Thwack Store Doubled Prices on Everything ??

I have never been one to complain about swag, but i was saving up for the hooded sweatshirt in the thwack store and was approaching the point requirement. Today I log in and all of the prices have doubled. What Happened? Tshirts used to be 2000 points now they are 5000.

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CourtesyIT

I like swag as much as the next person, but I have found with 3 months of participation on Thwack I can rack up about 10,000 Thwack Points.

Break Down:

Mission:

Month 1 Mission: 2500

Month 2 Mission: 2500

Month 3 Mission: 2500

Geek Speak:

Month 1: 250 (comment on 5 Posts)

Month 2: 250

Month 3: 250

General Post Replies:

Month 1: 20 (20 replies offering to help others with similar issues I have)

Month 2: 30 (I am starting to learn more and offer more)

Month 3: 40 (cumulative learning in progress)

Community Responses:

Month 1: 50 (People either like, rate, or bookmark)

Month 2: 50

Month 3: 100 (More I offer the more people like, rate, and/or book mark)

Content:

Month 1: 100 (Uploaded two things that I figured out, wrote up a PDF submitted) easy as pie!)

Month 2: 300 (More of the same)

Month 3: 500 (Gets easier, and my Solarwinds skills get better, plus coworkers ask me how I did it).

Vote on Ideas:

Month 1: 500

Month 2: 500

Month 3: 500

One of the best things about Thwack is the more you participate AND try some of the items here, you will learn more and incorporate into your environment. Thus giving you the opportunity to share your results for the next person, who will more than likely like, rate, and/or bookmark your content.

All the best,

All comments

mrs.alterego

Hi scottyplo - I'm going to quote DanielleH since we've had multiple comments/questions about this. Hope this helps!

I can shed some light on the increase. Point prices in the store have remained the same since we deployed it in 2012. Over the past 4 years we've introduced several new actions and engagements that users can participate in, most of which have a hefty reward. We eventually had to make a difficult call and raise prices in consideration of this and a few other factors. There's really no easy way to break the news but we did our best to drop a few hints that changes were coming. I'd encourage you to review the updated point system to see new ways you can level up quickly thwack Point System - Updated May 23, 2016.

scottyplo

Mrs Alterego,

I understand that from a financial standpoint, but wasn't the purpose of the thwack store more for advertisement sake than anything else? That being the case the low prices allow for more technicians like myself to sport a tshirt with your product on it so other technicians can see and recommend it to their company. If an increase was really absolutely necessary could it not have been slightly more incremental than a 100% raise in requirements? Honestly it seems as though there is no point in participating in thwack missions if we have no way of knowing that the goals we are trying to reach will instantly become almost unattainable.

scottyplo

I did not notice that your reply was quoted from DanielleH, I am sorry but my questions still for the SolarWinds team.

mrs.alterego

No worries scottyplo, and I hear what you're saying. Some good news is that a lot of the participation points have also increased, and we will be releasing the monthly missions to automatically add points each time you answer a question correctly, so you won't have to wait until the end of the month! :-)

zennifer

I am totally cool with the hike... makes it more interesting ... I just joined in January 2016 and have almost reached 20K points!. I have more T-shirts sent to me just by participating. In fact, I just received a really nice sweatshirt hoodie for sending in a screen shot! If it were easy ,,, it would devalue the effort that others are putting forth.They make is so very easy to get points. Hang in there... instead of surfing the internet and keeping up on current events ... sign into THWACK! Spend 15 minutes a day ... and I guarantee you, points will start accumulating!!!

danielleh

The ultimate goal of the store is to award engagement and participation in the community, not advertisement, otherwise they would be handed out at industry events and such. Most of the items you can pick up through working on 2 betas and RC releases, a couple UX sessions, or a few monthly missions. Heck, 2,000 points just for linking your THWACK and Customer Portal accounts. They rack up quicker than you'd think.

FormerMember

Hi scottyplo,

A new monthly mission starts this Monday, and you're looking at up to 3,000 points that you can get by answering daily questions.

ahutch43

Much like Zennifer, I too have joined in January and have almost 20,000 points. I pretty much do the same stuff as Zennifer.

bosco777

I noticed the same thing too. I was gonna get the backpack when the points from the May Mission put me over 10,000. But hey, I won the grand prize, so I'm not complaining, lest the villagers and pitchforks come out :-)

rharland2012

scottyplo - DM me your mailing address, t-shirt choice and size and I'll buy you one if you want.

scottyplo

I guess my only thoughts might be that if they were going to double the price they should of doubled the users current points then everything would be even going forward, and someone who was 100 shy of there goal wouldnt suddenly be 5100.

CourtesyIT

Also, do not forget, if you comment on any Geek Speak post you will get 50 points per comment.

CourtesyIT

I like swag as much as the next person, but I have found with 3 months of participation on Thwack I can rack up about 10,000 Thwack Points.

Break Down:

Mission:

Month 1 Mission: 2500

Month 2 Mission: 2500

Month 3 Mission: 2500

Geek Speak:

Month 1: 250 (comment on 5 Posts)

Month 2: 250

Month 3: 250

General Post Replies:

Month 1: 20 (20 replies offering to help others with similar issues I have)

Month 2: 30 (I am starting to learn more and offer more)

Month 3: 40 (cumulative learning in progress)

Community Responses:

Month 1: 50 (People either like, rate, or bookmark)

Month 2: 50

Month 3: 100 (More I offer the more people like, rate, and/or book mark)

Content:

Month 1: 100 (Uploaded two things that I figured out, wrote up a PDF submitted) easy as pie!)

Month 2: 300 (More of the same)

Month 3: 500 (Gets easier, and my Solarwinds skills get better, plus coworkers ask me how I did it).

Vote on Ideas:

Month 1: 500

Month 2: 500

Month 3: 500

All the best,

zennifer

I keep forgetting about the Geek Speak Comments!!! I am still working on confidence to post! And you are absolutely correct ... I have found myself working with additional products because of the THWACK community ... it has definitely enhanced my Solarwinds abilities, which has made a defined impact on my day to day work. I joined THWACK January 2016 - I am at 20,350 points. I am totally digging this community. Keeps going back to stimulating!!!! Have never had such a cool experience - the points add a new dimension ... again... makes it more interesting ... thanks THWACK Community, Staff, Members, MVP's ... watch out 150,000 ... you are only a couple of months away!!!! My team here at work is counting on me!!!!

jokerfest

Yea scottyplo ,100 points away would really burn me.

I was going to have enough after this month's mission for the backpack myself. So I'm disappointed it will take me longer, but I'll deal with it.

I may have forgone the polo and went straight for the backpack first.

But being that close? 100 points from the backpack? I would just be crying at my desk...

jokerfest

Actually doubling the 'old points' does sound like a reasonably fair idea scottyplo

Points are easier to get now with the monthly missions and the point prices can reflect the market including the newer opportunities going forward.

matt_rees

Some people need to chill and get perspective. Some of the Thwack store items are actually good stuff and it's totally free! You accumulate points freely and even don't have to pay delivery charges! I don't think there is any room for complaining I must be honest. Keep up the good work Thwack team!

akiebach

Please keep in mind with what I say next that (a) I am glad that Solarwinds does this, (b) I am grateful for the work that the Thwack team puts into this endeavor, (c) I don't think that the new costs are unreasonable, just unfortunately timed for myself (such a steep cost jump would always be unfortunate for some folk), and (d) I get more out of this promotion than swag.

This is in no way free. It's receiving promotional material in exchange for being promoted to. Participants exchange their time for a mock currency, which can then be exchanged for Solarwinds swag. A comparable t-shirt costs ten dollars at ThinkGeek, so if you spend more than an hour and half earning the five thousand points required for the Thwack equivalent, you're exchanging your time for merchandise at a poorer rate than minimum wage. That said, Solarwinds putting so much work into building a knowledgeable userbase and providing said userbase with rewards that they are happy with in exchange is pretty much quintessential win-win.

There are a lot of very good reasons to participate in the Thwack community, but Solarwinds isn't making it rain. Heh.

matt_rees

I know what you're saying but you're essentially using a forum and knowledge database for technical help, news and other helpful items and you get free points for doing it, you're not really 'working' for the points. If you were filling out questionnaires or having to share social media posts continuously and give your time then fair point... but most of the points gathered come through reading articles, posting questions and entering competitions you would have otherwise likely participated in anyway; if not on Thwack then elsewhere and you would not have expected anything for it.

zennifer

Well said!

oby

People are scared to order what they really like and are trying hard to get more points to meet up. Though not all are after the points but more knowledge.

CourtesyIT

Please take a look at this page. Re: Advancing Super Thwackers!

At the bottom, you will see how many points some of our honored thwackers earn each month. Some are VERY active and some are moderately active. The points are there and the activity level is how much you want to learn.

All the best,

d09h

Since...

"The ultimate goal of the store is to award engagement and participation in the community, not advertisement"

perhaps no obstacle to Amazon gift card rewards? Or Think Geek gift cards? (ISC)2 encourages engagement and participation that way (Amazon gift cards being one flavor of compensation, ultimately handled through Axway if I'm not mistaken). I look forward to (and invest significant time into) those interactions.

I would expect participation in forums leads to fewer support calls for SolarWinds, as the community can help with some of the low hanging fruit...faster and cheaper than tying up a support engineer.

akiebach

No argument with any of that, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement to be sure. My only point of contention was the assertion that Thwack store items were free, since they aren't (nor should they be). That doesn't make me any less glad that the Thwack team does this or that SolarWinds supports it. Just pointing out that the swag are rewards for efforts put in by their clientele to build their social network, as well as provide them with support and marketing content. As such, categorically stating that no one had any room to complain "because it was free" when the Thwack team essentially said that the user base's past efforts were suddenly worth half as much seemed a bit dismissive.

Again though, I don't feel that the new costs are at all unreasonable. It may have made for slightly better messaging if points earned beforehand had retained a greater portion of their relative value, but not a big deal either way, since as you rightly point out, this is a way that Thwack and Solarwinds do go above and beyond what is the norm.

solaradmin

Don't forget to hit up your sales guy for SW swag as well. They have some excellent polos

corileigh77

We just have to learn more to earn more

oby

scottyplo its rather sad that you have not ordered your items. Many people have the same feeling. They wisj they ordered b4 the increase in points requirement. I guess you need to work harder to meet your goal.

amore1329

That is a very simple breakdown of how easy you can rack up the points. I joined in December 2015 and I am at 10,000 as well. (some points have not been awarded yet) Thwack as a part of your daily schedule gets you educated on Solarwinds and the challenges get you familiar with the modules that you don't already use. Its Awesome.