Hawk’s Babble-Log

When logging in to Google Analyics, you are presented with all your profiles. For each profile, there is a “View Reports” link, then an “Edit” link, then a “Delete” link.

I accidentally hit the “Delete” link. This was, possibly, the biggest mistake of my geekdom. I never accidentally delete anything. Or, if I do, I have a backup somewhere.

Why was this such a big mistake? Because Google Analytics instantly deletes that profile along with all historical data. It doesn’t bring up a confirmation screen telling you that you are about to make the biggest mistake of your (whatever), it just instantly wipes it all out. Furthermore, there is no “undo”, no “undelete’, and no “oops!”

I did this with a profile which had over 2 years of data. One click–BAM! All gone. If you search the Analytics Help Groups, they will say something like, “Sorry, bub! Thems the breaks. Sucks to be you.” Except they are slightly more polite. Then they thank you for using Google Analytics.

So this is just a warning: If you click that “Delete” link, your profile, your stuff and all historical data will be instantly gone forever… way before you can hit the ESC key.