At about 4:30 p.m. today, when I tried accessing this site, I received the following message on a white screen.
Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /2008/12/27/amtrak-police-arrest-photographer-participating-in-amtrak-photo-cont est/ on this server.Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
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Apache/1.3.33 Server at carlosmiller.com Port 80
So I called my hosting company, Go Daddy, and explained the situation. After looking into it, the guy said that all my files in my account had been wiped out, including the files for my two other websites.
He said I must have deleted them by accident.
I told him that was impossible because I had not even logged in to my Go Daddy account in weeks. I post my content through my WordPress account.
He told me somebody must have access to my password but to have no fear because for a mere $150, they could restore my account.
I said the only people who have access to my Go Daddy account is Go Daddy, and they should restore it free of charge.
He told me there is nothing he could do about it.
I demanded to be transferred to a manager.
He told me he does not have the capability of transferring, so I must hang up and call again.
I said just hand the phone to a manager if you can’t transfer me.
He transferred me.
The next guy I spoke to continued with the same adage that somebody must have access to my account because there is no record of Go Daddy doing anything.
I said then surely Go Daddy must have a record of the IP address from which my files were deleted.
He told me he would talk to the tech guys, and put me on hold.
A few minutes later, he returned with good news, saying my site was restored. But still insisted that somebody had accessed my hosting account and deleted my files.
His exact words were, “the permissions were zeroed out”.
I have since changed my password but I still believe the problem was on their end.
However, it might have something to do with my Amtrak story, which is getting some serious exposure on the internet. In fact, it has already surpassed the post I wrote after my trial as the most popular post, according to the left sidebar, which I did not think would ever happen.
What do you think?