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Facebook needs to quit with its thuggish attitude
My Facebook profile was disabled for the second, and what seems the last time ("We will not be able to reactivate your account, nor will you be able to recover any content within the account. This decision is final.") on Sunday. The reason, too much "activity"?!?! Over the year and a half I have had my profile, I had amassed hundreds of pictures, hundreds of personal messages, many links/bookmarks, and hundreds of useful personal contacts; and all have now been lost due to Facebook egregious and bull doggish attitude.
The first time my account was disabled, I was doing something as simple as thanking all my contacts individually for their birthday wishes. Not been given the specifics to why I was banned this time around, but I’m sure it was a combination of adding friends, mass emailing (sent out a group email to my Facebook group!).
The ridiculous rules to use Facebook within limitations, and limit ones networking on a networking website are absolutely absurd. Furthermore, these "limitations" aren’t even published, so one is working in the dark, without any knowledge of whether they are going to break a rule of not.
With no way to back up any of the Facebook content, losing all that data is akin to losing data on ones own personal computer. And not only do they delete your account, they remove all pictures you uploaded to groups, delete all the wall posts you ever made on anyone’s profile, remove the tags off all the pictures you were in, remove you off all your contacts friends list, de-admin you from the group you created… essentially, making it such that "you don’t exist, and you never existed" ('1984' anyone?).
of Facebook.
A quick search on Google shows that banning users is more common than fish and chips (I’m from England). The comments on the following blog make for an interesting read:
http://prez.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/facebook-has-a-post-limit
"facebook disabled my account for adding too many people. i dont understand…if the point of facebook is to add friends, why is there now a limit on how many people you add."
"I was just disabled for not being verified with my school network."
"I just got disabled for posting too many comments on group walls!"
"I have been disabled twice… and this is my second time… I do nothing! Just post on walls.. I don’t abuse anyone… I don’t even make fun of other people… I mean what the heck?"
"Facebook just disabled my account. I started a group for people with the same last name as me and i started sending messages to people with the same name to join."
"I added a number of friends from my College because of the mere fact that people in the same school should know one another."
"They said I wall posted too much"
"I made a charity event and sent out over 100 invites.. as people started requesting information, i was mailing people back."
"Yea so like i was Poking some friends last night right and it said slow down or ELES! your Account will be Disabled."
"Facebook, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to disable me. They claim that I do not go to Plum Senior High School."
"My Facebook account was disabled because Facebook felt my name was fake. My name is of Indian background."
"My account was disabled a few hours ago.. because I was friending too many people."
Has anyone else encountered this? And if so, how did they deal with it? Are you a Facebook employee? Can I have my account back?
- stats101 18y ago...oh, and should anyone wish to re-enable my account, it was registered under: miahs101[at]hotmail.com (yes, it's a desperate attempt, but I might aswell).
- jonknee 18y agoWhy would you even want your account back? Facebook doesn't deserve your page views.
- steveplace 18y agoHe detailed that in his post. They have control over his personal information and he wants it back. Is there a FB app that would backup your list of contacts and other information you'd like to have? Is it against the ToS?
- Husafan 18y agoYa, this would be against the ToS.
- LogicHoleFlaw 18y agoThis sort of data proprietarianism is just evil. For exactly the reasons that were discussing this topic today. Holding people hostage for their data is a slimy and vile way to treat your customers.
- sanj 18y agoYes: http://apps.facebook.com/friendcsv/ http://apps.facebook.com/friendcsv/ Warning, this is what got Robert Scoble kicked off FB: http://scobleizer.com/2008/01/03/ive-been-kicked-off-of-facebook/ http://scobleizer.com/2008/01/03/ive-been-kicked-off-of-face...
- jonknee 18y agoThe only data he really lost is messages and what not, which isn't too bad (I doubt many people store life critical data in their Facebook messages). Photos he should already have on his computer. It sounded to me that he wanted his Facebook account back so he could continue to use the site, not capture posts he made so they could be saved. Anyway, I'd treat it as a lesson learned. You have no recourse with a free service. Don't count on it as always being there. Especially for services like Facebook that are burning through crazy amounts of cash. Facebook could go away entirely tomorrow and the world wouldn't grind to a halt.