While some might consider it overzealous of me, I DO keep an eye on those who ONLY post and never comment or discuss anything. I also quickly remove those thinly veiled discussions with a link leading elsewhere. I think what I find most disturbing is that many have groups that are huge in numbers but the content is so lousy and no one is sharing in discussions.

I have also mentioned this problem to LinkedIn and received a similar non-reply. If we could rally up enough people to send this request I’d hope they’d figure out how to add at least a few features to help we well-intended group owners to moderate our groups and keep them attractive for the better-intended members.

I totally agree with you and as a result I don’t really enjoy using LinkedIn groups. I know that our staff try really hard to create and add value to conversations. It is really annoying to see so many spam posts and in the end it makes the service harder to use for it’s intended purpose. For sincere, relevant and helpful posts to cut through the noise is tough.

I know it is a lot of work for you and the other TechSoup moderators to keep the forums clean. Thanks for helping keep the online world cleaner and more usable.

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Dear Robert,

Thank you for contacting LinkedIn Customer Support.

We appreciate your concern for keeping LinkedIn a great site for all our members. Please understand that Groups are member-generated content and the primary responsibility for moderating group content lies with the group owner. They are provided with the ability to delete discussions or comments and remove problematic members. As the group owner, they are also given a certain degree of latitude for deciding the purpose of the group and what type of discussion content to allow.

Therefore, your first step should be to notify the group owner. You can locate the owner’s information by clicking on the group, then going to the Group Profile link to the right of all your group tabs. Click on their name to find the option to send them a message. You do not have to be connected to them to send them a direct message.

If you determine the group does not meet your expectations, your best option may be to leave the group and find one that better suits your goals.

Have a great day and thank you for being a valued member of our LinkedIn community!

Katie
LinkedIn Customer Support

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I replied suggesting that Katie try flagging a dozen spam messages to a group moderator. It requires pasting the subject or URL for each spam into an email. Who’s going to do that? Compare this to Craigslist, where I can flag a spam message with one click. Better yet would be tools to help moderators prevent spam from ever reaching a forum.