[shmapf]

You say that 'John Smith' was able to connect to you, but you weren't initially able to connect to him. This sounds unsymmetrical, but I'm wondering if it is because you first searched for 'John Smith'. After this, he is allowed to connect to you since both parties would have shown interest in each other. I don't know if this is the case, but it might make sense to implement such a rule.

The unverified adoption of any job title of any company is still a pretty serious issue though.