# Why am I getting "do you know this person" from Facebook? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314 "2010-11-03T10:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/1 "2010-11-03T10:28:50Z")
Today I was looking at my friend’s friends and noticed someone whom I do know and would undoubtedly be happy to hear from me. I get a message, “Do you know X personally?” It threatens to block my request as spam if I don’t. OK, how does FB know that? I hit the button that I know the person, and it blocks it anyway. I have no idea why this message comes up with certain people (I’ve only seen it twice now). Can someone here clue me into the logic of how this works? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/2 "2010-11-03T18:18:24Z")
Surely someone can help? ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/3 "2010-11-03T18:22:54Z")
How many other friends in common do you have with this person, other than the one through whom you found him or her? ---
**Author:** ![Gilliver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@Gilliver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilliver)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/4 "2010-11-03T18:33:34Z")
possibly there is a filter on the other persons end that blocks friend requests from people they dont know. How do you know that it was blocked after you said that you knew them? ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/5 "2010-11-03T20:50:03Z")
> [@Gilliver](#): > > possibly there is a filter on the other persons end that blocks friend requests from people they dont know. > > How do you know that it was blocked after you said that you knew them? A notice came up to that effect. This is on hold, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/6 "2010-11-03T20:52:48Z")
Maybe it said it was pending their acceptance. Which is standard on friending anyone on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/7 "2010-11-03T21:36:43Z")
Yeah, after you friend someone, you get a message saying that they need to accept the friend request, and it’ll be ‘pending’. Is that what it was? ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/8 "2010-11-05T00:53:23Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > Yeah, after you friend someone, you get a message saying that they need to accept the friend request, and it’ll be ‘pending’. Is that what it was? No, it was something else. I should have noted it down. I guess you guys haven’t seen this before? ---
**Author:** ![heaven21century](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@heaven21century](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heaven21century)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2016, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-getting-do-you-know-this-person-from-facebook/559314/9 "2016-05-29T02:18:57Z")
I get a similar message once in awhile. My theory is it’s because I had a conversation with that person through a mutual friend’s page. I get that message even though I personally don’t know the person. The Facebook robot is being too efficient.