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Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

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Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#41

Post by probably_wrong »

scrollaway wrote: post #24
rngname22 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe create a new account (even if it requires VPN / new device ID, new email, new IP), then get paid plan on that, then contact support?

Honestly, I have zero doubt it would make things worse and get me blocked again for ban evasion / duplicate accounts. I also used to be on Premium a while back, and I don't remember any customer support beyond automated billing CS trees.

I'm not sure how it could make it worse. What are they going to do, call your parents? Super ban you?

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#42

Post by gknoy »

zgluck wrote: post #34
scrollaway wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the follow up email (sent after the ban, and with a helpful "Please upload a new one", which I cannot do because it's restricted), they cite that "profile photos can get flagged for: (...) Not being an image of you or an actual photograph".

> they cite that "profile photos can get flagged for: (...) Not being an image of you or an actual photograph". That actually seems fair to me, considering what LinkedIn is.

That seems very strange that they would _ban the account_ rather than deleting the profile image and rendering a placeholder instead.

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#43

Post by [deleted] »

gknoy wrote: post #42
zgluck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they cite that "profile photos can get flagged for: (...) Not being an image of you or an actual photograph". That actually seems fair to me, considering what LinkedIn is.

That seems very strange that they would _ban the account_ rather than deleting the profile image and rendering a placeholder instead.

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#44

Post by mvdtnz »

version_five wrote: post #3

What part of the TOS did it violate?

In the LinkedIn Professional Community Policies[0], which is linked from the User Agreement[1], which is linked from the Terms of Service[2], they state,

> Do not use an image of someone else, or any other image that is not your likeness, for your profile photo.

It seems extremely unfair to me to go straight to a ban based on the profile picture alone. But it is clearly part of their terms of service (not that I would expect anyone to know this).

[0] https://www.linkedin.com/legal/professional-community-polici...

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement#obligations

[2] https://www.linkedin.com/legal/l/service-terms

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#45

Post by qingcharles »

orangetexter wrote: post #15

Sign up for one of their paid plans and resubmit your support requests. They’ll help a paying customer much quicker than non-paying customer.

LOL. Doesn't always help. My business account on Twitter is stuck in read-only. I can't follow or like anyone or anything. BUT, it will let me subscribe to paying feeds. Still no way to get support though...

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#46

Post by mx_02 »

gknoy wrote: post #42
zgluck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they cite that "profile photos can get flagged for: (...) Not being an image of you or an actual photograph". That actually seems fair to me, considering what LinkedIn is.

That seems very strange that they would _ban the account_ rather than deleting the profile image and rendering a placeholder instead.

Do no expect common sense from IT companies. Google is even worse.

It's pretty normal to ban people instead of trying ro fox the issue. It's probably cheaper to them.

We have no rights and no protection from corporations other than "Do business somewhere else"

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#47

Post by zgluck »

gknoy wrote: post #42
zgluck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they cite that "profile photos can get flagged for: (...) Not being an image of you or an actual photograph". That actually seems fair to me, considering what LinkedIn is.

That seems very strange that they would _ban the account_ rather than deleting the profile image and rendering a placeholder instead.

[flagged]

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#48

Post by solardev »

probably_wrong wrote: post #41
scrollaway wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I have zero doubt it would make things worse and get me blocked again for ban evasion / duplicate accounts. I also used to be on Premium a while back, and I don't remember any customer support beyond automated billing CS trees.

I'm not sure how it could make it worse. What are they going to do, call your parents? Super ban you?

There's not going to be someone on the other side thinking "oh okay well this guy must be legit, he made a new paid account just to talk to us and let us know what happened. We'll help him now that we know what happened!"

It's gonna be a bunch of separate underpaid undertrained drones seeing a duplicate account and banning that one too and making up random TOS violations, probably a different one every time. Then even if you manage to reach someone on the first account they'll be like sorry you were banned for spamming, I don't know anything about the profile picture.

These sites don't care about you. At all.

Re: Tell HN: LinkedIn banned me because of my avatar, in the middle of my fundraise

#50

Post by scrollaway »

zgluck wrote: post #47
gknoy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems very strange that they would _ban the account_ rather than deleting the profile image and rendering a placeholder instead.

[flagged]

I've used the same avatar for ... checks date on comic strip 17 years. On forums, social networks, everywhere. People recognize me better with it than via any photo, especially since I meet people mostly online, not face-to-face.

But whatever, dude.

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