# MySpace has Fucked me! I mean SEVERELY FUCKED ME!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 2, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076 "2005-11-02T14:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/41 "2005-11-04T00:06:02Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I did reply (politely) to the e-mail as soon as I received it (about 24hrs ago), I still haven’t gotten a reply. Good luck with the email, but if I were you, I would put all my efforts into getting in touch via telephone to someone at MySpace. In my experience, emails frequently go absolutely NOWHERE. They’re incredibly easy to ignore, back and forth exchange can take days on end, and the person you’re corresponding with is probably a low level drone who is just going to recite boilerplate to you, then proceed to ignore subsequent emails. /$.02 ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/42 "2005-11-04T02:53:27Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I mean “restraint of trade” by a competitor. I’d imagine this would be the cyber-equivalent of one band destroying posters and flyers of a rival band. > > :shrug: It was a dandruff idea – small, flaky, and off the top of my head. > > Robin Not a bad thought. The problem is only the terminology, as **ascenray** pointed out. You’ve identified what was “wrong”: what if a competitor did this deliberately to gain an advantage (i.e., is trying to restrain **bienville** ’s ability to practice his trade)? Once you’ve done that, you start sorting through potential legal causes of action that fit that basic wrong – intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, unfair competition, fraud, etc. You do some research in books that list causes of action, to see if any of those fit what you know happened. You’re also right to analogize to everyday situations – that’s how the law grows, by pointing out that X, which happened online, is merely “the cyber equivalent” of Y, which is prohibited by law. Fun stuff, being a lawyer is. 😉 To be clear, though, none of us know enough about the situation to suggest that any of those are actual, viable claims. This isn’t legal advice, and shouldn’t be relied on. It’s merely fun, fun speculation and serves only to amuse. And I ditto the suggestion to pick up the phone and call the legal department. ---
**Author:** ![Nilor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a4c791/32.png) [@Nilor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nilor)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/43 "2005-11-04T07:57:51Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > that’s how the law grows, by pointing out that X, which happened online, is merely “the cyber equivalent” of Y, which is prohibited by law. Unless you’re talking about torts and ISPs 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/44 "2005-11-04T15:00:13Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I mean “restraint of trade” by a competitor. I’d imagine this would be the cyber-equivalent of one band destroying posters and flyers of a rival band. In my understanding, restraint of trade has mostly to do with _contracts_ that attempt to reduce competition (making it a part of antitrust law), such as non-competition clauses or exclusivity contracts (as practiced by Microsoft). I can see how fraudulent reporting of copyright violation might be illegal in some way, but unless it was part of some kind of organized campaign, I can’t see how it would fit under restraint of trade. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/45 "2005-11-05T13:58:15Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > Good luck with the email, but if I were you, I would put all my efforts into getting in touch via telephone to someone at MySpace. > [@Campion](#): > > And I ditto the suggestion to pick up the phone and call the legal department. Been a few days and no response from either of the two e-mails I sent. I’ve gone all through the website but can’t find a phone number anywhere. Can anybody help? Is it possible that no phone number exists? ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/46 "2005-11-05T15:53:36Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Been a few days and no response from either of the two e-mails I sent. > > I’ve gone all through the website but can’t find a phone number anywhere. Can anybody help? Is it possible that no phone number exists? 310-917-4920. (When google isn’t your friend, sometimes 411 is. 🙂 ) If you get the runaround, ask for the legal department. Good luck, and keep us posted! ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/47 "2005-11-05T16:28:13Z")
Sorry about your problems with MySpace. Take this as a kick in the pants to find a new venue to promote your band. Perhaps you should create your own website and then link to it using places such as MySpace. That way, you can communicate with your fans without risking having your site shut down suddenly. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, especially if you can create it/update it on your own. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/48 "2005-11-06T13:34:44Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > 310-917-4920. (When google isn’t your friend, sometimes 411 is. 🙂 ) > > If you get the runaround, ask for the legal department. Good luck, and keep us posted! Thanks, **Campion**! Hopefully I’ll get a chance to talk to someone who can help. **PunditLisa** , as stated in post #34, MySpace is not my only venue of promotion. It just happens to be uniquely useful and effective. People who use MySpace enjoy using it, have fun using it, and kill loads of time playing with it. When they’re engaged like that and participating like that they tend to retain the interaction with me, moreso than receiving a mass-e-mailing or a plea to “check out the website”. I’ve had my own website for years, I’ve been building a regular e-mail list for years, and MySpace has never nor would it ever be a replacement for other venues of promotion. But, again, it just happens to be one tool that is particularly effective and popular. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/49 "2005-11-06T14:53:10Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > **PunditLisa** , as stated in post #34, MySpace is not my only venue of promotion. It just happens to be uniquely useful and effective. People who use MySpace enjoy using it, have fun using it, and kill loads of time playing with it. When they’re engaged like that and participating like that they tend to retain the interaction with me, moreso than receiving a mass-e-mailing or a plea to “check out the website”. > > I’ve had my own website for years, I’ve been building a regular e-mail list for years, and MySpace has never nor would it ever be a replacement for other venues of promotion. But, again, it just happens to be one tool that is particularly effective and popular. Yes, but something on your MySpace page was responsible for getting you booted (rightly or wrongly) from MySpace. Perhaps it was lyrics or an audio file. MySpace probably doesn’t have an in-house legal team to individually consider each complaint and therefore errs on the conservative side (if there’s any possibility of having illegal material, you get dumped; no judge, no jury). Since this is the case, I’m suggesting you set up another page on MySpace but instead of having it house, say, audio files onsite, you could provide a link to your website. It’s one additional step but might save you from being unceremoniously dumped again. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/50 "2005-11-08T02:53:59Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Since this is the case, I’m suggesting you set up another page on MySpace but instead of having it house, say, audio files onsite, you could provide a link to your website. It’s one additional step but might save you from being unceremoniously dumped again. I just did this myself. bienville’s post was my first “things are not quite right here” trembling. My second came when I noticed that a lot of people who had been on my (Happy’s) Friends list had disappeared. They didn’t just drop Happy as a Friend. If they had (and it has happened), their pages would still be on MySpace. No, they’re gone completely. My 3rd came when I saw someone point out this bit of the Terms of Service, something that I should have noticed but was too flush with excitement to grasp: [qutoe] [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/51 "2005-11-08T02:59:15Z")
Ooops, that posted too soon. My computer hiccuped then froze up. Anyway, I have to go eat then buy a Kate Bush album at midnight, so I won’t get to finish what I started to write. It’s all explained in the blog entry on Happy’s site: [http://www.myspace.com/happyrhodes](http://www.myspace.com/happyrhodes) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/52 "2005-11-13T13:45:14Z")
Well, the phone number provided by **Campion** just got me a recording that listed the e-mail addresses that they want you to use for whatever issue you’re calling about. I did get a little back and forth e-mail communication from the MySpace copyright agent but it wasn’t very helpful. S/he had no specific info for me as to what report had been made about my account. Didn’t really even apologize. I didn’t get any information beyond “That happens sometimes.” So I’ve started a new page. I’ve begun recollecting contacts though I know some are lost (I don’t know them personally, and they found me to begin with). I’ve rejoined the SDMB Group and sent out “Add Requests” to all the good Dopers who had added me to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/53 "2005-11-13T19:11:59Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Well, the phone number provided by **Campion** just got me a recording that listed the e-mail addresses that they want you to use for whatever issue you’re calling about. That sucks. Did you try the tricks to get a person? (Press 0, dial phone numbers sequentially higher and lower than that number, etc.) Well, it sounds like you’re rebuilding what you have. Good luck and I hope this doesn’t happen again. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/54 "2005-11-13T22:46:22Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Everything I had on the page- photos, songs, etc.- is in my possession and I can just reload it when I start a new page. The BIO and the BLOGS were written directly without copy but that’s not really a big deal I can rewrite it (but I’m not very good with coding so it’ll be a bit of a slow process). They’re not necessarily gone. They might be available in Google history cache. Try searching on Google & going for the cached version of pages. You might be lucky enough to recover a good bit of your pages. But do it soon, because those cached pages won’t stay on Google forever. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/55 "2005-11-14T01:16:23Z")
You said that your music is comedic. Does it involve parody of existing songs (ala Weird Al)? If so, it’s possible they removed it for that reason. (Many people don’t realize that parody is legally protected.) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076/56 "2005-11-14T07:26:33Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > You said that your music is comedic. Does it involve parody of existing songs (ala Weird Al)? If so, it’s possible they removed it for that reason. (Many people don’t realize that parody is legally protected.) All original (I’ll have them up again soon). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-has-fucked-me-i-mean-severely-fucked-me/329076.md?page=2)