Hi.
I'm the blogger who wrote the post.
Just to correct you on certain points made above:
No, I don't think the hack was done because "some people laughed at (me) once". I think its a wider issue with the way some- not all and I say the some are in a minority- members behave and are, in some cases which I have witnessed myself as have others, allowed to behave with no negativity from the moderators.
I have no idea who is behind the hack, nor would I want to. Clearly they are disgruntled enough to put themselves at risk of prosecution, and the fact they wasted Police time and scared people, whether those people were nasty to them or not, then clearly, as I said in the post, that is completely unnecessary and I don't condone it (despite several attacks on twitter suggesting I did). Being that as some of you so pointedly mentioned in comments to me on my blog, I'm not even great with HTML, so can assure you I am not in with hackers, nor, as I said, would I want to be.
I hate bullying in all its forms. I am open about this across my blog. Hence, whilst I don't condone bullying on here, or the attitude of MNHQ towards it, I also do not, in anyway, condone the behavior of the hackers or swatters.
I am not any of the old members mentioned above, I was previously FellowshipOfFineFellows. I do stand by my bullying allegation and, as intelligent women, you know I am far from the only blogger, ex-member or journo who has accused MN of being a hive of bullies. I posted about this thread on a Facebook group and within a few moments have had message after message from other members, ex or current/lapsed, who have witnessed and experienced bullying.
What do I hope MN members get out of what has no doubt been an unsettling and frightening time? I would hope your Mods become more proactive on the antisocial behavior of some members, other sites manage it. I hope they improve the security of members details- no doubt as an ex member myself my info was on the list. I also know other bloggers who no doubt as part of the network are at risk too.
Perhaps instead of trying to act as if nothing nasty ever happens, and blaming everyone they can who they know full well they have given cause to be disgruntled, eg Fathers4Justice, the owners of this site need to apologise to those they have upset and allowed to be deliberately bashed on here.
Some of you take absolute glee in making people upset enough to leave. Some of you are utterly reprehensible and its those people who the normal, every day members of this site should be upset with for their behavior putting them in this position.