DURHAM, N.C. — Pam Spaulding’s years-long work as the “blogmistress” of PamsHouseBlend.com came crashing down late last night.
Hackers managed to break into at least one server on the SoapBlox network, the blogging platform Spaulding used to publish her internationally-popular LGBT and progressive website. She had hundreds of thousands of page views per month.
“It was a good ride, but it’s over,” SoapBlox’s Paul Preston wrote on the site. “All these hackers messing with our stuff, and we here at SoapBlox have no clue what to do. We don’t have enough knowledge, time, money, or care to fix it…Consider this the ‘We’re Out of Business’ post.”
According to news agency PageOneQ.com, a group called Astalavista had claimed responsibility for the hacking.
“I wish I could see a bright side to this,” Spaulding told PageOneQ. “It’s incredible that years of hard work can be destroyed in a flash, but we’re in the digital age and there are people motivated to silence voices through malicious acts. I’m hopeful that data will be recovered, but Paul Preston of Soapblox has said he will not restore any sites. That means Pam’s House Blend will need to find a new hosting platform and a redesign. That will take a good amount of time.”
Spaulding’s website was started in 2004. Since then she’s become a highly-sought-after speaker, commentator and panelist, traveling the nation and appearing on CNN, MSNBC and elsewhere.
By afternoon Wednesday, Spaulding’s site was live again. The blogger said in a post she wasn’t sure how long it might stay up.
Read more: Major LGBT blog taken offline by hackers