UPDATE – September 8th, 2008:
Looks to be a pretty important topic out there. It appears that one out of a thousand visitors that view this blog post thinks that either I’m facebook or that I’m affiliated with facebook. Let me be clear:
I am neither facebook, nor am I affiliated with facebook.
I repeat,
I AM NOT FACEBOOK.
Leaving a comment on this blog asking to be reinstated will only lead you to being publically ridiculed.
Now, back to regular programming…
Earlier this year, in January, my facebook account got suspended. I’ve always seen it as an opportunity to talk about the various implications (and opportunities) presented by this suspension but it’s taken me forever to finally get to it.
Read past the jump to find out more about it.
The setup – after rising from my slumber on January 15th, I noticed that I was no longer able to log into my Facebook account. No biggie, a growing social network always has problems, fine. After reviewing my email, I noted two messages in succession:
From: Facebook [mailto:info+oplfdpiz@facebookmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 10:25 AM
To: Urban Mixer
Subject: Warning: Your Facebook AccountHi,
Your account has been disabled for persistent misuse of the site. Please contact disabled@facebook.com for more information.
The Facebook Team
From: Facebook [mailto:warning+oplfdpiz@facebookmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 10:29 AM
To: Urban Mixer
Subject: Facebook WarningHello,
You uploaded a photo that violates our Terms of Use, and this photo has been removed. Among other things, photos containing nudity, drug use, or other obscene content are not allowed, nor are photos that attack an individual or group. Continued misuse of Facebook’s features could result in your account being disabled.
If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page at http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=33.
The Facebook Team
Okay, so maybe something I’ve uploaded to Facebook was considered to be inappropriate. I initially considered the Hotbox photos since they contain painted girls…
The only photos that I have uploaded appear to still be intact in my profile – so to date, the phantom photo or photos in question have never been identified.
The back-and-forth – after sending my initial response, I received a canned message from Facebook regarding posting photos of ‘this kind.’
From: appeals+d7x20fu@facebook.com [mailto:appeals+d7x20fu@facebook.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 1:56 PM
To: Urban Mixer
Subject: Re: RE: RE: Facebook Warning raj@urbanmixer.comHi Raj,
Facebook has limits in place to prevent behavior that other users may find annoying or abusive. These limits restrict the rate at which you can use certain features on the site. Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with the specific rates that have been deemed abusive.
Your account was disabled because you exceeded Facebook’s limits on multiple occasions when requesting friends, despite having been warned to slow down.
However, after reviewing your situation, we have reactivated your account, and you should now be able to log in. Please be aware that if your account is disabled again, we will not be able to reactivate it. Once logged in, please slow down the rate at which you request friends. We appreciate your cooperation going forward.
Also, some photos that you uploaded have been removed for violating Facebook’s Terms of Use. Photos containing nudity, drug use, or other graphic content are not allowed, nor are photos that depict violence or that attack an individual or group. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, we are unable to provide further information about the removed photos.
In order to prevent this from happening in the future, please refrain from posting photos of this kind and remove any that still exist on the site. For more information on conduct prohibited by Facebook, please read our Terms of Use, which can be accessed by clicking on the “terms” link at the bottom of any Facebook page.
Thanks for your understanding,
Bella
Customer Support Representative
I’m happy to say that I still don’t know what ‘kind’ of photos they’re referring to. Now they’re accusing me of something different – adding friends too quickly. They’re probably right, but I never received a warning in doing so, but yes, I did ad alot of friends on FB in spurts to grow my profile. Being in the media business means you know ALOT of people. And the vast majority seem to be on facebook, how serendipitous, I say.
It’s interesting to note that about 4 hours into the situation, friends and family started sending emails asking me if I had removed and blocked them from being friends with me in Facebook. According to those still in Facebook land, it appears that I completely disappeared from the network including all my content – videos and photos tagged with friends in them.
If one could fast forward a few decades, imagine the implications of how the world will change and how easy it may be to just flick a switch to literally shut down a person’s communications with the outside world. Can you say Miniority Report?
Anyways, they reinstated my account … or at least partially so. Upon reinstatement, friends still had problems seeing content related to my profile. It took a few days and subsequent emails to facebook to get this up and running. Check out the image gallery below to see how it all looked (you might have to zoom all the way).
Here’s the original dialog:
From: Facebook (raj@urbanmixer.com)
To: info@facebook.com
Subject: Groups Help: account in weirdness mode
Dear Facebook,
Since being reinstated back on Facebook,
1 – friends and family complain that they’re no longer on my friends list
2 – the groups that I administer think I’m no longer a member of the respective groups?
Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071127 Firefox/2.0.0.11
—–End Original Message to Facebook—–
From: appeals+d7x20fu@facebook.com [mailto:appeals+d7x20fu@facebook.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:23 AM
To: Urban Mixer
Subject: Re: RE: RE: Facebook Warning raj@urbanmixer.com
Hi Raj,
We are aware of the problem that you described and hope to resolve it as soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
Bella
Customer Support Representative
From: appeals+ngl5yt1@facebook.com [mailto:appeals+ngl5yt1@facebook.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:19 PM
To: Urban Mixer
Subject: Re: Re: RE: RE: Facebook Warning raj@urbanmixer.comHi Raj,
This problem should now be resolved. Sorry for any inconvenience, and enjoy the site! Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
Clark
User Operations
From: Rajesh Taneja On Behalf Of Urban Mixer
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 11:27 AM
To: ‘Facebook Support’
Cc: Urban Mixer
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Facebook Warning raj@urbanmixer.comYes,
Considering that my profile is 100% intact even though in two cases now I’ve been banned for inappropriate content (photos?), I am concerned that I’ll be banned again for the same offending item since nothing has been removed.
Can you comment on this? Alleviate my concern, perhaps – let me know that as at current my profile is fine, not offensive and not at risk of being deleted?
Regards,
Today’s quote of the day:
“To reach (our goal), we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must sail and not drift, not lie at anchor.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., physician
Rajesh Taneja,
President
SSID Inc., A Venture Technology Firm
+1 800 688-1868 x 911
Visit our website at http://www.ssid.net
From: appeals+d7x20fu@facebook.com [mailto:appeals+d7x20fu@facebook.com]
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 1:55 PM
To: Urban Mixer
Subject: Re: RE: RE: Facebook Warning raj@urbanmixer.comHi Raj,
For technical reasons, we are unable to provide you with the removed photos. We recommend that you refrain from posting any photos on the site that may violate our Terms of Use in order to prevent future complications with your account. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Thanks,
Bella
Customer Support Representative
In the end, I’ve seen a few more blips on Facebook. Writing on a wall, for example almost got me booted – it was confirmed as a system error by customer support. One wonders if the original issue, above, was also a Facebook error.
