diff --git a/docs/getting_started.rst b/docs/getting_started.rst
index cd186a1c..a0975bd5 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started.rst
+++ b/docs/getting_started.rst
@@ -234,5 +234,3 @@ Or run a simple web server using Python::
 
     cd output && python -m SimpleHTTPServer
 
-(Tip: If using the latter method in conjunction with the auto-reload feature,
-ensure that ``DELETE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY`` is set to ``False`` in your settings file.)
diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index 65561d5d..c5aa7f4e 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ Setting name (default value)                                            What doe
                                                                         timestamp information (mtime) if it can't get
                                                                         date information from the metadata.
 `JINJA_EXTENSIONS` (``[]``)                                             A list of any Jinja2 extensions you want to use.
-`DELETE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY` (``False``)                                   Delete the output directory as well as
-                                                                        the generated files.
+`DELETE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY` (``False``)                                   Delete the contents of the output directory before
+                                                                        generating new files.
 `LOCALE` (''[#]_)                                                       Change the locale. A list of locales can be provided
                                                                         here or a single string representing one locale.
                                                                         When providing a list, all the locales will be tried
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index 0940bf72..a1c40077 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -92,10 +92,22 @@ def clean_output_dir(path):
     """Remove all the files from the output directory"""
 
     # remove all the existing content from the output folder
-    try:
-        shutil.rmtree(path)
-    except Exception:
-        pass
+    for filename in os.listdir(path):
+        file = os.path.join(path, filename)
+        if os.path.isdir(file):
+            logger.debug("Deleting directory %s" % file)
+            try:
+                shutil.rmtree(file)
+            except Exception, e:
+                logger.error("Unable to delete directory %s; %e" % file, e)
+        elif os.path.isfile(file) or os.path.islink(file):
+            logger.debug("Deleting file/link %s" % file)
+            try:
+                os.remove(file)
+            except Exception, e:
+                logger.error("Unable to delete file %s; %e" % file, e)
+        else:
+            logger.error("Unable to delete %s, file type unknown" % file)
 
 
 def get_relative_path(filename):
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index e738e295..d2f44131 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+import shutil
 import os
 import datetime
 import time
@@ -86,3 +87,13 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
         changed = utils.files_changed(path, 'rst')
         self.assertEquals(changed, True)
         self.assertAlmostEqual(utils.LAST_MTIME, t, delta=1)
+
+    def test_clean_output_dir(self):
+        test_directory = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'clean_output')
+        content = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'content')
+        shutil.copytree(content, test_directory)
+        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory)
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir(test_directory))
+        self.assertListEqual([], os.listdir(test_directory))
+        shutil.rmtree(test_directory)
+