[13] WHY DOES SFTP / SCP STOP WORKING FOR ME?

     To use SFTP or SCP you must first be an ARPA member.  If you are
     an ARPA member, then please continue reading.

     What did you change?  Both sftp and scp use 'sftp-server' via the
     ssh session you establish.  Any output from the /etc/motd and
     your ENV setup files (.login, .profile .. et cetera) are read 
     into a buffer and not output to your SFTP / SCP client.  Because
     of this, the server may exit abruptly citing:
    
     Received message too long 778199659

     /etc/motd is always kept to just a few lines to accomodate users
     who like to have 'fortune' or the output of other programs displayed
     when they login.  The result can be sporatic use of SFTP/SCP.  

     The best bet is to just not display a large amount of data when you
     login (such as the process table, who is logged in or who has logged
     in for the past 6 months).