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Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

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Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#151

Post by glitcher »

I used Facebook briefly years ago as part of a job requirement, but the account sat stagnant and unused for a very long time. Recently I thought I would login just to see if the account was still there, and found that FB had deactivated my account.

The only path to reactivate the account is to send them my government issued ID.

In my case it doesn't matter because I don't want to reactivate the account anyways, but if things were different I would be absolutely horrified at the thought of sending them my driver's license or passport photo.

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#152

Post by nthcolumn »

NietTim wrote: post #18
deadbunny wrote: post #6

My guess is that someone is using password db dumps and then using those credentials to login to Facebook accounts, in this case it reactivated it. TL;DR Don't use the same password on multiple accounts, no matter how "unimportant".

Yep - my rockstar account was 'hacked' a few weeks ago and I now have a fancy eastern european looking username

They got your hackernews account also NoTim?

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#153

Post by nthcolumn »

joezydeco wrote: post #127
webignition wrote: post #15

It may not be Facebook themselves that caused the account reactivation. I'm was very recently in a similar situation having a Facebook account that was deactivated about 5 years ago (I thought I had deleted it). I received the exact same account reactivation notification email as in the article and I also started receiving photo post notification emails. Upon attempting to sign in to my Facebook account to investigat…

I'll add my data point, since this has been happening to me as well in the last week. I've gone in three times now, made sure the account was "deactivated" (using quotes since we know it's not really ever deleted). And I'm still getting notifications. Something else is going on here.

Possibly. Could we all help a guy by 'report abuse' the hell out of the account so it gets deactivated? That would be wrong - what if he isn't the actual owner? So you see the problem. Maybe fb need to make it easier for him to identify himself? But by means other than actually identifying himself? Well that is hard. He should tell his friends he is no longer in control. That would at least be a start.

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#154

Post by tech2 »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #114
tech2 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not the customer, you're the product.

In practice that's not really a meaningful distinction. For a business that survives by selling ads, pissing off your users is just as bad as pissing off your advertisers; you need both to survive, not just one or the other.

Maybe, but like anything else there will be a calculation performed to determine how much it pisses people off as opposed to how much they might make by having people be suckered into^W^Wrejoin the fold.

It's like Ford in the 70's with the Pinto, trading off the cost of law suits vs. the cost of a recall.

So, yes. I agree with you in spirit, but not all users are as skilled, or upset, by this as others. And some may actually be lured back in.

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#156

Post by tech2 »

drusepth wrote: post #89
tech2 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not the customer, you're the product.

I pay for Facebook (ads, as well as boosting posts). That makes me a customer, I guess.

You may fulfill both roles, customer and product, but I think that would make you a bit of a rarity. They can upset you as a product and support you as a customer at the same time.

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#157

Post by Ajedi32 »

tech2 wrote: post #154
Ajedi32 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice that's not really a meaningful distinction. For a business that survives by selling ads, pissing off your users is just as bad as pissing off your advertisers; you need both to survive, not just one or the other.

Maybe, but like anything else there will be a calculation performed to determine how much it pisses people off as opposed to how much they might make by having people be suckered into^W^Wrejoin the fold. It's like Ford in the 70's with the Pinto, trading off the cost of law suits vs. the cost of a recall. So, yes. I agree with you in spirit, but not all users are as skilled, or upset, by this as others. And some may…

That has nothing to do with whether you're a paying customer or not though. (As illustrated by your example with Ford, where the people being harmed were clearly "the customer", not "the product".)

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#158

Post by razorunreal »

Similarly (arguably worse) someone can create a drop box account using your email address and there is no verification nor mechanism to say that it is not yours. Their support will repeatedly bug you to use an automated system, and of course the automated system cannot fathom that you do not have or want an account. I think it took a couple of weeks for them to actually delete it. Alternatively you could try the lost password flow, log in and delete all the files belonging to the poor sap that made a typo. All the while, you hope none of those files were intended for you.

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#159

Post by giancarlostoro »

I see another problem: The OP thought he deleted his account, but actually deactivated it. I've deleted my account before, even in the last few years and it requires a specific link from the FAQ, otherwise you only get a deactivation link, it takes about 2 weeks, if you login after the 2 weeks, you will not get an account back. If years passed and you can still somehow get a response from FB about your account, you didn't delete your account, you deactivated it.

Edit:

It seems this is common enough to be in the FAQ as well:

https://www.facebook.com/help/359046244166395/

How to DELETE your account (will take about 2 weeks or so DO NOT LOG ON TO YOUR ACCOUNT or it will cancel the arrangement):

https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674?helpref=relate...

Re: Facebook activated my dormant account and won’t let me deactivate it

#160

Post by giancarlostoro »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #144

TL;DR: Author reuses same password for most websites. Password was leaked. Attackers likely used password to try and login to his old FB account, causing it to reactivite. Facebook has protections which prevent attackers from accessing account based on stolen password alone (no doubt preventing further damage from attack). Author is annoyed by this.

Also I don't think he actually deleted his account but deactivated it and mistook that for account deletion. I've deleted my account on numerous occasions, once it's gone, it's gone from the end user perspective (whatever FB actually does on the back-end is not truly promised I assume).
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