I worked for years as an IT consultant and felt it was important to keep my personal life firewalled from my professional existence but the family kept insisting I have a facebook account. I chose the name of a 50's TV character and have been using it for years without complaint. The sad part to me is FB figured out…

For all intents and purposes, any reference to being "deleted" in this article refers only to having it removed from Facebook. We have absolutely no way of knowing how long Facebook keeps banned profiles on its servers. Facebook will allow you the opportunity to change your profile name or prove the validity with an…

I do the same thing. I use my real first name and phonetic spelling of my last name. I didn't know Facebook requires you to use your real name. I just know the less my real name is out their, the less the collection agencies can track my every move. They found me but I'm not giving them more ammo.

Yes, you are a dick.

There is a monumental difference between using a name that's not on your driver's license and not wanting your friends and family to know who you are. Surely anyone can understand this concept, particularly given the context given in the article.

Then you might simply have flown under the radar. Surprisingly, some of the people I talked to while writing this have obviously fake names. However, because they're not similar to porn bots (like "Tricia Von Sexypants4u") or flagged as abusive, they don't get caught.

It took Benedict Cumberbatch months to convince Facebook to stop deleting his account.

I use my 'real'* first name, and my last name is my middle and last initial. My name combination is kind of unique, so I wanted to hide a little.

wait, the delete your Facebook name if it's too fake? I might have the fakest name ever going on 5 years now