Friday, December 21, 2007

This wouldn't happen on Twitter - well, maybe to the cat

Found this story from Jag on TechDirt. As someone who posts under an alias, I was naturally interested, as was Goo-Goo Head (not her real name). (She's my dog, the one who had to go [deleted] last night.)

When my girlfriend and I moved in together, as a joke we made Facebook profiles for her cat and my bird, and then listed them as dating. The profiles were cute and cheeky. All of our friends who know and love our pets "friended" them, gave them wall postings for birthday wishes, etc.

Unaware of their fake account policy, I sent support a joke email from the bird's account saying that because he was a bird, he should be able to "peck" his friends, not "poke" them. The email was light-hearted.

In response, Facebook deleted the bird's account. It noticed the bird's "girlfriend" the cat, and deleted the cat too without notice.

It certainly generated ire and distrust for us and our friends that Facebook is not a community about and for its users. If it falls from grace and another more open-minded community replaces it, I won't miss it.


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