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Spammers, scammers, MLM-ers, self-promoters, random strangers collecting connections and assorted inconsiderate, illiterate posters of all shapes & sizes have made themselves right at home on the professional networking site, LinkedIn... read more about this disturbing trend:
http://talenttalks.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/have-you-noticed-linkedin-has-been-afflicted-with-a-highly-contagious-infestation/
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Thanks for your posting Dawn - great to know how to give them feedback.
Sarah - the biggest problem I have is that all the spammy jobs are not really jobs - they are MLM junk that anyone in their right mind would run from. As far as I'm concerned, they are praying on peoples fear and desperation in a bad economy. Nothing angers me more. OK, some things do, but that's another post.
I'm all over that! I just posted a delicious Q&A on LInkedIn and was getting some very interesting and unique viewpoints and suddenly someone who had a Profile and was in Korea posted these text message ads for tee shirts, sneakers, and other various clothing and sundries with their 'cheap prices' as an answer in several of the Q&A forums. They were also posted ads in discussion boards, too. I was pretty upset and contacted LI Customer Service to relate the misuse of the site.
By the way - if you are trying to figure out how to contact Customer Service in LinkedIn- it's a two step process (first step forces you to look for solutions - very clever).
1) Go to bottom of URL page, and click on Customer Service.
2) A new page will open with choices that you may find your answer there.
3) Click on any choice, and if it doesn't answer your question, you'll see a new 'tab' has popped into place at the tope of the CS page.
4) Click on the CS tab and it will open up a new window where you can actually type in or describe the problem in a text box and get it sent directly to them for solving.
Also - if you are getting MLM or SPAM via your e-mail address that you have posted on LInkedIn- you have made it too easy for them. ReWrite your e-mail address using this format.
FirstPart<at>LastPart - using the brackets to enclose the word 'at' and spiders don't see that as an e-mail address so skip it, and those MLM'ers don't want to bother taking the time to rewrite the bracketed piece - so that should reduce some of your spam.
But - if you are truly irritated by the MLM and spammers - don't hesitate to report them to LI customer service because they don't want the site to be a Spammers wet dream any more than the professional users.
I accept all LinkedIn invites! Dawn.Boyer@me.com
www.LinkedIn.com/in/DawnBoyer
I've found you'll get pretty good CRM from the LinkedIn gang if you tweet them...
Um...I know this isn't going to be a popular comment but isn't your 'blog' post here just an advertisement to get traffic to your Wordpress blog?
I mean, you haven't put the whole blog article here, just one line and a link...sure, maybe your blog post isn't as badly written or as sales-y as some of the idiots who seem to have infested LinkedIn lately, but it's not all that different. It still requires me to click away from LinkedIn in order to 'find our more'...
Valid points, Sarah. My apologies for not posting the entire blog on ERE... (Obviously, that would have been a better and more convenient choice for the readers). While I realize that my posting method may have given the appearance of directing traffic to my WordPress blog, I certainly didn't have any conscious intent to do that - at least not in a promotional sense! Next time, I'll make sure to avoid that faux pas.
I always strive to continuously improve my writing skills AND now of course I realize the need to increase my understanding of blogging etiquette as well. Since I do value your opinion (as well as others in the ERE forum) my goal is to achieve a better review next time!
With that in mind, I welcome any additional tips to overcome this poor impression I've inadvertently left behind:
"maybe your blog post isn't as badly written or as sales-y as some of the idiots who seem to have infested LinkedIn lately, but it's not all that different."
Thanks again for sharing your feedback. It's always great to dialogue with others as "passionately-opinionated" as I tend to be... KB
Sorry, Kelly - I just re-read my comment and it did sound way meaner than I meant it to, viz the "isn't as badly written" line. That crack wasn't meant to sound like a condemnation of YOUR writing, even though I know it did. So I apologize for that.
And I do agree with you - I don't know why LinkedIn hasn't done a better job of weeding out the bloggers and commenters who are only here to spammishly promote their own stuff. I'm tired of seeing blog posts that are really just ads for jobs...
Yes. Yes. YES! What's with these people? I belong to a Compensation networking group - you know, people who's profession is to write and maintain compensation plans. There are MLM marketing 'gurus' who post their annoying links and ignore me when I plead with them to stay on topic or find another board.
What really bothers me is the supposed moderators of the LI groups don't seem to be willing to put a stop to these spam posts! I moderate a group and check every post that goes up and delete those that are not relevant by the definition of the group. People can start a group for free and if you want to start a "MLM annoying posts only" group, do it. Stay out of mine.
Rant done. :)
Agree with Stephanie, it's up to the group moderator to set the rules and keep to them and that means keeping self promoters out. There is no harm in one off's, but regular abusers should be kept in check.
Stephanie, I moderate a Benefits and Compensation group here on ERE - I'd love to see you join!
