Facebook Sucks, Sorta
The Bad, The Good, and the Seriously Screwed Up
The Bad. I got kicked off Facebook. All of my accounts were suspended, and I was given 180 days to appeal the suspension; however, I can’t figure out how to appeal the suspension if I’m totally blocked from Facebook. I googled, AIed, and even talked to people (gasp) about what to do and tried many things, but the nebulous appeal form eludes my grasp. It really sucks, too because I had made my peace with Facebook.
The Good. I have had multiple accounts for many years and used Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends who live far away. I could get a hold of people even if I didn’t have their e-mail address. I also used it to advertise my blogs and other writing projects. I also helped out other book and theater folks by sharing their events. Also, I was proud that I had gotten away from the most noxious, divisive aspects of Facebook—the name calling, spreading misinformation, and fruitless attempts at reasoning with those who have little experience in critical thinking— and had taken to posting birds and flowers and great art. People dug it. It was gentle rebellion. Now, all of that is gone. Probably forever, but maybe that too is a good thing in the end.
The Seriously Screwed Up. It still makes me mad though. It’s the principle of the thing, you see. Here is what is seriously screwed up. I didn’t create the account that Facebook (whatever or whoever that is) says violates the community standards—who knows what community standard that unknown account that I didn’t create violated. Facebook does not give out that information. It’s just a vague statement that makes me feel like a hardened criminal.
What’s worse. This unknown account that I supposedly created is not even a Facebook account. It’s an Instagram account. The suspension notice from Facebook said that I should go to Instagram to report the problem, so I did that. I couldn’t get into my Instagram account, so I created a new password and got in, but guess what? None of my Facebook accounts were listed along with my Instagram accounts. Nevertheless, I did use the Instagram to try and report the problem multiple times and have received no response. That was months ago.
There’s more. I read that one way around the problem was to use a different device and open a new account. At least I could have access to Facebook again. I tried that and all went well. I set up the account with a different e-mail, new password, but when I tried to sign in, I was told I needed to create a video selfie. I was suspicious and did a little research only to find out that this is a way that Facebook verifies identity, so I took the selfie and uploaded it. The result, that new account was suspended before I even finished creating it, so I can’t get in to appeal the suspension of the new account either. Now, that’s seriously screwed up.
More good, though. I’m better off. Facebook did me a favor. My accounts are not out there for real criminals to take advantage of, and I am learning new, more positive types of social media, like Substack. Plus, my Instagram posts are still showing up on the Facebook feeds of my family and friends, so I can still stay in touch. I haven’t really lost anything. All the pictures I posted are in my numerous cloud storage apps as well as on computers and external hard drives.
Yeah, I got kicked off Facebook, but really, that so bad?
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash