Stop Using LinkedIn • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#21

Post by josefdlange » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:07 PM UTC

hapless wrote: post #15

LinkedIn, like Twitter, is limiting API usage to specific use cases that dovetail with LinkedIn's own apps, instead of competing with them. The restrictions were imposed yesterday. The authors of this manifesto think that's a bad thing, but they don't give me, the reader, any more information. Why is it a bad thing? What cool stuff am I missing by using LinkedIn and its restrictive API? Why should I put effort into a…

This.

Making potentially baseless claims and not explaining their impact beyond "they're bad!" is the kind of rhetoric a middle schooler uses before he or she learns to write proper persuasive prose.

While I agree that data should be as freely available as possible--so long as the person to whom the data belongs approves--I really can't get on board with this histrionic garbage.

Make an assertion. Back it up with evidence. Explain the consequences.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#22

Post by Casseres » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:07 PM UTC

Develop a better service for the end-user, and I'll use it. Once enough people are using it, then I'll stop using LinkedIn.

And more details with a clear explanation of why the website wants us to stop using LinkedIn would be appreciative.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#23

Post by Sivart13 » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:12 PM UTC

So I should stop using LinkedIn because they're restricting the amount of access that third parties have to my data?

As I see it, the only thing worse than LinkedIn spamming me based on my employment history is other companies spamming me based on my LinkedIn employment history.

There's many reasons to stop using LinkedIn, but this doesn't seem like one.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#24

Post by shravvmehtaa » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:12 PM UTC

Linkedin has been known to shut down competing services prior to this. At hired.com, our API access was revoked (a long while ago), and many of our users were no longer able to login.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#25

Post by btipling » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:12 PM UTC

API issues aside, I recently deleted my LinkedIn account and my life has been better off for it. My recruiter spam volume dropped from daily emails to maybe two or three times a month. I'm not sure if LinkedIn provides any value, I've never gotten a job that way.

I think stalking people on social networks is also a net negative experience. I realized I should spend less time worrying about what other people are doing with their lives and focus more on my own.

There was also a recent NY Times article about how employers use LinkedIn candidates contacts to disqualify them for employment[1]. So LinkedIn can actually be detrimental to your career.

I just don't think LinkedIn adds anything. Businesses and recruiters use it to get your email to target you for spam. But what do you get out of it and think, if there wasn't a LinkedIn would you be out of a job right now?

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/technology/on-linkedin-a-r...

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#26

Post by hughguiney » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:13 PM UTC

As someone who is looking for work and finds nearly all of it through LinkedIn, canceling my account is not something I can afford to do at this time. As much as I empathize with the Open Web mission, opting out of LI is the privilege of happily employed developers.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#27

Post by rjdagost » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:13 PM UTC

Yet another demonstration of the hazards of building a business on a platform that's entirely controlled by someone else.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#28

Post by dlu » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:13 PM UTC

feverishaaron wrote: post #3

This reads like an Anonymous diatribe. Clear language will yield better results.

+1

Articulate your anger more clearly. And if you're making a historical reference, make sure people get the gist of it even if they don't get the reference

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#29

Post by boomzilla » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:13 PM UTC

hamitron wrote: post #2

I am actually working on an alternative that would basically just be a resume API. This is nothing but good news for me.

How would you validate the resumes? The power of LinkedIn is in the trust it establishes. Granted I still have a lot of validation to do before hiring/doing business with someone, but Linkedin is a great first filter. I know for software engineers, Github could be a better filter, but it's just a very small segment in the world of business.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#30

Post by abdelhai » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 6:13 PM UTC

Sorry for my shameless plug here but we are developing a LinkedIn alternative for Developer, it's called devolio.net[1] and we will launch open beta in March. We will support the open jsonresume.org formats and unrestricted profile viewing experience (no sign in walls) . Plus we are just focusing on developers, so it has no annoying fake business people.

[1] https://devolio.net/