If you've tried to visit SkinArtistry.com in the last day or so, you've found yourself staring at the following notice:

"Skinartistry.com is now officially closed due to hackers installing a series of php scripts, to send out spam, and other various malware. I am sorry that it had to come to this, but they say the third time is the charm. To all those that made SA what it is today, I thank you. Especially all Admins, thanks for your hard work! I will be talking to some that may want to revive the site, but for now, SA is Closed for business."

SA was one of the older skinning sites out there, with the domain registered all the way back in 2004.  Along with sites like Skinning.net, SkinBase and Skinz.org, it made up a large chunk of the skinning community beyond the walls of sites like WinCustomize and DeviantArt.

The shutdown of SA is a blow to skinning, and to the overall community.  Any time a site goes down, we lose not only the skins and artwork hosted there, but we also lose a unique voice and perspective on the hobby and community we've all come to know and love over the years.  It's especially frustrating when we lose a site not because the owner moves on, or for not being able to pay for the site, but because a bunch of punks with nothing better to do decide to tear down something that others put years of hard work into.  Some in the community lost their virtual home because some losers sitting in their parents basements wanted to send out spam.

To the skinners, moderators and administators of SkinArtistry, and on behalf of everyone here at Stardock/WinCustomize, I'm sorry it had to come to this.  Please let me know if there's anything we at WC can do to help salvage what's left and possibly get things going again.