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Lost Connections - MIAs on LI & My NETWORK
Second time in as many days we (my fiancee and I) have lost a contact. I recall what I wrote about data integrity some days ago when I contributed my observations on the topic of problems with groups and I wrote this is where all this is headed.
No big deal. 2 contatcs, you might say. Well, it is. One was a family member and the other is a long time business colleague. Instincts tell me they do not just leave. Not only have they left our network but both are no longer in the LinkedIn records. This is strange too because their use of LInkedIn was increasing. The family member had recently joined a professional group. Of course, he is no longer there either.
Now we have a problem. We are disconnected from the relationships that matter - at least on LinkedIn. I wonder how this situation will AFFECT an invitation to them. ("This person does not know you "?) We still have email outside of LInkedIn.
It could be that they did leave LInkedIn because of the default home page clutter - which everyone has to read a blog to understand how to control but which no-one is told to read in the first place. A poor attitude from LInkedIn towards its base, but how I feel right now I am tempted to say: nothing new there.
Would someone from LinkedIn contact me, please? Would someone offer me a reasonable explanation - I would like to keep my contacts conveniently on LinkedIn but they're choosing to leave it appears (you know, explain to me what's going on). And what will happen if I try to connect them (again) to me through LInkedIn?
I have other issues but they have been conveniently ignored on another topic. This one directly AFFECT/EFFECTS my use of LinkedIn - as it would anyone whose close contacts were disappearing. A number collector may not even notice this or care in the same way.
Someone come back to me on this problem. I will wait a reasonable time for LI to offer me some answers BEFORE I send an email to my MIA contacts. BUT more of this and I will leave LinkedIn with 0 connections and it will be damned hard to get me to come back.
No big deal. 2 contatcs, you might say. Well, it is. One was a family member and the other is a long time business colleague. Instincts tell me they do not just leave. Not only have they left our network but both are no longer in the LinkedIn records. This is strange too because their use of LInkedIn was increasing. The family member had recently joined a professional group. Of course, he is no longer there either.
Now we have a problem. We are disconnected from the relationships that matter - at least on LinkedIn. I wonder how this situation will AFFECT an invitation to them. ("This person does not know you "?) We still have email outside of LInkedIn.
It could be that they did leave LInkedIn because of the default home page clutter - which everyone has to read a blog to understand how to control but which no-one is told to read in the first place. A poor attitude from LInkedIn towards its base, but how I feel right now I am tempted to say: nothing new there.
Would someone from LinkedIn contact me, please? Would someone offer me a reasonable explanation - I would like to keep my contacts conveniently on LinkedIn but they're choosing to leave it appears (you know, explain to me what's going on). And what will happen if I try to connect them (again) to me through LInkedIn?
I have other issues but they have been conveniently ignored on another topic. This one directly AFFECT/EFFECTS my use of LinkedIn - as it would anyone whose close contacts were disappearing. A number collector may not even notice this or care in the same way.
Someone come back to me on this problem. I will wait a reasonable time for LI to offer me some answers BEFORE I send an email to my MIA contacts. BUT more of this and I will leave LinkedIn with 0 connections and it will be damned hard to get me to come back.
I’m PO'd and the whole gamut that goes with it: frustrated, humiliated, confused, etc.
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Inappropriate?Have you tried contacting this contact to see if they've done anything to their account recently?2 Comments
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Hi Matt,
I have this problem too. Except the last time I checked I had almost 3000 connections and now I have 2,600. So 400 of my connections are MIA. Did they opt themselves out of my network, or is it a data integrity issue?
I unfortunately don't know who exactly is missing, so I am unable to ask. Most of my contacts are members of my LinkedIn Group whose members list I periodically upload. 400 dropped connections is a lot. Anyone on your end can tell me what happened? -
Somehow, Lorna, I think we are not the only two with this problem on LinkedIn.
I recently sent out a clarifier to all requests to join a group. These are email addresses I culled from the "request to join" list A "clarifier" is a letter asking (basically) do you belong in this group? So I sent such a letter out to all the requesters to join. I had a surprising result. People responded in the positive who I had trouble adding to the group because their request to join had disappeared. I took a look at the number in my addresss list: it is higher than the current "request to join" number.
I rule out Withdrawn Request. A- those requesters not on LinkedIn's request to join" list have few (if any) group affiliations. Each below 5 group affiliations. B- they are happy to join after I sheepishly ask them to re-request to join and explain LinkedIn has a problem. (me - take blame?!)
ALSO, related to the data problem, there is a huge lag time in people making requests to join and the LI machine working. Try calling a requester by telephone and sit through the process. 30 minutes later.... still no request to join. Result two frustrated people and a phone bill (we pay by useage here in this part of the world).
Also, there was a related data glitch with the number of requests to join bumping up (requesters to join re-requesting to join). The number of requests to join increased but the profiles attached to that number did not.
e.g 35 "requests to join" and 23 profiles.
I am talking about a 6-hour lag. I know because I went to dinner and watch the new Bond film and the request to join number and the profiles of those re-requesters were still NOT in sync.
I worked around this by pre-approving the re-requesters to join. This worked in real time lowering the number of requests to join; adding the group badge to re-requesters (I manually went to view their profile); but did not allow me to see some of the requesters to join (i.e. the number of profiles of those requesting to join was still not in sync with the request to join number (though this number was lowered by preapprovals).
e.g. 29 "requests to join" and 23 profiles.
I do not work for LI so I expect a real employee to have better answers than the one I just gave. A solution would be nice too. A solution has been overdue since August 2008. -
Inappropriate?Hello Matt.
No. I am hopeful for some information from LinkedIn before I start asking questions. But this is me acting as a professional communicator.
I do not want to suppose that they should have left LinkedIn (either on purpose or due to their fault) On the one hand, I reinforce their decision by offering them an opportunity to defend their position on why they left LinkedIn and, on the other hand, I point out their inadequacy for doing something (a spade is a spade: stupid) to delete their own account.
I find it convenient (for me) for them to stay on LinkedIn and I do not want to suggest an inadequacy on their part - diiplomatically or otherwise. So, again, NO I did not contact them.
I actually do not think either one has decided to leave LinkedIn. I actually do not think either is stupid enough to accidently delete their account. I do find that losing two contacts (off of LinkedIn not just my network) who were expanding their LinkedIn usage within 24hours to be a strange coincidence.
So I thought I would ask LinkedIn first for a possible answer. If you want, I can cooperate with a LinkedIn employee and LinkedIn can look into this matter.
Yes, I think you have a problem on your side.
I will confirm this thinking over the weekend because my contacts should know that their profile is off from your service. And, frankly, I would like to know why.
Can you suggest a reason or look into this matter? It will help guide my communications to my contacts.
I’m grateful for Matt's reply and hopeful LinkedIn will look into this awkward situation.
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Inappropriate?Update: The family contact has reappeared with all 112 connections. Fortunately this is ahead of my weekend eMail asking the family about his health.
I did try to send him and the other contact another invitation but both invitations were prevented from sending wihtout explanation.
So I ass/you/me the other contact, the one with the ill child, will return and I do not have to make a fuss with her.
But assumption is all I have for information Matt. That's not good.
I’m dissatisfied by the silent treatment.
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This solves the problem
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The second contact is nowhere to be found on LinkedIn. A similar situation exists with the contact that was lost today: recent job change and relocation.
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Inappropriate?10 Days later and another lost connection [b]!![/b] -- this time it is someone with whom I have not been in constant contact and I do not have their current email address. They have recently switched employer which makes finding them very difficult. With only 35 connections back in April, I seriously doubt I was one connection too many for them.
[b]NOW I REPEAT MYSELF LinkedIN you have a serious problem with data integrity.[/B] Others may not notice a few lost connections but when my network has only a few connections to begin with I am seeing it clearly.
I don't know.... no response here makes me wonder if I should take this complaint to a larger audience to grab some attention.
I’m repeating myself to say I'm dissatisfied by the silent treatment.
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