Wiki Life: That was almost the year 2012

After everybody has gone for holidays (except Pete - he was so kind to give me his keys) it is my part to hold up the Wiki Ninjas flag for today.

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

The year 2012 is nearly gone and 2013 is at the ready. So I like to summarize what has happen this year on the TechNet Wiki. Lets start with some hard facts: How much has the wiki grown in the last year? It was hard to find some numbers from the end of 2011, but luckily Tord has written a blog post about it some months ago.

At the time of his post 2,400 users have contributed 8,406 articles, 46,739 revisions, and 21,154 comments. But how has that changed during the year 2012?

Until today 3,533 users have contributed 12,320 articles, 67,939 revisions, and 33,095 comments. That means 1,133 new users, 3,914 new articles, 21,200 new revisions, and 11,941 new comments have seen the usefulness of the TNWiki.

But let the hard facts be what they are: Just numbers. Especially for me it was an exciting year at TNWiki. At the end of 2011 I joined the community and during 2012 Ed asked me if I want to write for the Ninjas blog. What was the only answer I could give him? OF COURSE (the real answer was a little bit different, but it should never reach the light, because there would be to much '*' in it).

How does this all start for me? Or to ask the question in another way: What were my personal highlights at the TNWiki? 

Because I became an editor at the MSDN "Training and Certification" forum my first thought was: "Why shouldn't there be some articles about the opportunities of Microsoft's trainings and certification program?" So I started the Wiki: Training and Certification Portal. What did Ed (whom we also know as Santa since yesterday) do after I started the portal? He made an article about it.

My second personal highlight was the translation challenge, where a lot of people have done a great job. But this wasn't the end. We had another translation challenge and a "connect and recruit" challenge started by Tord.

However, the wiki isn't all about challenges. There were also some great articles I like to read again every day. Lets point out some of them:

  • Survival Guides - This doesn't need any explanation. Everybody should love them.
  • E-Book Gallery - Some people might think: Oh no, not the gallery again. He mentions it in every second article. My answer: Uhm ... you're right. Same principle like above: Everybody should love the gallery.

In July Margriet has made the interview of the year with ... Mr Wiki Ed price aka Santa. I think everybody has waited for it a long time. In August it was the time that ... the wiki has reached 3,000 contributors. What did Ed do? He wrote a poem, which I'd like to include in this post:

Wiki Wiki,

 

Oh Wiki

 

Your SEO

 

Is oh so sticky

A nice one, right?

Also in August Ed has made something every ninja has dreamed about: The Stick Figures Ultimate Collection 1. The usage of this collection should say everything, but let me point it out: That collection rocks!

At nearly the end of the year Pete (also known as XAML Guy) has made something special: The Windows 8 TechNet Wiki widget. With that widget he is ordering the organised chaos (also known as the TNWiki).

That was almost the year 2012, but wait ... one of my favorites posts was not so long ago ... some of you may already know it and they are right ... it was the merry christmas 2012 wish from Pete yesterday. Some of us had already knew it: Bill Gates reads every TNWiki contribution and Ed is Santa. Thanks Pete for making this publicly available.

That was my year 2012 at the TNWiki and I can't wait for 2013. If you want to tell me what your year 2012 has looked like, just leave a comment to this post.

At the end of this article there are only some words left to say: I wish you all a happy new year 2013 and we will see us again in January!

- German Ninja Jan (Twitter, Blog, Profile)