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Permanent Facebook Ban

Amelia SmartsAside

Good morning, and thanks for visiting my blog. I wanted to share some news. I know people have noticed that I’m not on Facebook anymore, and today I received confirmation that Facebook has permanently disabled my Amelia Smarts account.

First, Facebook challenged me to prove that Amelia Smarts is an authentic name. I went through all the steps to authenticate the name and succeeded using RWA PAN membership and royalty statements, but after I did all that, Facebook decided to ban me anyway for violating community standards because of images I posted. What was supposed to be a seven-day ban turned into a lifetime ban. So, learn from my mistake: Don’t post spanking pics!

I don’t have the option to appeal, and it doesn’t look like I can fool my way back in, like using “Amelia Smarts Author,” for instance. The Facebook bots picked up on it when I tried. I’m not sure where this leaves me. Right now I just feel sad, since I feel like I’ve lost a lot–a community of friends, a platform for sharing my books, and more. I’m not sure how well I can market my books without Facebook, so that kind of scares me, although I do know of some very successful authors in our community who don’t have Facebook profiles. If anyone has advice or a word of encouragement, I would greatly appreciate you reaching out. My email address is amelia_smarts@yahoo.com.

To everyone who reads my books, thank you! Since I’m no longer on Facebook, I hope you will follow my author page on Amazon to get updates when I have a new release, or of course you can keep in touch using this blog.

Spanks and kisses,
Amelia

Update: Someone started a petition to get Amelia Smarts back into Facebook. So cool. Check it out!

55 thoughts on “Permanent Facebook Ban”

  3. Amelia, this happened to my Rollin Hand account, so I reregistered on FB with my Jordan St. John pen name. Do it from a different computer so they don’t connect you to your old FB profile.

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  4. So sad to hear this. I’ve just about had it with facebook. I loved your naughty pics! Tumblr may be the way to go….

    I hope this means lots of blogging and writing!! ❤ Cause that'd be such a win, I'd almost be glad you're banned… ❤ ❤

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  5. you can get a petition started to bring you back. They did that when they banned that photographer who takes pics of naked disable men. he was put back on and no one bothers him any more. its a shame that you can’t know who it is that reports you so you can unfriend and block them… but I guess too when you have so many “friends” on your list you’re going to upset a few of them some how. Again you can get a petition started to be submitted to FB to bring you back as a public figure… try that

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  6. So ridiculous! In the meantime, I’ll be sure to spread word for you via FB for new releases and such as I’m sure many others will. Don’t hesitate to contact me if there is anything else I can do. Of course I’m happy to host any new releases on my blog, just let me know.

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      1. Be proud of that A! Facebook is such a pain. If you post anything on pinterest, be prepared, they love to delete and ban there too.

        In the meantime, don’t despair. Your fans should know where you are. And Twitter doesn’t ban people for images. So tweet to your heart’s content.

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  9. I don’t know anything about this stuff really but these are my initial thoughts on reading.

    First of all I’m cross that you’ve been banned, you’re not spreading racist, or homophobic slurs, you’re not a terrorist organisation using Facebook to recruit, what is it with them and their quasi religious morality, good grief they need to get over it. And I assume some idiot must have reported you to them, so they spent their limited resources tracking down your page instead of using that time actually doing something useful, like banning creepy stalkers from their site or something.

    Also, it strikes me that its unfair of Facebook to ban you permanently without warning you and giving you the opportunity stop breaking their rules first, I’m assuming you’re a self published author or an author published by a small publishing house based on your site and our mutual friends, so the sort of self promotion you have to do means having a Facebook page is vital, therefore I’m sure you would have been willing to abide by their rules and just use the page to promote your work had you been given the opportunity. Is there someone official who could advocate for you? like your publishing company or a romance writers association, sometimes hearing from someone official frightens organisations like this, even if there is no threat of legal action, they just decide they can’t be arsed with the hassle of dealing with someone they perceive might actually know what they’re talking about (apologies if you’ve tried this already, it feels like it might be an obvious suggestion).

    The second thing that occurred to me is, I assume your from the US? although, I guess its possible you could be a crazy european person with a fetish for cowboys? but anyway, there are how many billion Facebook users all over the world? how about if someone else set up a fan page/profile (not sure what you had banned) with the name Amelia Smarts in a different country/state and more importantly with a different IP address? in a few weeks and then held it for a little while and posted some kitten photos/inspirational quotes every few days? and then after everything had died down and they’ve forgotten about you, you could surreptitiously take it over and just use it to publicise your books and keep very much in line with their rules about what to post?

    Anyway they’re my suggestions, good luck getting it sorted out.

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    1. LOL! I just about fell over laughing at “you could be a crazy european person with a fetish for cowboys.” Hahaha, all American over here. That’s a really interesting suggestion about having someone open an Amelia Smarts account from another area. I’m going to think about that. Thank you, Esther, most of all for making me laugh. 😀

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  10. I am so sorry, hun! I wish we could figure out a way to fix this for you. Maybe wait a while and try using ” author” again in some way with a different email address.

    Hope you can find a solution.
    Rai

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  11. Gutted. Like I said when I first saw this,so FB will allow images of beheading,and a vile sex video but not mild spanking images. I will follow you on Twitter,please keep up the good writing. You will be missed on crap book. 😢

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    1. Yes, it’s really backwards that depictions of gratuitous violence are considered socially acceptable, but a woman’s bare ass in a private group with members 18+ is considered offensive. Thanks for the commiseration, Jonathan. 🙂

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  12. Damn…I think we need to fix this. I’d consider the petition option…and I will post your novels on my page if that helps.

    Fight it with every thing you have, Don’t let them make you think you did something wrong. I’d love to know who flagged you. I had a guy in August that complained on my Facebook page because I was making jokes about spanking and I unfriended him quickly… but I could have picked him up through one of you guys at that point. My first novel had only been out a matter of days when he did that and he sure wasn’t a fan of the genre.

    isabella

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  13. This is awful, so unfair and could happen to any one of us! I tend to agree that there must be a way around this and there are some good suggestions already. Meanwhile I’m happy to help promote your books via Fb, follow you on Twitter, etc.

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  14. I’m so sorry you have to go through this crap. FB and Amazon have become Big Brother and censorship is back. You might try what Rollin Hand, now Jordan St. James suggested when he was banned. Don’t use you computer, he can probably give you more tips. In the meantime I and some follow authors will continue to read and promote your books. I now suspect that when FB says a closed group is private, it ain’t, lol also, unfortunately someone in the group reported you. Hang in there, your an awesome writer. 🤗💕

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  15. Oh no!! This is terrible news. I am so sorry this is happening to you. Please hang in there and let me know if there is anything I can do to help at all. I just followed you on Amazon, but let me know how else I can help you get the word out on your releases especially.
    ~Livia

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  16. By way of practical assistance, if you want to email any media kits to me at ashe.barker1@gmail.com I’ll upload them into the Smut Rules Fb group where other members there will create guest posts for you which we tend to scatter around Fb – I asked around and we are all happy to help.

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  17. This is OUTRAGEOUS!!!! I LOVED your posts – looked forward to them. People here have expressed my thoughts much more articulately than I can in my current mood.

    When I liked this post it didn’t mean I like-liked it. It meant I support you in your battle against the prudish, hypocritical despots at FB. As my Aussie friends like to say, ‘We’re grateful that America got the Puritans and we got the convicts.’

    If there is any way I can help you or promote your books, just let me know. You have my email address.

    xo Libby

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  20. Wanted to join in expressing my sorrow. It just seems such a random implementation of their “rules.” I’m just starting my blog up, but I will be happy to share any information you have about upcoming books. I also signed the petition to get your author page re-instated.

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  21. I signed the petition and shared it on FB. Given your profession, a ban like this is a definite restriction of commerce. I guess FB can determine what they want (or don’t want) posted on their site, but they should give you a chance to remove what they find offensive before they ban you. I like the idea of establishing your presence overseas then taking it over. However, it is probably best if you keep all those “bare butts” covered in the future. And make sure you keep posting excerpts on Saturday Spankings. I’m confident Headmistress Blake won’t ding you for having longer excerpts than are usually allowed, and she has a very liberal policy regarding spanking photos. No paddlings assigned for those.

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    1. Yes, Kathryn, I agree with everything you wrote. I wish they had just shut down the group and given me a temporary ban. If I actually get back in, I’m never posting another photo!

      Thanks for letting me cheat a little in Saturday Spankings. 🙂

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  22. I have always had a problem with american (deliberately lower case !) pseudo “morality” You can sell shoot’em video games to children but a bare butt is banned ?! What a travesty.

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    1. Yeah, it’s backwards. What annoys me is these photos were posted in a private group. Children couldn’t see the photos, and anyone not into spanking couldn’t see the photos — only me and about a hundred others. So lame.

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      1. Okay, that has me worried. Not that I post naughty photos on FB anyway, but if a group is private, then I don’t see the issue. How can you violate the community standards of a private group that enjoys what you’re posting? I’m sure no one in the group complained about the photos, especially if it was a “spanking” group. And you weren’t contributing to the delinquency of a minor by posting there, since no little kiddies had access to the group. So, what’s the deal?

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      2. Unfortunately, the same rules apply to private groups. I thought that if I screened people carefully, I wouldn’t have anyone in the group who would report me. Either someone sneaked in with the purpose of getting me in trouble or Facebook somehow scanned images and decided they weren’t appropriate. Either way, the worst happened because someone also reported my name as not being authentic.

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  24. Pingback: #SatSpanks: What do you think I’m doing? I’m spanking you. – Amelia Smarts

  25. I’m not on any social media but I have read about all the problems erotic authors have been having on various platforms. It seems that rather than issuing blanket bans, Google, Tumblr and Facebook pick out random bloggers and erase their work w/o warning.

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  26. Pingback: Permanent Facebook Ban (part 2) – Amelia Smarts

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