Dear Fans,
As you must have noticed there hasn’t been much activity from the Fanclub lately. There are several reasons for this from which we will explain a few.
One of the goals of the Fanclub is to provide you with news, background information, facts and “nice to know” items that can’t be obtained elsewhere. In this you can find the value of being a member of the Fanclub.
Because of the immense popularity and growth of the Social Media over the last few years it is almost impossible for us to meet this goal. New developments and breaking news about Within Temptation are public almost “when it happens”. There is nothing for us to add.
One of the great benefits of being a full member of The Silent Force is the Fanzine. With the Fanzine we have been able to give you a look behind the scenes. The band members have made great effort in writing for the Fanzine as well. Some highlights are “Songtext Explained” and “How to Play”, two very popular Fanzine items.
The release of the Fanzine is always preceded with a very busy and time consuming period of preparations and planning. Unfortunately we have ascertained that the sources we have always used couldn’t provide us with exclusive information anymore and we haven’t received any material for the Fanzine for a long time now.
Because of the lack of time, we all have fulltime jobs, gathering, preparing and writing the entire Fanzine ourselves was no option. This is one of the reasons you haven’t received the Fanzine lately. We regret this very much and we apologize for this.
This development also affects the website. There is nothing we can publish that hasn’t been published yet.
Another benefit of being a member is the ability to attend the Fanclubday. The organization of this day demands a lot of preparation and planning for a long period prior to the Fanclubday itself. Due to the increasing popularity of Within Temptation and their over-filled schedule, it has become almost impossible to plan a date for the Fanclubday. Both the band member and we regret this very much.
We have struggled a long time with the question how to proceed from here. Unfortunately we had to come to the conclusion that there is not very much extra value left in being a Fanclub member and we are not able anymore to meet the goals we have set ourselves.
In spite of our great involvement with Within Temptation and their fans, we had to come to the conclusion that proceeding with the Fanclub in its present shape is not a realistic option and we see ourselves forced to discontinue The Silent Force and we will cease our activities.
After running The Silent Force for 10 years, this was not an easy decision to make and we have made it very carefully. We have always tried to act in the interest of you, our members, and at this moment it is impossible for us to offer you anything that can’t be obtained elsewhere, for free.
We do look back upon a period of 10 years in which we had a lot of highlights, and a few lowlights. It has been a period in which we have found a lot of joy in the things we were able to establish for the fans. We know a lot of you appreciated this very much. Without you it wouldn’t have been possible to make a success of The Silent force!
A lot of our appreciation and gratitude is for Within Temptation. During the last 10 years they have always taken the time to show us all a piece of their lives behind the scenes, they actively participated in creating the Fanzine and they have always showed their involvement with the fans.
We were able to follow them during their concerts and were allowed to witness numerous developments in their personal and musical live.
For the time being, this website will continue to exist and will be mainly a Forum. We hope you will visit this site a lot and we shall assist you where we can in using this website.
We want to thank you all for your participation in The Silent Force. We couldn’t have done it without you.
We wish you a lot memorable Within Temptation moments in the future and remember:
Keep on Rocking!
The Silent Force Mangement