Linked In

[Superphil]

they can pm on linkedin

Yes I think they can, using the inmail system, but it is only possible if they are a fully paid up member, that costs recruiters around £800 odd a year, if you think they are spam contacting you, you can report them to LinkedIn.
You can also adjust your settings so that recruiters cannot contact you, see below:



FWIW, I use LinkedIn every day, to a reasonable amount of success, including a couple of significant enquiries which have gone on to become orders valued over £50K. My profile is considered "All Star" which is just as well as we paid good money for training, which included how to set up your profile. I can recall one recruiter contacted me directly, and I've had no PMs or spam messages.

Don't be put off by the site, I'd say it's well worth learning how to use it. 332M registered users can't all be wrong.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Coincidentally, I just received a message from Aïcha Kadhafi - "Hello I Am Aisha,daughter of the late Libyan leader, 38 Years old a window with one daughter,just want to say thanks for accepting my request,Dear would you mind if i know more about you?" Just shows what happens when you accept requests over the phone without viewing the profile. I have a number of contacts in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Saudi Binladin Group, and thought this was another one.