Okay, what’s up with a blog called “Please Delete My Account”?
It all started with Facebook. I have been a Facebook member since February 2007, and since I have the long-standing habit of using mailnull.com to create a separate email address for each service I use to protect myself from spam, I used the address hofi.facebook@mailnull.com to register with Facebook.
All was well until February 2009, when apparently (I have yet to receive a statement by Facebook regarding this) they decided they don’t want their users to use mailnull.com addresses. So entering a mailnull.com address into the register form results in an “invalid email” error. I have no problem with this, Facebook has every right to choose which addresses to accept for registration. What disturbed me was that this change did not affect only new registrations, but also existing accounts. From one day to the next, I was unable to login, with the very same address I always used that worked for two years without problems. I would have changed my address if Facebook had asked me to, but the didn’t. They just locked me (and everyone else with a mailnull.com address) out.
You would think this is an issue that can be solved within a few days. But then you’d also think it would be possible to reach Facebook support. It seems they deemed my email so invalid, they don’t even accept it when I try to fill out their support form. I tried using a different address, which results in an automated response that there is no account associated with this account and that I should use the address that belongs to the account (you can see where this is going). I also tried manually sending mails to Facebook support, with the same results. Sending from my registered address results in no answer at all (I guess they even block it on their mailserver), writing from a different address results in an automatic response to use the registered address.
This went on for some months now, with me trying every few weeks to regain control of my account. By this point I don’t really want to be a Facebook member anymore, but the problem is my account is still active, people are writing me, sending me friend request and I can’t do anything about it. I still receive email notifications about these events, the only recognition by Facebook that my address is actually not invalid.
I want this absurd situation to end. I don’t care anymore if I can log into Facebook or not, I want them to delete my account and never ever have to put up with them again. To delete my account, I have to contact their support. Back to square one.
I don’t know what more I can do. I even registered a second Facebook account (knowingly violating their terms of service) and used that to report myself. But still, they just ignore me and my account is still there.
This blog is my last attempt. From this day, I will send daily requests to Facebook to delete my account. I will post them openly here for everyone to read, I will send them to support@facebook.com and privacy@facebook.com, from my account email address as well as another address. Let’s see if I can get them to delete my account this way. That would be my happy ending.
