Facebook - a further rant

 

A couple of months back, I griped about Facebook having randomly locked me out of my account around Christmas time - this time, seemingly permanently. I am still locked out, and now fear this latest 'interruption of service' is going to prove irreversible. 

Hance, this blog's companion Facebook page remains inactive - and, indeed, it is 'blocked' from view altogether (I have no idea why...).  I don't suppose anyone's going to miss it, but.... My apologies, anyway.

I still remember my last password; but it is only intermittently 'recognised' and accepted by the site. And whether I am able to log in with the password or not, I am always required to go through additional 'authentication' steps.

I am usually challenged to retrieve a verfication code from my linked email account. Fair enough. You'd think that would be sufficient to confirm my identity and restore access to the Facebook account. But NO: I've done this countless times now, but further steps are also demanded.

I'm usually asked to try logging in from another device. But when I tried that, they still weren't satisfied, and demanded again that I log in from another device,... and another.... and another. I suspect they in fact mean 'another device recognised as having been previously used to log in to this account' - but they don't say so. I've only ever used one other device - an old, now rarely used 'back-up' laptop - to access the account; but that didn't work. Then I wondered if perhaps they meant a mobile device (smartphone, tablet....?), since that's what most people use for accessing Facebook these days. But I tried borrowing a friend's phone to retreive the additional verification codes and that didn't work either.

Then they started telling me they would send a verification code to my Whatsapp number. Even though I don't have one!

Only after much floundering around through various obstructive screens in the log-in process did I finally manage to stumble upon an option to send an additional verification code to my phone by SMS. Unfortunately, the phone number I have linked to the account is an old Cambodian one, which I now rarely use, and which I only top up intermittently to avoid having the number deleted; it isn't actually 'active' most of the time. I topped it up again to reactivate it, but.... for some reason SMS often fails to work on SMART Cambodia's roaming service (this is why I've actually switched my contact phone number to my Lao one for my bank accounts in Cambodia and Vietnam). However, I did try this again recently, and this time was able to receive the SMS verification code. Facebook still wouldn't accept it, still wanted to insist on yet further verification steps - that were impossible. What is this INSANITY?!

So, to recap,... Facebook doesn't want to recognise my password; it won't recognise the only two devices I have ever used to log into my account; and it won't recognise verification codes sent to my linked email or my linked phone number. And there is no other recourse available, no means of contacting them to complain or appeal against the suspension of access.

Why does anyone bother with this awful, awful, stupid, obstructive, perverse, evil service???   I am really quite glad to be rid of it.

Facebook page (An Administrative Note)

When I launched this blog nearly 18 months ago, I set up a parallel Zen and the Art of FPL Facebook page.

If you've never visited it, you haven't really missed anything. I only used it as a platform to share links to posts here on the blog, and it didn't really include any 'original content' (except that in providing short introductory summaries to each linked post, I would occasionally frame its topic or purpose in a slightly different form of words than I had used in the original piece...). I was only using the Facebook page to try to gain a slightly wider exposure - to try to increase the blog's prominence in search-engine results, and perhaps to make it easier for folks to share any piece of mine that they happened to like.

I'd only just remembered to put a link to the Facebook page in the sidebar here a month or so ago....

And almost immediately I'd done that, I got shut out of my Facebook account... again.

Now, this has been happening more and more frequently over the last year. Indeed, just lately, I seem to have been getting 'locked out' once or twice a month! Most of these exclusions are rescinded within a day or two, sometimes after just a few hours; but more often I'm cut off for a full week; and, in the worst cases, once or twice for a month or so.

This latest interruption of service looks like being a particularly bad one - so, I've given up, for now, even trying to get back in; I'm expecting that I won't be able to regain access until at least the end of January.

Hence, there have been no posts on the Facebook page since just before Christmas. Indeed, at the moment, it doesn't appear to be visible any more - which may be an escalation over Zuck the Schmuck's previous persecutions of me.

Now, the loss of this rarely-visited-by-anyone page does not grieve me all that much. But I also maintained an FPL info page for my country of residence - which I saw as being a useful public service, and which put me in touch with a small community of fellow enthusiasts for the game. (That page still appears to be visible; but it's effectively now 'dead' since all posting rights seem to have been suspended.)  The loss of that second FB page galls me considerably.

The loss of access to every other Facebook page, however, and to my account details, my list of contacts, the messaging service - that is little short of a disaster.

In East Asia (and in many other parts of the 'developing world', I shouldn't wonder), Facebook is enormously popular. Most small businesses can't be bothered to set up and maintain their own website, so rely on a Facebook page instead; thus you can't readily keep abreast of openings and closings of local restaurants etc., special offers and promotions, special events like concerts and parties and such, without Facebook. The dratted site has also become the default option for setting up mutual support forums for various interest groups, especially among the expat community; so, you can't access 'buy & sell' groups, property rental listings, or general advice on how to deal with health issues, noisy neighbours, or whatever... without Facebook. And, worst of all for me, Facebook Messenger has become the preferred means of communication for just about everyone out here (I imagine there are alternative messaging services in the local languages of the region, but these perhaps don't support the use of English; so, anyone who wants to communicate with anyone else in English uses FB - not SMS, not even Whatsapp,.... Facebook!!); hence, when I'm shut out of my account, I can't contact my landlady or my visa agent or my doctor... or the handful of friends I have out here....  

Being cut off from all of that is not just an enormous hassle, it is potentially life-threatening. It is downright irresponsible of Facebook to shut people out of their accounts (without warning or explanation; and without providing any avenues for seeking redress!).

I hate you, Mark Zuckerberg, and all your incompetent minions! And most of all I hate your botlets of Artificial Stupidity which repeatedly judge me (oh, the irony!) to be potentially 'not a real person' - which is why I keep getting locked out.