thwack Monthly Mission - April 2014

First off, I'd like to thank April Fools for happening when it did.  As you'll notice in the comments, we had a bit of a hang up getting this mission ready to go on the 1st of the month like normal.  That being said, the prank was completely intended but hopefully you all are ready for April's mission now!

This month's mission is significant because not only are we celebrating the 15th anniversary of Engineer's Toolset but more importantly, we're celebrating 15 years of SolarWinds.  Back in 1999, the Yonce brothers were two guys working in an IT department.  Knowing the pain network engineer's suffered due to the available tools (or lack thereof), they ventured out to create a product that was not only easy to deploy and use, but could also diagnose network issues more accurately and efficiently than any other product available at the time.  In addition to the tool itself, their model was to sell directly to the IT Pro.  So, that's what they did...  In their garage, of course.  That's when SolarWinds got its start in the IT management sector with our first product appropriately dubbed The Engineer's Toolset. This product is still available today with several new features coming but also carries the tools which eventually spun into our ever popular Network Performance Monitor and Network Configuration Manager, just to name a few.

So, please join us in celebrating 15 years of SolarWinds and in what better fashion than with a bit of gambling...

April's Mission

Networks, Tools & Wagers is the name of the game.  We'll have 4 categories with 4 trivia questions each that will open over the course of the month.  Hidden in each of the categories is 1 THWACK STACK where you will be able to wager your thwack points.  Answer the question correctly, and your points will increase by your wager.  Answer the question incorrectly and your points will decrease by your wager... womp womp womp.  In addition to the betting of points, if you answer the other 12 "regular" questions correctly, you'll be entered to win a license of Engineer's Toolset PLUS a 32GB Google Nexus 7 (because Engineer's Toolset is all mobile and everything now...).  We'll be picking 5 lucky winners at the end of the month.  Follow the rules below to play.

Mission Rules

  1. There are 4 categories with 4 questions each for 16 questions total.  Below is the release schedule for each of the categories.  Once a category opens, it will remain open until April 30th @ 11:59pm CDT.
    1. April 1st - Engineer's Toolset trivia
    2. April 7th - Old Version Names for Engineer's Toolset
    3. April 14th - Network trivia
    4. April 21st - SolarWinds trivia
  2. Answer ALL "regular" questions correctly and you'll be entered to the drawing.  That's a total of 12 questions (3 per category) answered correctly to be entered to win. THWACK STACK questions do not apply to the prize drawing.
  3. There will be 1 THWACK STACK question in each category.  As mentioned, these questions do not qualify you to be entered to win the prize.  THWACK STACK questions are solely intended for you to either level up (or level down...) in thwack points.
    1. On the question page, you'll see a menu to choose how many points you'd like to wager.  The more confident you are in your answer, the higher I would bet.
    2. Answer the question correctly, your points will increase by your wager.
    3. Answer the question incorrectly, your points will decrease by your wager.
  4. 1 attempt at each question - triple check your answer before submitting!
  5. The drawing for 5 winners of an Engineer's Toolset license* AND 32 GB Google Nexus 7 will be on May 1st.
  6. The point value for each question is revealed in the table below.  Aside from the THWACK STACK questions, you can earn up to 3,000 points this month by correctly answering the questions.  You'll earn well over that amount if you answer the THWACK STACK questions correctly.
  7. Points will be added to profiles at the end of the mission.

Click on the links below to start answering questions!

Engineer's Toolset

Opens April 1

Old Version Names of

Engineer's Toolset

Opens April 7th

Network Trivia

Opens April 14th

SolarWinds Trivia

Opens April 21st

100

100

100

100

200

200

200

200

300

300

300

300

400

400

400

400

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  • April fools!!! Of course we have a mission for April. Unfortunately, the survey platform we use, which is basically the backbone of these missions, experienced a DDoS attack late last week and has been unstable up until yesterday. Fortunately, today was the perfect day to give everyone a laugh. Mission announcement coming - stay tuned!

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  • April fools!!! Of course we have a mission for April. Unfortunately, the survey platform we use, which is basically the backbone of these missions, experienced a DDoS attack late last week and has been unstable up until yesterday. Fortunately, today was the perfect day to give everyone a laugh. Mission announcement coming - stay tuned!

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