I’m ecstatic (and relieved) to be writing this blog on the newly resurrected JEFbot site! It took all the time I’d normally be writing and drawing strips to get the site back on its feet, so no new strips this week, but next week I’m happy to say everything should be back on schedule. It’ll be nice getting back to writing and drawing the strip, and back to the characters and storyline. I’ve missed it!

For those just joining us, my site was hacked this week by some Internet AI that began hiding code within my files, the function of which was to release trojans and malware onto unsuspecting visitors. Well, thanks to the response from you readers, I was able to shut the site down before that could happen. Unfortunately, my corrupted files did get me placed on the Google “threat” list which warned browsers to stay away from my site. Fortunately, over the past week I was able to get rid of all the malicious code and clear my site’s name with Google and other search engines. If your browser warns you of any suspicious activity on this site, let me know.

You’ll notice the site is a bit under construction – I decided while I was mucking about in the site’s files that I might as well get some other maintenance done while I was in there. The biggest changes to the site are the elimination of the huge ad banner at the top of the page and the Flash-developed header. I’m extremely appreciative to everyone who advertised on that banner, but I’ve always felt it overpowered the site. And while I loved doing the little Flash animations in the header, with more and more readers accessing the site through mobile devices that aren’t Flash-compatible (like the iPhone and soon-to-be-released iPad), it just didn’t make sense to keep such an important component of the site (the title!) invisible to a large portion of users. Keep watch for updates to the new header with fun, seasonal graphics and buttons linking to random stuff, just like I did with the old one. I’ll continue updating the site over the next week or two, so hopefully this “under construction” business will be done, soon.

Thanks for all the support you guys have sent my way during this craziness. It was a strange, strange week not being able to work on the strip and interact with you readers like I normally do, so it was nice being able to still feel connected to you all through your encouraging emails and tweets. Believe me, taking the site down was the last thing I wanted to do, but it was necessary in this case, so thanks for the understanding. I’m hoping I won’t have to do that again for a long, long time.

Now it’s back to the (digital) drawing board, so I can start updating the site again with new comic strips! See you next week!