So what happened with Facebook?
Well, I actually got banned from Facebook last month! I guess at this point you’re wondering what the hell I did that was so bad it got me banned, arn’t you? Must be something truely awfull, right? Well you’d be suprised! I actually got banned for, wait for it, adding friends! Yup, that’s right, I got banned for adding friends, just a little too quickly. What outrageous behavoir eh? So, here you go, I’ll show you exchange of emails I had with the Facebook support people …
First I recieved this email …
Hi,Our systems indicate that you’ve been misusing certain features on the site. This email serves as a warning. Misuse of Facebook’s features or violating Facebook’s terms of use may result in your account being disabled . Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
If you have any questions, please contact warning@facebook.com from your login email address.
The Facebook Team
To which I replied …
My account has just been deactivated, only 5 minutes after I got the warning and I had already stopped once I saw the notice on site! All I did was add some people as a friend, how can that be abusive?! Please reactivate my account!Daniel Clayton
Which got me this reply …
Hi Daniel,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 has been disabled because you exceeded Facebook’s limits on multiple occasions when sending friend requests, despite having been warned to slow down.
After further review of your account, we have determined that you violated our Terms of Use by misusing our site features to harass other users. We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason. This decision is final.
Thanks for your understanding,
Jackson
User Operations
To which I replied with …
You put limits in place, yet refuse to state what those limits are, thus there are no guideline to follow. How is anybody supposed to know what level of usage is deemed as abusive or not. I got a warning once, and slowed down, about two weeks ago, and the other day I got a warning again, and stopped immediately I saw it, yet you still disactivated my account only 5 minutes after emailing the warning! What proof of abuse do you have besides I added a few people as friends a bit quicker that you deem normal? Furthermore, has ANYBODY complained that I have been harassing them? I say this is a blatant abuse of administrator rights, as I havn’t actually done anything harmfull at all! ” misusing our site features to harass other users “, what complete nonsence. You say you won’t reactivate my account for any reason, well ok then, there’s nothing to stop me registering again with a different email address and IP if I wanted, but why bother, there are plently of other sites that don’t unfairly and abusively ban their users …Up yours sincerely …
Daniel Clayton
As you can imagine, that last email got me nowhere …
Hi Daniel,One of Facebook’s main priorities is the comfort and safety of our users. Your account was disabled because you engaged in behavior other users reported as harassing in nature. It is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use to harass users on the site, whether through unsolicited messages, friend requests, pokes or other features. We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason. This decision is final.
Thanks for your understanding,
Jackson
User Operations
But at least it made me feel better having a rant. It really is sad and stupid that you can get your account deactivated for such a stupid reason, I mean come on, is a simple friend request really that abusive? Does it merit being banned from the entire site? I certainly don’t think so! Why don’t they just block the add friend button when you reach the limit so that you can’t use it any more, that would be much more sensible, don’t you think? I mean, how stupid is it to have set limits like that, and then refuse to tell the users what those limits are, so that they walk straight into the limit trap and get themselves automatically banned in an instant.
In my case I was surfing the site with multiple tabs, so I guess I didn’t see the warning notice until it was too late. Basically, their system and administrator attitude is outrageous. After all, they’re not just banning somebody from some two bit forum, it’s a social network, and one of the most popular at that, getting banned cuts you off from all your friends and contacts, thank god I had most of mine in MSN as well! So, there you go, that’s the story of how I got banned from Facebook, lol …
