328 - Do you understand freedom?

Many people don't understand freedom.

Freedom does not entitle you to do whatever you want, wherever you want or when you want.

Recently, some guy named Merlin made nonsensical comments on one of my posts.

I asked him what his intentions were and why he would say things completely unrelated to the post.

He boasted that he does it all the time and no one says anything. I told him it wastes people's time.

Merlin "informed" me that LinkedIn is a public forum (as if I didn't know) and he is free to say anything he wants to.

Yes, he can.

Well, Merlin, on behalf of everyone who takes the time to create content on LinkedIn, we are also free to ignore and block you.

Merlin won't see this post because he has been reported and blocked.

If you are serious about your LinkedIn network, don't waste time with people like Merlin.

There is no need for a lengthy discussion.

If the comments are not related to your content, don't feel like you have to allow it.

You can either delete the comments or go all the way to blocking the person.

It will never be possible to do away with scammers, sleazy salespeople, and timewasters on a site as vast as LinkedIn.

That doesn't mean we should stop trying, at least within our own network.

We are free to make connections, share our own and others' content, and comment on posts.

We are free to meet with people either live, via zoom, or another visual meeting source.

We are free to protect our network from intruders, and we should.

We are free to ignore, report and block people who don't act professionally.

We are not free to insult and bully people or sabotage other people's content.

Freedom is taken for granted by too many people.

Let's all be more mindful of the people we connect with.

LinkedIn has very loose policies on who can get a profile.

It's up to each of us to protect ourselves and our network.

We are even free to check profiles before we connect.

Save yourself some time and headaches down the road.

Check each profile before you connect.

Freedom should never be abused.

Do you understand freedom?