Hacked and Sandboxed - is it possible

server breach robots.txt file alterations

[Whitey]

Following a robots.txt 180 exclusion period [ [webmasterworld.com...] ] we are still waiting for our site to return traffic with good positions on Google. Yahoo is working well.

Do u think the results problem could be caused by backlinks not yet being accounted for, following the 180 penalty?

I believe some people think that the “sandbox” is due to an ageing filter not on a site but on "including backlinks" – if this is the case then we could be potentially back in the sandbox for a site that is almost 4 years old – our site is included but there could be an ageing delay in factoring in the back links.

Well, if this is the case then it could be 3-12 months before we reappear.

I also wonder if the sudden accumulation of links through the building process and exclusion/delay will matter.

What can we do? Will Google help us on this one or are we subjected to the standard automated process for this consequence of the hack?