LinkedIn is ignoring user settings • Hacker News Board

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#121

Post by cercatrova » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:17 PM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #25

LinkedIn is a weird, weird place. There's always people wanting to add me, but then they mostly don't introduce themselves. Even half of the recruiters who add me don't do an intro. How is that networking? The articles seem pretty low quality. Sorry to say it, but a lot of them seem to be written as a form of homework, as in "you should write something to be seen". There's rarely any insightful comments on news piece…

I use LinkedIn by simply adding whoever seems interesting, without adding an intro or note to the request. I reach out only when it seems I need their services, for example if I want to work at the company they work for. LinkedIn also has the advantage of being exponential in the connections you can have due to second and third order connections; when I add one person I also add their entire network.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#122

Post by yeukhon » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:19 PM UTC

LinkedIn is a good tool. The recruitment email aspect is definitely quite annoying, but please consider using an alternative email address so you don't get spammed, if that's one of the things you find problematic. It's an easy solution to that (you can also disable notification). I always use separate email addresses to keep my sanity (one for private, one for bank, one for useless stuff, one for mailing list, one for tech, one for school, one for utility bills, and a couple more).

I often use LinkedIn to check out famous people's credentials because I am generally curious about their backgrounds. From time to time I do get a "hello" from really big SV companies, otherwise I would have a hard time to get an initial interview without a LinkedIn profile. I am sure they send like 10,000 requests every month, but it still help speeds the progress with a recruiter directly reaching out to you.

But there was an embarrassing anecdote, something a lot of users had faced before. One day I was on LinkedIn and it asked me whether I want to import contacts, I hit "no thanks", but I think there was another confirmation which I pressed "next" and LinkedIn sent out an invitation to everyone in my email contact list, including many mailing lists. Some mailing lists rejected the email, but some let the email through its filter.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#123

Post by sambe » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:32 PM UTC

Easily the buggiest, spammiest and most dishonest of the social media sites, I hardly find it surprising. Never had any reason to go there other than incessant spam invites, unwanted notifications and the vague promise of potential future value of contacts.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#124

Post by pimmen » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:33 PM UTC

kakarot wrote: post #102

tomc1985 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is probably exactly what happened. I can easily imagine upper management settings unrealistic performance goals that force the minions to make dark choices...

> upper management setting unrealistic performance goals yes > force the minions to make dark choices no Unless some project manager was tied to a chair and beaten with a rubber hose, no one was forced to do anything. If a career criminal takes 1400€ from me because his employer has set unrealistic performance goals, I still want that criminal to see justice and my money returned.

I agree, but management acting ignorant of how the sausage is made is just as bad.

Basically, that criminal's employer should also face dire consequences or his take away will be "lets properly vet the next criminal I hire so this doesn't happen again".

Now, this is not Uber levels of shady shit, but it's a start. I hope if we remain vigilant and make our voices heard things will improve for the better.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#125

Post by Feniks » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

denzil_correa wrote: post #75

chimen wrote: post #30

2 months ago I signed up for a 30 day trial to search for people to hire and then 140 eu/mo if I decide to continue using it. Of course I forgot to stop it (they were pretty quiet also) and they charged me 1400+ eu for a full year because...why not - no refunds (that's what their page says). I know, I know...should have read the whole shebang. Lost 1400 euros for something I didn't really use. I was about to pay for…

I think it's high time to reign this practice. All services should explicitly ask before extension. Some people may want to waive such a "request to continue" off but customers must explicitly sign such a waiver. In general, "continue without ask" is a highly unethical practice at the very least.

Already done. Sadly Linked In adheres to US law and not Dutch/EU consumer rights.

I have no faith any US administration will ever do anything good for its citizens but keep fighting the fight.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#126

Post by justinclift » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:37 PM UTC

jeromegv wrote: post #110

justinclift wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely a cookie wall of some sort. On the computer I used to access LinkedIn from, I use two browsers. One for general browsing, and one for "more sensitive content" (eg things with passwords). I used to log into LinkedIn with the second one. Trying to look at public LinkedIn profiles using the general browser (which has no LinkedIn cookie) never works. Always shows the log-in-wall. Whereas looking at the ex…

That is so odd. So I use Safari for general browsing. Typically use Chrome in private window but rarely for general browsing (only sometimes). For a while I would always check linkedin profiles from google private window and a google search and it stopped working a few months ago (getting an auth wall). After reading your message, I opened Firefox (which I never use), googled a name, click on the linkedin name, and b…

Weird. Yeah, no idea. Sounds like they have some other exceptions in place too then. :)

On the other hand I don't use Google any more (mostly StartPage or DDG), which is likely why I hadn't noticed the use-Google workaround.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#127

Post by throwanem » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:41 PM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #104

throwanem wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also, if you invest a little effort to produce an appealing profile, does a great deal to make up for weak face-to-face networking skills. The "LinkedIn, faugh, who needs it" attitude around here really doesn't do an introvert any favors, I think.

Why not host your own resume?

No reason not to do both. But if you only do one, LinkedIn has discovery benefits that are very hard to equal with self-hosting.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#128

Post by Tepix » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:45 PM UTC

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #74

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole practice of free trials which seamlessly blend into paid service is shady imo. Not counting that they billed him for a whole year.

What's annoying is that it's difficult to be a 'good' company in this environment. Ours offers a completely free trial of our service, no obligation or sneaky practises whatsoever. It is what it says it is: a trial. Customers find it difficult to believe we're not going to stealth-charge them, even though we take no payment details, so there's no way we possibly could. A trial that automatically turns into a paid sub…

In Germany most print subscriptions are "good", i.e. if your free trial expires you can just cancel after one month.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#129

Post by BenjiWiebe » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:47 PM UTC

pmlnr wrote: post #48

kuschku wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your referrer is from Google, they actually do allow you to see public detail. So just override referrer header, and you'll see a lot more.

Doesn't work for me either, at least not with cURL.

Don't forget that you have to misspell Referer.

Re: LinkedIn is ignoring user settings

#130

Post by Tepix » Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 7:50 PM UTC

Unfortunately, the german LinkedIn competitor (clone?) xing.com is getting less usable all the time. They try very hard to get you to subscribe and have crippled most of their functions (search etc) in reckless fashion.