ChrisSilver

An update on this, the last several days have been a right nightmare and has taken much longer than expected to get the files over to the new host. That first part has finally done but they still need to download and convert the files to work with their cloud host and then upload to there, so that may take several more days.
The migration may not be able to happen until sometime next week. I was supposed to be on a flight tomorrow but have cancelled everything to try to get this all done smoothly.
 
As soon as I have an update from them and a rough idea as to when TSF will go offline I will update here, there may be very short notice at the time, it depends on the host. The actual time TSF will be offline for should be very minimal and less than a day. As most of the files are able to be moved across in the background, after the move there may also be some missing recent images etc that have been added since my initial upload, but those will be added to the new server behind the scenes without affecting downtime.
I will try to update as soon as I know when we are likely to go offline. My guess is sometime next week (as they don’t work on weekends) 
Thank you once again for your patience  

An update on this, the last several days have been a right nightmare and has taken much longer than expected to get the files over to the new host. That first part has finally done but they still need to download and convert the files to work with their cloud host and then upload to there, so that may take several more days.
The migration may not be able to happen until sometime next week. I was supposed to be on a flight tomorrow but have cancelled everything to try to get this all done smoothly.
 
As soon as I have an update from them and a rough idea as to when TSF will go offline I will update here, there may be very short notice at the time, it depends on the host. The actual time TSF will be offline for should be very minimal and less than a day. As most of the files are able to be moved across in the background, after the move there may also be some missing recent images etc that have been added since my initial upload, but those will be added to the new server behind the scenes without affecting downtime.
I will try to update as soon as I know when we are likely to go offline. My guess is sometime next week (as they don’t work on weekends) 
Thank you once again for your patience  

An update on this, the last several days have been a right nightmare and has taken much longer than expected to get the files over to the new host. That first part has finally done but they still need to download and convert the files to work with their cloud host and then upload to there, so that may take several more days.
The migration may not be able to happen until sometime next week. I was supposed to be on a flight tomorrow but have cancelled everything to try to get this all done smoothly.
 
As soon as I have an update from them and a rough idea as to when TSF will go offline I will update here, there may be very short notice at the time, it depends on the host. The actual time TSF will be offline for should be very minimal and less than a day. As most of the files are able to be moved across in the background, after the move there may also be some missing recent images etc that have been added since my initial upload, but those will be added to the new server behind the scenes without affecting downtime.
I will try to update as soon as I know when we are likely to go offline. My guess is sometime next week (as they don’t work on weekends) 
Thank you once again for your patience  

An update on this, the last several days have been a right nightmare and has taken much longer than expected to get the files over to the new host. That first part has finally done but they still need to download and convert the files to work with their cloud host and then upload to there, so that may take several more days.
The migration may not be able to happen until sometime next week. I was supposed to be on a flight tomorrow but have cancelled everything to try to get this all done smoothly.
 
As soon as I have an update from them and a rough idea as to when TSF will go offline I will update here, there may be very short notice at the time, it depends on the host. The actual time TSF will be offline for should be very minimal and less than a day. As most of the files are able to be moved across in the background, after the move there may also be some missing recent images etc that have been added since my initial upload, but those will be added to the new server behind the scenes without affecting downtime.
I will try to update as soon as I know when we are likely to go offline. My guess is sometime next week (as they don’t work on weekends) 
Thank you once again for your patience  

This migration will likely be sometime next week. Just uploading the files to the host still, via a method that is currently working. 😄
So once that is done should be pretty much good to go depending on the host. They don’t work over weekends so will likely be sometime early next week 🤞 

An update on this, the last several days have been a right nightmare and has taken much longer than expected to get the files over to the new host. That first part has finally done but they still need to download and convert the files to work with their cloud host and then upload to there, so that may take several more days.
The migration may not be able to happen until sometime next week. I was supposed to be on a flight tomorrow but have cancelled everything to try to get this all done smoothly.
 
As soon as I have an update from them and a rough idea as to when TSF will go offline I will update here, there may be very short notice at the time, it depends on the host. The actual time TSF will be offline for should be very minimal and less than a day. As most of the files are able to be moved across in the background, after the move there may also be some missing recent images etc that have been added since my initial upload, but those will be added to the new server behind the scenes without affecting downtime.
I will try to update as soon as I know when we are likely to go offline. My guess is sometime next week (as they don’t work on weekends) 
Thank you once again for your patience  

An update on this, the last several days have been a right nightmare and has taken much longer than expected to get the files over to the new host. That first part has finally done but they still need to download and convert the files to work with their cloud host and then upload to there, so that may take several more days.
The migration may not be able to happen until sometime next week. I was supposed to be on a flight tomorrow but have cancelled everything to try to get this all done smoothly.
 
As soon as I have an update from them and a rough idea as to when TSF will go offline I will update here, there may be very short notice at the time, it depends on the host. The actual time TSF will be offline for should be very minimal and less than a day. As most of the files are able to be moved across in the background, after the move there may also be some missing recent images etc that have been added since my initial upload, but those will be added to the new server behind the scenes without affecting downtime.
I will try to update as soon as I know when we are likely to go offline. My guess is sometime next week (as they don’t work on weekends) 
Thank you once again for your patience  

Thank you for the recent entries. Still more FREE super likes available for qualifying entries.  

6 memberships away from hitting our first target  

Congratulations, again, @PapaLazarou!
Thank you for sharing pictures after receiving the prize!
Thank you also to everyone who participated at this tombola!
All the best wishes to everyone!
Stefan 🤗
 

Tombola Cornucopia   The splendid haul of swag that was the "Silver to Platinum" prize has now landed and I again offer my heartfelt thanks to @stefffana, @ryanwinter73 and @theman73. All glorious.   I must also extend my gratitude to admin @ChrisSilver for the one month's TSF membership credit.

Bought a 1oz 2023 Royal Arms Gold Coin from @TavexBullion using the TSF discount.
Thanks again to you and @ChrisSilver for the joint promotion.
NeutronJack

Thank you for the recent entries. Still more FREE super likes available for qualifying entries.  

As everyone around the world is aware recent inflation and the cost of living is an issue pretty much everywhere worldwide, with the costs of goods increasing considerably due to current circumstances in the world as well as increases in energy prices. As you have seen already TSF is not increasing our pricing for Premium Membership. However, our running costs as a business have also increased.

We need to increase our Premium Membership numbers to help with our running costs and planned improvements to TSF as well as to increase our marketing budget so that we can make more people aware of TSF and subsequently increase the amount of items that are posted for sale in the forum's trade section. Currently we have had to use a good chunk of our marketing budget to help out with the day to day running costs and expenses, unfortunately diverting money away from marketing budget. If we increase our Premium Memberships we can start to put a larger amount directly back into marketing TSF. 

TSF offers a free standard membership option, if you can afford it though please consider upgrading to Premium Membership to support TSF, in exchange you will also receive all of the benefits listed under the package you choose. Especially please consider upgrading if you are using TSF and benefit from the community here. TSF does not charge any commissions on trade topic sales and our Premium Memberships are the best way to support TSF. 

I have been making manual recordings every so often since 25th January 2022 to see if we are on track to our targets, and now I wish to publish the targets publicly so that we can all work together. 

Our Premium Membership targets:

Our targets are based off of the membership figures below taken on 25th January 2023, which will be used as the baseline. 

+100 Active Premium Memberships by end of December 2023 (Target = 630+ Premium Members)
+283 Active Premium Memberships by end of December 2024 (Target = 813+ Premium Members)

25th January 2023 (original) 
Silver - 404
Gold - 37
Platinum- 83 
Platinum PLUS - 6
Total: 530

Note that these stats only include Premium Memberships purchased on or after 1st January 2020. For simplicity this is counting all Premium Memberships purchased on or after 1st January as an overall target and not differentiating between the different Premium Membership levels in our target, however there will also be a bonus prize should the winner of the prize draw be a Platinum or Platinum PLUS premium Member. 


Prize Draw:

This draw is open to all Premium Members and Business Accounts, existing and new. Though the stats only include Premium Memberships. There will be a bonus prize should the winner be a Platinum or Platinum PLUS Premium Member / have a Platinum Business Account.

Prize if we hit +100 target: 2x 1oz Silver Coins.  (+ bonus if winner is a Platinum member group)
Prize if we hit 2nd target of +283: TBC (+ bonus if winner is a Platinum member group)

How to take a ticket to enter:

1. Simply Purchase Premium Membership if you aren't already a Premium Member or hold a Business Account. If you already are an existing Premium Member you can enter below.
2. Enter the ticket number below, i.e. the first person to reply will enter #1 (ticket 1) and then next #2 (ticket 2) etc

One ticket/entry per member. 

Take a note of your ticket number in sequence, as multiple entries may have been posted at the same time the moderation team may need to adjust ticket numbers so that they are in the correct sequential order from when posted. 

Members can request an update to the current stats anytime by posting/requesting below and I can post an update below  

 
EDIT January 2024 Update:





Terms:
If the target is hit within the specified time frame as mentioned above then a random number generator will be used to determine a winner and the result will be posted below. After a winner has been determined they will have 30 days to provide their shipping details to @ChrisSilver who will arrange for the dispatch of the prize on behalf of The Silver Forum. The prize will either be dispatched by ChrisSilver or Another Moderator. Should they not make contact with their shipping details within this time, the prize draw may be put up again and a new winner selected. 1 entry per person. Creating multiple accounts to abuse this limit will result in the permanent ban of your account and all future accounts associated with you, The Silver Forum has a strict policy in regards to multiple accounts. The winner needs to be a Premium Member both at the time of taking a ticket, and the time the winner is drawn. We advise you to securely save your card details for automatic payment so that your membership dose not lapse and so you are always eligible to win. The winner is responsible for any applicable import taxes or duties. This prize is dispatched from the UK. FREE worldwide shipping to the winner. 

Additional terms in relation to Prize Draws ran by TSF:
Premium Membership should be purchased to support TSF and/or for the benefits listed within each Premium Membership package in the forum store. There is no guarantee that this Prize Draw listed in this topic will take place, and this prize draw along with all prize draws are not a benefit of Premium Membership, please take this into consideration.  From the forum's terms and conditioons page: As per section 5.1.3 of these Terms and Conditions, Premium Membership comes with a range of benefits of which entering prize draws is not a listed benefit, as there is no guarantee that these draws may take place regularly or at all, as per section 9.7.2. The benefits of membership are specifically relevant to those set out in 5.1.3 and expectations should be accordingly managed in terms of the additional benefit brought by entry into a Prize Draw which may or may not be regularly drawn and which the odds of winning are significantly low; especially when balancing the overall costs of membership with the value of the prizes on offer.

Thank you for the recent entries. Still more FREE super likes available for qualifying entries.  

#186

#185

#184🙂

Another draw 🙂🤞🏻
#183
😊

#182

#181

#180 - glad to be back

This migration will likely be sometime next week. Just uploading the files to the host still, via a method that is currently working. 😄
So once that is done should be pretty much good to go depending on the host. They don’t work over weekends so will likely be sometime early next week 🤞 

So after more than 24 hours of trying to split the latest zipped folder and looking like it was about to complete with no issues, for some unknown reason it then failed. 😅

So back to the drawing board. Currently dividing the folders up in smaller portions and then zipping each of those, rather than trying to split the already created zipped folder. 

Probably realistically a day or two before ready to put the forum into offline mode. Apologies for the delays, glad though that we have managed to keep everything online and have not had any unnecessary downtime  

A while ago I put up a topic or post about a possible server move and the reasons for this. In short we are moving away from self managed severs to cloud hosting, this is expected to be our last and final move, and will provide several benefits to the community including more forum features.

We hope to schedule this for sometime towards the beginning of September but will give at least 1 weeks notice when we know a move date. There will be some downtime during one day however this will be minimised as much as possible, and we will aim for the actual switch over to be as seamless as possible and to go LIVE as soon as possible with the bulk of the images and data being uploaded in the background whilst the new server is live. 

I will update in this topic as soon as have a switch date  

⚠️ Edit: Please see update in next post below