FTP

The FTP service on pond.fysh.org is principally as an additional means (beyond SCP or SFTP) for a user to get files onto the machine.

There is a small anonymous FTP area which does also allow uploads in /incoming but no-one but system administrators can get at the files in there via FTP (so the server can't be used as a dead-drop by undesirables). HTTP is a much better option if a pond.fysh.org user needs to host a file for others to pick up without logging in.

Any FTP connection to ftp.fysh.org may make use of SSL encryption so as to not expose passwords or other data to snooping by 3rd parties. This is implemented via extra protocol on the default FTP ports (20 and 21) not through the extra 'ftps' ports (989 and 990) so be sure to configure your FTP client for the former, not the latter.