I guess hate is a strong word to use, but this is how some of us feel.
Facebook on Monday (from all accounts) decided to delete any user account with the word 'cosplay' in it. Was this a direct attack to cosplayers noting that Facebook was trying to get rid of them all - not really. I am sure anyone that they find with a fake name will start being deleted (ie. photography, writer, artist) soon enough.
Here is why they did it, but it still doesn't make it right"
From their Terms of Service (ToS), if you setup a user account under a fictious name, you broke one of their terms. All user accounts are suppose to have only 'real' names. At any time per the ToS, you do not adhear to their rules, you account will be deleted. This may have been the only thing you did wrong, but still, you broke a ToS. I just think they picked a word that stuck out and could easily be queried and removed. I am not sure why they suddenly decided now to do the hack job as some accounts have been open for years.
Supposibily, an email was sent to some people 6 months ago to fix it or be deleted. From what I found, this was a hit or miss as some users had no idea. I think they should of made a general announcement to let you know so you could flip it or download your content. It would of been better to send everyone an email to say save your content before they deleted on 'XX/XX/XX' date.
On the flip side, if you have a 'Fanpage' with the word 'Cosplay" in it, then you were fine. It seems this is the direction that Facebook wants you to take. However, it has been noted that people feel a 'bit weird' creating there own fan page. It would be odd to create your own fanpage, but it was a way around their User ToS. You could use an alias on a Fanpage which is why I think Facebook made it.
Do I condone what they did and how they did it - HELL NO. Do I think this is a PR nightmare, YES and not a very good business model. With them loosing money daily on their failed stock option, I think this was the wrong way to go. Hopefully they learn from this fiasco and don't start wacking other accounts.
Here all the links I could find on the subject and makes some good reading (you may have to copy/paste the links).
http://www.news.com.au/technology/facebook-cosplay-accounts-deleted-without-warning/story-e6frfro0-1226455731318
http://allfacebook.com/cosplay-profiles-deleted_b97891
http://www.kawaiikakkoiisugoi.com/2012/08/21/facebook-deleted-cosplay-accounts/
http://sgcafe.com/2012/08/facebook-mass-deletes-cosplayer-accounts-without-warning/
http://www.examiner.com/article/facebook-purges-cosplayers-accounts-gamers-likely-to-be-targeted-next?cid=rss
http://www.change.org/petitions/facebook-com-stop-deleting-our-cosplay-accounts
http://mashable.com/2012/08/21/facebook-purges-cosplay/
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?s=ab1430a4edd23f026cfbff51ff6d7b1b&t=300727
