I posted earlier on HN that LinkedIn permanently banned me without knowing why. It’s a moot point with them because no person on LinkedIn seems willing (or aware) to talk to me and tell me why. All I get is the same automated response that I am banned: “We've deemed the activity in your account is in violation of the LinkedIn User Agreement and Professional Community Policies. Your appeal has been denied, and your account has been restricted permanently. Please see our User Agreement and Professional Community Policies for more information.”
Recruiters expect me to have a LinkedIn link on my resume or portfolio, and they expect job seekers like myself to be searchable on the platform as well. That is no longer an option for me. Besides replacing my LinkedIn URL with my home page on my resume, if that even matters, where do you think I can promote myself as a technology consultant now that I no longer exist on LinkedIn?
> Recruiters expect me to have a LinkedIn link on my resume or portfolio
I've never seen this before.
Either way, in every city there is only a finite number of recruitment agencies each of whom will have their own internal CRM of candidates. So just go on their website, find someone who works there and ask to be put on it along with your skills etc
Also just build relationships with recruiters. It's always a smart thing to do if you're planning to have a long term consulting career.
As an aside, I wonder how we as a community can force the hands of these 'utility companies' (MS, Google et al) in the coming years. I'm just repeating our common woes of course, but...
Here I feel we could insist on a compromise somehow, 'Automated bans must be reviewed and responded to within 1 business day by a human, with no templated responses allowed. A clear path to account reinstatement must be provided'.
We can't vote with our wallets, it wouldn't move the needle. We can't act maliciously or illegally. We could possibly raise awareness on mass and organise petitions (I'm sceptical). We could use our networks to pester individuals. We could shame specific people (I notice such a disconnect in some faang employees. E.g. Facebook employees seem blind to Myanmar interference).
The irony of how much power we ostensibly have at our fingertips, contrasted with how little power we have in practice.
Currently, we rely on the teeth of the EU. And nothing else significant occurs from my pov, the troubles just worsen.
It's a bit sad that we still see these kind of posts (no offense to OP, we all need to eat), but linked in is a cesspool of spam, and relying on it or even being eerie of not using it is demeaning.
How did we get to rely on a _platform_ in order to feed ourselves and our possible children or cats? (with so many options available)
the recruiters which _rely_ on a linked in link or on a PDF are usually generic anyway, mostly...
You engaged in no activity before ban? Just banned one day?
It's pretty scary all the horror stories one hears on HN along these lines. I wish some regulation would be imposed requiring some sort of approximation of "due process", so to speak, when this happens to people.
https://www.polywork.com/ maybe another place to market yourself
I've had a couple of temporary bans over the last few months. No warning or email. No idea what I did. Asking support on Twitter was the most helpful at getting things sorted https://twitter.com/LinkedInHelp
You have seen the r/LinkedIn mega thread? https://www.reddit.com/r/linkedin/comments/15cx1zg/mega_thre...
Just create a profile on Dice instead. Recruiters have been contacting me from there a bunch lately. I am getting interviews and accepted an offer for jobs in languages I have never even written in.
What all these job profile places lack is a way to specify negative skills, such as things you aren’t qualified in. I don’t want to touch React or Angular or such and have never written Java yet people contacting me about those jobs, because it seems many places are hurting for technical competencies irrespective of tech stack. If a place is too excited, like falling over themselves, to talk about their tech stack they can continue and wait for somebody other than me.
LinkedIn is a security risk, it allowed me to be stalked by a crazy bank employee despite me "locking down" my profile.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37417397
I can't hibernate because I am in a free trial period with Apple for premium, despite ending the trial. I've blocked the stalker, but I have no idea who is viewing my profile.
It needs to really up its game.
Not entirely related to my gripe, but my observation is that Microsoft's pay-freeze and layoffs of employees seem to be having ripple effects across the org.
Good luck in woodworks, plumbing & Co
Been working in the industry for several decades now. Never had an account on LI. The very few times I was asked about it replied, "I don't use LI." Wasn't a factor.
They were always known to use dark patterns, and now owned by MS, too sleazy to touch with a ten-foot pole. Good luck.
I really don't understand what the purpose of having a linked in account is really except getting biographical information about people and seeing who's searching you on the internet, unless you are a job seeker.
Welcome to the club and the enshittification of the Internet.
Had a Twitter/X account for about 14 years (2007~2021) but suddenly someone at Twitter/X decided to permban me out of the blue for no obvious reason.
Again and again I tried to get that ban reversed after Elon "free speech for everyone" Musk took over and they even refused even to communicate back to me, until a few weeks ago they apparently got tired of me. "You broke the terms of service" and that's all.
14 fucking years of good standing and everything is gone. AND I DID NOTHING WRONG.
Can't you just create new account with a different email address?
Instead of considering this a misfortune, think of it as a stroke of great luck. The very best employers & jobs have no connection to LI, and you'll now be forced to go for those.
My LinkedIn ban was lifted today. It is not clear what reversed the decision. Whatever the reason was, it doesn’t matter. I appreciate all your supporting voices. Thank you.
Tangential but I hope this HN thread is the origin story of the next LinkedIn killer by OP, in typical HN fashion.
I have never had a linkedin. When people ask, I point them to my github and tell them that's where I network.
The first idea that popped into my mind was that you could develop a distributed social network.
Can you create a new account with a different email?
What is a technology consultant?
Build the alternative.
It's probably time.
If it’s that important to you, maybe you can start anew with a different email?
Create a new account?
It's not useful for commentators to dismiss OP's concerns about losing their LinkedIn account. Just because it has never been helpful to you, doesn't mean it isn't helpful or important to others. And it is true that recruiters heavily use LinkedIn to source or validate candidates, especially ones who operate in client facing roles. We should focus on trying to help this guy find resolution or alternatives.
Onto LinkedIn customer support, Premium users have access to online chat (crazy that support is tiered like this, but I digress...) and that is reputably the best way to restore suspended or banned accounts. Not sure how you get from banned to paid, but that the best route in.