Lost files after enabling Selective Sync

Because that is exactly what you told it to do. And what you confirmed it to do when you are given the pop up prompt.

Edit: that said as long as you are quick and reverse that Selective Sync choice via the menu as Dropbox uses an internal cache you may find that the files are restored - even those none uploaded.

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vadoff wrote:

It shouldn't even be designed in such a way that unsyncing something deletes it from the local computer

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Yes, it should, when the entire purpose of the feature is to remove a folder from the local drive. That's the point of Selective Sync. It's not meant to allow you to store a folder in your local Dropbox folder that doesn't sync. It's meant to REMOVE folders from your local drive to save disk space while keeping those folders stored in your account online.

It clearly states that the folder will be removed; both in the documentation for the feature and in the confirmation that appears.

You said:

"It's not like it even went into the trash can, which would be annoying but at least acceptable. If it's going to be PERMANENTALLY DELETED, such a warning should be present and made absolutely clear."

The key thing (which I haven' seen any of the previous responses point out) is that the files have not been permanently deleted. If you go into the selective sync box and re-enable syncing for the folder (it will be available there), then it will re-appear on your local computer. It will take downloading of the many gigabytes of the files from the cloud, so do it on a fast network connection, but they have not been deleted if you just did what it seems from context.

Good luck, hope you get your files back!