Facebook fails on a semicolon

Facebook fails on a semicolon, originally uploaded by naterkane.

A simple semicolon caused Facebook to fail on me this evening. Mobile Safari claimed no errors since this was something going wrong on the server.

I was really surprised that this error wasn’t handled very elegantly or deliver any kind of meaningful message that could have possibly empowered an unsophisticated user. If I was provided a link I could click to send an email to support with any data they might be able to work with I would have felt less stuck, but instead I had to just quit Mobile Safari and try hitting the same page again a few minutes later. Once I did that everything was kosher, but until I created that new session, nothing changed when I went to visit this one friend’s profile.

These things happen, and I’m not trying to be a hater, but since Facebook have stepped up and provided such an excellent iPhone UI, I was just expecting to be impressed, and not feel lost, with how they would handle an error if one would arise.