My heart goes out to Mike Challis and all the plugin & theme developers who were/are taken in by unscrupulous people. The days are long gone when we, as a community, can really take people at face value. For our safety and the safety of our readers we must do more research and deeper "investigations" just to stay online.

When all of this news started breaking, I was struck by how differently things sometimes work, as opposed to other industries and niches. When the non-tech business owners/developers that I know decide they want to make an "exit" or change focus, they often put out the word to peers (people they know and trust.)

Once a "new owner" is researched and goes through a transition period, where the original owner oversees the new owner as they work on the site/project together. This serves 3 purposes.

1. The original owner gets to know the prospective new owner better.
2. The prospective owner gets to "learn the ropes" and builds trust with the existing members/readers.
3. The members/readers know what end is up and can make a more informed decision about whether they need to look for a new resource or option, before the original owner bows out fully.

There have been quite a few times when owners and developers left without a word to users. Because I had no forewarning, I was left scrambling trying to find a new source for info or a comparable product.

Sometimes being "transparent" isn't easy but I greatly appreciate it when business owners and developers take the time to tell me about things that are likely to affect me or my business. Maybe I'm old fashioned but that level of integrity and respect is something that I'd like to see more of within every industry.

I'm getting off my peach crate (aka soapbox) now. Thanks for letting me babble. :D