As some of you know, I have had an ongoing issue with Facebook about my posts there — usually related to the comic strip. At least a half dozen times over the past three years, the Purity Police has decided, in its infinite wisdom, that my benign little comics are either too sexual or spam or some other violation of their Most Holy Community Standards. Let me note right now that this has nothing to do with posts on the Haut Times page: any time I put up a link to one of those, the thumbnail is very carefully cropped so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of the Purity Police.

But the regular cartoon? The damndest things are considered an offense. Two guys standing and talking in a parking lot is a violation. One guy sitting on a barstool and talking to the reader is a violation. If I post on the webcomic’s home page and my personal one too quickly, it’s considered spam. Right now, as of this writing, I have eight cartoons, all about as threatening as a wet piece of paper towel, sitting “in review”, some going back to last March. And of course, when I ask about why things this innocent are sitting “in review” for so long, the stone heads at Facebook Island do not say a thing. They apparently do not want to admit that maybe they made a mistake all these many times, and perhaps if I just walk away until the end of my banishment, they will “win”. Instead, they “recommend” that I go to their incredibly useless “Help Centre”, which no one on FB visits, given the massive number of unanswered queries there. And if that wasnt bad enough, when I am released from Facebook prison and write about this latest absurdity, Facebook tells me I should pay to “boost” the post.

Irony is not FB’s long suit, I suppose.

Let us also add into this that the most recent trip to FB Jail is accompanied by a small note telling me I “may have” used FB in an “incorrect way”. In other words, they’re not sure. They cant say for certain that I did or did not. Regardless, I am to be punished. Tell me: is that supposed to make any kind of sense? Because I damn sure cant figure it out.

So I’ve decided, screw it, let them win. If you’re reading this and you want to continue to read the strip, I suggest bookmarking this site, because I doubt I’ll be posting at FB much longer. I’ve had it with their inconsistent application of these supposed rules (My little cartoon gets busted, but we can see images of real, honest-to-God sexual acts all over FB, and the Purity Police doesnt seem to give much of a damn about them.). On the advice of a friend, I’m contacting the powers that be who want to regulate this platform — not because I think my issue merits any kind of major attention, but it just might give them one more piece of ammunition when ol’ Mark sits there in his three-thousand-dollar suit and charms Congress with his Colgate-white tales of “We’re doing everything we can”. I used to believe that bullshit. Not anymore. We’re all just commodities on Facebook, inventory for him to sell to the highest bidder, and he doesnt really give much of a damn beyond that point.

I also know that removing my pages at FB will cut into the number of readers on this page. I doubt anyone will notice, let alone care. But that’s another story for another time. For now, this is all about what Facebook has done to one user for years without penalty. And Im tired of having to consistently take it. Pulling the strip from FB will not change my endgoal to see this platform punished in one way or another for what it has done to me and to no doubt many others as it bulldozes across the social media landscape.

So… screw you, Facebook. And I would say screw you to Mark as well, but frankly, he’s not cute enough.