The most followed discussion in the Joomla Official Users is group is being ignored by recruiters and folks promoting services and products.
Grant started the thread May 29. He openly complained that spam postings from recruiters and promoters make it difficult for many of us to carry on technical discussions about the product we make our living with.
I made a mental note to start flagging inappropriate posting. Several others followed along.
I follow a large number of Linkedin groups and discovered that many recruiters are posting jobs in both the jobs and discussion categories. that means a flood of email for those of us who get an email with each new posting. The solution does not include changing my email preferences.
A lot of us use Linkedin to prospect for assignments. In the groups I follow, there have been 1,358 job postings since May 6. Many of those are dubious.
Before I turned to building websites, I was an investigative reporter for several large metro newspapers in the U.S. and United Press International. I've also covered a couple of wars.
For this item, I simply wrote a few email filters in gmail in Google Apps for Business and it did not take long for some staggering realizations.
I complained to Linkedin help support and got a kiss off response that it is the responsibility of the group owners and moderators to police it. In some cases the groups have grown so large that it's all but impossible to police.
So I volunteered to be a moderator in the official Joomla! users Group and began flagging. I've been busy. I would rather write useful posts and articles to give back to the community.
Here is what I've discovered:
Joanie Kundla posted "Crush Your Next Job Interview!" 28 times since June 13. Not to be outdone, she posted "Woa! When was the last time you looked here!" 70 times since June 1.
Both amounted to great information the first time the items were posted.
Then there is Marta Formaggioni. She posted "Web Designers Needed Now. Immediate Openings. All Locations" 70 times since June 1. During a 12-day period she posted the same notice 6 times; on 11 different days, she posted it nine times.
I found no job openings for my area.
I contacted Both Ms. Formaggioni and Ms. Kundla constructively to give them hints about more effective posting. When I pointed out that I had flagged their posting, they just posted them again. Neither have responded.
So, I have come up with a list of recruiters who flood discussion areas with postings that are not very useful.
Joanie Kundla, Marta Formaggioni, Lindsey Hull, Shalon Viox, Jada Smartwood, Mashtan Khan, Debra McNulty, Sara Whitley, Ronald Hudgins, Jess Singluff, Cassaundra Odonovan, Juanita Debenedetto,
So what happens next?
I'm asking the owners of these groups to take action to stop serial and spam postings for jobs and promotions. It's simple. Discussions are for discussions. Jobs go in jobs area. If you are selling something, post in promotions, not jobs or discussions. Choose on relevant group and post it there. Please don't post in every Joomla! group.
If you post in a foreign language, post only in groups for that language.
If you want to start a real discussion, don't link to an article on a site where discussions are closed. People probably won't return to Linkedin to continue a discussion.
Your best bet: Provide a link to the article and summarize it as best you can. Ask a question that includes a call to action. What's your opinion is not a question with a call to action. Be specific enough with your call to action that will convince people to actually post an opinion. We all learn from that.
Choose great topics. How to use Linkedin to find a job is way over done. If you can't come up with a new approach or somethings new, skip it and look for a great idea. The worlds tech newspapers and newspaper are filled daily with new ideas. Remember the root word of news is "new."
Spell all the words correctly. Write imaginative headlines. Phrases tht begin with "the ten best ways" are over used.
If I am a moderator, I'm willing to become a manager and mentor folks into better posters. If you can't be part of the solution, keep quiet and go away.
What can you do?
Flag questionable postings as soon as you see them. That way there are fewer for me to flag. You could add a simple comment: It's spam. If you can be constructive, by all means contact the poster with suggestions. Be polite and constructive.
What can Linkedin do?
All this serial cross postings is missed revenue for Linkedin.
If you have a suggestion, feel free to contact me.