Facebook Fiasco
Iām sure if you followed my Pharmacy Follies page on Facebook, you know itās off line. Apparently, I got suspended from Facebook for some unknown reason. Seriously. I have no idea as to why they suspended my account. I never got any sort of warnings. At most, I would get those music copyright warnings whenever Iād upload a video and it had a song playing in the background but are those really enough to suspend an account? The worst part is not only did it suspend my personal FB profile that I had for 12 years, it also suspended by Instagram account which only had hair and nail pics on there.Ā
So you get the option to fight it out except thereās one little problem. I do NOT use my real name online. Yāall gotta remember. Iām old as shit. I started using the internet when Netscape and AOL and shit was the way you accessed the internet and if youāre old enough to remember those days, there was ONE thing that was CONSTANTLY drilled into your head: do NOT use your real name online to keep yourself safe. So thatās what I did. I used the same pseudonym across the board, which was pretty much dog boards because I live such an exciting life, that everybody and they mama know me by that name. Needless to say, when Facebook came out, it only made sense for me to sign up with the name that everyone knew me by and it was NEVER an issue. Until now.Ā
For me, personally, I donāt use a pseudonym for nefarious reasons. I do so in order to prevent people who I donāt want to find me from finding me. This is includes crazies Iāve encountered in life and employees and customers within the company Iām employed in. My personal life is just that, personal. Iād like to keep it that way. Now, there are a lot of serious reasons why people may use pseudonyms. Victims of abuse. Gay folk who havenāt come out. Then you have transgendered folks who go by their new name but havenāt legally changed things over yet.Ā
Well, it turns out that using a false name is a violation of the TOS of Facebook and in order to verify my Facebook account, they want my government ID. I have a HUGE problem with that. Not only because I use a pseudonym but I donāt feel comfortable uploading ID to a social media account where only God knows what can happen with that information. Iāve NEVER had any other entity require an ID to be uploaded to their website. Not my banking website, not my credit card websites, not my insurances websites and I sure as hell didnāt need to upload my ID when I dropped crazy money on jewelry to ensure itās really me purchasing such an expensive bauble. So why does Facebook feel theyāre deserving of such information? Yeah, I get itās their entity and they can do what they wish but have they ever taken into account as to WHY some folks arenāt comfortable with using their real names online?
Because my need to socialize and keep in touch with my friends and family is a little greater than my need for privacy, I decided to play the game and upload my ID. It was rejected because the information doesnāt match. The crazy part is for an entity as big as Facebook, their support SUCKS. Thereās literally NO WAY to reach out to someone when your account is suspended because youāre NOT given the option to access ANYTHING on Facebook due to a suspended account. I literally had to do some dig deeping just to find email accounts to various Facebook departments in order to explain my situation: My account is suspended, Iām trying to fight it but because my ID does not match the name on the account, I canāt proceed any further. NO response whatsoever. I even tried reaching out on Twitter. Not even an automated response. So I had a friend take my ID and actually do a little magic by putting my false name on it. I submitted that and Iāll be damned, it worked enough to fool the AI to let me disagree with the decision to have only God knows who look over my account to see if I can get it reinstated.Ā
So why in the hell did I get this email yesterday??!
Itās going on a week since Iāve disagreed with the decision and Iāve yet to hear anything and I get this. Suffice to say, I will probably lose my account. Iām just shocked at how horrible their support is. Iām saddened to lose 12 years of memories and I really enjoyed running Pharmacy Follies. Yeah, I said I can keep it going on here and I even contemplated on taking it to Twitter as well but Iām also at the point where I feel itās run itās course. I mean, if I get a lot of people wanting me to keep it going, Iāll entertain the masses and keep giving the olā razzle dazzle. It just pissed me off that Facebook did me like this without any sort of warning, explanation and they make it damn near impossible to make things right.
And on that note, am I the only one who experienced this nonsense? Anyone wanna share their experience?
