Restricted by LinkedIn Because of Too Many I Don’t Know Invitation Responses? What Should You Do?
As I mentioned in my “What is a LinkedIn IDK?” post, once you reach the IDK threshold of 5 IDKs, your account will be restricted in that you will need to enter an E-Mail address for each invite. If you are a LinkedIn LION actively using invites to build up your network, this is obviously a major inconvenience. However, even with this restriction I was able to build up my network following the rules that I laid out in the “How Do I Grow My LinkedIn Network?” post and further checking each profile for E-Mail addresses. Although you are not supposed to include your E-Mail address in your profile, I have found that most LIONs and open networkers who accept invites usually have their address included somewhere in their profile. In order to avoid automated spam spiders that exist in the Internet, some people like myself will write their E-Mail address as “name at domain dot com” (which would be translated to name@domain.com), but it will be easy to decipher.
If you would like the restriction taken off your account, as we all would, it does say on the screen to contact Customer Service and request doing so. I did this and I found their Customer Service to be very quick and professional, and so long as I said I understood and that I would be more careful in the future, the restriction was released within a few days after my contacting them.
So if you get the restriction placed on you, you can still continue inviting as I suggest above, but please wait a few days for Customer Service and be very polite and understanding when you request them to remove this restriction. Remember, we need to play on their rules as they are offering us the service. Also remember that LinkedIn provides priority customer service to their paying customers, so don’t get frustrated if they don’t get back to you in 24 hours (unless, of course, you are a paying customer!).
Neal Schaffer is recognized as a leader in helping businesses and professionals embrace and strategically leverage the potential of social media. An award-winning published author, frequent speaker at social media events, and an avid blogger, Neal is President of 
Comments
Well, sincerely … what a restriction …
Everybody can live very well even if LinkedIn is activating this restriction:
It’s a must to know the E-mail address of the people to be invited, don’t care
how the invited people are letting You know his/her E-mail address
Linkedin didn’t warn users of consequences…