• I am not computer savvy so apologies if I am writing this in the wrong forum or place. A year ago, my husband died of cancer. Whilst he was still alive, he wrote a blog spanning a few years and I think used WordPress to do this. The first anniversary of his death is approaching and I am now ready to start reading his blog. Myself and my children are devastated to find that the website has been hacked or replaced with a gambling website. Please could anyone help me recover the site or tell me what steps I need to take…these are precious memories and one of the only ways I have to still hold on to his thoughts and feelings.

    Angela

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

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  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    There’s nothing we can do about that.

    You can find the old posts on https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/https://the-new-normal.uk/

    Hi Angela, so sorry for your loss. But I have good news, and I want to lead with it: nothing has been lost. Your husband’s blog is still online, in full, exactly as he left it.

    It’s here: https://thenewnormaluk.wordpress.com

    That’s the original address it was published at. What you had been visiting, the-new-normal.uk, was a custom web address that pointed at it – a bit like a redirect. That web address expired earlier this year and someone else has since registered it and put a gambling site there. That’s what you found, and I’m sorry it happened this way.

    But nobody hacked anything, and nothing was deleted. Only the signpost was lost. The writing itself, the photographs, the poems – all of it is still sitting on WordPress.com where he posted it. Everything is there, from the first entry in May 2018 through to September 2025.

    Two suggestions. First, bookmark that address now, and send it to your children. Second, if you’d like your own copy that doesn’t depend on any website staying online, WordPress has a built-in export that produces a file of every post and comment – it’s under Tools > Export if you’re able to sign in to his account. If you can’t sign in, there are other ways to make a copy, and I’m happy to explain them here.

    One more thing worth doing when you feel up to it: WordPress.com’s support team has a process for family members of someone who has died, to transfer ownership of an account. That would put the blog properly in your hands so this can’t happen again.

    Once again – I’m very sorry for your loss, and I’m glad his words are still there for you to read.

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