Ed Zotti Wants to be My Friend on LinkedIn?

[Justin_Bailey]

From Ed Zotti

Writing and Editing Consultant and Contractor
Greater Chicago Area

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Ed

What sorcery is this?

Or rather, huh? Why?

[TubaDiva]

That's interesting. Did you have correspondence with him?

LinkedIn will seize your address book if you let it. But usually Ed's not a joiner ...

Let me check with him and see what's up.

If any of the rest of you get this link, don't click on it until I see if it's legit.

[RaftPeople]

Ed Zotti endorses Justin_Bailey for the skill of Message Board Poster

[Ed Zotti]

Shit. I was updating my LinkedIn profile and clicked on something I obviously shouldn't have. Feel free to ignore.

[zoid]

Originally Posted by Ed Zotti

Shit. I was updating my LinkedIn profile and clicked on something I obviously shouldn't have. Feel free to ignore.

Oh, come on man!

Join my network!

Friend me on Facebook!

Follow my tweets!

Foursquare me! Hard!

[Boyo Jim]

I got this same invitation in the last couple hours. What's really odd is that I don't have a LinkdIn account. Or at least I don't think I do. I had one that proved so annoying I tried very hard to cancel it and drive a stake into it.

[Siam Sam]

Ed Zotti saved my life in 'Nam.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by Ed Zotti

Shit. I was updating my LinkedIn profile and clicked on something I obviously shouldn't have. Feel free to ignore.

So, we're not good enough for you?! Well, I never...

[Una Persson]

Aha. I was about to tell Ed apologetically I don't do LinkedIn...glad I stopped by.

[hajario]

Originally Posted by Boyo Jim

I got this same invitation in the last couple hours. What's really odd is that I don't have a LinkdIn account.

What's odd about that? It was sent to a list of email addresses. If you clicked on the link, you have the choice of connecting him to your LinkeIn account or creating one.

[twickster]

So that endorsement I just got from him isn't legit?

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by hajario

What's odd about that? It was sent to a list of email addresses. If you clicked on the link, you have the choice of connecting him to your LinkeIn account or creating one.

I assumed such a list would be generated by other LinkdIn accounts. I don't have an account. And even if I did, I have no idea how the two of us could have been linked together. And if LinkdIn is just suggesting random linkups, then anyone with one of those premium accounts is just getting ripped off.

[hajario]

Originally Posted by Boyo Jim

I assumed such a list would be generated by other LinkdIn accounts. I don't have an account. And even if I did, I have no idea how the two of us could have been linked together. And if LinkdIn is just suggesting random linkups, then anyone with one of those premium accounts is just getting ripped off.

It's like Facebook or any other social network. You can give it permission to access your email and it sends invitations to the entire list of contacts. Ed accidentally selected that option.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Ed Zotti

Shit. I was updating my LinkedIn profile and clicked on something I obviously shouldn't have. Feel free to ignore.

Nope, you can't get rid of me that quick!
You are stuck with me now.

[moriah]

Ed, accept my link. And write me a letter of recommendation. And pick me up from the airport. And help me move. Oh, yeah, need a liver, too.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by hajario

It's like Facebook or any other social network. You can give it permission to access your email and it sends invitations to the entire list of contacts. Ed accidentally selected that option.

AFAICR, Ed and I never corresponded by email, so I'm somewhat doubtful I'm among his contacts. But perhaps he's secretly stalking me?

[Inner Stickler]

Was it to your dope email? Because you've got the vCard download allowed so anyone who's a member can download a nifty little contact file with your username and email that integrates seamlessly into an email program.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

Was it to your dope email? Because you've got the vCard download allowed so anyone who's a member can download a nifty little contact file with your username and email that integrates seamlessly into an email program.

It was to an old email address, but that address was the one I initially signed up here with. So if Ed did this some years back, that's a possibility.

[Senegoid]

Maybe this explains some LinkedIn invites I've been getting. I don't have a LI account and I'm definitely not the sort of person who would be in the LI market. That's for professionals, whereas I've always been a more-or-less good-for-nothing bum, and getting steadily more so. Yet, I'm getting LI invites from a cousin of mine, who is a professional on LI. I suspect that she doesn't even know she's sending me those requests.

Perhaps the above posts in this thread explain what's going on.

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Ed Zotti saved my life in 'Nam.

Ed Zotti killed my Pa!

[Gyrate]

So I should just ignore that email about Ed wanting to transfer US$30million from Burkina Faso and needing my bank details?

[scudsucker]

Originally Posted by hajario

It's like Facebook or any other social network. You can give it permission to access your email ...

It is much more sneaky than Facebook in that the UI is expressly designed to "trick" users into allowing LinkedIn to extract and spam their entire contact list.

The step that actually requests permission does not look like it is anything like what it actually does, it seems very innocuous.

[Wendell Wagner]

Ed Zotti didn't have the time to save my life in Nam. He saved Chuck Norris's life and contracted out the job of saving everyone else's life, including mine, to Norris.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Originally Posted by scudsucker

It is much more sneaky than Facebook in that the UI is expressly designed to "trick" users into allowing LinkedIn to extract and spam their entire contact list.

The step that actually requests permission does not look like it is anything like what it actually does, it seems very innocuous.

That's true! It looks like a login screen- I've been almost tricked by it while working on autopilot and not rally paying attention, before realizing I was already logged on.

Very sneaky, master is.

[Rico]

Ed Zotti shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

[Vinyl Turnip]

That's almost as creepy as the time Giraffe asked to be my Valentine.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Originally Posted by Vinyl Turnip

That's almost as creepy as the time Giraffe asked to be my Valentine.

Yeah,but at least Giraffe meant it.

[TubaDiva]

No, "Be my Valentine" is not the same as 'Want some candy ..." How many times do I have to tell you these things?

I kid, I kid. But ... stranger danger, y'know.

[Shakes]

You mean he invited all you guys? Bah! I thought I was special!

[Happy Lendervedder]

Wait, I thought "Ed Zotti" was just the nom de rédacteur of Cecil Adams?

You telling me that's a real person?

[Fear Itself]

There are real people on LinkedIn?

[Tim R. Mortiss]

I don't always accept LinkedIn invitations.

But when I do, I prefer they be from Ed Zotti.

[Giraffe]

Originally Posted by Vinyl Turnip

That's almost as creepy as the time Giraffe asked to be my Valentine.

You didn't want to, that's fine, but the least you could have done was help me get that couch all the way into my van. I was clearly struggling, what with my arm being in that cast and all.

[Bob Ducca]

So Ed's polishing up the ol' resume, huh? I don't know why he'd ever want to leave the Reader, that Star of Siam thai restaurant downstairs is fantastic.

[Boyo Jim]

I was just reminded that Ed and I did in fact exchange two emails -- on August 9, 2007. He declined an ... offer ... I made, and I have been bereft and alone since. I must have blocked it out of my mind. Still, I never added him to my contact list, and while I'm flattered that he added me, he has inadvertently released the dogs of LinkdIn upon me.

[Eutychus]

I kissed him.

On the mouth.

Top THAT!

[Ellen Cherry]

I was totally convinced for a good 10 minutes that Ed sent me a Linked In thing because he's so impressed with my fabulous writing, editing, and moderating skills.

Damn. I was all impressed with myself.

[Frank]

I got one too.

I'm used to getting LinkedIn invites from people I know or that I've emailed, and I just ignore them. What I don't get is the ones that come from people I've never ever heard of.

[Duckster]

Could this be an Ed Zotti computer virus? Ed Zotti malware? Did he let it slip there is a secret Zotti organization?

[Fear Itself]

Now I'm hurt. I didn't get one.

[Skammer]

I got one. Ed better find me a job in Chicago now.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I got a rock.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by IvoryTowerDenizen

That's true! It looks like a login screen- I've been almost tricked by it while working on autopilot and not rally paying attention, before realizing I was already logged on.

You probably shouldn't read the Dope while piloting a plane, even if on autopilot.

Originally Posted by Frank

I'm used to getting LinkedIn invites from people I know or that I've emailed, and I just ignore them. What I don't get is the ones that come from people I've never ever heard of.

It's a network. They know someone you know, and both have their email sharing stuff set on the widest parameters.

Or else you're a real social butterfly on LinkedIn, posting all sorts of cool stuff.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Frank

I'm used to getting LinkedIn invites from people I know or that I've emailed, and I just ignore them. What I don't get is the ones that come from people I've never ever heard of.

That's what kind of threw me. I think Ed and I exchanged a single email years ago during the worst of the "SDMB is infested with malware" thing.

[pravnik]

I did the exact same thing on LinkedIn once, clicked a button and it sent an invite to every single person I'd ever emailed anything to or received email from on my gmail account. I had a couple of "uh, who are you?" email conversations with a few people; on one of them eventually we figured out that were pravnik and TubaDiva, who was on an email chain for the Staff Report I cowrote. Probably a few of the other mods and admins got them too. Ironically, one of the people who was on that email chain and got a LinkedIn invite from me was Ed Zotti. So, Ed, if you (or anyone else on staff) was wondering who the heck the lawyer from Texas who sent you the LinkedIn invite a year or two ago was, it was me.

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by pravnik

So, Ed, if you (or anyone else on staff) was wondering who the heck the lawyer from Texas who sent you the LinkedIn invite a year or two ago was, it was me.

That sounds like it could be one of those tricks to smoke out wanted fugitives. Like sending them word they've won a prize.

[Ethilrist]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Now I'm hurt. I didn't get one.

"You can't think about it, you just gotta put it out of your mind! The more you think about it, the more you worry. The more you worry, the more you think, think, worry, worry, think... It just gets like a vicious cycle! And then, before you know it, you are impudent!"

[Colibri]

Damn social climbers. Now I've got to change my settings.

[InternetLegend]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Now I'm hurt. I didn't get one.

I was beginning to think I was the only one. We can start a "spurned by Ed Zotti" club and whine about it in ATMB all the time as our consolation.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by InternetLegend

I was beginning to think I was the only one. We can start a "spurned by Ed Zotti" club and whine about it in ATMB all the time as our consolation.

I'm starting an anti-social network. If you go there and whine, no one will listen. On the plus side, you can spurn Ed, each other, and all the other members.