LOGICal eMOTIONs

LinkedIn Account Suspension Update

// October 9th, 2007 // Blog & Tech Items

Yesterday I tossed up a post about how my LinkedIn account was suspended without warning, with no reason given, and that their entire system for handling such matters is extremely poor in regards to customer service.

I did get an email back (finally) today at 13:30EST with a reason why my account was suspended:

LinkedIn provides the ability for users to upload a photograph to assist other members in recognizing that person. As a professional networking site, there are guidelines to determine which type of photos are appropriate on LinkedIn.

A LinkedIn profile photo is considered appropriate as long as:

It does not contain content that is copyrighted and not authorized for public distribution.
It does not contain offensive content (examples include nudity or violence).
It is an actual photograph of the member it is assigned to.

LinkedIn provides tools to easily upload and crop photos as large as 4MB in size in common file formats including JPG, GIF, and PNG. Photos on LinkedIn will appear best as long as they are at least 80×80 pixels in size.

Ok, so now we know that the image I used wasn’t up to code because it wasn’t a picture of me. I don’t remember seeing a spot anywhere when dealing with a profile image indicating that it had to be an actual picture of a person, and I usually check those things when I don’t want to post a picture of myself. I didn’t see anything so I posted a promo image for my company. *shrug*

Ok, so I did wrong and they kicked me out. Overkill? Likely, HOWEVER, we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet!!!

The email continued and ended like this:

Tip: Most professional photographs look best when they are cropped to place the person in the center of the photograph, from the chest up with
their eyes approximate 1/3 down from the top of the picture. LinkedIn
provides an instant preview of your picture in the upload tool to see how your cropped image will look before you save it.

Thank you,
S. Jackson
Customer Service Professional

Where to start, where to start… Ok great, assuming that I would like to upload an image of myself (I don’t and I don’t have one), the tips are great – thanks! Um…. Anyone see where it states what I should do next to get rid of my existing picture so that I am compliant and restore my ability to login to my account?

According to Mr. Jackson, this apparently is going to be a multi-step process with LinkedIn providing as little information as possible along the way. So yes, I did get my explanation, yet I am still unable to login to my account and rectify the situation.

“Customer Service Professional”?

The absolute lowest level of customer service in this case is simply responding to an email. The second-lowest level would be that of providing clarification and nothing more. Now that we’ve got the minimal amounts of customer service covered, dare we swing for the fences and provide useful information to positively resolve an issue and keep your client happy?

So, now I get to email Mr. Jackson back, inquire about the next step, and wait again for a response back.

I’m brought back again to the simplicity of a simple warning email when it was discovered that I was not compliant. Had I continued with my evil picture, sure, suspend the account, let me know why (again), and why not indicate that a simple email to “Customer Service” will have them remove the image and restore the access? They kill the image, restore the login, and email the client when it’s ready to go. All parties then know what happened, why, and what needs to happen to resolve the issue. Simple.

But hey, I guess we’re going to do it the “LinkedIn Way” instead.

UPDATE: Day 4!

Still no word, and no account access… But hey, I figured I’d share the offending image so you can see what all the fuss is about…

Pure evil.

FINAL UPDATE!

(I think…)

Well, I finally got a response back from LinkedIn after 5 days of account suspension. Again, after they re-explained what they already told me about image requirements, this little bit was tagged onto the bottom:

We thank you for agreeing to comply with our policies and know that together we can maintain an outstanding website for all of our members.

I have unrestricted your account and full functionality has been restored.

If you have any questions or concerns or would like further assistance, please contact us.

Linked Privacy Team

First, in none of my emails did I actually agree to comply with their policies… Secondly, (apparently) you must send them an email saying that you will comply before they will release your account. They don’t tell you this at any point which means had I gone on the warpath, this could have dragged on for quite some time with them simply sitting back smugly waiting for the right response. I still hold to the value of the warning in-system message and account suspension if you don’t rectify the situation yourself after a certain period. Then when the account is suspended send out an email indicating such, why it was suspended, and ask them to re-agree to the terms and conditions. When they receive the re-agreement back, delete their picture, and unlock the account. Whole thing could be done within the hour. But hey, apparently 5 days works too….

Oh, and is my account accessible after they indicated it would be unrestricted? No.

And finally, why is the Privacy Team dealing with this issue?!

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