I can't imagine why it would take so long to bring the system back up, and why the database was lost.

At every place I worked, we had disk mirroring (two or more identical disks being written to at the same time so that if one crashed, the other[s] would have all the data), periodic and frequent multiple backups stored off site for complete restorations (except for entries after the latest backup), and transaction journals on the databases to complete the data restores for transactions after the last backup.

Given the extreme length of time it took to bring BrainTalk back up, the failure to restore the database, the lack of communication with us during the crash, and the poor communication since, my opinion based on 20+ years in the business is that neither John nor anybody else tried to bring BrainTalk back up for a long long time, that backups weren't made, that crash safeguards and procedures were not in place, and that BrainTalk and it's client community were an extremely low priority to John and his staff. The slow response or lack of response from BrainTalk moderators and from John himself may very well be because they aren't there and don't care. After all, they have a real job at Linden Labs now.

I've written them off. I'd like to get back on to BrainTalk to let people know about NeuroTalk, but I'm not desperate either, thanks to Dr. John. The one thing I am desperate about is getting the old "Stickies: Useful websites" back. That was a precious resource for all of us that took years to build.