HEY, LINKEDIN CEO JEFF WEINER: Your Anti-Phone Policy Is Ruining My Life!

Back in September, I wrote a small item pointing out the fact that it is impossible to reach any LinkedIn staff member by phone (unless you already know their direct line).

Writing that post was a huge mistake.

Unfortunately for me, that story is now the No.2 Google result for "LinkedIn Phone Number."

Now I frequently get calls from people trying to reach someone at LinkedIn, or people who believe that I am a LinkedIn employee. Multiple calls per week, not including hangups. (The top Google result is for a site that has a phone number that doesn't work; LinkedIn's own pages don't really rank; so my story appears as the only useful piece of information on LinkedIn's phone number situation.)

The no-phone policy is frustrating for users and potential advertisers who just want to talk to someone at the company about their accounts or the buying ad space.

Some of the complaints I've heard are reasonable, and distressing. And the stakes are increasingly high: More and more companies require a LinkedIn resume rather than the real thing for job applications.

One woman told me she left her job and then realized she had stored her LinkedIn password on her old employer's computer. She didn't know how to get it back. Another LinkedIn user told me she accidentally created a second account for herself - and found herself locked out of both. Get locked out of LinkedIn and you could get locked out of your career.

They're the kind of problems that are most satisfyingly solved with a simple call to an employee.

And, therefore, I get all LinkedIn's calls.

So, for the record: I am not a LinkedIn employee, and I don't know the phone number of anyone in the Help Department.

If you are looking for help from LinkedIn, you CANNOT call them on the phone. The company would prefer it if you went through these channels:

• The LinkedIn Help page.
• The LinkedIn Help Twitter account.

But please don't call me.

Alternatively, Mr. Weiner, you might want to consider offering your members and customers a way to speak to a human being at LinkedIn.