Facebook Is A Disgrace!
An article about how my account was suspended on Facebook for sending out too many invitations yet while I was there all I did was get spam regarding "Mafia Wars" and "Farmville". These being things which I did not care about and even asked not to be sent invitations to yet it made no difference in the amount of unwanted invitations I received for either one.
It was back in 2008 that I first joined Facebook when a lady I met in Warsaw suggested it to me. I, at the time to be perfectly honest was not even aware of what Facebook was or what if anything was its purpose. I had not even heard the name Facebook, let alone anything about it yet I joined and quickly set up my profile.
It was with time that I naturally started sending out invitations to other members on Facebook in order to meet people as well as profit from diverse points of view from all over the world. In doing this, I not only sent out invitations to those I knew but also those I did not know. My believe being that what point was there in having people on my Facebook list who I already knew? It being a case that if I already knew them then I could get in touch with them either through their email address or through Skype and therefore would not be in need of having them on my Facebook list of friends. This unless I wanted to tap in to their list of friends or allow them to do likewise with my list of friends.
Once having set up my account on Facebook, it did not take me long to develop a list of friends; through both sending out invitations as well as getting them. I, basically accepted all the invitations I got from anybody who seemed alright or at least to me and sent out invitations to those who I could see took the same interests as I did such as opera, classical music and history. I must admit that I did meet some interesting people on Facebook. One of them being a woman with whom I would develop a very intimate relationship along with others who shared my tastes for not only classical music but other things such as football and traveling.
Of course, Facebook also had its negative points as well as its good ones. One of them being all those people who sent me invitations and then basically refused to chat with me or even reply to my messages yet however never failed to send me invitations to things such as "Mafia Wars" or "Farmville". These being things which I had no interest what so ever in joining and even stated that such was the case by asking those individuals to refrain from sending me such invitations. This being what they of course did not do which led to my taking them of my list of "friends" along with those who basically ignored me. I not seeing what point there was to having somebody on a list of friends just for the sake of it or perhaps for its decorative purposes.
It was last year however at about this time that I was told by Facebook that I was sending out too many invitations and that some might be offended by my doing so. I, for my part understood what I was being told yet found it completely absurd for the following reasons.
1. Yes, somebody could be offended by my sending out so many invitations but then again somebody could be offended by just about anything! This perhaps ranging from my being an opera fan and not a hip-hop fan or for my being an agnostic and not a Christian or even for the color of my hair. Of course, somebody can be offended but what I believe is that we must see if the person's reasons for being offended are reasonable or not.
After all, how many invitations I sent out and to whom I sent them out to is my business and that of the individuals to whom I send them out to; who were free to accept them but not obliged to do so. I, naturally never sending out a second invitation to any individual once the first one had been refused or did I send any spam that might accompany it or anything which promoted anything. To me this rule being like a bartender trying to limit how many guests at the bar, one could talk to or how many telephone numbers or email addresses a person; who went to the bar could get. Of course from those who were willing to give away their phone number or email address or simply talk.
2. Facebook never really made it clear how many invitations was "too many", maybe 1 a day or perhaps 10 a day was too many. This also being something that was never made clear or pointed out.
3. Some social networks that wish to avoid members sending out too many invitations set a limit as to how many pending invitations a person can have. This while other networks simply set a limit in their system of how many invitations a person can send in a certain period of time and when the person reaches the limit; the system simply does not permit them to send out any more.
My account was eventually suspended for this reason. This being something which in all frankness, I not only did not mind but welcomed as I was really getting tired of all those people who wanted nothing to do with me but send me invitations to things; I really did not care about. I also not seeing a point to simply having people on a list of friends, who did not even wish to chat with me but had me as a "friend" to simply decorate their list or perhaps page. Naturally, I was aware that I could have gone back on Facebook with another email address, name and photo yet I honestly felt that I was better off without Facebook. This along with my not going where I am not wanted led to my not doing what I have already mentioned.
I however had one concern in all this. It being that my account might have been hacked as I had reasons to believe that the security of some of my accounts had been compromised which prompted me to ask if they could investigate if this had occurred. I, with time however saw that this had not been the case and simply told Facebook to forget the issue of the investigation as far as I was concerned. As I no longer cared not only to be on Facebook but to even know if my account had been hacked. In all this I was aware that they might carry out the investigation anyway. As it was not my place to approve or disapprove of weather they did it or not but I asked them not to do it for my sake and not to inform me of the results of such an investigation.
Facebook then took to sending me emails, telling me about their pending investigation which I had lost all interest in and had even asked them to refrain from sending me any messages not only of this kind but of any kind. Facebook, despite my having told them I no longer cared to have anything to do with them, send me an email telling me that my account had been canceled because I was sending out too many invitations which might offend some. This to me being as idiotic as if I took to telling my friends how many friends apart from myself they could have and taking offense that they had more friends than only me.
Facebook, also mentioned that I was trying to chat with people who did not request to chat with me yet I only wanted to chat with those who were on my list of friends. Always remembering that these individuals did not have to chat with me if they did not wish to. Naturally, there had been those who had wanted to chat with me first. As it was not always a case of my being the one who requested to chat with somebody. Of course, one could ask what point there was to simply having a person as a "friend" whom we never chatted with or even exchanged messages with?
At this point, I told Facebook or the person who sent me that email, to simply leave me alone and stop sending me emails about things which I really did not care about. Specially since I had already made it perfectly clear that I no longer wanted anything to do with them. I even telling them that I was glad to have been suspended from Facebook as that way I would not even get invitations to join it again or their groups of high intellect like "Silicon Barbies" or what ever it is.
A long time went by after that and I was fortunate enough not to hear from Facebook again and I also did not rejoin with another email address or name though I could have had I wanted to. The truth being that I really did not need this organization and those individuals which I had met there; I could always keep in touch with on Skype or through their email address. I however recently got an email that I was spamming Facebook.
This being a ridiculous accusation as even if I had wanted to do something of the sort, I would not have been able to since they were the ones who suspended my account. It really being a case that I am a writer and rightly or perhaps even wrongly, many people enjoy my work and want to share it with others on their Twitter or Myspace or Facebook. Naturally, since I am neither putting my work on Facebook nor I am even asking anybody to do this for me; am unaware of how often links to my work are being put on Facebook. I however ask if it is fair that I should be held responsible for what people whom I do not even know are doing with my work? People who are doing what they are doing based entirely on their own initiative and even if they had been asked by me then why is Facebook telling me about this and not those who supposedly put up links to my work on Facebook? Of course, maybe they are doing this as well yet this I know not of yet why trouble me with something that I have nothing to do with? Facebook knowing this full well since they were the ones who suspended my account.
I must also declare that I am surprised by how many of my articles are on Facebook with my name on them yet I had nothing to do with this. As this is being done by people who wanted to share my work on Facebook. Of course, I do not know if they are spamming the people on Facebook with my work but then again this would be through no fault of mine as I am not the one who is doing this or asking that it be done. As all I do is write articles which I do share on Twitter, Myspace and Google and am not even able to share on Facebook even if I wanted to given what I have already stated about my account having been suspended.
This to me being the equivalent in stupidity as if people protested against Coca-Cola because those who drink their product throw away the empty cans on the street instead of in trash bins. This as if Coca-Cola had any control what so ever of what people do with their cans once they finish or perhaps even before they finish consuming their beverage. Facebook, even complaining about the nudity on my website (http://truvianni.wordpress.com/) as if I had anything to do with the fact that some individuals (whom I do not even know) are putting up links to my work on their social network.
In conclusion, I would say that I found Facebook to be a disgrace with equally disgraceful people, who have pointless rules and what is even hypocritical about them is the following. I got a lot of invitations from people to join Mafia Wars and Farmville perhaps even as many as 4 a day . Facebook, not minding when somebody sends out a lot of invitations to join one of their own groups (as opposed to those created by others) yet they do mind when an individual like myself; sends the same amount of invitations just to be friends. In all this, I would not be surprised if some of the individuals who were sending out these invitations to Mafia Wars or Farmville were not even members of Facebook but they themselves; who were creating these accounts just to get people to join these groups. It even being strange how all they did was send invitations and not once they did even reply to messages or invitations just to chat and even ignored my requests to stop sending me invitations to such things.
My name is Gianni Truvianni, author of many an article to be found on the internet along with the book "New York's Opera Society". My works also include the books "What Should Not Matter", "Love Your Sister" and several others which still remain unpublished though I am presently looking to change this.
