I get a lot of interest in my skills from recruitment agencies so I’m inclined to keep my LinkedIn profile. I’m not a very good networker so it I find it useful. Michelle From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rafael Manory Sent: Saturday, 1 June 2013 12:25 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: LinkedIn endorsements What I don't understand is where Linked it is taking the items for endorsement from. They must be written somewhere in the respective profile... I do share the views expressed here re endorsements in general and Linkedin in particular but I think that closing the account would not stop the harassment because most Linkedin messages are generated because people allow their application to search individual mailing lists. So if you are on the mailing list of someone who joins Linkedin you are likely to recieve a message to either join Linkedin or login again because your acquiantance is now a member... Rafael ----- Original Message ----- From: Howard Silcock <mailto:howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, June 01, 2013 11:40 AM Subject: atw: Re: LinkedIn endorsements I was about to send a post suggesting that Geoffrey and I were in danger of becoming the grumpy old men of this list for our views on LinkedIn endorsements when I saw to my relief that others had similar views! I have posted to this list before about this subject, suggesting that it makes little sense to endorse someone for something unless you (a) are familiar with their work - that is, have actually read documents they've produced or seen other products of their labours - and (b) have some expertise in the subject yourself. This makes me more churlish than Geoffrey, because it implicitly casts doubt on some of the endorsements I've received for skills I do have, as well as obviously implying that endorsing for skills I don't have is just ridiculous. But Michelle's description of what the process actually involves is very interesting. Howard On 1 June 2013 10:44, Bill Parker <bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: And just to show how silly this whole bloody Linkedin thing is I have put in my profile "Morris Dancing" ( because I do). I completed that and then found myself ( no idea how) with pages and pages of people with similar interests. What? Morris dancing? How can that be? Bill On 01/06/2013, at 6:18 AM, Geoffrey wrote: Hello austechies To the many of you who have endorsed me for skills I do have, thank you. To those who have endorsed me for skills I do not have, what on earth were you thinking? Are you deliberately trying to frame in the minds of others an image of me that I am not? Folks, I am not a copy-writer, I have never been a copy-writer, and don’t want in any way to be associated with the pernicious black-art of copy-writing (with its screaming intensifications and its implicit belittlements that border on psycho-abuse: “you have not truly lived unless you have experienced the exhilaration and the sensual styling of the all newHowdie V12”, “ Go on, be a real mum and give them Caries Flakes for breakfast and” … you get my drift). So why are some you endorsing my non-existent copy-writing skills? A miasma of deception commingling with defamation is nettling my nostrils. And why are some of you endorsing my software development skills? Crikey, I wouldn’t know a class statement if it reared up at me in bloody revolution. And the last time I executed a branch, it fell smashingly on the neighbour’s fence. Stop it, stop it, stop it. Resist the temptation to endorse the dim-witted guesses of that cog-slipping, Watts-driven perpetuator of misinformation, that generator of self-aggrandisement, called LinkedIn. (Someone admitted the other day, to a table of lunching professionals who had met through LinkedIn, that she had touched up her LinkedIn photograph to make her look younger. I’m glad she was frank, because many of us had been wondering when the other [name withheld] was going to turn up.) If anyone needs reminding of just how dumb and misleading software can be, turn on your Microsoft Word’s grammar checker. The absurdity of the recommendations of the world’s reputedly smartest programmers might just inspire you to turn off a lot of other software that clogs up our lives with pretend knowledge while pick-pocketing our privacy along the way. In a word: stop misrepresenting others through thoughtless endorsements. It sours morally no less than a deliberate lie. As does photo-shopping a glamour you may once have thought you had. In a world of lies, thank the gods for Mr Curly and his duck. Geoffrey Marnell Principal Consultant Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd P: 03 9596 3456 M: 0419 574 668 F: 03 9596 3625 W: <http://www.abelard.com.au/> www.abelard.com.au