Facebook Doesn’t Believe I’m a Real Person & Has Taken My Page Down
Hey Everyone,
This every happen to you? You’re chugging along, posting useful information on your Facebook page, connecting with new friends and old, when suddenly Facebook says your account is FAKE. They promptly suspend it, then remove it all together. What the hell?
I have been on Facebook for years, but only for a few businesses that I run. I finally took the plunge and created a personal account 3 weeks ago. Then last week I created an author page for “likes.”
Within my personal page, I post just writing stuff, about my books, other people’s books, free books online, etc. I’ve been told the resources I post are very useful.
So why in the heck did they mark me as a FAKE account? Anyone looking at my profile could figure out that it’s a real person with all the links, resources AND ALL MY BOOKS FOR SALE ONLINE. Duh!
It all started when I was trying to install MailChimp Email Signup on my Author/Business page. For some reason Chrome browser would not finish the install. So I logged into the account on Safari. That’s when it happened! So you can’t be logged in with 2 browser, or else you’re a fake account? Is that it?
They sent me to a page where I had to identify photos of a “friend.” Well, since I have connected with only 75 close friends/family and 700+ other writers, authors, book lovers, I had no idea who that was a picture of. So I could not identify that photo. I had tagged several people as family. Why didn’t they show one of those photos???
Anyway, the ONLY RESOURCE FACEBOOK sends you to is a FAQ which doesn’t address your locked out account and how to unlock. So I had to search online. Found the email address ( appeals@facebook.com ). I emailed them. They responded and asked me to email them my driver’s license. I did within 30 minutes of receiving the email. No response. Isn’t that good enough? Do I need a rectal exam to prove who I am???
Then I searched further online and someone on Yahoo Answers provided an actual link to request a review. No where on Facebook do they show this link! It’s as if they don’t give a hoot whether they made a mistake, and don’t want to be bothered with emails from people who’s accounts have been deep-6’d.
Here is the link, by the way: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=183000765122339
So now it’s been 6 days with no word from them. My account (facebook.com/patrice.williamsmarks) is GONE! It says, page not found. My author’s page is still showing, however (facebook.com/Author.PatriceWilliamsMarks).
I hope it can be restored in tact with all the people I have connected with. I get about 20 new friend requests a day, I guess that’s stopped. All the advertising that I’ve done to promote my books and facebook page are now down the drain.
Anyone else experience this with Facebook? Any suggestions or secret ways to get them to respond sooner? How long shall I expect to wait before they review, and hoepfully restore my account?
I welcome your comments/advice below.
UPDATE: 5/30/13 – Facebook re-instated my personal page, but changed my Author Page to a Community Page! Thankfully, that was corrected a few days later.
Having exact same problem…. did you ever get it fixed
Hi, so sorry for the delay. Just saw this post. Yes, they finally unblocked my Facebook account, but now I don’t use as much. I’m more focused on posting elsewhere as they have created algorithms that keep your posts from being seen by more than a few people unless you “boost.”