Category Archives: Weird

Business, Technology and Society, Weird

Weird LinkedIn Contacts

7 Comments

Twice now I’ve gotten messages from someone who says their boss would like to hire me for my space expertise, but when I say, “Great, email me,” the response is, “Oh, she only communicates via WhatApp and Telegram.” To which my response is that I don’t use WhatsApp for security reasons, and to use Signal, but beyond that, I don’t do business with people who won’t use email. Anyone have any ideas what kind of (likely) scam this?

[Update a couple minutes later]

The most recent exchange:

Me: I can’t do business with someone who only communicates in that manner. In particular. WhatsApp is a security risk. Email me, or do business with someone else.

Unknown person: My boss is very busy and needs to deal with a lot of work emails. You can use Telegram to contact my boss.

Me: I’m a work email. I don’t use either Telegram or WhatsApp. I’m busy, too. What kind of scam is this?

[Update a while later]

Final response: “My boss is also very busy. If you can’t meet my boss’s requirements, stop communicating with me and don’t waste my time. My time is also very precious.”

It’s suggested in comments that they’re after my phone number. That may be it.

Business, Law, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society, Weird

The Latest (Weird) Google Evil

25 Comments

I’m a member of a mailing list on Googlegroups. It’s a private list, and I’ve been a member for many years. Today, I got the following email, Subject: Your Content On Google Groups

********************************************

Hello simberg@interglobal.org,

We’re letting you know that we’ve permanently removed the content at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coolpeople2808/4SscdySTE04/WIigOQEpAQAJ

Why did this happen?

An external report flagged the content for illegal content or policy violations. As a result, our legal content and policy standards team removed the content for the following reason: unwanted content.

Learn more

You can learn more about our content policies and enforcement at our help center.

What you can do next

You may have the option to pursue your claims in court. If you have legal questions or wish to examine legal options that may be available to you, you may want to consult with your own legal counsel.

*****************************************************

WTF?!

a) They don’t tell me what the allegedly objectionable content was and (b) it’s a private list. How can there be an “external report” on it? I forwarded the email to the list, and we’re all scratching our heads about it.

Business, Technology and Society, Weird

LinkedIn Weirdness

11 Comments

Well, the weirdness of some people on LinkedIn. Occasionally, I’ll make the mistake of accepting an invitation from someone, and they’ll immediately want to initiate a conversation with me, as though I have infinite time for such things. In some cases, it’s an attractive Asian woman (generally Chinese), which makes me suspect a scam. It would never occur to me to use LinkedIn as a penpal service, but apparently some people do.

[Update a few minutes later]

I should add that the easiest way to get them to stop bugging me is to tell them that I hate communicating on my phone (because they always want to chat on WhatsApp or Signal, or texting), which not only discourages them, but has the additional virtue of being true. When I tell them my preferred mode of communication is email, they tell me that they only use email for work. OK, your problem, not mine.

[Update on July 7th

Here’s an example of an invitation I just got. An Asian-appearing woman with a man’s name. Bizarre.

[Bumped]