Plone Metrics Person of the Year 2012

It may not be apparent if you are watching the U.S. Congress deal with the fiscal cliff, but things can get done when there is a deadline.  My midnight deadline is fast approaching for choosing the Plone Metrics Person of the Year.  This is my annual (since 2007) shout-out to the Plone community.  Plone Metrics Person of the Year is in no way officially affiliated with Plone or its Foundation, but represents my personal effort to thank the whole community that makes the Plone ecosystem tick.  On top of that, this prestigious award entitles the winner to bragging rights and a free beer from me.

This year's kudos department has two important changes.  One is the absence of the Packt Open Source Awards, an area where Plone frequently gets a community-wide vote of approval. 

The other is the Official  Plone Awards.  Congratulations once again go out to PloneGov.Br and their standard bearers, Cintia Cinquini and Jean Ferri.  I look forward to meeting you in Brasilia in 2013. 

Past Plone Metrics Person of the Year winners have been: 

2011	Toby Roberts
2010	Eric Steele
2009	Nate Aune
2008	Joel Burton
2007	Alexander Limi

Once again the year in Plone is a target-rich environment.  Consideration is noted for these worthy efforts:

• The 2012 Plone Conference team.  Special commendation should be noted for their video-streaming and video archiving.  Those of us who could not attend really appreciate it.
• All of those who have blogged and microblogged about Plone are another group of supporters who contribute simply by continuing to communicate your ideas, thoughts, and solutions along with the occasional pieces of humor.  
• The core developers and release managers definitely need a huge shout-out for all the essential work they do. 
  
• As always, the Foundation Board gets a great big nod of appreciation here.  Matt Hamilton in particular deserves a big tip o' the hat for doing a bang-up job as past President.

All that said, I've been casting about for an objective metric for this year's Plone Metrics Person of the Year.  One of many interesting places to turn is Stack Overflow.  There we see that Martijn Pieters is at the top of the leader board, which itself is a serious who's who in Plone.  Based on that objective record of exemplary service to the Plone community, the Plone Metrics Person of the Year Award for 2012 goes to Martijn. 

And with that, I'd like to once again point out that the real strength of Plone lies in its community--thanks to all you Plonistas out there that make my job easier.  Here's wishing all a healthy, prosperous New Year.