I am not normally one to post bad stuff about a company, but I am infuriated, and I have to share this.

Recently, I became aware that my entire family is on Facebook. When I say “entire family,” I mean my mom, brother, cousins, uncles, aunts, second-cousins. So since I like my family most of the time, I thought it would be cool to have an account on Facebook so I could be in “the club.” So I went on and tried to register for an account. I got an error message that said my name was rejected. Understanding that my first name often gets me mistaken for a company, I sent an email to the administrators for help. They sent back this message:

“Please reply to this email to verify that you are the owner of the account that you referenced in your Facebook support inquiry. This security step must be completed before Facebook can respond to your inquiry. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Please avoid creating an account with a different name while we are processing your request.”

So I replied to that message. Then I got this message:

“Facebook profiles are meant to represent a single individual. Groups, clubs, businesses, and other types of organizations are not permitted to maintain an account.

If you would like to use Facebook to represent your organization, we offer a Groups application. Facebook Groups allow users with common interests to come together to express objectives, discuss issues, post photos, etc. If you have a personal Facebook account, you can create a group from the top of the Groups page.”

So I replied to that message, assuring the company that I am, in fact, just an individual person. I was already reaching the end of my patience. Today I got this message:

“Facebook does not allow users to sign up with certain names that may be fake or associated with fake accounts. While we realize this verification method may prevent some users with legitimate names from initially registering, we feel this policy is currently the best method to prevent against malicious and fake accounts on the site.

We can help you regain access to your account, but we will need additional information. Please send a scanned image or digital picture of a (e.g., driver’s license) to idrequests@facebook.com in order to confirm your first and last name. Please make sure that your name, date of birth, and photo are all clearly visible and that any personal information that is not needed to verify your name (e.g., social security number) is blacked out. Keep in mind that we will permanently delete your ID from our servers once your name has been verified.

Finally, you should make sure to copy and paste all of our previous correspondence into your message when you reply. Once we have received this information, we will be able to assist you further. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

I’m sorry but are you freaking kidding me?! I have to scan and then Email my license?!! Should I also mail in a blood sample?! The sad thing is that I will do this, because I really feel left out of the conversations my family is having. So this stupid policy will stay in place. Arrrggghhh!!!