Facebook has expunged the fan Page for Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred, basically without explanation, notice, or recourse.
On May 28 I happened to glance at Facebook and saw that I had a Notification that the fan Page for my geeky DIY book had been “unpublished” for “bullying.” There was a button to “Appeal” this decision, so I clicked it. Within a few hours my Page was expunged and my personal account was under a 12-hour ban from FB activity (even “Liking” friends’ posts). I received no notification of any of this through any channel, apart from the single Notification of the initial flagging (which has since disappeared). I only knew the Page was gone because I checked on it the next morning and it wasn’t there. (I’ve since tried contacting FB through their various “Contact Us” avenues, and have heard nothing.)
After some moderate persecution anxiety, I’d kinda settled into thinking that, in their enthusiasm to finally do something about their misogyny problem, an underpaid Facebook temp had fat-fingered a pull-down menu [1]. Besides, the Page wasn’t really a meaningful part of my business (most folks connect to my through twitter or over email), so I was gonna shrug it off as stressful annoyance.
Then a pal forwarded me this link:
Facebook unfriends The Aviator | The Burning World
Turns out Gareth–a dude very much like me, albeit in New Zealand–had seemingly the *exact same* experience. So, has this happened to you or an author you know? Please feel free to drop me a line on Twitter or by email, and share this post far and wide (at your discretion). Thanks!
[1] That being the case, these temps are pretty crumby with the menus: During my FB kickban I poked around with Facebook search–since it was basically all I *could* do–and in 10 seconds turned up at least eight fan Pages for quasi-consensual incest, a dozen for that “sloth rapist” “joke,” a page largely dedicated to porno lesbians mutually masturbating, and one page for the “interest” *Slapping ya bitch on the ass show her u care :)* (which has 32,000 fans). These all persisted *after* my craft book Page was expunged for bullying people.