1/ Today was the first time since 2020 I was able to access my bird account. I walked away from all social media in 2020 because it was toxic. Bots spamming my posts about how Black lives mattered, which I had always agreed with. Yet every few minutes for days on several posts I was spammed. The negative energy I was trying to ignore just wore me down. Then the adware was out of control on top of everything else.
2/ So last fall I started a new account because I couldn’t sign in to my old one after the 2FA was only allowed for premium accounts and it wouldn’t let me get in to the account to turn it off. I wanted to contact a friend I had in the Navy, an then I just let it sit. In January I wanted to see what others were saying and feeling about the election. I am a huge Apple News + user so although I read events I wanted to see beyond just the facts. So I logged in to the new bird account.
3/ I tried following and connecting with accounts that I had interacted with in my original account. Nobody remembered me except for a handful. So I followed recommended accounts which several I recognized from the past. I’m not sure what happened but it wasn’t the same. Real hate was everywhere, sexy photos gone and guns everywhere. I didn’t understand right away that there was more organized religion at play then I witnessed openly. Jokes didn’t land the same.
4/ Then I posted to a video of a guy on the Subway wearing the new Apple Goggles. I made a comment about if we were going to end up seeing tan lines for them. I was just a stupid comment. It was spammed for a few days with over 250 likes and comments. For an account that was only following just over 40 accounts it was strange. I was suspended for suspicious activity. I had bought the premium package because it said it had less ads, and the ads looked like the had digital VD originally.
5/ So a few days later I was struggling with PTSD and pain, trouble sleeping I was using the site as a distraction and was notified in the middle of the night that my account was suspended. I tried to get help but the have an automated system that just pushes you through with automated letters and decisions. I was notified that I had manipulated my account which was against the rules and my account was permanently suspended and would not be reactivated permanently.
6/ Honestly I gutted me and I cried and felt completely cut off. Then as I watched them delete everything in my account I tried everything I could to try and get real human assistance with nothing. I had been verbally attacked several times that day by a guy who had been in jail for January 6th. It was after I blocked him and his friends that the ban happened. I felt lost honestly because there is no way I was going to turn to anything owned by Facebook.
8/ So even getting access to my original account, I thought I would have been happy but I didn’t. I felt like if I made any wrong move it might be wrong. Nobody would remember me and everything in the world has changed since I used the account. It felt wrong. It was sad and sick feeling. There is no way I would ever pay them monthly again especially 22$ a month after never even getting a live body to help before. It really hit me that the fun I once had there is gone now completely.
When things stop being fun, I generally stop doing them.
7/ A few days later I followed a link from Render back here to my account I had forgotten about because I created it right before I walked away in 2020. Honestly it was exactly what I needed. I can’t manipulate my way out of a bag yet do it to an online account. I’ve never even gotten a warning on anything. So I didn’t even know what I supposedly did. I’m year subscription paid and unrefunded after not even a month.