5 ms·

In case you don't realize it, the reason your Uncle did that is because LinkedIn prompted him to, by fraudulently showing a message that looked like it was from

by zmmmmm 13y ago

In case you don't realize it, the reason your Uncle did that is because LinkedIn prompted him to, by fraudulently showing a message that looked like it was from you, asking for endorsement. He was probably no more comfortable endorsing you for that than you were in receiving it, and you are both losers from it (him for looking like he endorses anyone for anything, and you for looking unprofessional to your "real" network who actually know that you are not qualified in that skill but now see you "claiming" it on your profile). The only "winner" is LinkedIn, who get to sell more ads and referrals to their recruiters.

sdoering 13y ago
Even LinkedIn looses, as they do get more noise in their data, so that their intel about you, their matching will become worse, when a lot of people are endorsed for things they do not like to highlight, or are endorsed by family even if the skills are not that "good"... So everyone looses, even recruiters, as they get more false positives when searching for skills. It is a short business-win for LinkedIn, but a long term loss.
- eru 13y ago
  Why? LinkedIn might be using more sophisticated data internally to differentiate real from bogus endorsements than they show externally.
  - sdoering 13y ago
    But how do they differentiate between the two. How do they know, that endorsement a is less worth, than say endorsement b? And how to be sure about the differentiation? Bit I have to say I'm biased: I really do not give much on these sites. I tried LinkedIn years ago, but nearly no one used it here in Germany. I used to use the local equivalent, but it really was a big waste of time, at least for me and all the people I know who used it. Recruiter spam, self-exposers, and so on. Nothing ever came from it. Really nothing. So these sites ultimately live of the dreams of people and of recruiters with the (imho) wrong incentives.
    - eru 13y ago
      > But how do they differentiate between the two. How do they know, that endorsement a is less worth, than say endorsement b? E.g. they know _when_ a user endorsed, and if they endorsed all four or individually. And they know more about the user--ie how often he endorses, and who he's connected to. And, yes, I agree with your low opinion of linkedIn and co. (Even though a close friend of mine actually got a job with the MathWorks in Germany through linkedIn---she was cold-emailled by an internal MathWorks recruiter.)
enraged_camel 13y ago
Yep. And the sad thing is, it's one of the less shady and fraudulent things that LinkedIn does on a regular basis.
- ivanbrussik 13y ago
  if you look closely, it only says - "Does X KNOW ABOUT"
  - samstave 13y ago
    Yeah - I am not sure how people don't realize what is really going on here... Linkedin found a great way to entice user engagement - by asking pointed questions about people you know and may have insight on their skills. I don't see anything "shady" about this as much as I do see it as a targeted use of their system, in a germane method. If you are not keeping linkedin as a silo of professional, superficial, contact with the many many many people you will work with over your career - and you don't understand why things like endorsements both happen and are a part of the linkedin ecosystem, then you're not using linkedin correctly. Firstly, you shoul unsub from all notifications from linkedin aside from who has viewed your profile. Second, its not facebook, thank god. You're not there to impress people by the content you create. You're there to show that your influence in your field is a positive attractor via the quality of your network; if you have good people and companies recommending you - then you have more marketability for your CV... The people posting to linkedin groups really frequently telling you what to follow and what valuable BS skill/fad thing thats new - they are typically marketing, sales, bizdev and unskilled folks... stay away from the idea that you're going to show the world how farking smart you are via a linkedin post. Work hard - build a good network. Have strong ACTUAL skills. People who know you will hit "yes, they DO know this" when linkedin asks this...
    - eru 13y ago
      > Work hard - build a good network. Have strong ACTUAL skills. Yes. But linkedIn doesn't come in there at all.
raverbashing 13y ago
"by fraudulently showing a message that looked like it was from you, asking for endorsement" Citation needed. I never saw a message like that What I've seen is "Does Person knows about Technology/Skill" and then you can click to endorse that Well, today I got one "fake" endorsement, not far from what I do, but not what I had added to my list of skills
- qq66 13y ago
  The word "fraudulent" is excessive, but when a site asks me a very specific yes/no question like "Did Paul graduate from Stanford on June 6, 1999?," it feels like this is user-generated data rather than Linkedin-generated data.

by zmmmmm 13y ago

sdoering 13y ago

Even LinkedIn looses, as they do get more noise in their data, so that their intel about you, their matching will become worse, when a lot of people are endorsed for things they do not like to highlight, or are endorsed by family even if the skills are not that "good"... So everyone looses, even recruiters, as they get more false positives when searching for skills. It is a short business-win for LinkedIn, but a long term loss.

eru 13y ago
Why? LinkedIn might be using more sophisticated data internally to differentiate real from bogus endorsements than they show externally.
- sdoering 13y ago
  But how do they differentiate between the two. How do they know, that endorsement a is less worth, than say endorsement b? And how to be sure about the differentiation? Bit I have to say I'm biased: I really do not give much on these sites. I tried LinkedIn years ago, but nearly no one used it here in Germany. I used to use the local equivalent, but it really was a big waste of time, at least for me and all the people I know who used it. Recruiter spam, self-exposers, and so on. Nothing ever came from it. Really nothing. So these sites ultimately live of the dreams of people and of recruiters with the (imho) wrong incentives.
  - eru 13y ago
    > But how do they differentiate between the two. How do they know, that endorsement a is less worth, than say endorsement b? E.g. they know _when_ a user endorsed, and if they endorsed all four or individually. And they know more about the user--ie how often he endorses, and who he's connected to. And, yes, I agree with your low opinion of linkedIn and co. (Even though a close friend of mine actually got a job with the MathWorks in Germany through linkedIn---she was cold-emailled by an internal MathWorks recruiter.)

enraged_camel 13y ago

Yep. And the sad thing is, it's one of the less shady and fraudulent things that LinkedIn does on a regular basis.

ivanbrussik 13y ago
if you look closely, it only says - "Does X KNOW ABOUT"
- samstave 13y ago
  Yeah - I am not sure how people don't realize what is really going on here... Linkedin found a great way to entice user engagement - by asking pointed questions about people you know and may have insight on their skills. I don't see anything "shady" about this as much as I do see it as a targeted use of their system, in a germane method. If you are not keeping linkedin as a silo of professional, superficial, contact with the many many many people you will work with over your career - and you don't understand why things like endorsements both happen and are a part of the linkedin ecosystem, then you're not using linkedin correctly. Firstly, you shoul unsub from all notifications from linkedin aside from who has viewed your profile. Second, its not facebook, thank god. You're not there to impress people by the content you create. You're there to show that your influence in your field is a positive attractor via the quality of your network; if you have good people and companies recommending you - then you have more marketability for your CV... The people posting to linkedin groups really frequently telling you what to follow and what valuable BS skill/fad thing thats new - they are typically marketing, sales, bizdev and unskilled folks... stay away from the idea that you're going to show the world how farking smart you are via a linkedin post. Work hard - build a good network. Have strong ACTUAL skills. People who know you will hit "yes, they DO know this" when linkedin asks this...
  - eru 13y ago
    > Work hard - build a good network. Have strong ACTUAL skills. Yes. But linkedIn doesn't come in there at all.

raverbashing 13y ago

"by fraudulently showing a message that looked like it was from you, asking for endorsement" Citation needed. I never saw a message like that What I've seen is "Does Person knows about Technology/Skill" and then you can click to endorse that Well, today I got one "fake" endorsement, not far from what I do, but not what I had added to my list of skills

qq66 13y ago
The word "fraudulent" is excessive, but when a site asks me a very specific yes/no question like "Did Paul graduate from Stanford on June 6, 1999?," it feels like this is user-generated data rather than Linkedin-generated data.