I don't know anything about how John was running the site, but I do know how much I missed having it, even though I had not been posting much in recent months.

If John's "moved on" to other interests in his life, does anyone have the ability to get the database?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sure has a lot of money they HAVE to give away, and soon. This is one really good cause for them---if there was someone to run the thing.