Loooong essay now follows! I thought this would be useful for other people who have had their Facebook accounts deleted/removed, as I have done lots of research the past couple of days.
On Tuesday I went to log into my Facebook account to discover that it had been disabled as I have a 'fake name':
Your account was disabled because the name under which it was registered was fake. We do not allow users to register with fake names, to impersonate any person or entity, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves or their affiliations. In addition, Facebook accounts are intended for use by single individuals, so groups, clubs, businesses, or other types of organizations are not permitted to maintain accounts.
So, I did the 'report here' thing, telling them my name and why I use facebook. They then sent me an email, asking me to reply to it to verify myself. My email account I registered with all those years ago I can only receive on, not send, but they say that this is fine, just to explain if this is the case.
After looking into other people's experiences and googling high and low on the subject, today I sat down for a couple of hours to write the following response:
NB: some things have been deleted only to protect my privacy
Dear Facebook,
I replied before to the email that you sent below to verify my account, I know that I am probably in a queue but I thought I would write to you as I would like to get this issue resolved as soon as possible. I will now proceed to inform you of some relevent information.
Firstly, I am emailing you now from *email 1*, and my Facebook account is registered with my old email account *email 2*. I had been trying to change my facebook account to my new email address just last week, but couldnt work out how to do it unfortunately.
Secondly, I did not set up my facebook account using false information, nor as a profiteering tactic. I am a real person and I am really shocked that you disabled my account without checking with me first, or asking for proof before doing so. There are 633 Anna Kiss' on Facebook, why me?
I hope that you will reactivate my facebook account because I have been a long-term facebook user for many years with a perfect track record. I am sure you can check out my account to see that I use it reasonably. I had 5000 friends on the account and the majority of these people added me, meaning that I am very well known by my name Anna Kiss. It is not a fake name.
On Tuesday, the day that my account was disabled, I received harassment throughout the day from 9am GMT. The people that I had played for in Sri Lanka on Friday posted up a libellous message on my profile and fan page several times. They also posted up a scanned receipt that I had signed, but they had doctored it and deleted things that I had written on it. There were about 6 people doing this, which included 'Jake Sky Kiss', 'Kash Love On Kiss', 'Kyler On Kiss' (all who are using fake names incidentally). Because I wasnt happy with the libel and my signature being continuously posted in the public domain, I deleted their posts, removed them from my friends list and banned them from my fan page. Even though they owe me money I was always professional in handling the problem, you will see this in your records.
I wonder if perhaps the action of banning them got me banned? As I ticked the box to say: I understand that blatant or repeated invalid reports could result in disciplinary action being taken against my account.
Or more likely, maybe one or more of these malicious people clicked REPORT on my profile and said I was using a false name?
I have attached a copy of my signed artist contract which clearly shows my name Anna Kiss. This legal document surely is enough proof alone.
I just want you to see the whole picture. And speaking of pictures, I have also attached an image which is a montage of some of the flyers of parties I have played at since 2000. It clearly shows you that I am no fake, Anna Kiss is a name that is known all over the world.
To prove this further please check my other web presences:
In a google search I come up on the first page in all but 2 of the searches:
On page 9 of the google search I am still coming up heavily, therefore I am predominently the Anna Kiss of choice by google! Where are your 633 other Anna Kiss'?
And I also would like to mention that my weekly radio show hits over 4000 listeners each week, making the total amount of people who interact with me on a weekly basis phenomenal... I am most certainly not a fake! And these people are in uproar about my account deletion too, please see these 2 facebook groups that have been set up asking that you reinstate my account:
I use Facebook for social networking. I do not use it to profit in any way.
SOCIAL: I use the events feature to invite my friends to parties I am playing at and to see which parties I would like to go and network at. It's also very useful for people to find and contact me.
NETWORKING: With other artists all over the world and with people I have met on my travels. To remember all their names to re-add them would be an impossible task. I also have a fan page and group too.
I never promote myself unfairly or spam people, I dont pester people with group mailouts. I just do my thing and enjoy social interaction with my friends.
I am sure you are aware of John Swift who was deleted in the same manner:
You reinstated his account because "others on the site seemed to know you by this name, and since you don't appear to be using the name to impersonate or to hide your identity, we have determined you are not violating our Terms of Use".
I am Anna Kiss, this how I am known, and I have thousands more followers worldwide than Mr Swift does, and much more proof that I am Anna Kiss than he had to prove he was Jon Swift.
In light of this, I sincerely hope that you will review all of this information I have given you and reactivate my account soonest.
Please do get in touch, by email or phone, if you need to discuss anything.
Hoping to hear from you soon,
Anna Kiss
-----Original Message-----
From: info+0esjsss@support.facebook.com [mailto:info+0esjsss@support.facebook.com]
Sent: 17 August 2010 15:50
To: **
Subject: Re: Disabled - Fake Name
Hi,
Please reply to this email to verify that you are the owner of the account that you referenced in your Facebook support inquiry. This security step must be completed before Facebook can respond to your inquiry. We apologize for any inconvenience.
If this email address is not associated with your Facebook account, please make note of this in your reply. In addition, please do not begin creating a new account until we have reviewed your inquiry, as this may make it more difficult to resolve your issue.
Feel free to visit our Help Center at any time to look for answers to other questions you may have about accessing your account:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=login
Finally, note that writing in multiple times will not result in a faster response. Once you submit your initial request, it is placed in a queue and responded to accordingly. We appreciate your patience.
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
So there you go, I will keep you posted of any replies...
Also, something you may find handy, I sent this email not only to the address that they emailed me from in the verificaiton, but also to some other addresses that I found in a forum, and they didnt bounce:
disabled@facebook.com
info@facebook.com
appeals@facebook.com
abuse+dt17u8y@facebook.com