"Do you know this user personally?" Facebook Warning

Just got this trying to add someone:
Do you know this person personally? To prevent misuse of Facebook this request cannot be sent.

In past, I have seen that you could not add, but it would be lifted in few days. And that was usually after I did buch of adds.

Is this a new message? This is out of the blue. I have not added in awhile.

It's becoming very hard to network with Facebook!

I adapted the link of your topic since it wasn't implicit.

You'll get that message when you don't have enough mutual friends with this person to prove you really know him/her. So go into her/his Friends List and start adding some of his/her friends

We can start an argument here, as well, you may take part of it if you wish!

Why the heck Facebook added this 'security measure'? What's wrong with adding people you don't know? It's completely ridiculous! What's next, not being able to post on people's walls because you haven't been on Facebook for that long?

Facebook is supposed to be a the place where to find old co-workers, friends, people you suddenly met on the subway, anyone! Why have we been blocked of doing such a thing?

I agree, but is this a new block? I have not seen this one before.

Sure it's because I don't know have enough of their friends?

I have added tons of people before whom I had no mutual friends.

This has happened to me before. Facebook sent me an e-mail saying that they blocked my account, blah blah. I replied to them that I know the people who I add and I know that they know me too. They apologized and unblocked my account.

Kinda weird. :o

How do you reply or email Facebook? How do you know if your account is blocked if have not received that email.

This happened to me a few months ago. The message appeared to me when I logged in; and a copy was sent to my e-mail too. I just replied to it and was lucky it wasn't a bot; but a real person.

Why does or should Facebook tell me who a "stranger" is?

Just because they are not friends of other people I am already friends with on Facebook does NOT mean I do not know them in real life!

And why "punish" people by denying access or the ability to make friends on Facebook! It's just crazy - do they not want people to use the site!?

Social Networking, like networking in general, is as just as much - if not more - about meeting new people as it is about staying in contact with people you already know. It's not much of a networking website if I can't meet new people who share common interests! That defeats the objective of networking, whether it's personal, professional or social.

It's totally ridiculous and does not make sense.

For example, if I find a facebook group I like, join and then find others that share that interest, why wouldn't I want to make new friends with like-minded people?

This has to be the most ill-considered policy yet on Facebook.

If people do not want to add you when they get your request, they always have that option to turn you down!

But by blocking people, or telling them that people they know in real life are "strangers" is just madness and goes against the grain of social networking.

If I went to a professional networking meeting and decided not to introduce myself to people I did not know, it would defeat the objective of why I was there! In the same way, this policy defeats the objectives of using a social networking site.

Some people on Facebook get caught up in the rant about whether Facebook will start charging for use. That would never happen because that is not how Social Networking works. It's just nonsense and scaremongering.

But as a thought, if that were to happen, Facebook "users" would then become "paying customers". And almost certainly, they would then lose customers, as a large number of people would not pay for it.

However, what is far worse than this - and I'm staggered that Facebook are shooting themselves in the foot like this - is to have a website designed to allow people, from wherever in the world, to contact, stay-in-touch and meet others from wherever in the world. And then, introduce a policy that prevents this!

Consider also those that not just use Facebook occasionally but that use it everyday, for work, social and other events. What happens if you meet someone new at a pub, club, work, gym etc and want to add them on Facebook but can't because you have no "mutual friends". I have plenty of friends in real life that do not know my other friends! Should I now not consider them friends anymore!???

Please also spare a thought to the THOUSANDS of disabled people that not just use but DEPEND on the likes of Facebook to not just stay in touch with people but to meet new people and make new friends. For many of them, Social Networking is an important part of their lives. They may well meet many new friends via the internet and so by that very virture, they would be unlikely to share mutual friends. I think their policy could be construed as slightly discriminatory to people who rely on Facebook in this way - and also possibly offensive.

I just find it hard to believe that someone working for Facebook actually had this idea in the first place and then thought it was such a good idea that they would deploy this.

They should employ the KISS philosophy - Keep It Simple, Stupid! ...send someone a friend request and they can either confirm or ignore. Or add a third button like "Never Accept Friend Requests from this Person" or "No More Requests from this Person" etc. One button, simple idea, at the control of the user - not Facebook - and without destroying the very precept of Social Networking.

It makes no sense at all. I've tried adding people I don't share mutual friends with and even people I share mutual friends with. I play mafia wars and you don't expect I should share mutual friends with a fellow player before I can add them. As far as I'm concerned, facebook is just full of Expletives removed these days. That's how I've been having problems changing my nickname. Facebook really needs to review their privacy settings and give users more control of their profiles.

kevs wrote:How do you reply or email Facebook? How do you know if your account is blocked if have not received that email.

To state the hopefully obvious...you will know if your Facebook account is blocked as you will no longer be able to log into it ........

I know it may seem crazy but I sometimes wonder why people seek to want someone as their 'Friend' who they have never met in the real world ?

Is it some kind of 'status -symbol -thing 'on Facebook as to how many Friends you have...I wonder...