Thwack! Now I get it.

Why did we call the site thwack and not something more unimaginative like, The SolarWinds Community? Because the last thing we are is, unimaginative.

Onomatopoeia

If you've been on this site, even for a brief moment, you've noticed a bunch of cartoon characters lurking about. These characters have networking and application monitoring problems that need solving. On thwack, we do our best to solve those problems. Hence the name, thwack. Thwack is the sound a cartoon character would make if he were to slap his forehead as if to say, "Now I get it! Problem solved!" (Similar to the "Blamo!" that would splash on the TV when Batman hit The Joker on the original Batman TV series, circa 1970.)

Don't let the Cartoons fool ya!

Don't you dare. Everyone in this community and here at SolarWinds is at the top of their game, despite our playful appearance. I cannot imagine a collection of people who know more about networking and application monitoring than this bunch. Don't believe me? See for yourself. Check out other software communities and see how they stack up, then ask yourself this:

  • Was my question even noticed, let alone answered?
  • Was the answer correct?
  • Do they even care about me?

Yeah, we care. A lot of us hang out here on thwack on our off time, and not because we have to...it's just fun.

Cartoonify yourself

Want to know how to create those cool characters we come up with? Simple, there's an app for that. A lot of us around here follow South Park and The Simpsons so I've provided links to those two cartoonification sites below. Feel free to venture beyond the characters of these two shows though. Be yourself, within reason. emoticons_cool.png

Get the most out of thwack.

Here are some tips to help you solve your networking and application monitoring issues faster using thwack:

  • Search - Most likely your question has come up before. Try the Search bar at the top-right of every page.
  • Explore - There are a ton of forums here. Poke around and see what you can find. Remember to ask your question in the right forum. Not all of our forums are dedicated to our products.  We have a lot of talk around general IT topics.
  • Follow - Follow a specific forum and receive email notifications. You'll be surprised at what you can learn and at what you don't know.
  • Participate - The more you do, the more points you earn. Check out the missions page and the point system page so you can learn to earn. More points equals more goodies for you from the thwack store.
  • Learn - Check out DocWhite's earlier post about the evolution of social networking and online communities, including thwack.
Thwack - Symbolize TM, R, and C