I think people should give him a chance.

I think it's a darned shame that he decided not to import members, as that means the community is starting from scratch all over again. I hope he is more successful with the messages themselves, although I see some serious vB problems if he tries to do an import once new members have established their accounts.

I also wouldn't hold my breath for any more in-depth explanation other than what you already know -- the system went down, he couldn't restore it, he got busy with work, and it took 3 months instead of 3 hours to put things sort of back the way they were. He'll spend some time there gettings things back in order, but I don't see any reason he'd change the way the community is run.

John