Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

Someone in a Facebook group I moderate emailed me just now to let me know that they don't see me listed as a moderator anymore, and can't find my profile to message me. I went to Facebook to look, and it says "page not found" when I try to view my profile. It also acts like I'm not logged in, but when I try to log in, it takes me to the form for creating a new account.

Earlier today, less than 2 hours ago, I posted a video of some friends' band to my Facebook profile, so I know it was fine then. I don't know what happened, but if you noticed me missing there and know I have this account here, now you know.

Does anyone know how I can report this to Facebook and get my account restored? I've Googled for answers but am not finding anything helpful so far.

P.S. https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/260749603972907 is a form for "My Personal Account Was Disabled" but Facebook's documentation says if my account were disabled, I'd see a message to that effect when I try to log in. Instead, Facebook acts as if my account doesn't exist at all. And indeed, when I try to submit that form, it gives me an error: "This email address does not belong to a disabled account".

Edit:

Oddity #1: Facebook is still sending me email notifications, to the same email address that has been on my account for years. Even notifications about people asking to join the group I created and moderate, asking me to approve new people.

Oddity #2: When I try to log in with my correct email address and password, it just takes me to the front page of facebook.com, where it prompts me to log in or sign up. But if I try to log in with the same email address but an incorrect password, then it gives an error message, "the password you've entered is incorrect". So it still has my login information.

I submitted a question at https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/357439354283890, no idea if they'll see it and write back.

UPDATE: 3.5 hours later, they responded to that request. I got an email "help us confirm your name", and my profile popped back into existence. The link from the email prompted me to confirm that the name I'm using is my real name, and to upload a photo of ID, which it said I needed to provide within 7 days.

So, did Facebook somehow think my name wasn't my real name, but their system was super buggy and it couldn't actually tell me that and ask me to provide ID until they got to my support request? Or, did something else happen to my profile, and they put it into this "confirm name" state as a way of reactivating it? No idea. Very strange, and very buggy.

Comments

[chanaleh]

Yikes! I went back to Scott's recent "media reunion" post where I knew you were tagged, and your name is no longer a tag, and your comment in the thread is gone. You probably already know all that, but I'd be questioning my own sanity by now if it happened to me, so here I am validating the observance. :-/ Wish I had something useful to suggest.

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

If you search for my by name, can you find a profile that looks like it is or was mine?

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[chanaleh]

No - five Ofer Inbar profiles but definitely none of them you.

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[(Anonymous)]

Fwiw, just now I was able to search for you by realname on FB and find your profile, browse your recent posts etc. Also: hi! -kubo

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

Hi! Do you have a dreamwidth account? (Will you even see this reply? :)

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[(Anonymous)]

I haz no dreamwidth account, but am checking back for this reply anyhow :) -kubo

[ron_newman]

I will add that this happened a couple of days after cos muted an abusive user in the Facebook group that he moderates. That user is now sending me a stream of abusive private messages, because he wrongly believes that I am also a moderator.

Our group is now without a moderator, which I consider to be a bad situation.

No moderator

[cos]

Facebook is still sending me emails notifying me of people who want to join the group, and asking me to review and approve :/

[dougo]

The Facebook FAQ entry for "my friend's account was hacked" says "please show them the Hacked Accounts section of the Help Center so we can help."

https://www.facebook.com/help/www/131719720300233?helpref=faq_content

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

I did look there, but the "get started" button wants me to start by logging in. Which just takes me to the form for creating a new account, again.

I did not receive an email from Facebook about a change of email address. But oddly, I'm actually *still* receiving email notifications from Facebook about posts in groups I follow, and posts by friends who I have opted to get notifications about.

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[dougo]

Can you get to the "hacked" page? https://www.facebook.com/hacked

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

Yeah, I've been to that link too. The "My Account is Compromised" button takes me to a login form. If I "successfully" log in with my email address and password, it takes me to the new account creation form, of course :/

Oddly, if I enter an incorrect password, it does give me an error message. It's only when I log in with the correct password that it quietly takes me to a new account creation form. It doesn't treat me as logged in, though.

[bluepapercup]

As a datapoint, I use FB Purity and it informs me when people delete or suspend their accounts. When I logged in tonight, it notified me that you had deleted or suspended your account.

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

I did neither, but it probably just checks your friends list to see which profiles that used to be there are no longer present on Facebook?

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[bluepapercup]

Not sure - but it confirms that your account isn't showing up to automated checking either, not just when I go manually look for it.

[ron_newman]

I'm glad you're back! You may want to appoint a backup moderator for that group (and any others where you are now the sole moderator) just in case something like this happens again.

[squirrelitude]

Oh, what ended up being the issue?

Re: Facebook account mysteriously vanished

[cos]

I don't know. See the post update.

[plymouth]

Super weird. To my knowledge when people had their accounts suspended for "realnames" reasons they received an email saying so. So this doesn't seem like exactly that. Super weird.