After all the points disappeared a long time ago

I was baffled because all the points I had worked hard to accumulate were suddenly wiped out without any notice, and the shops disappeared without a word. I hadn't used the site for a while, but when I logged in after a long time, I saw that operations had resumed and the system had changed back to collecting cash. For those of you who were here before and had your points expire, did you just start over with your expired points? I've seen sites disappear, but this is the first time I've seen points expire like that while the site is still active. Are you understanding of those who have stayed and just starting over from scratch? If the points are currently being exchanged for gift certificates, do those also have an expiration date?