Facebook Identity Cops Diss Real Yodas, Batmans

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 5, 2009 12:41 PM CST
Facebook Identity Cops Diss Real Yodas, Batmans
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg poses at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.   (AP Photo)

Facebook has a thing against funny names, particularly if they’re actually yours, the Washington Post reports. Caitlin Shaw, who wanted to add her maiden name, Batman, to her profile, endured weeks of back-and-forth emails, while Starkiller Unleashed sails through. Facebook says it scrutinizes the real applicants because they are “fewer than the number of people who could potentially misuse the name on the site.”

And Facebook isn’t mean about it: Once Hiroko Yoda finally got her account, she received an email reminding her that Yoda is also “the name of a popular Star Wars character.” Thanks. Another Batman gave up and took her husband’s name, Stewart, and was quickly accepted. “Which is so ironic,” she said of committing fraud to bypass anti-fraud provisions. And yet nobody asks about Bonquiqui Shiquavius. (More Facebook stories.)

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