Applause all around for what has already been noted as an improvement on owner response to site situations. It is greatly appreciated that we're being informed of the dealings occurring behind the scenes. It does worry me what has happened to Gem, though, but hopefully it's nothing more than paranoia or that he was the victim of foul play this time. When you finally reach him, I hope it'll all be resolved.
A suggestion, though, but perhaps automatic backups don't have to be the only thing used. I'd say to make a backup per large scale hack update. That way, the moment there's a problem, we'll have the most resent site changes ready to be uploaded. Of course, I don't know if there's any additional costs involved in that. However, knowing that your contact information was so easily obtainable, I apologise for not thinking of such an action sooner. My suggestions at the time had always been to seek out Gem or even speak to admins.