
Stop Using LinkedIn - ruperp
http://www.stopusinglinkedin.com
======
MagicWishMonkey
LinkedIn screwed me over real good a few weeks back.

They sent me an email saying "There are 108 people you might want to connect
with", so I click on view all and it shows a giant list of people with
checkmarks by their names. Nice. I uncheck all of them, and scroll through
checking a few folks who I want to network with (5 people in total). Click
next, it takes me to a screen showing the 5 people and the banner clearly says
"Send connection requests to these 5 people?". I click next.

The next screen says "Congratulations, we've sent connection requests to 300
people.". What the flying fuck? Ok, well that's a bummer but oh well, probably
just a bug in their system. Then my inbox starts getting spammed with "I'm out
of the office right now blah blah blah" from people who I don't even know who
they are.

The assholes sent 300 people linkedin connection requests through my own
personal gmail account. With zero warning whatsoever. That really pisses me
off.

I like LinkedIn, it's a great networking tool, but they really need to stop
doing this shit. Something similar happened a few years ago, but they only
spammed people in my address book who were already members and the emails were
sent by LinkedIn, not through my gmail account.

I've revoked LinkedIn's access to my gmail account. I regret ever enabling it
in the first place. I recommend you do the same.

For those who don't know how:
[https://www.google.com/settings/security](https://www.google.com/settings/security)
(click the view all button next to Apps and Websites).

~~~
monochromatic
> The assholes sent 300 people linkedin connection requests through my own
> personal gmail account. With zero warning whatsoever.

The fact that they requested access to your email account should have been
warning enough.

~~~
rnovak
I can't understand why anyone would give any entity access to their email,
it's really baffling.

I personally see LinkedIn as horrible, and deleted my account long ago. They
don't let you restrict who can view your profile, and they allow people to
remain anonymous. For anyone who cares about Privacy, this should be a huge
no-no.

~~~
fsloth
I agree, the email access thing is crazy. Both from a feature side and that
someone would agree on it.

However, I would claim the fully visible profile is actually a feature.

LinkdedIn is not Facebook. LinkedIn is a professional index, like the yellow
pages, with the difference that the minimum inclusion is free.

~~~
BorisMelnik
> LinkdedIn is not Facebook. LinkedIn is a professional index, like the yellow
> pages,

with the exception that LI is a social network, where the goal is to interact,
rate, and comment on different scenarios

~~~
fsloth
I thought LinkedIn has always marketed itself as a professional networking
service and thus perceived it as public area open to corporate scrutiny...
it's not healthy to mix "social" with "professional" in situtations dealing
with corporate employers.

------
hapless
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 an alternative?

~~~
josefdlange
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.

~~~
ruperp
We tweaked the copy a bit. Would love your suggestions on something better.
Thanks for the constructive feedback!

~~~
brianzelip
Another academic networking site for scientists is ResearchGate.
[http://www.researchgate.net/](http://www.researchgate.net/)

~~~
ihnorton
ResearchGate as a replacement for LinkedIn, on account of LinkedIn's spammy
tactics? I can only hope this was meant in jest; if so: well-played, friend,
well-played indeed. ResearchGate has taken dark marketing into the realm of
high art.

------
nostromo
This article is more informative about why they are upset with LinkedIn:

[http://www.wired.com/2015/02/linkedin-
api/](http://www.wired.com/2015/02/linkedin-api/)

tl;dr: LinkedIn is pulling a Twitter.

I can't say I'm surprised. It's a common pattern: Step 1: plant a nice open
garden that attracts lots of people. Step 2: put wall around garden.

~~~
johnchristopher
Thanks for the tldr; but what does `pulling a Twitter` mean ?

~~~
slig
Closing down APIs once they're big enough to not care more about developers
and early adopters.

------
SwellJoe
You had me until "Quora" as a suggested alternative. If any site approaches
the annoyance level of LinkedIn for me, it's Quora. Both have a habit of
spamming me; their unsubscribe stuff is kinda dark pattern-y, in that it's
easy to end up still getting mail from them even after clicking through to
unsubscribe.

That said, I haven't used LinkedIn in years. Have no interest in it, for
anything. If I needed work, I might consider going back, but I doubt it. I
certainly wouldn't hire someone based on a LinkedIn profile, and I probably
wouldn't want to work for someone who did.

------
btipling
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...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/technology/on-linkedin-a-reference-
list-you-didnt-write.html)

~~~
FD3SA
Agreed with all of your points, but I'd like to add that your employment
history is very personal and can quite often be used against you in ways you
wouldn't imagine ahead of time.

Just like any personal information, its best to keep it as private as possible
and default to a "need to know" basis. The era of naively optimistic voluntary
sharing of sensitive personal information ended when we saw the potential
consequences.

Potential employers want to know where you worked? They can ask you
themselves. I'd also like to know who the board members are playing golf with,
what their future capitalization plans are and if/when they plan on jumping
ship. Too bad none of that will ever be shared with me. So why should I share
intimate details of my past?

Information asymmetry is power in the modern world. It is foolish to
relinquish it voluntarily.

~~~
jsprogrammer
>Information asymmetry is power in the modern world.

And likely favors those who place lots valid information into the world, not
those who keep it secret.

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

~~~
JoeAltmaier
RIght. I went away with no frickin idea what they were talking about.

So, no I don't care either. LinkedIn is THE way to connect professionally.
Some API rant is not going to change that.

~~~
justrudd
Yeah. The site had no information on it.

But I wonder, is LinkedIn really "the" way to connect professionally? My
personal bit of anecdotal experience is that it isn't for me. I was on
LinkedIn for maybe 15 years? I accepted everyone on LinkedIn (I was not
discriminating at all). And in that 15 years, I never found one job through
it. Right now in Seattle (where I've been for 10 years), I go through my
"people I drink beer with" network.

What I'd love to see is a network that would introduce me to people in other
cities. I want to move to NYC, but I know no one there. So I don't know the
good vs. bad neighborhoods, companies to stay away from (you know there is a
list), etc.

~~~
ytjohn
I'm a Linux Sysadmin/Automation Engineer/"devops guru". My last 3 jobs (each
better than the last) all came from recruiters finding me on LinkedIn.

2 years ago I was trying to move upwards in my career path. I had a good job,
but boring and I could go weeks with doing almost no work. I was
simultaneously considered a valuable employee while actually operating as
fluff. I decided to move into the world of configuration management and
"devops". I spent a few months implementing puppet in our lab and in a few
places. Then I updated my Linked with puppet experience. A few months later, I
got an offer at a local university that was implementing Puppet. I figured I
would work there a year and get really solid Puppet Experience. I worked there
about 3 months, got much better with puppet, but hated the place. I updated my
LinkedIn resume again with my additional Puppet experience (all my
responsibilities at the new job were puppet/automation related). I instantly
started getting calls. Then I landed an awesome job with a large service
company. I loved that job, hated the commute. I wasn't even looking but as I
updated my resume, I started getting recruiters from Facebook, Netflix,
Google, and finally a work-from-home one from EMC that I jumped on.

~~~
justrudd
That's very cool to hear. I'm glad it has worked so well for you!

------
codingdave
I know Linkedin isn't perfect, but it does have one single use case fulfilled
for me - the ability to have just enough of a connection to ex-coworkers, so
that in the future if our paths ever do have reason to cross again, it is easy
to make that happen.

These aren't people I want to be on other social media with - they are purely
coworkers who might be worth contacting again. And there are other ways to
keep in touch... but for this particular use, Linkedin is a good option.

And because that is my primary purpose for having an account, I have no
problems with API usage that is more restricted. I don't want an ecosystem
built up around linkedin's data. I don't see any potential for that to improve
my life.

------
eggbrain
I think one of the most frustrating things is hearing how many people seem to
dislike LinkedIn, but use it because it's the best thing out there. Most only
use it as their online resume, but between recruiter spam messages and
constant annoyances from emails and to "keep up to date", they tolerate it at
best.

Facebook had similar rumblings (people saying they'd switch off as soon as
possible if something better came along), but Google Plus showed us the social
costs of switching was higher than the frustration most people felt.

Does LinkedIn have that same social cost of switching to another service? I'm
not so sure -- and I think it means they might be more susceptible to falling
flat on their face if they push users too far.[1]

[1] This may just be my own hope and bias, since I built a job website of my
own.

------
shiggerino
LinkedIn creeps me the hell out with their connection suggestions, that are
way too accurate for for anyone to make through honest means, especially given
that I've intentionally been very restrictive with what I've added to my
profile. I've even been very uneasy about accepting connection requests, since
this isn't something I really want to contribute to.

Of course, that means the cost of deleting my account is very low given that I
hardly use it in the first place. Something to think about.

~~~
smu3l
Yes I'm always surprised by who shows up as suggested contacts. Often it's
people who I've interacted with online maybe once. My best guess is that those
people are providing LinkedIn their contact lists.

~~~
walterbell
I wonder how many are Android users. iOS gives users the option of preventing
apps from accessing contact data.

------
hughguiney
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.

------
theaccordance
Guessing that someone isn't happy that their lead generation app just lost its
data input?

This website is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction that tries to rally
readers by crafting a context that makes it sound as if LinkedIn's changes are
not in the interest of the user.

Yes, I would like open access to the API, but I'd gladly trade that if it
helps reduce the volume of spam sales/recruitment inquiries I receive.

The partnership integration route may have extra hoops to jump through, but it
doesn't concern someone like myself who's anticipating LinkedIn integration
with our product; our intent is not what LinkedIn is trying to curb.

~~~
ruperp
Better integration doesn't mean spam (LinkedIn already has that feature in
spades). It means allowing apps to leverage your work connections to provide
better tools for you to use.

~~~
theaccordance
Not sure where you're going with that, have you read the official post from
LinkedIn or the Wired Article? That will help give better context to my
comment.

------
elliotec
None of those alternatives are anything like LinkedIn, and this page doesn't
tell me what they did that was so evil anyway.

~~~
gagege
"Yeah, sure I'll just switch from LinkedIn to GitHub..."

What?

------
whybroke
One of the more disturbing issues with linkedin goes almost unnoticed:

For what possible reason does linkedin effectively mandate a photo? Because
while I can not think of any reason this could possibly be necessary for any
profession except super model, I can certainly see how it can be used in a
very negative way.

~~~
patmcc
I find it helps in recognizing connections - "Susan Smith? That doesn't ring a
bell...ohhh that Susan, I guess she married and took his name."

But I take your point, it can absolutely be used in a negative way.

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

~~~
boomzilla
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.

~~~
sergiotapia
"The power of LinkedIn is in the trust it establishes."

I feel the complete opposite way. I've had people claim I know PHP on my
profile when I've never used PHP in my life. That's endorse stuff is major
baloney. How can you trust that when anybody can just click Endorse for
whatever they want?

~~~
praneshp
Very true. I have endorsements in C++ from my auto insurance guy, which
doesn't make any sense either.

------
ndesaulniers
Something is really fucked with their UI. It's very deceptive and deceitful.
The other day, I thought I was accepting connection requests people had sent
me. Found out that I was sending connection requests to people LinkedIn
thought I knew! I can see how that could be considered useful, but it was not
my intent to contribute to the noise and the spam that is LinkedIn.

------
Casseres
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.

------
getdavidhiggins
If your digital life is portable from the outset, then smear-campaign sites
like this don't need to happen. LinkedIN data silos are purely symptomatic of
people choosing services where the data is not portable in the first place.

Choose services where you can export, and migrate data before the fact, not
after it.

Also see

* [http://indiewebify.me/](http://indiewebify.me/)

* [http://dataportability.org/](http://dataportability.org/)

Checkout the #ownyourdata initiative also.

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

------
redeleven
I have been wondering when someone will step up and make a decent alternative
to LinkedIn for a while. It's a truly awful site, the sole reason I have not
yet deleted it is I have no other easy way of keeping track of professional
relationships.. there are no other redeeming features though, everything else
seems very poorly implemented, uninteresting, or exploitative.

------
Sivart13
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.

------
halayli
Looking at the alternatives listed, it's clear that they have no competitor.

------
a3n
The only thing I use LI for is to hang my name and summary somewhere.

Occasionally I get a recruiter contact. My current job of three years came
from that.

I never endorse anyone. I never respond to endorsements, as most of them are
well meaning people endorsing me for something I've never done; I contact them
personally by email to say "I don't do endorse, but thanks, still love ya."

I never respond to connect requests. They're increasing in number, and lately
sound like 419 scams.

I'm virtually never logged in. They don't have my email access or adddress
book.

If they die, or charge me, or something egregiously slimy ... so what. They
aren't the only way to connect with people. I actually expect them to go the
way of GroupOn (are they still around?).

Just minimize your LinkedIn exposure surface and interaction and you'll be
fine.

------
jrochkind1
I hate LinkedIn, and wish it was not a de facto requirement for getting a job
in certain industries/areas.

To make it not so, _users_ need to stop using Linked In.

This OP is very developer-focused in it's audience, it will not be clear to
the non-developer user (or even to many developers) what they are talking
about at all, or why it matters. It is written assuming you already know what
they're talking about and already agree with them about it.

There are plenty of things that might matter to users and help convince users
that Linked In is an untrustworthy company -- like, their email
spamming/address-book-stealing practices. I was hoping the OP would be more
user-focused in it's intended audience and more intentional in making a case.

~~~
jacquesc
Developers are a huge resource for LinkedIn. The only reason they can sell
their spammy products to recruiters is because those recruiters count on
LinkedIn having quality people on their network to send it to.

If everyone who didn't need a LinkedIn profile to get a job shut off their
profile, LinkedIn's revenue would collapse quickly.

~~~
jrochkind1
> If everyone who didn't need a LinkedIn profile to get a job shut off their
> profile...

Right. And clearly someone that actually _needs_ a LinkedIn profile to get a
job is not going to shut off their profile, which is the hard part.

But either way, I think this OP is not written/structured as well as it could
be to convince people to shut off their profiles and/or stop recruiting on it,
it seems to be targetted more at people who write software for linked in API,
and doens't do a great job of making the argument even there.

------
sagivo
linkedin: "someone just viewed your profile." me: "who?" linkedin: "can't tell
you."

~~~
michael_h
linkedin workflow:

    
    
      * get connection request
      * reset password
      * log in
      * accept connection
      * log out
      * do not think about linkedin again until the next connection request.

~~~
bovermyer
Wow, this is... yeah, this is pretty much how I use LinkedIn too.

I'm going to go see what's involved in deleting my LinkedIn profile, I think.
Github should be my resume anyway.

------
gsam
If you think you can subvert the business or sociological aspects of hiring
and working, you are sadly mistaken. While people still use it, I'll keep a
profile up, otherwise bear the mistake of being the 'inept' person without a
LinkedIn.

------
WalterSear
All alternatives miss the main reason that people use linked in, which is it's
social graph.

------
rilita
LinkedIn, as used by the majority of resources ( not recruiters ), is free for
what is needed.

Why is it assumed that it is "unfair" for a company providing a free service
to hoard the data you give to them?

If you don't like LinkedIn, don't use it. If you don't like LinkedIn because
they won't let you steal their data, then I'm sure they will be happy that you
ignore them. Trying to convince people who don't care to stop using LinkedIn
is pointless.

~~~
MadcapJake
> _Why is it assumed that it is "unfair" for a company providing a free
> service to hoard the data you give to them?_

It's unfair because LinkedIn had built a precedent of openness and made no
indication that this was a temporary or limited offer (at least not a
straightforward "hey this might shut off someday..." notice).

Also from purely a market perspective, this is unethical as it's about
providing a business platform to others and then closing it once your in-house
solutions begin to compete with those you've opened the platform to.

> _If you don 't like LinkedIn, don't use it._

Problem is, LinkedIn is not just a tool, it's also a network. You can change
it as you would a tool, but you'll leave behind the network. Now, get enough
supporters to change with you, well then you may have done it! Similarly, the
node.js/io.js tussle was/is about getting a better tool but required getting
the network to come with (and this was probably what woke up Joyent).

> _Trying to convince people who don 't care to stop using LinkedIn is
> pointless._

You may not care but it certainly is a stretch to claim that others don't care
(though at face-value, your statement is actually a truism). I would argue
that the majority would/will care as long as a strong enough effort is made to
show them why. (Also, this link has 200+ points and 100+ comments...)

------
girmad
To make this work, you need to get the avg LinkedIn user to opt out. I bet
this page is not very effective at achieving that right now.

To get the average user to change their behavior, you must show them:

\- why doing nothing will be bad for them (try to show how it will impact
their daily life)

\- why doing what you recommend will be good for them

    
    
      + without putting in much effort or money
    
      + very quickly
    

There are lot of angry people on the internet, the challenge is to make me
care.

------
swalsh
The problem with a lot of these sites (facebook/linkedin) etc is their
business is built on data you provided, which they then get to control.

The problem is additional data gets built up, and they gain a monopoly on the
information. It results in an unfair market. For me to build a competitor to
facebook or linkedin would be very difficult. Even if its better!

I'd like to see a law about user obtained data, that requires it always be
programatically accessible.

~~~
logn
It's called fair use but people have this idea that Robots.txt was a bill
passed by Congress. But yes, I totally agree, and sites like Stack Overflow
are doing this very well. It's a shame that Archive.org was not allowed to
crawl my profile before I left last year but that they allowed Google/Bing/etc
to crawl it.

------
abdelhai
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/](https://devolio.net/)

------
friendlyguy85
>Stop using Linkedin >Here is a list of 16 sites where you need to be
registered at teh same time to have an access to the same audience as on
linkedin

------
LukeB_UK
I deleted my LinkedIn account a while ago. Their UI is full of dark patterns
and the only thing I ever got out of their service was recruitment spam from
people that hadn't actually read my profile.

Since deleting my account, I get much less spam from recruiters. If I still
get some, it's easy to get rid of them with a simple reply or a click on an
unsubscribe link.

------
friendly_viking
A lot of interesting arguments for and against in the comments over the past
two days.

The restriction of API is the same that Twitter did when they became more keen
on controlling aspects of the app community. Whether or not that has led to
decline in the traffic can be debated, or whether it was just 'time'. It is of
course LI's prerogative, but a short sighted view of the world, when over the
last 10+ years LinkedIn has shown little ability to innovate and evolve the
service - third parties could - and they should find ways to encourage (and
monetize) that

The proliferation of alternatives as suggested on stopusinglinkedin indicates
there are better ways of connecting with professionals. Professionals who
understand your space and less spammy/generalist ways to find permanent and
freelance work - if that is your objective. There is most certainly room in
the world for a more niche approach to something as important in our lives as
that which generates our income.

We have been building www.somewhere.com for a bit now, trying to have quality
conversations about work. Sort of by accident people are now using it to find
each other for projects.

That puts us in the same category as Dribbble and Behance (without the
behemoths behind the scenes), yet we are different in that we want to talk
about how the sausage is made and not just show the end product. Will that be
a 'winning' strategy? Time will tell, we are curious about work, how we do it,
when and where and most importantly why - something others have not decided to
focus on, but which we believe should be at the core when trying to find
people with whom to work.

Anyway - API or not, LinkedIn is not the only game in town, perhaps they have
gotten too big for their own good, perhaps they will do just fine with their
300M+ users and corporates willing to spend good money for volume...either way
- we can all build and support alternatives that work better.

------
ninv
Who's Viewed Your Profile or your updates.

This feature is enough to avoid Linkedin. I am scared to click on any profile
in linkedin just because of this feature. I always use incognito mode to look
up folks in Linkedin. It is a creepy site.

Wait till your connections can submit hidden reviews about you and potential
employers can view it for a small fee, like Carfax.

~~~
tokai
I have used that as a feature before applying to a job. I went to the profile
of every employee of that firm, before sending my application.

My hope was that my name and face would seem familiar to the people
interviewing me. I don't know if it paid off, but I ended up getting the job.

------
pearjuice
In theory all this stop using X campaigns sound amazing as in this era value
and revenue of X is often determined by its active users. Vote with your
wallet! Practically, only a subset of all active users will actually care and
permanently stop using X until the situation has improved. In the end, cost of
living without X is often bigger than the association you feel with the
campaign its values. If there were solid alternatives straight away and
everyone would switch, that cost would decrease but until then "stop using
linkedin", " drop dropbox", "don't buy Nike" are just drops in the ocean.

Which is a bummer because if you would be able to actually manoeuvre a big
enough user base, those campaigns would certainly be effective due to the
"adapt or run out of business" effect it has.

------
junto
What actually happened of the 12th?

~~~
ipedrazas
I think it's when they put the web site up...

------
jeffehobbs
STEP 1: Build open API for content.

STEP 2: Wait until third-party builds innovative product X on API, more
innovative than existing engineering staff could build.

STEP 3: Buy third-party company, aquire product X.

STEP 4: Shut down open API so no one can improve upon product X.

------
op00to
One of the "alternative" services these folks recommend is academia.edu - does
anyone else find it really weird that a for-profit-not-even-remotely-degree-
granting company is squatting in the .edu namespace?

~~~
obsurveyor
It was assigned before 2001 so it's grandfathered in and isn't subject to the
normal .edu rules.

------
ksenzee
I wish there were some way to tell companies like LinkedIn not to create a
shadow profile on you. I've never trusted LinkedIn enough to create an account
- their email practices are too shady, and I'm totally happy with
StackOverflow Careers - but I periodically get emails saying "Bill Former
Coworker wants to connect with you!" (And then of course I get follow-up
emails for several weeks.) I'm sure my shadow profile is quite accurate. For
all I know, they're emailing people on my behalf saying "ksenzee wants to
connect with you!"

------
Djonckheere
Among the alternatives listed is Behance -last time I checked this network was
owned and operated by Adobe. btw, the stopusinglinkedin.com site links to
behance.com which does not exist. It's behance.net

Dribbble (the other design resource listed) I understand was co-founded by
designer Dan Cederholm, but oddly if you visit his current Wikipedia page
there's no mention of his involvement with Dribbble -only on his SimpleBits
bio page: [http://simplebits.com/about/](http://simplebits.com/about/)

------
jwiley
It would be helpful to have real-world examples of who is losing out due to
this and why...beyond the entire free peoples of the internet (some of whom
I'm sure do not use linked in).

------
aendruk
I created this page to help when filling out forms that presume I have a
LinkedIn profile:

[https://Opt.outof.Link/edIn](https://Opt.outof.Link/edIn)

------
ruperp
OP here. So the FDR verbage is not popular.

Anyone willing to help write better text? Please email
contact@stopusinglinkedin.com and we'll get it swapped out.

Apologies for the intro copy faux pas.

~~~
thesomelioma
I'd feel better about helping you if I knew who you were. For all I know, you
represent a shady company who tried to make bank by scraping LinkedIn data and
creating customized phishing profiles.

------
qthrul
+10 years on LinkedIn +2000 connections Lots of recommendations and
endorsements

and I wiped it all

BTW, I'm running this tweet update series when people actually notice.

[https://twitter.com/JayCuthrell/status/551254076164288513](https://twitter.com/JayCuthrell/status/551254076164288513)

Spoiler alert: < 0.2% of my "connections" noticed

------
Aoyagi
I stopped using LinkedIn right after I heard that it harvests contact details
from emails. Thankfully, being "paranoid", I've never allowed it to access
that data. After that I deleted my account. Two years later, I received the
"these are the people you might know!" email...

No need to tell me to not use that service.

------
pbreit
LinkedIn's APIs have historically been very restrictive. I can sort of
understand that LinkedIn feels/knows it's sitting on extremely valuable data
except that on further inspection it's almost all public data that just
happens to be decently organized.

------
ychandler
Aside from startups trying to find their customer base and integrating with
LinkedIn, do we have any SMBs/mid-stage Startups (Proven Business Models) on
HN who have lost their livelihood now given where LinkedIn is going?

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dkarapetyan
Dear programmers, if you are using linkedin you are doing it wrong. Use
github, careers.stackoverflow, a plain html resume page, the ladders, and
basically anything else that is not linkedin to showcase your skillset.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
"The Ladders"? I've never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

~~~
benburton
TheLadders is just a worse LinkedIn you have to pay for up front.

~~~
spooneybarger
we miss you too ben.

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andrewstuart
I just find it incredibly creepy that LinkedIn seems to know that I am
connected to certain people - I cannot imagine they worked out that I do in
fact know that person - not by any obvious means.

~~~
liquidcool
It was posited that your email in their contact list might trigger it, but
I've seen it happen after I viewed someone's profile. It appears to guess that
X days after viewing the profile, you may now know them.

------
shravvmehtaa
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.

~~~
jspiral
you guys rejected me as a customer even though my team is building data
science stuff on open source technologies, because my employer does
translation which is "a competing staffing service".

~~~
vivekpreddy
Likewise with us. Hypocritical to claim that Linkedin takes anti-competitive
practices when Hired.com employs similar tactics. At least Linkedin still
allows competitors to have Linkedin profiles.

------
yafujifide
Twitter should be on the list of alternatives. I have found twitter to be a
more valuable professional tool than LinkedIn (though I doubt my experience is
like others).

------
dlu
Is anyone really surprised? Ideologically upset? Sure, but we learned this
with Twitter and tons of other companies. The APIs are there's to support or
pull

------
wazoox
Linkedin provides me with a constant stream of useful contacts, leads, etc.
Linkedin is by far the most useful social network to me.

------
stonogo
Can anyone use the phrase "undersigned and federated bodies of the internet"
and expect to be taken seriously?

------
suttree
It's looking very likely that 2015 is going to be a #linkedout year. More and
more stuff like this is happening, and LinkedIn can't keep up.

They're an incredible company, but they're a 12 year old product at this
stage.

Take a look at my version of the alternative, trying to get ahead of them not
replace them:

[https://www.somewhere.com](https://www.somewhere.com)

------
alfg
I feel like LinkedIn is an evil necessity. It's so bloated and I never feel
comfortable navigating or viewing anything on LinkedIn due to their nature of
trying to connect or send emails without your approval.

I'd really like if there was an alternative that can be just as popular, with
simple resume hosting/networking capabilities. No bloat or shady practices.

------
dynofuz
This is why i never started using it. They've been using these tactics since
day one. Spam.

------
apa-sl
I'm happy with Opera browser since the days when they were still serving ad
banners :)

------
DyslexicAtheist
revoke access:
[https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions?hl...](https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions?hl=en&pli=1)

------
slaction
People actually use LinkedIn more that a couple of times a year?

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
it has turned into a publishing platform which is what they have done right
compared to their competition (Xing, Viadeo). useful or not they manage to
keep people engaged and coming back.

------
foolinaround
Was there a change in terms that is unsavoury?

------
TheHypnotist
They also recently put in some search restrictions, which for a very different
set of reasons, makes me not like what they are doing.

------
pknerd
So did someone share it on LinkedIn yet?

------
sidcool
Why Quora?

------
Luckycharms721
Oh Heck NO! I love the in!

------
LawoftheHarvest
Quota and Product Hunt are alternatives to LinkedIn?

------
jchomali
Me either

------
juancastro
Well... I never thought about this before...

------
jqm
My opinion is that being on LinkedIn is like being on the shelf at WalMart
(where the masses can easily find you).

Most unique quality merchandise won't ever found on the shelves of a WalMart.
That's a place for interchangeable, disposable, mass produced items.

Oh, and Fuck companies that engage in scummy behaviour like email hijacking.

------
PaulHoule
My beef with LinkedIn is that the user interface sux.

I used to be a LION so I still have days when I have to filter 20 connection
requests. I still accept connections if (1) you seem to be a person and (2)
you use your real name (not the name of a business)

The interface for accepting connection requests is painful and slow and so are
the interfaces for doing other things on LinkedIn. I find myself using it less
and less because it just takes too long to do things.

By restricting the API they just make it harder to improve the UI.

