[HN Gopher] Delete LinkedIn - you'll have zero fucking regrets (...
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       Delete LinkedIn - you'll have zero fucking regrets (2021)
        
       Author : austinallegro
       Score  : 44 points
       Date   : 2025-12-28 19:13 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (thenextweb.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (thenextweb.com)
        
       | colesantiago wrote:
       | (2021)
       | 
       | and if you have a network and if you do delete LinkedIn,
       | 
       | yes you will regret it.
        
         | JojoFatsani wrote:
         | No, you'll just reach out to those people through direct
         | contact. If LI is your only link to someone you aren't really
         | networked with them.
        
           | throw-12-16 wrote:
           | Fully agree, its just a spam platform now filled to the brim
           | with AI/Human slop.
        
             | simfree wrote:
             | Curate your connections, yeet anyone who is posting slop
             | and add people that make quality spicy posts you enjoy.
             | 
             | It's that simple to make a LinkedIn feed have posts and
             | comments you enjoy!
        
               | Avicebron wrote:
               | Is there a switch to turn off the social media/posting
               | element on linkedin altogether? I don't see why I should
               | be spending my time engaging with their algorithm just so
               | it's bearable to use
        
               | plorkyeran wrote:
               | Just don't open the home page except to navigate to the
               | specific thing you need and when you do, don't look at
               | the slop? The social media/posting element of linkedin is
               | totally disconnected from the useful part of the site and
               | you can just ignore it.
        
       | toomuchtodo wrote:
       | Don't do it. I get tons of work opportunity outreach on LI. Maybe
       | you don't, but it doesn't hurt to put your shingle out.
        
       | throw-12-16 wrote:
       | To this day I don't know why people tolerate that garbage
       | platform.
        
       | rimbo789 wrote:
       | There is not a social media platform I have regretted leaving.
        
         | bdangubic wrote:
         | same! I have withdrawals now from the _highs_ I have
         | experienced over the years leaving every  'social' media
         | platform
        
       | senshan wrote:
       | > I spent the day receiving over 500 (!) birthday greetings from
       | LinkedIn contacts, whose names and faces I didn't even recognize,
       | who had clicked on a notification prompt
       | 
       | From the above, it appears that the harm is self-inflicted. Why
       | would one have 500+ contacts who she does not recognize? Linkedin
       | is a tool and every tool can be misused. My contact list is under
       | 200 and those are the people I enjoyed working with and would not
       | hesitate to ping if needed
        
       | ifh-hn wrote:
       | I don't have LinkedIn. But I'd consider creating an account if I
       | was to leave my current job. I'm told it's a good way to get
       | work, though I'm sure like all other social media it's 99% full
       | of shit.
        
         | dilyevsky wrote:
         | Well if you just create brand new account with no/random
         | connections you'd be pretty disappointed... that's how they get
         | ya. It's totally fine as a sort of virtual rolodex, maybe some
         | content marketing, mediocre as job board although all job
         | boards seem to have turned into a total lemon market so there's
         | that
        
       | ErroneousBosh wrote:
       | I don't know, if it wasn't for Linkedin I wouldn't be in my
       | current job of almost ten years.
       | 
       | On a totally unrelated note if you're looking for someone who can
       | blacksmith up something that approximates a web frontend to a DB
       | or some audio DSP code or some embedded code for various
       | microcontrollers, or actually blacksmith stuff up with hammers
       | and a welder, I'm putting out feelers for a new gig. Network
       | engineer, jobbing mathematician, and database mangler, open to
       | offers.
        
         | design2203 wrote:
         | The fact you have to post your second paragraph to me proves
         | for all of LinkedIn's bluster, it's really a sub-par platform
         | and unfortunately has too much market power to be challenged.
        
       | freitasm wrote:
       | I won't link it here, because... but the author has an active
       | LinkedIn profile.
       | 
       | So there's that.
        
       | zingababba wrote:
       | So I did this, straight up deleted my account with all my
       | connections. I eventually came crawling back years later. It's
       | crazy to me, I had an interview with a CISO a few weeks ago and
       | he was critiquing my profile. I told him: dude I consider
       | LinkedIn to be a complete joke and its sole purpose it serves for
       | me is job acquisition. The emotional investment people have in
       | that platform is weeeird. The ThOuGhT LeAdErShIp posts are
       | insane.
        
       | bastienbeurier wrote:
       | When recruiting, LinkedIn is useful for three things for me: 1.
       | Propagating the job ad 2. Verifying that an applicant is real
       | (profile picture, network, work history, etc.). I'm seeing more
       | and more fake applications lately. 3. Letting candidates apply
       | with just a LinkedIn URL (when they keep it reasonably up to
       | date)
       | 
       | None of this is really about social networking.
       | 
       | Ideally, I'd much rather have a universal resume platform with
       | proper ID verification, and separately a job board with reach
       | comparable to LinkedIn.
       | 
       | Until something like that exists, deleting LinkedIn mostly means
       | candidates lose out on discovering jobs and applying quickly to
       | them.
        
       | bjterry wrote:
       | Having a relatively new LinkedIn account now is probably a very
       | bad move if you don't have an established network to reach out to
       | for jobs. There are tons of AI generated profiles flooding every
       | job post (particularly remote) from scammers who create new
       | LinkedIn profiles. It's one of the most frequent signs of a fake
       | submission.
        
       | drivingmenuts wrote:
       | I had a whole pile of recommendations from people on LinkedIn -
       | only one of whom I had ever worked with and the rest were from
       | people who knew me socially, but otherwise had little or no
       | knowledge of what I actually do.
        
       | sparrish wrote:
       | My only regret is I get more spam about 'found you on linkedin'
       | than before I deleted my account.
        
       | empiko wrote:
       | My current job cold contacted me via LinkedIn. I use LI
       | minimally, basically only to establish connections with my
       | network, and it already gave me huge value back.
        
       | _nhh wrote:
       | I did in 2022 and never looked back
        
       | neonmagenta wrote:
       | It wouldn't be as bad if everyone wasn't trying to turn into a
       | business microinfluencer with constantly upbeat posts not really
       | adding anything of value and "What I messy divorce taught me
       | about B2B synergy"
        
         | ebbi wrote:
         | The sad thing is, this kind of stuff was encouraged in the
         | previous company that I worked for when I got promoted to a
         | certain level. 'Be a thought leader', 'represent the company
         | and influence the industry' was the standard directives the
         | leadership team were given.
         | 
         | On one hand, it's funny to see the ones that made the company
         | their whole identity, only to then leave for a competitor and
         | make the new place their identity.
         | 
         | On the other hand , it's sad that a lot of people that are
         | hiring (in my line of work at least), are impressed by these
         | crappy posts and the people posting it tend to get more
         | exposure and get hired quicker.
        
       | wowczarek wrote:
       | As much as I am aware of how much low value, bottom-of-the-barrel
       | shit flows via LinkedIn - my connections, and the resulting feed,
       | are well curated, and I actually enjoy using LI and for me it's
       | become a genuinely useful news feed for my industry, and in terms
       | of getting work, it's great.
       | 
       | But, shit in, shit out.
       | 
       | I don't believe in LI "reach" because I don't post for reach - I
       | post for meaningful reactions and exchanges of opinions, and my
       | connections are strictly limited to people I physically did work
       | with or have met, and I screen my connections to weed out any
       | nutters I wouldn't want to associate myself with. It works
       | wonders.
       | 
       | So no, I'm not deleting my LinkedIn, but the author perhaps
       | should ;)
        
       | rhubarbtree wrote:
       | Any aspiring startup founders should ignore this terrible advice.
        
       | exegete wrote:
       | Or just delete the app and log in once a year or whenever you're
       | job seeking?
       | 
       | I will say I agree that the platform is mostly spam and has
       | definitely gotten worse sense 2021 when the article was written.
       | But you can just not log in everyday and still have a profile.
       | Also no reason to put your birthday on a social network IMO and
       | you can reject requests for connections if you don't know
       | someone.
        
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       (page generated 2025-12-28 23:01 UTC)