[echelon]

Can someone here please create a LinkedIn replacement for developers that

1. Doesn't have the spam

2. That doesn't look like it's from 2008

3. That only developers / engineers / tech folks can join

4. Doesn't try to log into your email to steal your contact list

5. That doesn't track you or your extensions / browser fingerprint

6. That doesn't have a bunch of fake "linkedinmaxxing" garbage content

7. that doesn't have marketers and recruiters, etc.

8. ...

[jszymborski]

Just type about:blank in your browser, and you'll get what you're asking for ;)

[SpyCoder77]

This is not going unappreciated :)

[traderj0e]

I thought the whole point of LinkedIn was getting a job, but that would run afoul of #7. You can ignore the rest of the crap on their website.

[slater]

How ever did people get jobs before recruiters? /s

[traderj0e]

Well, how? Recruiters got me job offers when I graduated college. I had no connections otherwise.

[ddoolin]

Same way they do it now. Cold applying, word of mouth/referrals, networking events, etc. Personally my first industry job in like 2012 originated from a networking mixer that I showed up to after seeing a promotional online. My unpaid internship/mentorship before that was a word of mouth from my mom asking her friend's husband which I suppose might count as a connection.

[nicoburns]

You search for job advertisements, and then send in an application!

[traderj0e]

But that application goes to a recruiter. Guess if you mean the site shouldn't have recruiters doing the cold-calling, idk maybe, but then the game is in getting the recruiters to read your application. This is different from having connections.

[angoragoats]

I think OP was referring to applying direct with the company doing the hiring. This is how I landed my first several jobs in tech, no recruiters involved.

[mlmonkey]

Back in the day, CACM use to have job listings at the back. There was always DE Shaw advertising. Sending in printed CVs and cover letters was the slow and painful way to do it.

[gerdesj]

If you write a decent covering letter and enclose a CV (resume) and get it to my desk, I might be inclined to be interested in you.

That's how things used to be done. Recruiters did exist but you generally got off your arse and impressed a potential employer with a well laid out CV as an invitation to call to interview.

Nowadays it appears that people want to circumvent all that complicated effort bollocks. You simply spray yourself across some social media wankery and let's face it LinkedIn is the supreme example of wankery and some grateful employer will pick you up.

The next time you are considering buying a record player to engage with the past in some sort of misty eyed histrionics session, why not buy a pen and paper and write a letter and impress someone with your turn of phrase? Enclose a CV (resume) for maximum effect.

... "Nurse ... nurse ... my dried frog pills have started dancing on my eyeballs ... nurse ... "

[b3ing]

Cold applying by letters or just walking in and asking for an application

Applying to jobs posted in the newspapers

[pimeys]

Getting a job across the border is easier with LinkedIn...

[kevin_thibedeau]

Stack Exchange sort of tried to do this. It never seemed to get off the ground.

[recursivegirth]

IRC has existed for decades.

[yrcyrc]

I met some of my girlfriends through irc :)

[867-5309]

..said no IRC user, ever

[echelon]

And it's a ghost town.

[antiframe]

I suppose that depends on where you go and what you expect. Older communities are better populated than younger ones. (Not age-wise but topic-wise).

[lacunary]

where's a good irc chat these days?

[antiframe]

It depends on the time of day, but #emacs, #nethack, #archlinux, #lobsters, #security, #openbsd usually have enough users for good convos. It depends on what you are into, really.

[zeafoamrun]

Seriously. We need some kind of federated replacement. Who is building this?

[WJW]

Be the change you want to see mate.

[reg_dunlop]

It's odd, yeah?

We have the ability to vibe these things over a weekend, yet getting to the critical mass/tipping point of adoption is something else.

Whatever happened to: if you build it, they will come?

[HWR_14]

It only took a weekend to build a social network preAI

[jll29]

If you want it to happen, we should talk requirements - what would you want from a LinkedIn NextGen?

- A professional profile page

- Contacts

- Introductions/referrals

- Ask my (sub-)network?

Anything else?

[bix6]

A way for you to make money that isn’t ads / harvesting my data.

Exportable format so I can leave if needed.

[reg_dunlop]

It's tough to generate revenue that isn't through ads.

That said, if the users could organize into special interest groups and create a walled-garden with default no ads, and then gate-keep advertisers to a permitted white-list.

I dunno, I'm just spit-ballin

[eptcyka]

You want the unemployed to pay? Or do you want the employers to pay? If you want the employers to pay, how do you attract enough attractive unemployed to your site?

[conductr]

Works for baseball fields, not websites

[sds357]

in movies, not RL

[somat]

It's called "The Web"

[johnecheck]

sifa.id aspires to that.

Wishing Guido (gui.do) the best.

[WD-42]

I feel like Github became this in the last 10-15 years.

[traderj0e]

Yes. But now we need a replacement for what the old GitHub used to do.

[HoldOnAMinute]

You need a new type of corporation.

Only a Public Benefit Corporation will get the software to a usable state and refuse enshittification

[traderj0e]

Well the challenge is also gatekeeping. Gotta keep non-technical people or intentions off of it for #3

[skeeter2020]

what exactly do you want this for? I think HN satisfies all of these (#2 - HN has a mid 90's aesthetic)

[not2b]

If by some miracle someone managed to create this, and a critical mass of people somehow discovered it and used it, at some point they'd burn out, sell it, and it would turn into the same shit that we see everywhere else.

[wizardforhire]

Not if you organize it as a non-profit with stated purpose that explicitly address exactly that… and is run as a public service for the public good.

[stephenhuey]

Might have better success with a Public Benefit Corporation instead of a nonprofit. I’ve considered starting some myself.

[stack_framer]

Now do OpenAI...

[Klayy]

Maybe that's what the new Friendster should be

[fuzzfactor]

Friendster sounds like a great idea for a platform to take this on.

Is there anything else making a new start right now with as well-known a name? That could make a major difference in building critical mass fast enough.

Now Friendster is already moving in its own new direction [0], but it would still be a good portal to a separate new jobs board that only needs to start out with zero bullshit and one key thing a little bit better than Linkedin in some very important area, then gradually diverge further from there if necessary.

No need to even try to replace Linkedin (who wants another one of those?), the only thing that a better option needs to have to become sustainable, is to be better for a few million visitors on a regular basis. Maybe way fewer would be adequate if done right, IDK.

I don't think Friendster is going to stop short of that, so there you go.

Plus IIRC Friendster is already paid for and owes nobody anything. If it stays that way it could turn out to be a surprising advantage. No matter how big Linkedin is I can only imagine that it is "mortgaged" up the wazoo like anything else, it's a whale like no other.

Friendster could go into the kind of shallow water where it can thrive, and Linkedin would be effectively beached.

[0] Very cool the way their plan for physical contact or proximity looks like it will restrict bot activity just when it's needed most, while accepting the limitation to unbridled growth that this implies.

[seattle_spring]

> 3. That only developers / engineers / tech folks can join

Is at odds with

> 6. That doesn't have a bunch of fake "linkedinmaxxing" garbage content

Almost all of the shit-tier AI-generated AI evangelism has been from "tech folks" connections. It's all the exact same content.

[avaer]

How much would you pay for this?

[traderj0e]

Yeah that's the thing, slight fee vs more annoying site doesn't matter that much. LinkedIn got me a job. Sure I had to give a burner email for them to ddos, but so what. If I were to use another site, it'd be because that's where recruiters are, not cause it's a nicer site.

Anyway if you magically copied the entire LinkedIn network to a clean, no-nonsense site and wanted $5/mo to be active on there during the time I'm seeking a job, I'd pay that. And it'd be more if it had better opportunities. I guess there's LinkedIn Premium, but eh not convinced on that.

[FridgeSeal]

LinkedIn is a cesspool, but it’s almost worthless to me without the recruiters.

They’re basically the only reason I’m there.

[pizzly]

Also a lack of LinkedIn account makes you more suspicious and less likely to get hired. So this is additional value in having an account. For appearances.

[jamesfinlayson]

Yeah I recently heard about people working multiple jobs at once - I wasn't surprised - with work from home being a thing and many jobs at big companies being not overly strenuous, you can get away with it.

A previous coworker had been not especially good at his job and left after two months, and a little later I went looking for his LinkedIn to see where he'd ended up. Couldn't find him but didn't give it much thought. A friend told me that he was working at a company up the street but was also working another job at the same time, and the penny dropped - you can't have LinkedIn and be working two jobs at once and reasonably expect to get away with it or get hired again.

[Loughla]

That really depends on the field. Only one position asked about my LinkedIn. And that was because they had you apply via the site.

I didn't apply, because fuck that inside out.

[jachee]

You’re already looking at it, buddy.

[StilesCrisis]

This looks like it's from 2008

[1over137]

and thank god too. Modern design is bloated crap.

[traderj0e]

Looks older than that, which is great

[ImJasonH]

Can you create it?

[metalliqaz]

Except for #2 I think you're looking for Hacker News.

[skeeter2020]

didn't see your comment when I said basically the same thing. #2 is good though, bc HN has a pre-2008 look