Video interview with a TechNet Wiki Ninja, and seasoned Microsoft Warrior: Peter Geelen

Peter Geelen is a guy who needs no introduction. But just to name a few things, Peter is a Freelance Security, Identity & Access management specialist, Partner & Managing Consultant at Quest For Security. MVP, CISA, CISSP, CISSP-ISSAP, CCSK, MCSA, MCITP, MCSA, MCSE, MCT, the list just goes on and on and on. Peter has done everything!!!

Here are the stats of Peter who has been a member since May 29th, 2006.

  • 75,273+ recognition points (Currently 19th on the TN/MSDN leader board) 
  • Forums
    • Helpful Answers  - 456
    • Helpful Posts - 254
    • Replies - 1,151
  • TechNet Wiki
    • New Articles - 163
    • Article Edits - 20,528
    • Comments - 2,635
  • Galleries
    • Contributions - 16
    • 4+ Star Ratings - 18
  • Blogs
    • Posts - 81
    • 4+ Star Ratings - 355
    • Comments - 83
    • Posts Rated - 137

1st interview with a Forum Ninja, and experienced Microsoft Warrior: Peter Geelen

Personal website - https://blog.identityunderground.be

Email address - peter(at)ffwd2(dot)me

Here are of all his achievements! THE GUY IS A MACHINE!!!

Achievements

So when I had the luxury, the privilege of interviewing him we immediately realized Peter had an ocean of information to share hence we decided to do a combination of both written and video! We also have transcript of the video interviews. So let's take a look.

Q1) Who are you, where are you and what do you do? What are your specialty technologies? What is TechNet Wiki? Who is it for? What do you do with TechNet wiki?

[embed]https://youtu.be/-9ISAw-unNY[/embed]

Q2) What is it about TechNet Wiki that interests you? In what other sites and communities do you contribute your technical knowledge? On what Wiki articles do you spend most of your time?

[embed]https://youtu.be/YKf7goqOmz8[/embed]

Q3) What are your favorite Wiki articles that you have written? What are the areas of Wiki need more attention and development?

[embed]https://youtu.be/WkWK_rhU8qk[/embed]

Q4) What could we do differently on TechNet Wiki?

The credibility of the TNWiki depends on it’s quality, so we need to maintain the expected quality on TNWiki.

There are a few small things everyone on the TechNet should pay attention to, because they can easily boost the quality of the TNWiki, with a minimum of effort.

Although we get more and more writers on the Wiki, the quality of new articles is not always optimal.

There are 2 major reasons for this: inferior quality and too complex layout. 

Prepare before you post: the Wiki is not a “quick post” platform, don’t hit the save button without preparation.

  • Do some research on the topic…
  • Check if someone else has posted your topic already
  • Check if your content is unique (to avoid piracy and copyright violations)
  • Prepare offline
  • Post in 3rd person format (the TNWiki is NOT a personal blog system)

In many case the layout of the Wiki articles is over-complicated, which causes instable articles that break the entire layout on the next edit.

Keep it smart and simple:

  • Use simple HTML
  • Minimize use of colors
  • Structure your article
  • Use the TOC feature

There is more than enough information and suggestions on TNWiki for optimizing the layout.

Q5) Who has impressed you in the Wiki community and why?

I can’t name them all, (practical issue, limited space … ;)

Ed Price, Peter Laker, Ronen Ariely, Richard Mueller, Naomi Nosonovsky, … and all the dedicated Wiki ninja’s in the TechNet Wiki council…

The effort that they show every single day are the heartbeat of the TechNet Wiki.

Thanks to their participation and their bright ideas and suggestions, we succeed to make TNWiki a very vibrant community.

Plus the circle of the Wiki blog authors that help to reinforce the Wiki with the blog channel. Without this marvelous group of enthusiasts, the Wiki would die quickly
And personally, this is the driving spirit that keeps me going too. It’s more than fun to work with this team.

 

Q6) What does success look like for TechNet Wiki?

As Wiki is based on open cooperation of other Wiki ninja’s, a good indicator is the level of participation of other authors on an article.

If articles are kept alive over a long time with updates, you’ve a hit.

Another indicator is when your articles are referenced in other sources, blogs, tweets, forums, articles, books …

So, essentially the views and hits it gets is a nice measuring point.

Currently the TNWiki has no visible view or hit count per article, so you must rely on the MSDN/TechNet profile points and medal.

(or using a 3rd party look to count the hits, but this is not always reliable as the HTML counter code is accessible by everyone)

As Ed mentioned in one of his posts on the TNWiki blog, the qualification of success is different on Wiki vs blogs/forums.

Blogs and forums are quick wins, they usually get attention in the period immediately after publication, but then fade out…

On TNWiki it’s the other way around, it takes a while to warm up… but a successful article grows and brings more points over time.

Q7) Do you have comments for product groups and TechNet Wiki?

[embed]https://youtu.be/3J32dunozv4[/embed]

Q8) Do you have any tips for new Wiki authors?

[embed]https://youtu.be/tuxRW05dCvU[/embed]

Here is the link to the home page which Peter highly suggests new Wiki authors to visit. On this page, Peter recommends you take a look at the following.

I firmly believe that many (if not everyone) would agree when I say that Peter is one of the strong pillars on which TechNet Wiki rests. Hence please join me in thanking Peter Geelen for his decade long hard work for the passion he has for TechNet Wiki. Peter, we salute you!