Denied!

So I was minding my own business checking up on status and seeing what everyone one else was doing.  I commented on a few post and even added an app which is rare.

Yes it appears facebook has become my one stop shop for social networks.  I have a linked-in, Google+ and twitter but the end of all of micro-blogging is FB for me.  Granted, there have been a few quirks when it comes to the balance of engaging/sharing and sharing way to much.  The controls are confusing and ambiguous at best.  The security settings should be written with a few preset modes that users can customize.

1) Voyeur – “Let the whole world see, I have nothing to hide”

2) Only if I know you – “If your my friend, then you can see”

3) Double Life – “If I know you and your in the right group” other wise you see the sanitized version

4) Paranoid – “what am i even doing here, i don’t want to share anything”

oh well.. maybe some day. So I was on my phone and started up my fb app and it asked me to login.  Strange.. but ok?  That’s when I got my first indication something was wrong…

So I got to my computer and tried to login there..

And I come to find that my account has been disabled.  Not limited or warned but flat out shut down.  My identity gone, Timeline information going back to 1985.  33 albums, 24 videos, poof.  My wife was suddenly single again, all of the apps I’ve developed were removed, the 5 pages I run were gone, some with a reach as high as 155,198.

So I clicked the link indicated and it took me to a page talking about community guidelines and using real identities instead of false ones.  So… FB decided that I was impersonating the real “John Munoz” ?  There was a form to fill out online asking for a copy of my drivers license.  So I sent that up (after redacting information they didn’t need) and then that off.  This was Sunday evening.  All day Monday was quiet.  My wife recently showed me “Where’s My Water” so that kept me somewhat occupied.  Finaly at 9:45 last night I got a message back

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Re: Disabled Account Appeal – ID Request
From:    “The Facebook Team”
Date:    Mon, August 20, 2012 9:46 pm
To:      REDACTED
————————————————————————–

Hi John,

Thanks for verifying your identity.

After investigating this further, it looks like we suspended your account by mistake. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. You should now be able to log in. If you have any issues getting back into your account, please let me know.

Thanks,

Jeniffer
User Operations
Facebook

So that’s that.. I’m back now.. a little wiser for the weary.  The ironic thing was Patti was just asking me, if FB ever died, what would happen to all of our data.  Hidden away inside your fb is an option to download a copy of all your fb data.  Visit this link and chose “Download a copy of your facebook data” at the bottom of the page.”  There are lots of 3rd party programs that you can use this data with.. but more on that later.  I’m just glad to be back.