The below is from an e-mail I've recently received
Jason M. Gildersleeve,
I am pleased to announce that after being off-line for nearly a month JackHyles.net is back online. Let me thank all of those who e-mailed me with supporting words through the unfortunate circumstances. I'm sorry I was not able to return each of your e-mails personally. There are still a few that feel that a Jack Hyles web site is inappropriate. However, I received hundreds of e-mails asking me to put the site back online. I have come to the decision to do so, and not allow one disturbed individual to ruin it for everyone else. I have edited the FAQ during the time off. Please take this opportunity to read through it. We have also lost our sponsor because of this. But other than that, the site should be identical to the one that existed before. I do have a couple of books that will be added to the books section soon, so check back often.
I know some of you might have no idea what was going on and others of you have requested an update. So let me provide a brief summery of what has happened. Last month a person with the user name "Tim Pointer" posted a mandate to the forum that I shut down the site. Since I do not visit the forum on a regular basis his request went unanswered by me, however he held a heated back-and-forth with many of the regulars on the forum. When his post was brought to my attention, I responded with a denial of his request. He reacted by logging on using my name and variations thereof. He also flooded the forum with meaningless posts using several dozen different usernames. He posted an extremely long cut-and-paste of text, apparently designed to sabotage the forum software. It didn't work, but I decided to block the pranksters IP address. I figured he would get board and move on. Instead he flooded my e-mail with subscriptions to mailing lists including pornography and homosexual ewsletters. He also created a bogus web site using my name and picture he had stolen from my personal web site. The web site featured a fake ministry supposedly started by me for homosexuals to remain in their homosexual lifestyle. He posted my name, home address, and phone number. It was then I realized that this guy was more than just a simple prankster. I then received an e-mail in response to a personal ad on a homosexual web site that he had posted in my name. The fake web site he created and the bogus personal ad have both been removed from the internet by the hosting providers.
I then received a threatening physical letter in the mail. The person said that if I did not shut down the web site he would ruin my reputation, destroy my credit rating, create public scandal, and cause my family to live in constant fear. Of-course I notified the authorities immediately. The police and the persons ISP are currently investigating the matter. They are moving a little slower than I would like, but they have identified the individual.
I am hoping that the person has come to his senses and will not cause any further trouble. The ironic thing is that the person never contacted me personally. He never e-mailed me with his grievances. Those that are familiar with the site know that I have a reputation of being open to suggestions. For example, when the forum was first added to the site, it was called "The Jack Hyles Forum." Someone protested that the forum should not be so called. I listened to his arguments, they made sense, and "The Fighting' Fundamentalist Forum" was born. So I do listen and take into consideration any suggestion that I receive. A few have asked that I change the color scheme of the site. I'm thinking about it, but not making any promises. :-)
I hope you continue to enjoy the site.
The Webmaster of JackHyles.net