What a day it has been. I found out last evening I have been banned from Facebook. I was not given a specific reason for being ousted and given the boot.
I learned of the situation when I attempted to log in to my account. I got a message telling me my account had been disabled.
Thinking it must be a mistake I once again attempted the log in. No luck. Amazingly, I was soon to discover this situation is more common
than most people realize.
First thing this morning, I sent a message to my opt-in subscribers letting them know I was no longer on Facebook. Amazingly, having
one’s account disabled by Facebook is apparently very, very common.
Within minutes I received messages from several people who had had this experience or know someone who has gone through this. By day’s end
I received hundreds of messages from people empathizing with the situation.
The great majority of folks had no clue why they got the “big boot” from the powers that be at Facebook. They could merely speculate.
I will keep blogging about this and welcome you sharing your
own experience if you, or someone you know, has gone through this.
This is such a bummer!
Do you know if being banned also locks you out of any FB Pages (the kind for which people can become a fan) you might have created for your business?
So many people are using FB to create almost their entire array of business relationships and contact lists. Clearly this can be very perilous for a business.
Let us know when you are reinstated!
Deb
From what I have heard groups you formed do stay up. However, if you were the only Administrator, when you get booted off there is no administrator.
Don’t quote me as this being fact in that I have only heard this and not been able to validate.
Will keep you posted.
Kathleen
I’m on the list of rejects too. Facebook was my social life. I spent about 3 hours a day on it. Maybe I should consider myself fortunate that I’m locked out. However I have hooked up with people from all my old jobs and schools and churches and it was great for being able to reach out and touch someone you haven’t seen in years. It would be nice if the Facebook people would get a clue. If they don’t let people use the site, they won’t have any users and no revenue.
Donald James Parker
Author of Love Waits
Hi Kathleen,
I received your email message about this and joined the group “Let Kathleen Gage Back on Facebook.” For a social networking site to be so anti social makes no sense. How do you give someone the boot without giving an advance notice that they are doing something offensive? I hope they get an onslaught of posts in protest to how they are conducting their business.
Hi Kathleen ,
Just joined the group!
Am wondering if there is a technical glitch that caused this interruption in your service.
I didn’t see any “rules of conduct” categories. If they were so high and mighty on a particular set of rules, it would be posted where no one could possibly miss them.
Yes, do keep us posted on this issue.
And yes, they better get their collective act together cos many people use FB to grow their businesses.
Best of luck!
Melissa Malin
Sorry to hear about your ban. One of my biggest fears on Facebook.
Here are some reasons why you could get banned:
inviting people to friend but cutting and pasting the same message to each of them. Even if you top and tail to make it personalised the alogorithms see cutting and pasting as potential spamming.
entering a URL too often in one day
accepting too many friend requests in one day
accepting too many invitations to join groups in one day
someone reporting you to the Facbook ‘authorities. (even if they were just being malicious)
If you are a group Admin or have a Facebook page with a large
number of fans then you are much more at risk than others
because it is very easy to fall foul of Facebooks anti spam robots.
sending too many messages in one day
you become a victim of a phishing scam
Don’t know if any of this may be the explanation. I do know that the powers that be at Facebook are reluctant to explain why someone has been banned.
I wrote a blog post about getting blocked last year (http://snipurl.com/fwu2w) – Travis Greenlee was very helpful to me – maybe he will be able to advise you too.
Hope some of this helps.
Kathleen-Good luck in getting your account back. I feel like Facebook is becoming almost Nazi like in taking accounts away from people – almost to show who is the “boss”. All the gurus with the large following are going to be penalized and probably Facebook at some point will start charging for this free service. They see how much people are making off their free service, they probably want a piece of the action.
This reminds me of the FREE bailout the Gov just gave to the financial institutions and car companies. We see how quickly they show these companies who is boss by firing them.
This may only be the beginning of Facebooks strategy to start charging a membership fee.
Hope you get your4 account back.
Cheryl
Hey woman,
Sending good vibes your way.
This is a perfect example of what you said in our Platinum group “Market using many different platforms.”
But it does tick one off when they won’t give a reason.
Love you,
Judith
Thanks so much Judith. I am so blessed to have such great support from friends like you.
Hugs
Kathleen
Thanks for your words Cheryl. What I realize from all this is there are many other options as far as Social Networks. Although not as big as FB, smaller might be a great direction.
Kathleen
Amazingly I have found the situation to be without any stress. I have had a chance to evaluate my Social Network involvement.
One big thing though, I was connecting with friends from the past and do miss that. As well, having such a great network of folks who are supporting me through this.
Thanks to everyone.
Kathleen
Nice blog posting about the situation by Nicky Jameson. http://nickyjameson.com/2009/04/14/why-was-kathleen-gage-banned-from-facebook/#comment-403
Well worth reading.
Kathleen Gage
I was Banned THIS EXACT SAME WEEK TOO! FB admins DID state a reason & told me that it was “FINAL”! It’s now even Harder to try & connect with people in a world where the masses are shifting from One Band wagon to Another! Myspace is trying to Keep themselves from NOT being that “DEAD” I have more people on my 9,184 friends list that a majority of them have gone silent for over a Year Now! My punishment from FB was All due to me Offering Fitness Models “FREE” clothing to model for my Clothing line to eventually WIN free Prizes & $$$$$! So “Someone” felt Harassed by my FREE offer! Boot is what I got one fine Morning! 🙁