Facebook Twice Feared Letting Angel Tread Its Network, Changed Its Heart
If you think 20th Century Fox was cruel to Dark Angel, canceling the show after just two seasons, get a load of what Facebook did to Dark Angel. Not the show, the person. Yes, there's a guy out there who legally changed his name to Dark Angel. And on top of the gloom of instilling massive disappointment in everyone who meets him hoping he'll be Jessica Alba, Dark Angel was deemed too fake of a name by the Facebook cops. So they booted his account twice.
Dark Angel wrote us in early June:
Hi, my name's Dark Angel. I had my Facebook account disabled on the 11th of April by the friendly moderators of Facebook. This is the 2nd time this has happened to the SAME ACCOUNT. Both times he's been suspected of having a fake name; however, Dark Angel is my real, legal name; I had it legally changed. The 1st time the issue was rectified within a FEW HOURS. This time however, it took a week before anything was heard from Facebook & then all I was told was that if I provided I.D. of himself, I would get his account back. Not only did I do that, I provided transcripts of the e-mail from the 1st time this happened & and offered any additional I.D. if needed to prove who I was-and yet still nothing. No follow-up response, and no re-instated account. I've gotten my 1st response yesterday in almost a month, and I hope I'm reading it wrong, because I believe Facebook is saying they will no longer correspond with my e-mail.
Dark Angel even went to YouTube to plead his case and started a Facebook group to petition his return. He wrote back to us again Wednesday, saying he's got his Facebook account back and giving us unjustified thanks for playing a part in the victory.
Dark Angel's triumph is encouraging for NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, as well as anyone who decide to name themselves after unjustifiably yanked TV shows such as Deadwood, Tru Calling or Arrested Development.
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Comments:
Cris Angel now has yet another name to scratch off his list of possible baby names.
Why do they even allow people to change their names except for in the case of marriage, divorce, or for witness protection purposes?
How is he going to get a good job with a name like "Dark Angel"...if I was an employer his resume would go straight the shredder.
Barrack Obama sounds fake too.
Dibs on Six Feet Under!
@JediJohn82: How about if your parents name you Hitler? Can you change your name then?
Ooh ooh, or what if your last name is Angel, and they name you Dark? I'd want to change my name then, what with all the employers putting my resume in the shredder.
@Ayarkay: Not until you are legal. Sadly, Shop-Rite will not make you a birthday cake as well. [consumerist.com]
@JediJohn82: "Why do they even allow people to change their names except for in the case of marriage, divorce, or for witness protection purposes?
How is he going to get a good job with a name like "Dark Angel"...if I was an employer his resume would go straight the shredder."
1. Because this is America and we are free to do what we like.
2. There's more to life than just worrying about "finding a good job". I'm sure he changed his name for the same reason I'm tattooed up my neck and down to my fingertips: Because I felt like it, and I don't care what other people think.
@OMG!ToOMG!,ByMyPonies!_GitEmSteveDave: Funny thing is, I just realized that the family in question lives the town over from where I grew up...Crazy.
John Hinkley silently curses the fact that he was born too late to join FaceBook.
I love the Dark Angel tv show and also Jessica Alba. I wish it was still on.
I know we aren't supposed to blame the (what term goes here when its a free service and they didn't write the post?), but don't bitch when a company won't let you use their free service anymore because you changed your name to something stupid.
@JediJohn82: Because sometimes people decide they like another name better than the one they have, or for personal reasons.
I changed my last name when I was 18, because a few years earlier, I had let my step-dad adopt me. When my mom booted him, I saw no reason to keep his name.
Was Deadwood yanked, or did the story just play out? Great show.
I think all Facebook members should not send Facebook another dime until it remedies this injustice perpetrated on "Dark Angel". Facebook would collapse within hours if all of it's members stopped paying user fees.
I thought he was simply quoting what FB had sent him. (although I had to read it twice)
@HiPwr: And in what universe are you living in where Facebook is a service that you pay for? I get mine for free, and it's not because I'm sleeping with someone.
I knew a guy with the last name of "Cashdollar" as well as a guy with the last name of Hitler. And who can forget about DotComGuy? Although I think that he changed his name back to whatever is was after he figured out that he wasn't going to become a celeb.
Dark Angel needs to find a life.
@JediJohn82: Why change your name?
What if your parents name you something you absolutely hate? I knew someone in high school named Gertrude Mary something-or-other. She hated the name Gertrude and didn't like "Trudy" or "Gertie" as a nickname either.
She legally changed her name to Mary Gertrude instead. (She kept Gertrude as a middle name to placate her mother, who had chosen the name after a deceased relative.) She was just so happy to be called "Mary" when someone said her name.
And what about that poor girl in New Zealand whose parents legally named her "Tallulah does the Hula" or some such nonsense? She was taunted and teased and had to get child services to help her get a name change.
BEST NAME CHANGE EVER: I've spoken to a woman in San Francisco who changed her name to Xena Warrior Princess.
facebook usually only goes after people unless someone else reports it.
I have some unbelievably fake facebook accounts for a variety of work reasons and fbook has never even blinked at them. Names like the city as the first, the state as the second. They've never touched them.
I'd change my name to John Doe for shits and giggles
I have an account called Light Emitting Diode Frog. Facebook has never said a peep about it.
I wonder if the Facebook username Dark Angel has already been taken by the real Dark Angel.
@Cat_In_A_Hat: I'm trying to figure out what you mean by "the real Dark Angel." The show, because it came first and was the source of the name, or the guy, because it's legally his name. So confusing =)
@waffles:
"Sir! Bogey at 6 o'clock!"
"What's the radar say?"
"Altitude 1500 feet and climbing fast! It...it appears to be a joke, sir."
@JediJohn82: Changed my last name two years out of college. Was a long german name that was hard to pronounce.
Funny thing was is that I rarely heard anything back on jobs I applied to. Only thing I changed on my resume was my last name and I got 3 times as many legit responses.
@LiquidGravity: No, you still get to bitch about it, only folks such as yourself will refuse to take it seriously as is your prerogative.
@Stitchopoulis: I would really like to know what's up with that, too. If that's how he usually communicates, it... does sort of bolster FB's claim that he's not a real person.
I'd like to preface by thanking everyone who stood by my side throughout this bit. I'd like to stress that I'd never heard of the show Dark Angel until after I got my name changed; and no, that's not where my inspiration came from. To date, I've never seen an entire ep of the show, let alone a season.
I won't bore anyone to death w/all the details and personal opinions of my ordeal, I'll save that for my BLOG (which highlights why even in victory, I'm still dealing w/a nagging catch-22), but I would like to respond to some of the thoughts some of the others have propped.
@Stitchopoulis: It was a typo, not 3rd-person. I slipped up is all.
@JediJohn82: Same reason you have any other right(s) you retain. You know, I get the 'job' question a lot. It's actually 1 of 38 on my F.A.Q.. Yes, I have an FAQ for my name. Getting a job for me is easier than most people think. In this current recession alone, I've landed 4. For starters it's catchy and thus easy for most employers to remember. Something I've found a lot of bosses like. 2nd, it's controversial to have someone with a name like mine on staff, which generally pulls in sales/profits for the companies I've worked for. My name/identity is like tangible income to everyone I've ever worked for. Some customer(s) find out about me, tell friends/family/other customers, and then more customers come in (usually buying products and/or supporting the company in some way) to see proof of my existence for themselves. And as much as I hate being observed in such a way, it usually leads to big tips or quick raises (span of 30-40 days starting; I think that's quick...). I've literally had customers come in, meet me, come back in a week [or less] and take a picture with me just to prove I exist & they're not crazy (as they tell all their friends about me). In short, I'm good for business. So don't get it twisted, my name is far from hindering when it comes to getting & keeping a job, far from it. Lastly, the one thing that trumps all of factors of anyone's employment is EXPERIENCE, and I happen to have lots of it, in various fields. So to say that it would be impossible for me to get a job based on my name, completely ignores the fact that maybe, just maybe, I can get a job because I'm, I don't know, qualified.
@lawnmowerdeth: I've a very exhilarating life, I'll have you know. Strange, or sad, or unbelievable as it is to believe, something like this Facebook event is actually pretty commonplace for yours truly.
@Ferris152: Thank you.
@Cat_In_A_Hat: I took 'drkangl7'
Dark Angel seems to have trouble deciding if he speaks English like the rest of us or if he's the kind of guy who refers to himself in the third person. It's the switching midsentence that really makes it confusing.
I mean "all I was told was that if I provided I.D. of himself, I would get his account back."
Of course, he changed his name to Dark Angel, so he's probably not all there to begin with.