My Damned Kind's Matt Lorigan is bemused by a Facebook ruling. Photo / Paul Brooks
Whanganui rock band My Damned Kind have been around for years, and their Facebook page is no newby either, but imagine their shock when Facebook decided their name didn't suit the social media giant's image.
It was March 3 and band leader Matt Lorigan posted this: "hi guys so today
I get a notice from facebook saying our band page name My Damned Kind goes against their profanity policy and must be changed."
He added: "hmmmm so which word are they talking about 'Damned' maybe meaning 'condemned or doomed, especially to eternal punishment: the wailing of damned souls. detestable; loathsome:' or are they talking about the word 'Kind' or 'my'. Would really like your guys input here, do you feel our band name is offensive?"
"What part of this is supposed to be profanity?" asks Matt.
Matt has sent a "please explain" message to Facebook, but, so far, they have not replied.
"I could understand if we were dropping F-bombs and publishing questionable content, but we don't do anything like that. In fact, we haven't been doing a lot on our Facebook page because there hasn't been a lot to post about."
He thinks maybe a rogue algorithm is responsible, picking up the word "damned" ... but even so.
"It's pretty mild. I was really dumbfounded."