fp.

I mean, LinkedIn themselves were pretty shady before the Microsoft acquisition - multiple privacy violations, email spam, even had a class action lawsuit against them. Microsoft never cared.

And anyone who set up a LinkedIn account knowing all this don't care either. I look at people who're still on LinkedIn the same way as people who're still on Facebook. They don't have my sympathies.

lbpdev•2h ago

Fair, I guess. So what's a safe site for candidates to find jobs? Indeed isn't much better.

d3Xt3r•21m ago

Depends on where you live. Here in AU/NZ for example, Seek is pretty good, and I daresay just as good, if not better, in terms of job listings. And it doesn't have any of the social networking crap.

If there isn't a decent equivalent in your area, I'd say the next best option is to reach out to a bunch of recruitment agencies and leave your CV with them. Also create your own personal blog/site where you have your bio, examples of your work, and regular meaningful blog updates relavent to your field (which will improve search engine ranking and increase chances of companies reaching out to you).

But I reckon the best option generally is IRL networking, considering the current AI era - where recruiters are being spammed with AI-generated CVs, and they in turn are using AI to filter out CVs, so now there are specific AI tools to make the perfect CV matching a job description - but now everyone is using these tools, which makes it a nightmare for recruiters. So IMO the best option these days would be to make IRL connections.

smackeyacky•2h ago

My account is only there so nobody is tempted to squat there on my behalf. Perhaps a minor issue overall but worth considering

spragl•8m ago

I basically agree with you, and I have a profile on LinkedIn.

A number of companies only announce job openings on LinkedIn, and if you are looking for a job (as I am) you would handicap yourself by not having a profile there. HR departments around the World are infatuated with LinkedIn, unfortunately.

My strategy is to give LinkedIn a minimum of information, use it for job search, and filter away most of their emails.

I look forward to the day where I can close down my LinkdIn account. But until then I have to put up with it.

orionblastar•2h ago

There is also a Minecraft scam where the scammer takes over the Microsoft account. https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/1puiae0/scammers...

nickdothutton•2h ago

I really wish LinkedIn would collapse and close so that something useful could take its place. At the moment I feel like it's squatting the "business networking" square on the board, but I don't know what it would take to dislodge it. I wrote a little about this on my blog about a decade ago and I don't feel we are any closer to it being dislodged.

pugio•1h ago

LinkedIn is one of the most annoying sites on the internet. Every time I mistakenly click a link, it automatically grabs my Google account and creates a new account and profile for me, which I then have to go in and delete. Yes, I finally figured out which arcane preferences settings across both LinkedIn and Google I had to tweak to stop this from happening, but I think it was only after ChatGPT was around to help me wade through the mess.

dlcarrier•1h ago

If you use Chrome, or many of its derivatives, you can log into the web browser itself, and many people don't even know they are doing so. It can leak a lot of data, more so if you use the 'sign in with…' feature on many web pages. On a phone, if you're logged into the phone OS you're logged into the included web browser, and an aftermarket web browser may still leak information from your phone login.

I don't log my phone OS or web browser into any accounts, so I don't have to worry about LinkedIn making fake profile pages, but Cloudflare pretty much always assumes I'm a bot, so there's a bit of a downside. Honestly, I'm probably better off not visiting most of the web pages it blocks me from.

realty_geek•1h ago

Sorry, I don't understand.

Somehow linkedin creates a new account (on linkedin? - so a brand new account?) without your agreement?

technion•53m ago

This isn't LinkedIn specific - the easily misclickable "one click to logon with Google" button showing up in browsers was a huge mistake and should never have existed. Reddit has started prompting too if you're not currently logged in, to just suddenly be logged in with Google.

mgartin•1h ago

I recently started to receive emails with:

"New skill available: Puzzle solving"

Begging me to compete with colleagues. Oh, what they have become...

I have unsubscribed from their emails now.

spenvo•1h ago

Good luck actually unsubscribing from LinkedIn emails. The dark pattern they employ (or at least used to employ, for many many years) is to just periodically add new "categories" of email to send you, that you haven't yet unsubscribed from. Back in ~2015, out of frustration I changed my LinkedIn email to a throwaway

Zenul_Abidin•1h ago

I unsubscribed from LinkedIn emails but they still send me emails of people I should connect with.

Now debating whether I should delete it altogether.

atraac•1h ago

While I also dislike LinkedIn a lot, I unsubscribed once in the past and I haven't received a single email like that in years.

ozim•48m ago

Nothing that inbox rules can’t fix. I just pass all LinkedIn mails to dev/null on arrival.

karmakurtisaani•55m ago

"A [recruiter you connected with 3 years ago in hopes of getting job opportunities, but never heard from ever again] reacted to a post by [a person you've never heard of before]: What taking a long shit while my wife was screaming at my kids taught me about b2b sales.

Click here to read more"

ta8903•1h ago

It works fine as a containment site.

steve1977•58m ago

I sometimes check if someone is active on LinkedIn or not (as in, actually posting stuff). This is useful as a filter.

ajb•45m ago

A positive one, or a negative one?

steve1977•31m ago

If they do post, I adjust my expectations, let me put it this way...

mawadev•1h ago

Linkedin is a site where LLMs talk to each other

Surac•1h ago

Posts on linked in are 99% scam ans 1% finding out all is scam

ivolimmen•1h ago

I left the site over a month ago, I closed my account. I only receive weird emails from recruiters from it.

baranul•37m ago

And often, the person doesn't need nor are looking for a job, so are just getting continually spammed. Where if you are actually looking, you can email your personal list of recruiters, of companies and persons you actually know or were recommended by real life friends.

gehsty•1h ago

I find AI has destroyed it, even the posts by people should know better post fully ai written posts (Major renewable CEOs posting AI slop is very sad).

I block the feed and just use for messages and notifications. LinkedIn is a platform that I’ve had multiple job opportunities come through, shame to see it go into slop meltdown.

sixtyj•52m ago

LinkedIn was really good idea at the beginnings but as always what is for free you are a product.

After reading few LI posts full of “I am grateful” and “I am honored” or “Thank to my excellent team…” bla bla - you have to think that people in your circle became LI-infected as that jargon is not normal.

Nevertheless. There is an opportunity to start over with a new global professional network. LI concept still makes sense.

xhevahir•47m ago

That doesn't sound to me like a consequence of their free-as-in-beer business model. It sounds like an accurate reflection of business culture and the way people talk in that sort of milieu.

ggm•38m ago

Surely the headline should be LinkedIn humbled to be a cesspool of...