Indeed. If only the site's source code is of the interest, a new owner should at least change the design, the name, move to a new domain, and not try to associate with the previous site. But if it's the user base which is of interest, and the relative renown of the "old" site, the proper way to do it is to pay any outstanding debt, one way or another.

When the stats were just zeroed, there were about 140 people who crossed the 50K minimum payout threshold, likely even more people above the older 35K threshold, and who knows how many more below that. The cumulative value owed was at least 0.1 BTC. The following is not the way to garner trust and good reputation: