It was preventable in the sense that the admin team probably should not have continued relying on a single point of failure who had already shown themselves to be unreliable and prone to vanishing for extended periods, but I think it's also not really a blameworthy mistake. They assumed good faith in people who had helped to set up the site and pay for the infrastructure, which is understandable. It's a learning opportunity for sure and very preventable in hindsight, but not really anybody's fault I don't think.
It was preventable in the sense that the admin team probably should not have continued relying on a single point of failure who had already shown themselves to be unreliable and prone to vanishing for extended periods, but I think it's also not really a blameworthy mistake. They assumed good faith in people who had helped to set up the site and pay for the infrastructure, which is understandable. It's a learning opportunity for sure and very preventable in hindsight, but not really anybody's fault I don't think.