Randy's Ramblings

Facebook.

A great idea in principle, but spoiled by a system that can silence users at any time, for any reason, and not even have to provide an explanation as to why. The user will be told they violated “community standards”, but most of the time there will be zero explanation as to what the specific violation was. 

I need to preface what follows by saying that I’m currently in Facebook jail for some unknown infraction. The account that has been suspended was less than 24 hours old, and although I don’t remember what I wrote in the three or four posts prior to suspension, I feel comfortable in saying that nothing I wrote could have possibly offended anybody. 

It’s a mystery.

To me anyway.

The good.

Facebook had been in existence for quite a while before I joined. Prior to that my online conversations were in various forums that varied from good, like Woodcentral and it’s predecessor, Badger Creek, to bad, (although frequently entertaining as hell due to the lack of literacy by some posters, and the anonymity of most of them) like Topix.

I don’t really remember how I first came to join Facebook, but once I did, the forums I had once haunted every day soon faded to distant memory.

Facebook reconnected me with childhood friends that I hadn’t seen in decades. It introduced me to new friends that I would probably never have known otherwise. Posts were not anonymous (this has recently changed) like Topix had been, and that in itself eliminated 98% of the trolling.

It was ridiculously easy to post photos, not always the case with a lot of message boards. 

I found myself communicating with others who, due to age, general lifestyles, and  political views I probably would never have interacted with otherwise. There would be one common interest. I had something to contribute, they had something to contribute, and not only we, but everyone else in the group might benefit from our contributions. Often someone could amplify on what was said. Unfortunately, it was also common for someone to chime in with pointless or, even worse, incorrect information. The plus side was that the incorrect information was usually identified as such by others.

I allowed it to take up more of my time than I should have.

And then, a few days ago, I was hacked. Majorly hacked. Not only was I unable to see my own page, but when Facebook shut it down, every post I’d made in every group I’d belonged to was gone. The aerial views of my hometown back in the sixties are gone along with a number of other photos that I posted on a local history group. Every photo and every discussion/comment in every group banished to the abyss of cyber never never land.

That is bad enough.

Yesterday I decided to jump through whatever hoops were necessary to get back on Facebook and reconnect with as many friends and groups as possible. I was making some decent progress until around 10:00 or so this morning. I’d been doing some research on Google, and when I returned to Facebook it was to discover that my page was locked for violating “community standards”, and neither I or others could could see what was on it.” 

This is only my second kicked off for doing it offense. The first one, in which they at least told me what I’d done wrong, involved removing the outside hulls of walnuts. I mentioned that locally the most common method was, “to dump em in the driveway and run over them for a week or three”. It was deemed to be hate speech.

The benevolent (sarcasm, just in case it isn’t recognized) forces at Facebook are allowing me to appeal. Since I don’t have a CLUE what my infraction was, I couldn’t  argue in support of my appeal even if the machinery was in place to allow it. For all the talk of “community”, those who control Facebook much prefer totalitarianism to due process.

If my appeal is denied that’s it. I’m not in jail so much as I’m on death row. Even though I have no idea what I supposed to be guilty of, I’m off Facebook. And you know what? After the events of the last 72 or so hours I don’t care.

I’ll miss interacting with friends neat and far, but I will never again have to put up with the dickweeds in charge at Facebook.