Tangible Tidbits 2010 #9: Frustrated with Facebook

Gotta vent today. For almost a week, I've had trouble accessing the Something Tangible application on Facebook. Not the Fan Page, but the game in which you send pieces of gemstone jewelry to your friends. Not a big deal, really, in the overall scheme of things. I know that. That's not the real problem...although it does obviously put a kink in my outreach/company name recognition efforts on Facebook, as the application provides a really good vehicle for doing that. I presume that since I'm getting an error message that says, "Errors while loading page from application The URL http://174.37.50.154/app/620805/?link=dashboard did not respond. Please try again later. We appreciate your patience as the developers of Something Tangible and Facebook resolve this issue. Thanks!" I am not the only one having problems gaining access to it. The problem is that message, in a nutshell. I AM the developer of that application. I used Gift Creator to generate it, so I contacted the developers of THAT application to see if they could help me. Twice. No response. I tried in vain today for a few HOURS to find a contact link for the Facebook developers to reach out for assistance, but all I could find were repeated notices that they are not responsible for problems with applications created by "outside developers." I FINALLY found a link to report bugs regarding gift-giving applications, so I tried that one. I explained that I contacted Gift Creator twice and that the problem is a page loading error. Somehow, I doubt that is something they can fix, either. I received an automatic email response stating -- you guessed it -- "Facebook is not responsible..." Blah...blah...blah. If the application is hosted in Facebook's network, how can they basically wash their hands of anything that they didn't create themselves? My application is just some pictures and words. No complicated graphics. No moving animation. Anything more complicated than my pictures and words is placed there by FACEBOOK, with their larger-than-life pop-up ads for the application-of-the-moment jumping in my face every time I open up the page. So, how can they refer players to the developer with problems and complaints, when we have NO CONTROL over web page loading issues on THEIR network? And how can they DARE to claim that "the developers and Facebook" are working to "resolve this issue?" At least I never claimed to be resolving it! I know my limitations and I KNOW I'm impotent in this situation! So, if I'M not resolving it...and Facebook is disavowing all liability for any applications created by "outside developers," where does that leave us? Perpetually disconnected?

Rant over. Have a good week! :)