I am logging into my linode via ssh and I keep getting permission denied. How do I determine why?

What message are you getting back? Typically, the error message tells you why. Usually, wrong password or pubkey.

What user are you trying to connect as?

That was the only error I was recieving. Evidently having a ! in the password broke it. But now the root password doesn't work for sftp.. so frustrating.

Recent releases of ssh, by default, do not allow the user root to log in using a password.
(Try "man sshd_config" and read about PermitRootLogin option).

That's not a bad default, however. What you should do is to start using ssh public keys.

It is good to keep direct root logins disabled, create a user and add it as sudo

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