We ask for things like Mother's maiden name as it's a security question that we request for the account set-up. So many people let their web designers manage their accounts, and sometimes there's a parting of the ways that's less than amicable. There have been attempts by designers to shut down the site of an owner they no longer work for. It's a security step in place to protect you, the site owner, from malicious attempts to access your account by someone who may have quite a bit of your information, but not necessarily all of it.