Thanks for discussing boldly but diplomatically this issue. I have been suspicious of LInkedIn recommendations. Your preferred tact to place recommendations organically around the web (eg. in unfiltered blogs) is also my preferred method of finding recommendations that have more credibility to me --because those references to someone's work(s) are in context and timestamped! - Lisa thorell

Could you be more specific why you discriminate against linkedin when making recommendations in public? It seems to me you have more problems with Linkedin as the medium than recommendations perse. - Meryn Stol

Meryn I have *no* issues with LinkedIn as the medium, I'm quite agnostic about it. It's the only place where users are requesting me to recommend their product (in this case, their job). I would say the same if it happened in MySpace or Facebook --but they don't. - Jeremiah Owyang

Valid food for thought via @jowyang on why he doesn't do "Requested Recommendations" on e.g. LinkedIn, due to the layers of social filters/biases involved. I tend to agree that there is often too much "puffery" - the more everyone recommends EVERYone, the less meaningful any of it becomes. - Alex Schleber

Jeremiah, than what you are saying is that you don't respond to people begging for recommendations. That's something entirely different I think. - Meryn Stol

Ok, forgive me my previous BS comment here. I understand your position now, and think it's very fair. Certainly given your visibility and potential influence over others, I think it's a good decision to not respond to people soliciting recommendation. - Meryn Stol

Great article and I tend to agree. But I would go one step further and say all recommendations are meaningless and without value because of their positive comments. I'd rather see a recommendation that is bad from someone I'm interviewing. At least I know they're honest, real and willing to admit their weaknesses. - Aaron Whitaker

@aawhitaker - perhaps be aware that some highly discriminating people and hiring mgrs believe in the "Some Vs. None" Law, meaning, if you find even one negative comment against a person that it means that it is highly likely there are probably other negative comments (discoverable or not discoverable). If you find No negative comments -- this person is pristine clean, a winnah, someone you want to hire as they don't make mistakes. A sub-game to be aware of among some of the super-competitive...;-) - Lisa thorell