Details on Deleting FTP accounts in the cPanel.... extreme caution required!It all started on Sunday 1/3/16, when I asked SMFHacks to look into an issue with file uploads in the Gallery. He needed an FTP account to look into the server files and so I made an account for him, but it would not connect up, so I ended up giving him access to my account. Meanwhile his (not working) account sat there unused.
Then on Monday, shortly after the noon hour, the site and the content vanished! Totally gone, all the files and folders and about 2500MB worth of content just gone.
After much thrashing around if finally came down to that FTP account that I made for SMFHacks. I was thinking that since it didn't work that it needed to be deleted and so I did. Then, at a little after 2PM on Tuesday my host (Frank) and me figured out what happened, me deleting that FTP account deleted the entire site!
Here is some detail:
Mystery solved.
This from the
FTP Accounts Docs:
Delete
To remove an FTP account, perform the following steps:
Click Delete for the FTP account that you wish to remove.
Click the desired deletion option:
Delete Account — Remove the FTP account only. This will not remove the files that the FTP account's home directory contains.
Delete Account and Files — Remove the FTP account and all of the files that the FTP account's home directory contains.
Warning:
Only use this option with extreme caution. If the FTP account that you delete can access the public_html directory, this option automatically removes the public_html directory and all of its contents, which will break your website.
I do subscribe to the philosophy behind the statement, "RTFM" and I am quick to point out the need to do so, still, that check box statement seen in the image below gives no clue to the dangers involved and deleting an ftp account should not be able delete an entire site.
As I read the check box statement it the image below I would take it to mean that the users home directory would be 'minnie' and not 'public_html' But when reading the Docs that is not the case.
My bitching about it won't change anything, but to me this check box thing is just plain wrong. I wonder if I'm the only one who has made this mistake?
