I might have pointed out in my piece that I’ve had people question endorsements when I’m doing a seminar on LinkedIn – apparently they’ve been trained to have a degree of skepticism;-)

When I endorse, it’s because I think the recipient is worthy of it – and I expect that others endorse for similar reasons.

That’s what I tell them – but it’s probably good to have a little voice that suggests “that endorsement’s too good to be true” once in a while because even though I’m an optimist, I’m sure some endorsements are not genuine…

steve

Thanks for the thoughtful and detailed response to my post. I think you’re right: I should have stressed that we’re ultimately responsible for our own guilt, not LinkedIn. It seems, though, that a lot of the people who really use social networking are inherently social people, so maybe we’re more likely to want to help anyone who asks. Or maybe that’s just the Canadian in me talking. Anyway, I enjoyed your post.