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HELP! I'm getting STRANGLED (+ frustrated) by facebook's tentacles...

by TimothyW
13 replies
Ok, here's my situation...

I haven't logged into a facebook page for a long time.

I logged on to it recently, posted something on my wall. Then I logged off.

Now it won't let me log back on -- it says the email address I'm using is not correct. Now I KNOW it's correct, because when I DID log on, FB sent me an email (saying "welcome back to FB...") to that EXACT email address!!

Yes, I already tried logging out of google and YT AND I tried clearing my cookies + cache. No dice.

Please advise!

Thanks!

-- TW

PS: Yet again this falls under the "why (oh why) must I learn a new hobby every time I want to accomplish even the most basic of things in the IMing world?!?" category.
#facebook #frustrated #strangled #tentacles
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    If I remember right, I had a bear of a time registering at FB originally, because I was using an email address that had the word "admin" in it.

    Facebook considered that to be an invalid email address. LOL
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    Yes I saw that problem when I tried to search for a solution -- that's not the problem here though. My email address is not info or admin, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
      OK -- HOURS of eyeball-bleeding frustration later, I have (I THINK) fixed the problem.

      Here's the answer -- it is quite possible for FB to (SOMEHOW?!?!) glean an extra email address or two -- and add them to one's FB account (cause: overreaching tentacles!), and USE those added email addr's to send you msgs, and YET, those added email addr's are NOT "valid."

      Therefore, DO NOT assume that, "if FB is sending me msgs to [whichever] email addr, they (FB) must consider that email addr as "VALID."

      One CAN receive emails from FB into an email acct. that FB doesn't even consider to be "valid" and to fix the problem one must still go into FB admin + deliberately ADD said email addr. to the "valid" list.

      Whew!

      Again, this is the type of thing FB users/members should NOT have to worry about, or even KNOW about!! This is the type of "learning a new hobby" that should NOT be necessary!
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi TW,

      PS: Yet again this falls under the "why (oh why) must I learn a new hobby every time I want to accomplish even the most basic of things in the IMing world?!?" category.
      Would you prefer it if everything was so easy and uncomplicated that even the least patient, least determined and those who are bereft of initiative were able to stick at it and compete?

      There's always a good reason for the way that things are - a kind of natural selection

      It's good to see that you passed the test. You are now one of the elite.
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      Roger Davis
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    Ha! Thanks exrat. seems I'm being asked (by powers that be) to pass many tests these days. I'm bangin' on the doors -- getting out of my comfort zone, etc. That's a good thing.

    Still -- it does seem kind of odd that there are many instances where "everyone" is trying to accomplish x,y,z -- but there are stumbling blocks + very detailed, behind the scenes "tricks + traps" that really shouldn't be there (in the year 2011).

    Analogy: That "pick a country" drop-down menu that has United States way at the bottom, after Ukrania or something. C'MON! that's ridiculous. If one is in the mainstream, one should not have to jump through OBSCURE hoops to progress. And just-plain loggin in to facebook is pretty darn mainstream!

    Anyhow, I hope this thread helps some other poor schlub who comes across this particular hoop!

    Cheers.

    -- TW
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi TW,

      Still -- it does seem kind of odd that there are many instances where "everyone" is trying to accomplish x,y,z -- but there are stumbling blocks + very detailed, behind the scenes "tricks + traps" that really shouldn't be there (in the year 2011).
      Market forces tend to push the technology forward at a rate where user-friendliness can't keep up.

      Therefore -

      a) see my last post - it thins out the crowd

      b) it creates whole industries built around easing the frustration of others by training them

      That "pick a country" drop-down menu that has United States way at the bottom, after Ukrania or something. C'MON! that's ridiculous. If one is in the mainstream, one should not have to jump through OBSCURE hoops to progress.
      Ha! For years we have had the same annoyance where 50% of those menus put USA at the top, but we have to search various lower areas for UK, GB, England, EUSSR etc
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      Roger Davis
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    If one knows in advance that 97% of one's customers will be over 5 ft tall, don't make one's doorway 4 ft tall, with a note taped to the top that says, "duck."

    Make the damn doorway 6.5 ft tall.

    So, yes, put USA at the top -- and make all email addresses one mails to, "valid" automatically. Don't transform what is (or should be) obvious, into a barely solvable mystery.

    If one buys a book titled, "Build your own computer," one should not expect the first sentence to read: "First, wrap a long wire tightly around a magnet..."

    Difficulty DOES serve to thin out the crowd (agreed), but it is NOT its own reward! It's not somehow noble to build a curvy road where a straight one would be easier to navigate.

    -- TW
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi TW,

      It's not somehow noble to build a curvy road where a straight one would be easier to navigate.
      I agree and I'm not disputing that. But it can be advantageous to some.

      I'm suggesting that you change the 'angle' you're looking at it from.

      There are many complications like this in our business. Therefore -

      a) become someone who is so good at overcoming these complications that you breeze through where others pull their hair out - the advantages of this are obvious. Countless times I encounter something new, calmly work my way through understanding it, then when I get to the forum for the item, it's full of people who are a mile behind - still at the starting gate, with clumps of hair missing.

      b) sell them hair-restorer. Just kidding - if you so wish, get paid to provide solutions for those people - they are the majority.

      Otherwise just run with it and fill your own boots.

      If you're someone who refuses to adapt to these perpetual complications, life online will always be a struggle and you'll often have to pay those who do adapt, to dig you out of the hole.

      But if you take all of that frustration and turn it into determination to tame this beast, you will become more competent.

      When I've helped someone to learn a complicated task, I never give them all of the instructions. I hint and cajole and constantly leave them to solve their little puzzles with minor clues. It's hard work, listening to their frustration and knowing that they want to scream 'I give up!'

      But I know from doing it this way myself with no one to scream at that it maximises retention of knowledge and development of initiative in that particular area, because in order to solve the problem they have to learn to get inside of the head of the person who designed the thing. They have to think intuitively to guess the right move.

      Once they are forced to do this, that intuitivity grows and assists in the next task and the next one and the next. As you progress, you find similar solutions in different things.

      Complications like these can be a good thing, depending on how you view them.

      This is why I like spending spare time watching DVDs like Ray Mears bushcraft. Watch two men build a birch-bark canoe in a week with only natural materials and basic tools. See the problems they encounter with wood that has a mind of it's own, with unpredictable weather causing issues. Then recall that in the past it was life or death depending on if they built their canoe. See the end result, see them float in it and get their reward and then see the state of their hands - raw from using basic tools.

      It reminds me that 'no pain = no gain' does not just apply to physical fitness - it's universal.

      We tend to assume that the main goal of our efforts is the typical end result - the canoe, or the money from business. But countless times I am reminded of the Chinese proverb -

      'The journey is the reward'

      ...because countless times, the gains I make from succeeding are not what I was expecting and they stem from the little battles I win along the way - you know, the ones that make you want to quit. Due to this, if I were to try and pinpoint the meaning of it all, I end up with 'practising persistence and determination' as my most common and meaningful activity.

      The curvy road might not be noble, but your determination to navigate it regardless surely is.
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      Roger Davis
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      • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
        Originally Posted by ExRat View Post

        When I've helped someone to learn a complicated task, I never give them all of the instructions. I hint and cajole and constantly leave them to solve their little puzzles with minor clues. It's hard work, listening to their frustration and knowing that they want to scream 'I give up!'
        I spent some time today talking to someone who currently provides services, but is frustrated with the time demands and wants to shift into product creation.

        My obvious first-step for this person is "make a product that teaches people to do the service you offer."

        And then begins the whinging.

        But this is all I know how to do! Once I do that, what else can I do? It will only take fifteen minutes to teach exactly what I do. That's not enough.

        And then we have to circle the question. I know what he wants: "give me a fish." But he doesn't need to be given a fish. He needs to be taught how to fish. And I proceed to tell him that what governs success, more than anything, is creativity.

        When you ask smart but uncreative people what they can do with a brick, they say things like "build a wall" and "build a bridge."

        When you ask comparatively dumb but creative people what they can do with a brick, it's amazing what can be done with them. Paperweights, window breaking, tripping people, pulling cords, traps atop doors left ajar, noisemakers, chalk for drawing on roads, throwing in ponds... the list goes on.

        It remains to be seen whether he goes anywhere with the advice. But sometimes, what you want and what you need are two different things.
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        "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    Hi Ex...

    I see your point.

    I also see that there are basically 2 types of problems -- the ones that "should" be, and the ones that "shouldn't" (or needn't) be.

    Whilst I do strive to muddle through both types, sans panic (as you advise), I still reserve the right to complain/rant/vent, when dealing with problem type #2.

    It's like murphy's law -- one side of me chuckles at the inevitability of it, the other side of me is missing lots of hair.

    "You're kidding, right?" and "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!"

    Cheers.

    -- TW
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    No one can see into the future. When one starts out on a (by definition) unknown journey, one must be somewhat guided by what one anticipates the journey to be.

    Of course there will be pitfalls + setbacks aplenty. One knows this going in -- eyes open.

    It's when one starts getting the sense that the headache-per-dollar ratio might be way out of whack, that things start going off kilter.

    Also, when you start out on a journey, you have a sense of how long it will take. When the "little" steps take 10x as long as you thought, it logically means the entire trip will take waaaaay longer than originally anticipated!

    Yes, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," but when the steps that are *supposed* to be easy, turn out to be 2-1/2 hour excursions into utter frustration, it skews the future vision of what the overall journey might be like.

    I'm not giving up by any means. I'm never giving up!

    I'm ready for all frustrations + challenges. It's just a question of the small hurdles becoming big ones unexpectedly. THAT'S what gets my goat! That's what produces the, "No? REALLY?!?" If the "small" challenges are really big challenges, what does that portend about the "large" challenges?!?

    -- TW
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi TW,

      when the steps that are *supposed* to be easy, turn out to be 2-1/2 hour excursions into utter frustration, it skews the future vision of what the overall journey might be like.
      I covered that above -

      if you take all of that frustration and turn it into determination to tame this beast, you will become more competent.
      and -

      Once they are forced to do this, that intuitivity grows and assists in the next task and the next one and the next. As you progress, you find similar solutions in different things.
      To a degree, this part is about self-belief. Can you be bold enough to see light through skewed vision? Are you crazy enough to push on 'blind?' Can you mould these skills into something valuable and then sell them?

      But even when you have that one cracked and can conquer any task you come across with relative ease, it's still no guarantee that you will make money and succeed.

      Conversely there are usually plenty of 9-5 jobs available, working for the man, for those who feel that this is an 'unfair' quantity of challenges and unknowns in exchange for independence and freedom.
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      Roger Davis
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
    You: Can you be bold enough to see light through skewed vision?

    Me: Yes -- which is why I don't give up nor do I have any intention of giving up.

    Cheers.
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