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[danbosford]

My rant is all about Facebook. They are deleting accounts with no warning whatsoever for no reason at all. Sometimes, when you request the reason, as they tell you to, they don't even answer. Heres a question for the masses.
How can you call something a social network and then not let people socialize? They penalize you for adding friends, sending messages, joining groups, posting, etc. Aren't these all part of social networking?

[Lisa Preston]

I would guess that spamming gets people deleted... if someone reports you for abuse... many people believe they are "socializing" on Facebook or other networks when in fact they are blasting people with marketing messages. This is not considered socializing.

[danbosford]

I agree, except that I am talking about my own personal account, not any kind of business account. This account was not used for any type of marketing whatsoever. There is an actual group on facebook, that currently has over 50000 members, that is all about accounts being deleted with no warning at all. All of the posts in there are people listing accounts that this has happened to, and the number is over 800, and every single one of them is fairly recent.

I can totally understand the spamming abuse. Although, even in that, I think people are way too quick to report abuse. I know a few people who had their accounts deleted for that reason. Each and every person they spoke to had agreed beforehand to receive the information they were given, and when they didn't like that information, reported it as spam.

Anyway, all I am really saying is that when facebook claims to have the right to disable any account after a warning has been given and ignored, then they should follow their own guidelines and give warning.

[rgcustom]

Does anybody know if your account is deleted it you can get another one? That seems unethical to me.  Think of all the ads we click to bring Facebook revenue. 

[danbosford]

You can get another one, but you have to use a different email address. Once an email has been banned, it is prohibited for life. Just go get yourself a free gmail account, and register with that.

[Don Morris]

They are deleting accounts with no warning whatsoever for no reason at all.

Just because they don't give you a reason doesn't mean there's no reason. There are plenty of reasons for Facebook to terminate your account, but the major one seems -- given that this is an IM forum -- to be "You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications to users."

[tuffmind]

This is why I never tried using facebook yet whether for personal or marketing use.  But I know it has its advantages and I might someday give it a try.  Of course, don't be too spammy and I think your account will be safe.

[danbosford]

There is a great resource for all of you on essential Facebook  do nots. Just go to squidoo.com and look up the lens called What NOT To Do On Facebook.
I'd provide the link, but I don't think it would stay here, for whatever reason.

If you have trouble finding it, let me know.

[Don Morris]

Don't know why linking to that Squidoo page would be a problem. There, I've done it.

[vbn411]

I've heard of people getting temporary bans on their account (not allowed to make any wall posts, etc. ), but that serves as a warning.  They're warned that if they continuing their suspicious activity, their account will be deleted.  The ban is supposed to last anywhere from "a few hours to few days. " I've never heard of an account being deleted without any warning though, that sucks! :(

[danbosford]

Take a look at this http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=86874770746&ref=ts. It will show you how bad this really is!

[ajcurl]

I am a member of several mlm and network marketing groups on Facebook and get spammed by so many groups.  It's really starting to irritate me.  There are so many people with the same "oppurtunity" trying to sell 24/7.  I truly beleive in attraction marketing, not selling to anyone anywhere.

[Don Morris]

Heck, the "join my opportunity" messages have got to be better than all the "Marlena has thrown a green heart-covered pillow at you -- throw one back" messages that I constantly get. Don't people have anything better to do with their time?

[acton]

Facebook is very best.  There is an actual group on facebook, that currently has over 55000 members, that is all about accounts being deleted with no warning at all.  thanks

[Mike Ambrosio]

There's an easy solution to all of these annoying things about Facebook: Stop using them

Seriously, I get the same BS but it's really quite simple to remedy. The FIRST thing I did was to turn off all of the different notifications. Every time someone sneezed and posted, I was getting emails about it. Now I get NONE.

Second thing I did was to separate my "friends" into groups. Family, Friends, Business. Makes it simpler to sort the different ones out.

Third thing I did - went through my "wall" and removed any people who I did not want to see there. Now, the only "Heart Pillows" or other stuff I see is from people I WANT to see from.

I have never used my FB account to market something either, but I HAVE joined groups who I thought would be good to learn from, etc. So I get the value I want without all the crap I don't want.

Works for me