Tobold's Blog
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
 
Salman Rushdie on Facebook

Daniel wrote me to point out a story in the Washington Post about Salman Rushdie having problems with his name on Facebook. They first blocked his account for being a fake, then when he sent them a copy of his passport would only allow him to go under Ahmed Rushdie, his official first name. He then had problems getting technical support. Fortunately for him he has over a hundred thousand followers on Twitter, and managed to cause such a ruckus that Facebook gave in and allowed him to use the name everybody knows him under. They even apologized.

Unfortunately I'm not Salman Rushdie. While his problems with Facebook are very familiar to me, I don't have access to the same sort of solutions. My Tobold account is still blocked. I even failed to delete it, because to delete that account you need to log in. And attempts to get customer support are answered by a canned mail telling me that they won't talk to me until I provide a government photo ID proving that I am Tobold. Which of course is impossible, because Tobold is strictly a pen name, a pseudonym, and not my middle name.

The best Facebook is willing to offer me is to make a Page, with lots of options for making pages for brands, businesses, and even blogs. Unfortunately Facebook this year removed the option to import an RSS feed, so just like with Google+ I would have to add each blog post manually if I wanted it to appear on a social network. I prefer interacting with my readers on my blog itself, and not on a secondary site about my blog.

- posted by Tobold @ 7:21 PM Permanent Link
Comments:
I'm fairly certain, if you were inclined, you could photoshop a copy of a government ID to get your account re-enabled. A number of people have done just that to prove how silly the whole real name thing is.
# posted by Blogger Jason : 15/11/11 21:16
 
Social media is fun - till they show you you're the product not the client. Societies will have to find a political answer to that.
# posted by Blogger Kyressar : 15/11/11 22:11
 
For Twisted Nether and Polygamerous we use the NetworkedBlogs facebook app to autopost blog entries to our Facebook pages. Not that they shouldn't give you back your account (they should) but if you wanted to create a page, you can try using that maybe.
# posted by Blogger Fimlys : 15/11/11 22:36
 
I know its not your xhosen platform but self hosting a wordpress blog their are actual plugins which auto fill to g+ fb twitter etc for you...

And I had a similiar issue with the naming on fb My real name is Mile but people only know me as Damon... and the gaming communities only knew me as Demios... through email wars with fb it ended up being Damon "Demios" Mar... so about as close as I could muster myself...

Anyways miss your gifts on fb (lol) as I'm not one for annoying friends/family with my casual gaming needs...
# posted by Blogger Unknown : 15/11/11 22:47
 
As I've noted elsewhere, Facebook even violated their own policy here. They specifically allow users to use their (real) middle name, and they ignored that for Ahmed Salman Rushdie.
# posted by Blogger Kyle Maxwell : 16/11/11 00:48
 
Just fake it. This guy did: http://gewalker.blogspot.com/2011/08/firsthand-examination-of-google-profile.html
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 16/11/11 01:46
 
Another person that's been having these problems is this guy. Apparently, he got thrown out from Facebook no less than three times. Guy is stubborn, though, so he was let back in each time!
# posted by Blogger Oscar : 16/11/11 06:18
 
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