HEAVEN’S METAL: Editor Loses Facebook Account
Not that this is exciting Christian heavy metal or hard rock news to share, but I thought I’d post the info in case you were wondering about our Heaven’s Metal Magazine page on Facebook.
Not that anyone will or should feel sorry for me, but I do feel like throwing a pity party — truly in the hopes that a Facebook executive will drive by the party, see it, stop, come in, listen, empathize, and reverse the disabled account status.
I don’t need facebook to survive, but I’ve probably engaged with it daily for 17 years straight. I joined in May of 2007, mostly to promote my then business, HM Magazine. I promoted myself, too, as I’ve always been upfront and authentic about who I am. I’m silly, irreverent, reverent, and serious — about God, family, music, and life.
I think I know why my account was disabled. A couple weeks ago there were several memes floating around that highlighted a female boxer at the Paris Olympics that was defeated by a transgendered male competing as a female. I think I commented with a question: do they think we have dog poop for brains. Before I hit the post button or maybe after I tapped it once, I remember seeing a message that said it violated Facebook community standards. I thought, ‘They’ve got to be kidding,’ and hit the post button. A couple weeks later I get a WE DISABLED YOUR ACCOUNT message.
Below that was an APPEAL button. I selected appeal and was instructed to upload a photo ID. This made sense in the context of an “account integrity and authentic identity” situation. My driver’s license image that I keep on my hard drive for occasional needs did not work, even after multiple tries. I was leary about uploading my Passport, but all this interaction was on the secure (https) facebook website, so I went and found it, scanned it, and uploaded it. Whew! I thought that would settle it. I’ve never pretended to be someone I’m not. This photo ID proves it. Case closed, right?
No, instead I get the message shown below. “You cannot request another review of this decision.” What? How unfair? Where’s the reasonable decision-making? I don’t know if a robot does this fact-checking and they only acknowledge certain pre-determined data or what (my passport is active), but this is kind of maddening.
Not sure what to do. But I do know that God is good. I know that there is a life without Facebook. I joined the social media platform in May of 2007, so it’s been a part of my daily life for 17+ years now. I initially started it to promote HM Magazine and I shared both personal news and updates as well as all types of Christian hard music information. I had my Twitter account linked to my Facebook account, so back in the day I would tweet any and pretty much every news item, as well as comments from live shows, etc. I’d go nuts at a festival, tweeting about several sets as they were happening. They all showed up as Facebook posts, too. It seemed to be helping promote and grow and “connect” the magazine with its audience. I liked it. I quickly amassed 5,000 friends, which is the limit for a personal account, so I had to look through my friends list for those false or unused friends with no profile photo or image, delete them, and then add a new friend in response to a request.
If I somehow get back on Facebook, you won’t notice much of a change. I think I’ll add a trusted user (like my wife) to the account so that I might have access to it if it ever got disabled again.
About Author
Sorry to hear that you lost your account. But also, surely you know that the “transgender male” story was a complete farce with no basis in reality, right? I only bring this up as a Heaven’s Metal writer, because with both us being journalists, the facts of a story are important.
Blessings . . . .
Dang! Looks like I blew that one. I did not bother checking into the story at all (until now).
It happens to the best of us.
Hi Doug,
I live without a mobile phone and Facebook
There is a World without them.
Email and a landline suit me.
I love all that you do dude. Followed Heavens Metal here in the UK since the early days.
I’m 57 and think mobile phones mainly remove the atmosphere from Live Music.
Facebook can be lived without.The time you will have now to seek the Lord and new music.
Love You Man.
Amen. There is life without social media. How did we ever do it growing up?
Got my facebook account back. Turns out it was not the “dog poop for brains” comment, but a robot’s auto red flag. They said, “Sorry for the inconvenience.” Oh well.
Glad it wasn’t a real violation. I play well with others. Have for years.