A New LinkedIn Abomination - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

The already familiar LinkedIn abomination of "SWAM" or Site Wide Auto Moderation has been discussed before. (See the two links below.) However, LinkedIn now seems to have actually made things even worse. 

See Forbes and Access .

I was instructed by LinkedIn to get all of the group managers to pre-approve me for unrestricted postings to their respective groups. That turned out to be quite impossible. Many group managers simply do not respond to such a request. Many have simply ignored their LinkedIn groups for months.

Some group managers did pre-approve me in that way, but suddenly one evening while I was posting to one such group, the process broke down. I could still put an item into the Discussions section, but it would be immediately deleted from there and get moved to the Promotions section. I was seated at my desk and at one moment I was able to post normally, but the next moment I could not and at this writing several days later, I still cannot.  

Here is one sample of this new trouble. 

 

After a screen refresh or after leaving the page and then returning to it, the posted item is gone. 

 

The item is discovered to have been moved from Discussions to Promotions. 

 

In spite of the move to Promotions, someone found the item anyway and offered a "Like" of it.  

 

However, when one clicks on the "See discussion" button, this is what comes up on screen. The discussion is pronounced as "no longer available". In point of fact, it is still in the Promotions section, but who is to know that! 

 

I don't know why this has happened. I don't know if another miscreant such as the "wedding officiant" has done something new or what.

I'm now womdering what the odds are that LilnkedIn will do something corrective of this situation?

Comments

[John Dunn]

It has turned out that the above situation has been deliberately inflicted on LinkedIn subscribers. Please see the two e-mails immediately below.

From: LinkedIn Customer Support [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 4:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Access [Ticket: 140212-006249]

LinkedIn Customer Support Message

Subject: Access

Thread
Response Via Email (Betsy) 02/14/2014 15:19
Hi John,

I'm sorry for the distress this is causing. As part of our ongoing efforts to make it easier for group managers and moderators to maintain a high level of quality in group discussions, we are now automatically moving promotions posted in the Discussions tab to the Promotions tab.

Any manager or moderator can move an item back to the Discussions area by clicking the “Undo" link next to “Moved by (name)” at the top left of the specific Promotion's detail page.

Also, managers can disable the automatic moving of promotions from Discussions to Promotions by un-checking the box next to "Allow LinkedIn to move promotions automatically out of the Discussions area to the Promotions area" in Group Settings. Here’s how to edit your Group Settings: https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/global/id/10/ft/eng

If the setting is not on, your posts may have been identified by our spam filters which would result in them being published on the Promotions tab. Discussions are for sharing insight and identical topics do not typically apply to all groups.

Lastly, your posts may have been identified by our content filters which would result in them being published on the Promotions tab. Discussions are for sharing insight and identical topics do not typically apply to all groups.

Thank you,

Betsy
Groups Specialist

From: John Dunn [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 5:36 PM
To: 'LinkedIn Customer Support'
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Access [Ticket: 140212-006249]

I’ve done some experimenting with this latest problem. Any item that includes a link gets moved to Promotions.

Since all of my items contain references to essays in EDN Magazine’s blogs or to The IEEE Consultants Network of Long Island’s blog or to How2Power’s blog and so forth, every one of my postings must of necessity contain a link.

From what you say, that means every posting I make will now be automatically deleted from Discussions and moved to Promotions where it will not be read by most of the groups’ members.

This is every bit as bad as the SWAM problem and for the same reasons. Most group managers do NOT respond to requests and you already know that.

The problem at hand is your recent (February 6th) change(s) to your spam filters, your content filters, whatever else you might call them.

John Dunn

[Howard Edelman]

If a writer gets beaten up every time he/she writes something is that considered censorship?

If someone accidentally run over you over with their car, is it considered an accident the second and third time?

Is "It is company policy" the same thing as "I was just following orders"?

Does the end always justify the means?

Is it called "due process" or "do process"?

Just trying to understand the theory behind their actions.