I am sitting here at the opening of ALT.NET Seattle. I look around and see the words "Learn, Share, Grow” on a poster, words I first wrote on the ALT.NET wiki about two months ago. At the time when I wrote it, I sat back and thought to myself “What is ALT.NET about?”. I had a flurry of thoughts, some positive, and some negative.

At the end of the day I boiled it all down to three fundamentals.  ALT.NET is about learning from others, sharing experiences and growing in the process. Now you may think this sounds all peachy clean and blue sky. Learning and sharing, doesn’t mean we always agree and are on the same page. It doesn’t mean we won’t get frustrated with each other about not getting across our viewpoints, or that our ideas are not being accepted, we will.

What it means is that we recognize the value of the sum total of our experiences. We recognize that we all have something to give, and to take.  Benefitting, doesn’t come for free, but the cost is a worthy investment.

OK, I am ready to make mine. How about you?