Linkedin

(I suppose it’s “linked-in,” although I was pronouncing it “link-uh-din” at first.)
“What is it?” my wife asked.
“I guess it’s a sort of Facebook for professional people,” I said.
The other day (Sunday, January 8, 2012), after posting a blog on this site about Microsoft Excel®, I decided to try to e-mail a blog-link to Jack Kellogg, my Excel instructor at Bloomfield Central School, who deserves some of the credit for my having a fairly good handle on Excel.
To find his e-mail address, which I no longer have, I cranked “Jack Kellogg Excel” into Google, and came up with various Jack Kelloggs, one of whom sounded like him.
“Jack Kellogg on Linkedin; view complete profile......”
I clicked that.
Suddenly 89 bazilyun different links, all a seeming wall to protect Jack Kellogg.
Mental overload!
What, pray tell, is an old stroke-survivor supposed to do with 89 bazilyun choices?
One of which was to log-in, that is, join Linkedin.
I joined.
Ding! An e-mail arrived.
“Confirm e-mail address.”
I tried; “Please log in.”
I logged in. Again I got 89 bazilyun choices, all of which led me to “please log in.”
“What?
I thought my responding confirmed my e-mail address.”
And so it began: 89 bazilyun choices, all of which lead to “Please log in.”
“We seem to be going in circles,” I observed. “This isn’t worth it.
This site is too tech-driven.”
Logged in, I was presented with various professionals to network with.
I noticed Dan Gnagy (“naggy”), my old computer-guru at the Mighty Mezz.
I also noticed Dave Wheeler, a long-ago coworker at the Mighty Mezz.
I also was presented with complete strangers, graphic-designers and “social-media experts.”
“So what is required to be a social-media expert?” I asked.
“Do colleges now have majors in that?”
“You declare yourself a social-media expert,” my wife commented.
I “selected” my “network” with Gnagy and Wheeler.
I successfully selected Gnagy, but no Wheeler.
I also somehow selected complete strangers I’d never heard of.
“I did? Who are these people? I didn’t select a single one.”
“Send Dan (Gnagy) a message.”
I generated a message in my word-processor.
I plugged it into the message-window.
“Please log in.”
I did so.
“Send message.”
I clicked that. Nothing happened.
Or so it seemed.
Maybe my message sent, maybe it didn’t.
Linkedin seemed rather obtuse.
Every move seemed to want a log-in, even after I logged in.
“This isn’t worth it,” I said again.
“Linkedin is not helping me any.”
It wants me to register, and then it hits me with a “You’re already registered” message.
I gave up.
Jack Kellogg is not getting my blog-link.
Shut out by Linkedin.
And now I get e-mail updates every day from Linkedin.
Complete stranger updates.
Updates that want me to “Please log in,” followed by “Please log in.”

• RE: “Bloomfield Central School........” —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western NY, southeast of Rochester. Adjacent is the rural town of East Bloomfield, and the village of Bloomfield is within it. Bloomfield Central School is the high-school within the village.
• RE: “Old stroke-survivor.....” —I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I pretty much recovered. I’m also age 67.
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired six years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years. (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 14 miles away.)