SQL Server sounded like a terrific idea.

So when people at the original PASS planning meetings talked about the SQL Server community, I assumed they were just talking about all the users of the product. But since that time, community has been used more and more to describe something different, and truth be told, I’m not sure exactly what someone means when they say it. Microsoft has been using the term and has quite an online presence for its technical communities at www.microsoft.com/communities/default.mspx. Microsoft also uses the term when describing the MVP program at mvp.support.microsoft.com, and refers to its MVPs as "community leaders," even if all an MVP has done to earn the award is sit in his/her office and answer questions on the public newsgroups. Microsoft even has employees whose jobs are to interact with and support the communities for various products.

Will you be attending PASS next week in Seattle?

Go to the SQL Server Magazine home page (www.sqlmag.com) and submit your vote for:

• Yes, I will be attending PASS
• No, I'm not attending PASS
• What is PASS?
  
  
  
  
  

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