The Drupal community is an intense, enthusiastic, tightly woven group of people.

A few weeks ago Jim and I decided that we would attend a Drupal meetup and, in typical Manifesto style, we turned up late to the party.

The beers had probably been flowing before we arrived but when I began to listen to the passion behind each person’s involvement with Drupal throughout their life (and the rest of their life stories, some of which were very colourful) I was a bit taken aback.

Drupal is not just for life…

It was really interesting to hear how many months/years/lifetimes that people have ploughed into Drupal and the attitude in which they put that across to others. Trying to get a dialog going, we mentioned a couple of other CMS products that we use… and this is where the Drupal community really come into their own. The sheer determination not to see any other product but Drupal was astounding!

Drupal before all others

I’m all for sticking to your guns, or sticking to your own, but when it gets to the point that there is no room in the conversation for competition you know you are in the deep end of the Drupal community. After speaking to one member it was clear that Drupal was and probably always will be their life and that no other systems exist as far as they’re concerned.

Painting yourself into a Drupal corner

As much as I admire the passion for their chosen field, and the amount of time and energy invested, not being able to look outside of that bubble is a dangerous concept. For instance, Drupal was not the first system and it may or may not be around in 10 years’ time. If you lack the ability or the will to look forward or laterally, you might one day find yourself painted into the proverbial corner.

As much as I’m keen to get involved in the community, to contribute and to give back to Drupal, I don’t think I could ever close my mind to all other options available.