Roughly 10 years ago, I was given commit access to the documentation of the Apache HTTPd Server. At the time, this was, in my opinion, one of the highest honors I had ever received. To be a contributer to a product used on more than half of the web servers on the planet – even at a time when hardly anybody had heard of the web – was indeed high praise.

Since then, I’ve become a member of the Apache Software Foundation, and that has replaced the commit bit as the highest honor received. I wear the badge of ASF membership very proudly, and there’s always a touch of hubris in introducing myself as “Rich Bowen, from the Apache Software Foundation.”

Each time I type ‘svn ci’ and make a change to the Apache docs, there’s a surge of pride that *I* am a part of *that*, and that the things that I do will help, quite literally, millions of people. I figured it would wear off after a few years, or get worn down by the politics and personalities, but, no, so far, it’s still there.