Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

And now for something completely different...

*OFG walks out onto a darkened stage illuminated by a single spotlight. You can tell it's her because she's wearing work boots, a dirty shirt, and has a bad ponytail. Instead of a Life is Good hat, she has a duck on her head... and she is carrying a bowl of pudding. Little Mo hurries out to the stage and adjusts the microphone stand. OFG takes center stage.*

Yeah so, there I was yesterday... happy. I was about to tell everyone what a great time I had driving into town after being stuck under a Snow Emergency Level 1 and 2 all weekend. Just as I was trying to log into 'the facebook' I found out that my account was blocked.

*The crowd gasps*

I know. Can you believe it? 

*OFG takes the duck off her head and sets it down in a little box on the stage. The duck hen shuffles around happily to find a good spot in the nest. *

So I've been trying to figure out what to do and how to resurrect that account. It's touchy business. Apparently someone got a bee in their bonnet because I was using a "pen name" and not a real enough name. What's the big whoop? Honestly I do not know. But someone reported it and now I'm stuck.

I guess I posted just one too many pictures and videos of Lil Bub and that was just too much for someone with too much time on their hands. I might know who did it. If it was you then.... whatever. I've had way more important people be way more petty to me. This is my reaction to your feeble attempt to ruin my day. 

Maybe it was just some well meaning soul who had too much righteous indignation. Who knows.

Anyway.

I don't want to be "that guy"... but I think I need build a facebook business page. One of the categories that I can use is "blogger" and hopefully that will be good enough for everyone who's jot and tittles were in a twist.  You can find the new page here. It would be great if you "liked" it so I can get the conversation going again. I know you all want to know what kind of pudding I made.  *OFG holds up the bowl of pudding-y delight.*

The only thing is that it makes it kind of wonky for me to comment on friend's pages - so I'm trying to work that out.

That's the long and short of it. Let's go ahead and take some questions...

*Someone in the audience stands up* "OFG! Why... I mean.. what's this all about? Why does anyone care if you are using a pen name?"

Well, it's a sticky wicket. Mostly, tho, I think it's about money. You can read this lively and er... um... colorful... account of what happened when some performers used their stage names for their facebook ID's. 

But what that article doesn't really highlight is why some people may want to use a different name. Not because they are trying to pull something over on the rest of the users...but you can imagine that teachers or police officers - and their families -  could be at risk of certain people wanted to target them.  Or just regular people who may find themselves in harms way if ...for instance.... their stalker wanted to track them down. Who would begrudge these folks if they didn't want to use their full name?

I'm not sure why this is such a big concern for the few people that it might fall into these categories. I have an idea that 'the facebook' bigwigs would take an entirely different view of it if it was their daughter, son, brother, or sister was trying to be anonymous for a reason.

One option, of course, is just not to use it... and who knows, maybe I'll have to learn to tweet or something. I might end up with a smart phone and then I'd be all Instagraming and regramming and would be so over the facebook that they could take their rigid and stupid rules and screw right on off. Who knows? 

Next question - you there?

* A feisty redhead holding a chiweenie service dog stands up and take the mic....*
"Uh... so what is your story, OFG? Why are you using a pen name for 'the facebook'?"

Why wouldn't I? Remember that I set up this ID years ago - when I left that unnamed forum. Everyone knew me - and knows me - as OFG. Facebook went public after that - and so you can draw your own conclusions. Before they were trying to get users... now they are trying to make money from them.

Aside from my obsession with police K9's and Military Working Dogs - I only use the facebook as a way to chittychat with my friends from my blog. So... that's what it was. Would any of my friends know who I was if I showed up as Brunhilda Goosenstein? *shrugs*

And since you asked, I don't have contact with most of the people from my former life on purpose. Not all of my stories are hilarious - and the reason I'm not visible to everyone in my past is one of them.

But my big concern with all of this is that I might not be able to find all my pals. So I'll be trying to find a way to track everyone down. But mostly my friends are your friends... so if you could put the word out to check out this new page and "like" it then at least I could start finding everyone.

OK - last question? Please - there you go.

* A man who looks remarkably like Clark Kent stands up, he's wearing a press badge from Entertainment Landfill.* OFG, I think the big question we are all wondering is... why the duck?

Oh, her? It's just funnier to walk out on stage with a duck on your head.

So that's the story. I want to thank everyone who came looking for me. Really, from the bottom of my heart I appreciate it so much. And a special thank you to the folks who helped me get this worked out. I missed everyone very much. I'm hoping we can get this all worked out in the next day or two and just laugh about it later.

Onward and upwards, right?




10 comments:

Unknown said...

yay! people should be able to call themselves whatever they want, even if its something silly! We can all chose who has access to our accounts, so what does it really matter? The internet has always had pseudonyms, how do we know anyone is using their real name?

Erica / Northwest Edible Life said...

This is hilarious. I love this image of you, flying through ever larger forums and social media spheres, pissing people off wherever you go. That's some good farm girl shit right there. (PS Got your email. It's in queue. Promise.)

This happened to another page/friend thingy I keep up with. They were on FB as a person, and got told recently they needed to switch to a business page. (I think it just happens; I don't think you necessarily got narc'd on.) And so they did. It's actually an advantage: other pages (like mine, ahem ahem) can read your stuff publicly and tag you in posts. So that's good for sharing.

The other page/friend thingy sold me my ducks and I post about those ducks a lot but could never tag them in those posts. So I think this is actually a positive development. Welcome to the jungle.

buddeshepherd said...

I'm going to be in trouble also as I forgot my fake birthdate.

Heavens Door Acres said...

You know, when I want to "sign up" to a web page they generally want all of my "legal" information but then give me the option for a USER NAME. WHY can't FB do that?? This way, they know all of our personal information, like any Big Brother would want....but we would still be "protected" from people we need protected from?

Unknown said...

I'm sorry this has happened to you and disrupted your day. What immediately comes to mind is...your world can get all rocky because someone gets a hair up their butt and doesn't like your name????? What is with Facebook anyway??? I've been using my professional name everywhere forever...it's a little pscyho at times, but that's my choice...it wasn't up for votes. Shame on Facebook for giving any of this credibility. You go Hildy...

buddeshepherd said...

Now I have to readjust my mental image of you. No more Teutonic heroine? Everybody is a bunch of phony"s! Or is it peonies? No, that is Portland. I'm confused.

Diane (SpeedKin.com) said...

Want me to go bust some kneecaps? Ima go bust some kneecaps on your behalf. I had an empty time slot between 1:00 and 1:15 anyway.

Vintage Maison said...

Well, Sir Elton John has a Facebook page, and I don't see them making him use the name Reginald Kenneth Dwight, which is the monniker he was born with!

CallieK said...

I think facebook has been using that " someone reported you " line to their advantage to make everyone switch over. I have far too many people in my feed that this has happened to and I cannot believe there are that many people out there that object to some one not using their real name. I smell a rat.

Linda said...

Yep its a bad deal for sure. I hope you get it all worked out soon.I know I emailed you because I couldn't find you anymore......sobs!! I am must glad you are okay and I know you will work something out.Chin up and onward through the storm.

I am glad you have this Blog.

Linda

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