Gerbils and Violations

The room is open and along came the crowd. Our little group consists of around 8 people.  I haven't actually done a head count and usually they aren't all there at the same time.

Ya just never know what the conversation will be about and where it will skip to once started. The cast of characters are familiar to each other.

I think it was T that first mentioned gerbils. I'll use initials to protect the not so innocents. I assumed I knew what he was talking about and as I watched the chat that followed, C confirmed what I had assumed.

Finally it dawned upon E that something was being discussed that she hadn't heard about and while comments were being bounced around the room, we instructed E to do a Google search for enlightenment. D was her usual quiet self for a while.  I left the room but went to the private wall that belongs to this group and posted a message. I was signing out of FB after making this comment,  or at least that was my intention. 

Soon messages were being posted in reply to mine and 300 messages later I'm still on FB. Even D was posting comments that caused a grin and giggle.
 The gerbil conversation ended around post number 75. The following comments were benign. Much laughter was going on during these posts. Witty and clever, we traded comments for the next hour or so. Many times I was laughing silently at some of the banter. M made a comment that a child with her was watching her strangely as she laughed loudly at the computer screen. It was just that sort of night and unless you have participated in one of these activities, this may sound a bit strange.

 I received a violation notice. Not once but three times. I was never notified what I had violated but I was warned that my Facebook account was in jeopardy of being locked down. Was it the gerbils? Was it the 300 comments? 

I wasn't taking any chances. I stopped posting and notified everyone and back to the chat room we went while the moderator of the private wall started erasing all those comments.

While E was busy erasing the comments, we were all gathered in the chat room making comments about what we thought had happened. I felt as though we were hiding out. My hand had been smacked by the gremlins at Facebook. The Facebook police were on patrol and I was on probation. 

How can something so non threatening as typing messages on a message board drag me into being threatened with exile. I promise I'll behave. 

Dear Facebook,
I would like to be more personal in my address to you but I'm clueless as to who I would address this to. I'm writing to request a rule book. I seem to have violated one of them but am unclear as to which one it was. If I lose my Facebook account,  my evenings will be spent watching some reality show. I would rather chop off my toes one by one then have to resort to reality TV.
My carefree post of status updates are now censored which hampers any witty remarks I might have contributed.
Please contact me at 1-800-WildFingers with advice on how to stay a part of your Facebook family. I don't want to be the first banned one among my friends.