interactually

or: Why Using Chatbots for Medical Diagnosis is 'Concerning'

Just a few more bits of creepiness that have happened since I wrote this article a couple years ago:

- My wife signed up for LinkedIn years ago with her work email but never added any connections. She got an email to her personal email address from LinkedIn saying "David Veldt is inviting you to join LinkedIn!" I have no permissions that I could find set to allow such a thing.

- Just in the past week, two people have requested to connect with me that I haven't seen in over 10 years and live a couple states away from. Our only "connection" is that we're Facebook friends. There's no way I'm in their contacts list. I find it highly unlikely that they've searched or viewed my profile because we have absolutely nothing in common.

- The thing lately that pisses me off the most is how much they're trying to get me to mindlessly give them access to my contact list. On the app, sometimes a screen pops up when I open it to "Find more connections" but turns out they want authorization for my address book. Same thing on the notifications; they show a notification in the connections icon which usually indicates someone wants to connect, but instead its just a generic "hey, we can find you more of these!" type of notification. Reminds me of the cartoons where the salesman keeps popping up from laundry hampers and behind trees.

Might be time for a follow-up article.

Author here: Thanks for pointing this out, the article is a couple years old. I like how vague this new bit is as well. I'm sure we'd never find out any details about these "similar technologies" or which "third party sites"

Sorry about that; my web host sucks and this happens whenever this post blows up. The problem should be resolved now.

Author here: You're probably right on that particular example. Unfortunately there's still a number of others that have no other explanation other than undisclosed relationships with other sites. Just the other day, I had two requests to connect from people I'm only friends with on FB; I haven't seen either of them for over a decade so I'm definitely not in their contacts list.

I wrote this blog post almost two years ago. Incredibly disappointed that the problem has only gotten worse and no questions have been answered.

Not necessarily. I've had recommendations from people I've never exchanged emails or phone numbers with and our only "connection" has been through Facebook or Twitter. They'd have no reason or way to have me in their contacts list. As the article describes, they've even recommended people who just happen to share the same name as someone I DO know, but otherwise have not the slightest connection in the world with.

Back up now, sorry about that!

haha good point. It's fixed now.

Lesson of the day: Don't go to lunch after posting an article like this. I got it handled as soon as I got back!

Back up now, server couldn't handle all the database requests.

Sorry about the crash, its back up now!

Sorry about that, I didn't expect the response the article got, should be resolved now. And thanks for posting the cached version!

You're right, I hadn't thought about that. The first person that commented on the blog pointed it out. You're also right, however, that it only explains some of the suggestions they made. It still doesn't explain some of the others, and they still don't make any mention of that in their Help page explaining where they get the data from.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that. I was admittedly hesitant to add that part to the story.

While I agree with this article's primary point - that fear of failure alone should not stop or paralyze you, I disagree with most of the rest.

To me, articles like this are the same as the rich guy telling the poor guy "C'mon, just buy the car. What's the worst that can happen?" The fact of the matter is that a lot can happen that can have long-term consequences that should be weighed and considered.

I admire entrepreneurs that can make incredible leaps of faith, but we typically only hear about the ones who succeed. There's also ones who took the leap with nothing to land on and came up short. There's also ones who carefully planned and took a "controlled leap."

Also, what does every action sports star, race car driver or soldier say? They say it would be more dangerous if they weren't at least a little scared of failing, and that elements of fear keep you attentive and energized. The same applies in entrepreneurship.

"Failure" carries different consequences depending on the person and the situation. To some, failing means they lost some investor's money and are on to the next project, or for some could mean having to find a job. While it could mean bankruptcy to others. Depending on circumstances, not everyone can afford to be so cavalier and needs to be a little more analytical.

Fear of failure is part of entrepreneurship and its historically the hurdle that separates entrepreneurs from everyone else. It certainly shouldn't be taken lightly.