I tried to register on Facebook. I filled up the register form, typed all the information, double-checked for errors... Clicked "Sign up", and they gave me a big read box saying:

Our automated system will not approve this name. If you believe this is an error, please contact us.

Wtf?! My name is wrong?! How could it be wrong?! I checked it again, refilled the form, and... same error again. OK, their system is messed up, I don't like those troubleshooting systems, those are never helpful, so I'll try again later. A few minutes after, I tried again. Same thing. Weird. Then I did a Google search on "Robert Basic Facebook" terms. First hit: a Facebook profile for Robert Basic. Yep, there's a person, with same name as mine, registered on Facebook. So, I used their troubleshoot system, which ended up writing them an E-mail:

Hi there!
I am Robert Basic, from Serbia, age 22.
Well, I'm having trouble registering on Facebook. There is already a guy registered on Facebook, we share the same name, so maybe that's the problem. Anyway, we are two separate persons, he lives in Germany, I live in Serbia. Is there a solution for this problem? Oh, and the error I got was:
"Our automated system will not approve this name. If you believe this is an error, please contact us."
So there. I've made contact. I come in peace.
Regards,
Robert

The E-mail is sent, now I'm waiting to see what will happen next.

Frankly, I don't give a damn about having a Facebook profile; well, not anymore. Now, I just want to know, how could this happen? They never thought about this scenario when two persons have same names? OK, maybe, I'm wrong and this error comes up because of something else, but for me, this is the only reasonable explanation.

Freelance freedom is an awesome comic about freelancers and freelancing, published every Monday on Freelance Switch. The author is N.C. Winters. If you have the time, be sure to go through the archives, you won't regret it ;)

Do you know some other freelance design—developer related comic?

Enjoy :)