TWiT and the TWiT Forums - FAIL

I've been a big fan of Leo Laporte for many years, first on TechTV and since 2005, on his podcast/netcast - TWiT (This Week in Tech). When I was commuting to New Jersey each week, I would listen to TWiT during the early morning drive - first to keep me awake and then to stimulate my brain. At the time that Leo started TWiT (initially called "Revenge of The Screen Savers" - since it brought together many of the former cast members of that late, great show - until the G4 network threatened to sue), he labeled it a hobby - something he did once a week, between the radio show gig and the trips to Canada to shoot "Call For Help". As the months progressed, and podcasting went mainstream with the inclusion of the medium on iTunes, TWiT spawned several other podcasts - MacBreak Weekly, FLOSS Weekly, Windows Weekly - and somehow the weekly get-together with old friends became a nascent Internet media empire.

In early 2006, Leo created a user forum for his fans, also known as the "TWiT Army." There was a small barrier to entry - a one time donation - even as low as $2.00, which would keep out the spammers, trolls and flamebaiters out, but as Leo had such an intensely loyal following, the stream of donations quickly became a source of income that helped pay for the ever increasing technological needs of the TWiT network.

I signed on to the TWiT user forums on the very first day, and I am very proud that my user number is a mere 35. I've been an active participant in the forums (okay, more properly fora), the third most frequent visitor (or maybe it's poster) and the second most frequent discussion starter. I've got a lot of time invested in these forums. I've made some good friends, and have had some truely excellent conversations and the TWiT forums have been a place to exercise my intellectual muscles.

Earlier this year, around March or April, a hacker broke into the TWiT forum and trashed all of the posts. Since Leo had not recently backed up the database (although he had done so for a forum site for the Munchcast podcast), 15 months worth of posts were wiped out (although I feel that Leo should have restore what was actually backed up). And the forum continued on - the reset actually made things a little better...some of the trollish personalities dropped off and all of the nasty "I hate Guest X" threads were gone (and there were, unfortunately, a lot of them).

Beyond the shared interest in the TWiTcasts, the forums had become a real community, and I was horrified to learn that the entire TWiT site, from the show posting pages, to Leoville, to the TWiT Army microblog, to the Forums themselves, were gone. Totally and irrevocably gone. The RAID 5 controller, which Leo has admitted he knew was bad, died. What's worse is that he hadn't backed up anything recently. I certainly could understand not wanting to pay the exhorbitant rates the hosting company was charging for a backup drive, but to completely fail to implement a regular off-site syncing script is simply criminal.

I am so angry I am considering cancelling my monthly donation. Leo's done the mea culpa on air, but that just isn't cutting it. One time is acceptable - but to know that your data's at risk and to do NOTHING is unconscionable.