Technology
Why you got kicked out of Facebook: a guide to Facebook bots

Why you got kicked out of Facebook: a guide to Facebook bots

How I got kicked off Facebook

When I was ripped off, I did not receive an email, message, or confirmation. Just a generic link to Facebook’s Terms of Service. For 3 weeks, I received no responses to any of the Facebook email addresses for disabled accounts. And then 3 weeks later I get 1 email (see below) and my account is reactivated.

Since Facebook is a type of site that we have learned from myspace mistakes, they are super, super, super paranoid about spam. So they have some strict rules posted like:

  1. There are no non-person profiles (you have to make a “fan page”).
  2. No pornography.

And then they have several internal rules, which will cause you a lot of frustration if you don’t know them.

Those internal rules are:

  1. Do not repeat messages.
  2. Don’t invite too much.
  3. No scraping (copy / paste emails from Facebook).

In general, I agree to these policies. Here’s the problem: they can’t handle the behavior of 6 billion people. No way. So they have all these little internal Facebook bots that are prepared to attack under certain conditions.

There is no robot that can distinguish a business profile page from a personal profile page, so companies still have profile pages. They can’t write a robot smart enough to figure out real people’s names from business names. But despite all its internal rules, here are the Bots!

Facebook robots

After researching other Facebook bans, here are the bots I know of:

1. The inbox saver bot: If you send messages to too many people using the compose tool within a 24 hour period, this bot launches it from Facebook after sending it to a certain magical number of people. It causes problems when the same information is communicated to a large number of people who really want the information.

2. The friend saver bot: If you click the “Add a friend” button on too many people in a 24 hour period, this bot will launch you from Facebook. She causes trouble when you really need to connect with a large number of people in a short amount of time.

3. The Scraper Robot: If you copy (Cntl-C) information from too many friends’ profile pages in a period of 24, this robot will launch it from Facebook. He causes problems when you are not a spammer, but you need key information from your friends’ pages.

4. The anti-pornography robot: if you post inappropriate material that is flagged, this robot rips you off Facebook. She causes problems when you have a profile set to Adults Only and someone still marks you, or if an idiot marks you.

How long until you get back on Facebook?

The best part is that the robots are set with timers. Then exactly after 3 weeks your profile is automatically reactivated. The email is signed by someone from Support, like “Bob”. I am sure that for each bot you receive a different type of message. This is a generic email scheduled to be sent when they automatically reactivate your profile.

How to avoid robots

You will receive a warning message as you approach the limit for the number of messages or invitations from friends. Heed that warning! That Warning is also a signal for the robot’s timer to start watching you. If you keep pressing OK, everything will seem fine for a while, then all of a sudden your login ability will disappear. And you will have forbidden yourself.

How to play with robots

You can safely test the waters by continuing to add friends (maybe 50 or so) until you get the Warning message. When the warning appears, press Cancel, do not press OK. So, don’t add more friends for 24 hours. This will successfully steer you away from bots and allow you to continue normal profile activity. If you try to add a friend later and see the warning, you know that it hasn’t been 24 hours.

I suspect that Robots will continue to get smarter and will eventually control all of your thoughts. In the meantime, you can enjoy playing with them on Facebook.

For more business training, contact Mark Berry at [email protected]

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