January of `07 I signed up for a MySpace music account. By March or April it was deleted by...MySpace?...with no warning or explanation whatsoever. I couldn't think of any rule I could've been violating, except that I had used a couple of pictures of lightning from Weather.com, but somehow I doubted anyone from the Weather Channel was surfing MySpace to compare pictures of lightning and clouds.

So I got my page back up and it was more beautiful than ever. Suddenly this past Wednesday I look -- it's deleted again! This time in my e-mail box there was a strange e-mail from MySpace that had as the subject "@subject" and for text, "@body." Hmm...

I typed these components into Google along with "deleted MySpace," and found this. Perhaps this is the answer to the riddle, at least as far as this second deletion goes.

As it turns out, deleting someone else's MySpace account is far too simple. Since your MySpace is tied to the e-mail you signed up with, all they have to do is get a template of the MySpace "confirm you're deleting your account" e-mail, which they can get by creating and deleting an account. They would then substitute in your e-mail address where theirs is on the e-mail, and send it to deleteaccount@myspace.com. And POOF!, all your work and chosen URL are gone!

Nice, secure system MySpace has there, huh? I swear, that site is a great concept, but executed in such a ramshackle manner it makes my head spin. Why don't they just call it Fitzsimmons Wireless?

I only know of one person who would know the e-mail I was using with that particular MySpace account. I had been foraging around for a collaborator on there, and heard from some guy that played guitar and keyboards. Unfortunately when he tried adding some lines to one of my existing MP3's, it sounded like he was playing very wrong chords and didn't even know the difference. Further inspection of his MySpace revealed photos of him with ultra-pointy B.C. Rich guitars and basses. "See ya!" I didn't brush him off in any harsh way, just gave it a, "Uhhh...let me think about it. I'll get back to you." But if that's the hack that was executed, he's the only person who could've done it. Freak.

Of course, MySpace could also be to blame. An e-mail to them got a automated reply implying it could be a server crash or some other admin fuck-up. Weirdly enough they say you have to send them a photo of yourself holding a sign with your info on it to retrieve your account. No joke! I guess that's to get around bots?

Anyhow, here's what I devised to stave off this hack: create a GMail account to use with your MySpace, then set it to forward to the e-mail you really want to use for communication. Make sure you set your "reply-to" address to be the one you really want to use, too, not the intermediary GMail one. This way your log in is an invisible e-mail address that will not be seen on your e-mail communications, so no nasty little Internet weirdos can get it and use it to fuck you up.

My site is back up and as good as ever, since I created and saved my own template. However...it's location is still top secret. One day, when I find a collaborator who isn't either a 22 year old who wants to do "emo-screamo like At the Drive In," or a 42 year old who wants to play full-time and "totally focus on making it," I'll have finished songs and, as Robert Plant said, "all will be revealed."

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