3 ms·

So I get a list of "people you may know" on LinkedIn. Some of those are just email addresses, no profile; but you won't see that unless you try to click on it,

So I get a list of "people you may know" on LinkedIn. Some of those are just email addresses, no profile; but you won't see that unless you try to click on it, only to find that it's not a link (but the "(+)" button to add still works). The ones that aren't clickable are those of people who don't have LI profiles. So this begs the question: why is LI showing me these suggestions? If I add that person, will they now get an email from me, asking them to join LI? And where did LI get these email addresses, since I most definitely did not give them access? LI's shady practices just never cease.

Buge 11y ago
Maybe one of your contacts gave them those email addresses.
- moron4hire 11y ago
  Then why would they not have accounts?
  - nadams 11y ago
    I think what Buge is saying is that some user X used the "find my contacts from my email" feature. Linkedin hoovered all emails (and potential conversations) and built a database of consisting of emails and conversations which looks like: nadams sent email to moron4hire etc.. But moron4hire does not have a linkedin account, so what linkedin will do when I sign in I'll see the ability to add that email as a connection (and thus send them an email asking them to sign up for a linkedin account?). I'm just guessing - for all I know linkedin has a crystal ball in the backroom.
inopinatus 11y ago
My experience of LinkedIn has descended from marginally diverting (2005-2009) to a pointless recruiter circle-jerk (2010-2013) to an endless source of scam sales-lead invites from profiles of dubious credibility (2014-2015). I disabled all notifications long ago. It is possible that this is the unavoidable fate of any professional-oriented social networking service. Nonetheless the value of LinkedIn to me is now effectively zero. I don't know anyone who respects their brand, and I'm left wondering if there's a gap in the market; c.f. Facebook vs Myspace ca.2008.
- username223 11y ago
  There is a very small gap. LinkedIn had a short run as an email address harvesting operation. Now they cost me about a second a month, between the time that one of their messages makes it through my spam filter and the time I mark it as spam. Something not called LinkedIn could probably harvest a few more addresses before becoming just as hated as LinkedIn. (Side note: I just got an "invitation" "from" someone I met this year in a completely non-job context. I'll ask the next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure he did not explicitly ask me to whatever-the-heck in LinkedIn. More likely, he made the mistake of uploading his address book.)
  - chias 11y ago
    It's always fun when this happens to someone who has production's on-call address in their contacts list. There really is nothing quite like having the "everything is on fire" pager ring at 3:25 AM only to find that someone wants emergency_oncall@company.com to join their linkedin network.
wodenokoto 11y ago
LinkedIn is probably the mainstream site to use the absolute most amount of dark UI patterns.

Buge 11y ago

Maybe one of your contacts gave them those email addresses.

moron4hire 11y ago
Then why would they not have accounts?
- nadams 11y ago
  I think what Buge is saying is that some user X used the "find my contacts from my email" feature. Linkedin hoovered all emails (and potential conversations) and built a database of consisting of emails and conversations which looks like: nadams sent email to moron4hire etc.. But moron4hire does not have a linkedin account, so what linkedin will do when I sign in I'll see the ability to add that email as a connection (and thus send them an email asking them to sign up for a linkedin account?). I'm just guessing - for all I know linkedin has a crystal ball in the backroom.

inopinatus 11y ago

My experience of LinkedIn has descended from marginally diverting (2005-2009) to a pointless recruiter circle-jerk (2010-2013) to an endless source of scam sales-lead invites from profiles of dubious credibility (2014-2015). I disabled all notifications long ago. It is possible that this is the unavoidable fate of any professional-oriented social networking service. Nonetheless the value of LinkedIn to me is now effectively zero. I don't know anyone who respects their brand, and I'm left wondering if there's a gap in the market; c.f. Facebook vs Myspace ca.2008.

username223 11y ago
There is a very small gap. LinkedIn had a short run as an email address harvesting operation. Now they cost me about a second a month, between the time that one of their messages makes it through my spam filter and the time I mark it as spam. Something not called LinkedIn could probably harvest a few more addresses before becoming just as hated as LinkedIn. (Side note: I just got an "invitation" "from" someone I met this year in a completely non-job context. I'll ask the next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure he did not explicitly ask me to whatever-the-heck in LinkedIn. More likely, he made the mistake of uploading his address book.)
- chias 11y ago
  It's always fun when this happens to someone who has production's on-call address in their contacts list. There really is nothing quite like having the "everything is on fire" pager ring at 3:25 AM only to find that someone wants emergency_oncall@company.com to join their linkedin network.

wodenokoto 11y ago

LinkedIn is probably the mainstream site to use the absolute most amount of dark UI patterns.