My names Gadge... everyone calls me 'gadge'. My mum calls me 'gadge'.

Facebook suspended my account i've had for about ten years today because it 'was a fake name'.

Despite the fact im a published author under the name Gadge, i've records released under that name etc etc.

Cheers FB thats nearly a decade of industry contacts down the swanny

Yep i can transfer it all over to an account with the name on my birth certificate but *no one* in the wargames, music or militaria industry will know who that is.

The most annoying thing of all is that this isnt something FB chose to do... its because *someone* reported my profile for having a 'fake name'. Probably because they were upset about an internet argument.

And in case you're wondering, another reason why i liked having my FB as 'gadge' as the *only* time i use the name on my birth certificate is when writing academic papers or teaching in high schools. In the latter I really dont want teenagers googling my name and trying to find out stuff about me, my photos etc (fbs privacy system is rubbish as friends of friends can oftern see stuff only your friends should see)

Man thats annoyed me today.

I've had to transport me account to being a 'public figure' which is frankly ridiculous.

Did you get it all fixed up?

That's unfortunate fella.

I don't have a FB account, but am involved in the policing of sex offenders, who hide behind fake ids on FB in order to evade 'monitoring'.

It's actually an offence for an RSO to use a name and not register it with the Police. FB are cooperating with CEOP to shut down any accounts we identify.

Unfortunately, as so often happens in these cases, a function designed to counter either terrorism or sexual grooming ends up affecting far more innocent parties than it does bad guys.

Im appealing it right now.

My main issue is losing almost ten years of contacts in the wargames and sports shooting and music industries.

I also use FB to orgnaise a lot of events.

This is going to cripple me until i get it revoked.

I am sorry to hear that.

Its crazy though, about 30 per cent of the name son FB are clearly not real. Most notably those used by people on wargaming/music/hobby groups.

That's ridiculous. How can Fb even know it's a fake name? You very well COULD be named Gadge IRL. There are weirder names out there nowadays.

Heck, when Skyrim came out, I remember a contest to try and get someone to name their baby "Dovahkiin" if it were born on 11/11/11.

We were in a restaurant the other night and overheard someone talking about a friend naming a new baby Halo Angel. What would FB make of that?

We were in a restaurant the other night and overheard someone talking about a friend naming a new baby Halo Angel. What would FB make of that?

Use it for X BOX commercials...

Im appealing it right now.

My main issue is losing almost ten years of contacts in the wargames and sports shooting and music industries.

I also use FB to orgnaise a lot of events.

This is going to cripple me until i get it revoked.

Ouch that's bad man. One more reason why I don't use FB (the others are the sites' bad layout, me being a nonconformist prig and me hating suckerbergs face, aongst others...)

Can't you say it's a pen name since you're an author? If buisnessess can have their own facebook acount then why can't you have "Gadge"?

That's ridiculous. How can Fb even know it's a fake name? You very well COULD be named Gadge IRL. There are weirder names out there nowadays.

Heck, when Skyrim came out, I remember a contest to try and get someone to name their baby "Dovahkiin" if it were born on 11/11/11.

Agree.

While my online name hint's at an illegal activity on a graveyard, my real name is an adjective and a noun that might be found in a travel guide to Greece or South America.

Maybe FB is dicking around because its only "Gadge" (missing a sur- or last name) For all I know it would be ok with Gadge Gadgeson, but not Gadge...

As an author i have to have a 'page' not a profile.

I have a Dj page (DJ Gadge Europa) to let people when i'm doing guest slots at clubs and festivals in other countries or towns.

I'm less hacked off about it now. I was just well annoyed this morning.

A few winters back I changed my middle name from Edward to Epic on FB because one too many people asked if I was on 'Team Edward'. I've yet to change it back. I got married 12 months ago and now my wife has taken my family name legally, and Epic+my family name on FB. It had become a joke. Her bridesmaid referred to her Mr's Epic+family name in her speech. My family refer to us as the Epic+family name to differentiate us from the myriad of other family folk of the same name.

Based on your treatment, we should also be banished, hung, drawn quartered and shat upon for having false names.

My point: I would argue countless people have nicknames on FB. It is a strong part of our culture.

As a work-around, maybe you could try John 'Gadge' Citizen .. assuming your birth name is John Citizen.

I sent FB a polite email explaining how my mum calls me Gadge, my boss does and anyone who has known me since i was a child.

I sent some scans of magazine articles of me in which i've written the article and modelled for it as 'Gadge' and they've relented and changed my profile back... along with my ten years (almost) of pics and contacts.

Im rather pleased they were reasonable about it.

I could change my name by deed poll but its never been neccessary in the last 39 years.

I sent FB a polite email explaining how my mum calls me Gadge, my boss does and anyone who has known me since i was a child.

I sent some scans of magazine articles of me in which i've written the article and modelled for it as 'Gadge' and they've relented and changed my profile back... along with my ten years (almost) of pics and contacts.

Im rather pleased they were reasonable about it.

I could change my name by deed poll but its never been neccessary in the last 39 years. Oh i've got a surname on my profile, its not a one word name!

I sent FB a polite email explaining how my mum calls me Gadge, my boss does and anyone who has known me since i was a child.

I sent some scans of magazine articles of me in which I've written the article and modeled for it as 'Gadge' and they've relented and changed my profile back... along with my ten years (almost) of pics and contacts.

Im rather pleased they were reasonable about it.

I could change my name by deed poll but its never been necessary in the last 39 years. Oh i've got a surname on my profile, its not a one word name!

Glad to hear they decided to play nice

Wait people still use face book?

I Facebook to post Karaoke night and incriminating pictures. . . Granted most of those pix are me but , Hey I am a Karaoke Rock God. And I swear you have NEVER heard The Back Street Boys Larger Than Life until you have heard it Country Fried!!!

Karaoke night starts in 2 hours and I have 3 buckets of beer callin my name saying how much they love me. Y'all have a good night

Man. I go by "punning pundit" basically everywhere. So when I signed up for Google Plus, it was natural to use that same name. In its early days, Google frowned mightily on the idea, but has since relented. They've decided that if a name is what you are primarily known as, it's a good enough jackbottom deterrent for their purposes.

And, FYI, there's a good G+ X-Wing community.

The most annoying thing of all is that this isnt something FB chose to do... its because *someone* reported my profile for having a 'fake name'. Probably because they were upset about an internet argument.

I'm curious about the mechanics of this. Do they tell you that someone reported it? And if so, do they identify that someone?

My guess is no, but I've seen this sort of thing come around a few times and I've been curious.

No they dont tell you but when this first started happening some people did some digging and found out that initially to have your name 'questioned' you had to have your profile reported. It seems that now though after FB realised that probably only about 50 per cent of their customer base used their 'real name' (and hence made it less useful to market to) it might be algorithms now that detect 'unlikely' names.