In running our sites now and then bad things happen, in my case I accidentally overwrote the production db with an out of date testing db that was some months old. Add a few borked backups to the mix and I had to revert back to a db that was approximately 6 weeks old. Lost some posts and users along with a lot of good info.

Often this will annoy your members, they have invested time and effort in growing your site and in one fell swoop that effort is gone. So how can we limit the damage and keep your current members engaged.

I did the following:

Posted a mea culpa front and center on the home page explaining what happened and apologizing. This was in place when the site came back on line for members.

Sent a newsletter to all members with basically the same info as above.

The comments back from the members has been overwhelmingly positive. Most everyone has experienced data loss and can empathize with the issue. I think the key is communication. Crafting a post that does not point fingers but explains in plain language what happened, why and how it was fixed goes a long way in building rapport with the members of your community. Many replies mentioned how some competing sites had data loss issues and the members were not informed. Keep your members in the loop and they will reward you with loyalty.

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Nathan Freedenberg
Director - Product Support
Drive Thru Online

Feel bad for ya and glad to hear the members are taking it in stride. Congrats!