CMS Made Simple Forums

Well I read the FAQ and it doesn't mention that a removal or reinstall would do that.

Maybe a more user friendly approach with a pop-up allowing the user to bail out if they know what a particular operation will do and allowing them to go and prep a backup is better than the ejector seat methodology currently employed.

If you haven't a clue what I am referring to, ejector seat methodology is a phrase that describes an irreversible process like a pilots ejector seat, you don't have your console panel with the ejector seat button next to the cabin lights button. In emails, this is the send button, once its gone, its gone. Like the pilot really wants to eject because once the switch is flipped, you can't undo the process. Deleting something forever, same principle.

So when something is about to be removed that has wider consequences, isn't it wise to ask for confirmation and state what will happen if they do continue with the process.

I did not know that as well. Other modules have not deleted the database content when I have uninstalled them.

Many (most?) modules have a popup when you uninstall, advising that all data will be lost.  If News doesn't, then I agree that it should.  Please file this as a feature request in the Forge, so that it doesn't get lost.

However, you've been making regular db backups as part of your normal best-practices site management, right?  Just restore from your backup and you should be back to normal in short order.

I recommend restoring to xampp or subfolder, and copying the articles by hand into the new (working?) module install on the current website.