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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 20, 2008 at 8:24am

In my opinion that is one of the things that turned quite a few people off - the whole concept of "open" networking. It gets to the whole "value" topic. What value is there in accepting each and every invite?

This seems like one of the first legit things LinkedIn has done to regain their credibility.

Imagine all the people who now have to do a little work to grow their networks.

Oh - the horror!

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Permalink Reply by Sheree Ruland on August 20, 2008 at 8:30am

Hi Jeff,

So far, this hasn't happened to me. While on vacation, I made sure to log on and accept my invitations, one page at a time. I typically receive a minimum of 40 - 50 invitations/day - and having to accept each one individually would not only take forever, but drive me absolutely nuts. I truly hope this isn't what is in store for all open networkers, and I'm sorry you're having to experience this. I'm up to 11K direct contacts, and would have never able to accept each one individually! My network sustains itself, and if this is more than a glitch...well we know where we stand as open networkers in the eyes of LI...

The one good thing I can say is at least I can search my connections now. For months I wasn't able to perform advanced searches and come back with results. They seemed to have either fixed that problem or realized they were losing paying members as a result of trying to limit our networks. Mass complaints to customer service helped, and we may have to go that route if mass acceptances are rendered impossible. I would again stop being a paying member if that's the case. Sometimes I just can't figure out what they're thinking.

Open networkers are the ones who have helped LI become successful and grow. When they cut off our fingers, it's time to go.

Just MHO. Thank you for the heads-up!

Sheree
sheree.ruland@earthlink.net
www.linkedin.com/in/sheree

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Weidner on August 20, 2008 at 2:22pm

Latest Update:

Can I ask as to why I can not mass Accept invited any more. Did linkedin
change their User Agreement in a way that I am mot aware of that stops all users from Mass Accepting Invties?

Jeff Weidner

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for contacting LinkedIn Customer Support. This was a change to the software that was implemented recently.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Have a great day Jeff!

Regards,

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MY Reply back to them again.... asking why I can not mass accept invites.


So does this change affect all users or only certain users. And if it affects only certain users why is my account being affected by the change?

Jeff Weidner

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Weidner on August 20, 2008 at 6:14pm

Thank you for contacting LinkedIn Customer Support. This change affects all users.

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on August 20, 2008 at 6:22pm

Jeff, I had the same problem - I thought it was a technical glitch as well.

LI doesn't understand that by isolating its heaviest users (LIONs), it will adversely impact all groups. If you want to drill for oil, it doesn't seem like the best idea to destroy your oil platforms (or better, oil tycoons).

P.S. Also like you, I ran into some idea-snatching today. This time, the joke was on me relative to the SSF "Strategic Sourcing Framework" concept. I hate to ask if some of your content is here as well, but I imagine it may be. Although I can't point out the party directly, I believe inputting the following search string into Google will lead you there:

"strategic sourcing framework principles"

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Permalink Reply by Sheree Ruland on August 21, 2008 at 8:44am

I may be asking for trouble, but I can still mass accept invitations as of this morning. I'd like to also add that there are many people who grow their LI networks for work and networking purposes, and don't want to have to accept each invitation individually. Open networkers, sales people, recruiters, etc. understand this concept but I can see why some closed networkers don't realize why this is a valuable tool for many people.

Jeff Weidner said:

Thank you for contacting LinkedIn Customer Support. This change affects all users.

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on August 21, 2008 at 8:59am

Jorge, your comment has piqued my curiosity. I'm not saying you're wrong (because how can an opinion be wrong.?.), but what I'd like to ask is if you can clarify as I'd like to better understand where you're coming from.

Enlighten me to your basis of opinion on the following:

a. "In my opinion that is one of the things that turned quite a few people off - the whole concept of "open" networking. It gets to the whole "value" topic. "

Question: Why?

b. "This seems like one of the first legit things LinkedIn has done to regain their credibility."

Question: To say that LI is taking steps to 'regain credibility', are you suggesting that it was lost at some point? Why? Please explain.

Jorge' Blanco said:

In my opinion that is one of the things that turned quite a few people off - the whole concept of "open" networking. It gets to the whole "value" topic. What value is there in accepting each and every invite?

This seems like one of the first legit things LinkedIn has done to regain their credibility.

Imagine all the people who now have to do a little work to grow their networks.

Oh - the horror!

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Weidner on September 2, 2008 at 2:34pm

So some how, by the grace of Linkedin's administrator's I'm assuming, I can now globally accept all incoming invites without having to Accept each invite one at a time.

On a whim I tried out the Check All and Accept feature and it worked on 5 remaining invites from this AM's daily "Accept Invites Routine" I established when Linkedin took away that feature a while back. Of course I found this out after already accepting the 100+ that were in my Inbox this am but I'm not complaining just making an observation:-) So I'll have to try it out with a larger selection than the 5 Invites that were remaining.

On a side note, if Linkedin implemented the "Lock out" to the Click All feature to slow down the pace of the Open Networkers I doubt it had a big affect. Instead of 3 mins it took me 15 mins daily to accept invites. And I actually read my invite requests rather than blanket accepting stuff and found a few good potential candidates which I promptly forwarded to my research staff. So it actually made HTC a few extras bucks. Now granted it was a mind numbing 15 mins of right click, Open New Tab, right click, Open New Tab, right click, Open New Tab, right click, Open New Tab, click tab and click accept, click tab and click accept, click tab and click accept, go back to main tab and make sure they were accepted, archive those that were and close all tabs. Do that 100 times a day or say it 100 times fast and you get the idea.

Jeff Weidner 9900+ first level connections
jeffweidnerlinkedin@gmail.com back to accepting all invites on a daily basis:-)

Also I'm probably going to hit 10,000 first level connections by the end of the day. I'm wondering what I should do for such and auspicious occasion...Anyone got any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Irina Shamaeva on September 2, 2008 at 3:01pm

Jeff,

Congratulations on your upcoming 10,000 connections!

Accept all feature was never taken away as far as I know. The customer support responses were different to different people but they were not quite right. If you select all on your invites page and (without scrolling or anything else) press the ENTER key you will be able to accept all on that page.(If you scroll down and press the Accept button - that one does nothing, indeed.)

As for "stopping Open Networkers" it's a complicated issue. LI makes money by having users pay for Inmails, so if there are "too many" connections across LI they start losing money. Right? This is one of the reasons for their message to everybody to connect with only a few, with those whom they trust. However, Open networkers promote the site and connect members who request that with each other (and hopefully don't send around too much unnecessary, uninteresting emails). My impression is that LI has been somewhat inconsistent in its treating Open networkers.

BTW the "group discussions" give Open networkers a great way to post their contact info an expand their network - which can be seen a lot since last Friday.
Plus, the new "send" functionality allows a lot more communication, unlimited and for free between group member. (As far as I can tell.)

Irina
http://www.linkedin.com/in/irinashamaeva

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Weidner on September 4, 2008 at 1:30pm

OK I think I figured something out. It might actually just be a "glitch in the system"

Previously, when I had 30+ invites I would hit check all then scroll down to the
end of the page and click Accept. The screen would "blink" and it would just sit there as if nothing happened, I couldn't scroll, click on links nothing. So I hit the Control button on the keyboard and the minus sign, this changes the viewable area size of the screen. I noticed that the "Are you sure you want to Accept these invitations" button was at the top of the screen."

So there is your work around. From what I can tell it's not a Linkedin plot to stop Open netowkrers from accepting multiple invites as I suggested and confirmed by Linkedin Customer Support but a "glitch that just happens to have that same affect:-)

Jeff Weidner
jeffweidnerlinkedin@gmail.com 10,000+ and back to accepting all invites.

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