Editor’s Note: This post was written before LinkedIn’s October 2015 group rule changes.

From time to time, a Medical Devices Group member asks why his or her discussion wasn’t published.

With this post, I answer the most common questions.

But first, if you’re unfamiliar with our group objective and rules, please read them. These may explain things and LinkedIn doesn’t make it easy to find them.)

Please know:

I have to outsmart LinkedIn’s algorithms to provide members a pleasant experience.

Click to read these two posts. The flowers one is me being nice.

The other is me, completely fed up.

They will explain a lot.

Common Questions

Why wasn’t my post published?
More than 90 percent of items submitted for discussion violate one or more of the group rules.

Mine followed all the rules but still wasn’t published.
I personally review every Medical Devices Group submission and decide if it belongs in Discussions, Promotions, Jobs, or should be deleted. Sometimes I get it wrong. If you believe that’s the case, let me know! I’m extremely empathetic to those who reach me personally.

In a few cases, I’ve helped members rewrite posts so they will be more successful in generating engagement and comments.

I submitted my post and it didn’t show up. I don’t understand why.
We get more submissions early in the week. We spread out posts so we have something meaningful to publish each day.

My post has been in moderation for way longer than a week. What gives?
You have a legitimate gripe and I’m sorry about this. At any given time, there are 30 sitting in moderation for quite a while. There are a number of reasons for this:
• It’s a really good post and I saved it for another day and then forgot about it when new material showed up. (I’m human.)

• It’s relevant but it includes a link in the body of the piece, which takes members off site. (LinkedIn only records “likes” and “comments” so unliked/uncommented pieces look ignored.) I may be saving it as inspiration for another post someday.

• It’s not great but I didn’t want to outright delete it. I might publish it on a slow news day or over the weekend when readership is lower.

• It competes with something I have planned for the editorial calendar. I plan to send you a link to it when it’s published so you can comment there.

I’ve seen exceptions to the rules so why did you exclude my post?
I sometimes bend the rules for high-quality content.

• The rule “must invite discussion and debate” is rarely broken because, without likes and comments, the post looks ignored.

• The rule “you must have a photo” is very rarely broken, and then, only for extremely valid questions. The rule “you can’t show a company logo” has never been broken.

• The rule “no outside links” is complex. I don’t publish “social sharing” posts where you simply want to amplify something written elsewhere. I’m more lenient if you write a commentary about the link. Also, I get so many posts with links. If the link is high quality, I sometimes publish it.

My Subject Line Battle with LinkedIn

LinkedIn Seriously Hurts Engagement
As I describe in “Dammit, LinkedIn,” LinkedIn automatically sends a daily email to group members who haven’t opted out.

I have no control over what they select as the subject line, which is a big problem because members don’t know about the LinkedIn algorithm.

They only care about getting “good” emails and not getting “spam” emails. They don’t care how it was generated.

The worse the perceived spam, the more unsubscribes and the lower engagement. And consider this: I already bear the weight of every other group on LinkedIn, very few of which are actively moderated, and send out shit all the time.

Recently this subject lines went out to the members I’m trying to protect:

It was in the Jobs tab and certainly not a “Trending Discussion.” So was this one:

And this one, from the Promotions tab, was the most offensive:

I try to outsmart the algorithm, which seems to change all the time.

Pushing content to Promotions or Jobs is no longer harmless. We saw with “medical tub or cups” anything I publish could show up. So I can no longer publish any content with any “bad” subject line. It might go out to 200,000+ people.

Trying to Highlight the Best Content
I publish at least one item each day in hopes it will become tomorrow’s subject line. I try to make it the last post I publish each day.

If the discussion gets comments, it’s far more likely to be tomorrow’s subject line. But if something else I published gets more comments, it may become the subject line, even if it doesn’t “deserve” the attention of 200,000 readers.

Joey Gets Scolded

Members routinely scold me over what gets published. It’s hard to please a quarter-million people.

These two complaints will help you understand my journey.

My discussions ???
Any reason why none of my discussions have ever been posted? The latest is 5 days old. The previous have been withdrawn by myself after being 15 days old. I’ve followed the posted rules, and my discussions only ask for people’s opinions about subjects, and do not include any bashing. I’ve spoke to others privately, who seem to be experiencing the same problems in this group for the past 6 months. Puzzled by this group’s selective postings.

The comment above inspired this blog post. The reader was satisfied with the response.

Discussion lost in promotions? Why attempt to get involved?
Joe, I really don’t what it takes to offer your group a worthy discussion and not have the discussion be placed in the promotions tab after spending time to carefully provide information of potential value to the consultants in the group without self promotion. I understand there are a lot of members and selection of discussions are warranted – but it is very discouraging for one to make an attempt at knowing what the admin of the group would like to see.

I invested 30 minutes and replied via email, as follows:

[Name withheld], thank you sincerely for writing me.

Please understand I view hundreds of posts each week and often make quick decisions about what goes where.

Guessing here, this is what I probably saw in the moderation queue without opening it further. [Removed here to keep her anonymous.]

And I reflected on the most important group rule, now with a new wrinkle LinkedIn’s algorithm has thrown at me.
• Would this make a busy medical device executive click and read?
• Would this make a good headline in a daily digest announcement (LinkedIn’s algorithm, over which I have no control)?

In balance, your post didn’t meet the criteria. I empathize with what you’ve written and if you decide “it’s not worth it; Joe’s decisions are arbitrary” (or worse), I would understand. I do, hope, however, you’ll appreciate the honest answer I’m giving you. I’m trying to make the group experience as worthwhile as I can. It’s a moving target and I don’t always get it right.

Having said this, in cases like yours, when I know the member and know she cares about the community and wants to contribute, I’m happy to work with that person to craft something that can work for both of us.

For example, if this works for you, I would have definitely published this. (And I rewrote it.)

I hope you like my response. You’re a valuable member of our community and I hope you stay.

Best regards, Joe

In Closing
Having led the group for three years now, I have a pretty firm understanding of which posts will resonate and which will not.

Thank you for reading this far. I hope this blog post clears things up. The group rules follow for your reference.

Group Objective and Group Rules

The Medical Devices Group is the world’s largest medical device community and the industry’s only spam-free, curated forum for intelligent conversations with medical device thought leaders.

Group Rules
USE OF GROUP CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES. THE GROUP IS INTENDED FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE FORUM FOR ANY SOLICITATION OF INVESTMENTS. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED WITHOUT NOTICE.

We promote continuous education through timely discussion, professional networking, and social interaction.

Use the group to build your personal and corporate brands. We encourage you to visit our complementary MedicalDevicesGroup.net site where we share video, event listings, and other functionality LinkedIn does not presently support.

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DISCUSSION
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We fiercely protect our DISCUSSION page because, like you, we want meaningful dialogues free from spam, blatant self-promotion, and clutter.

We accept only discussions which, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION,

1. Invite debate and expert contributions.

2. Would be meaningful to the busy medical device executive.

3. Is posted by a person (not a company) with a photograph (not a logo).

4. Is self-contained. That is, you don’t need to click on a link to understand it. You can, however, include a link as background or support for your position or question. For example,

Bad: The New York Times on the medical device tax [Link]
Good: Everyone’s bashing the medical device tax. What’s the other side of the story?

Note: Whenever possible, avoid links to your website, blog, or related. These are typically too self-promotional.

——————–
JOBS and PROMOTIONS
——————–
These are “open” tabs and group members can post “just about anything” related to medical devices. We provide little moderation in these tabs because moderation is too subjective and labor-intensive.

As contributors, you succeed when you use good judgment. If you abuse the system (post inappropriate material, post too frequently, etcetera), you risk being banned from the group and all your prior contributions deleted.

As readers: Some JOBS and PROMOTIONS are helpful; some are not. Expect self-promotion and spam. You do have a weapon, however. You can “flag” posts as inappropriate. If managers agree, the post will be removed and we may block the contributor from the group.

Inappropriate posts and comments are:
– Not in English.
– Solicitous, especially for investment.
– Not clearly related to the medical devices industry or relevant to the discussion.
– Trivial, political, derogatory, unprofessional, ranting, disrespectful.
– Infringing on intellectual property, privacy, or other third-party rights.
– Obscene, otherwise objectionable, or in violation of any U.S. law.
– Self-promotional. These include, but are not limited to, networking invites, introductions, job requests, holiday greetings, and links to other LinkedIn Groups.

——————–
RULES ENFORCEMENT
——————–
Group managers reserve the right, but have no obligation, to (1) monitor, delete, or move posts, and (2) remove and block members WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE and AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION.

Group managers are allowed to post links to white papers, audio/video recordings, events, surveys, affiliated social networking groups, products, services, and related resources anywhere in the group AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION.

If you wish to contest our decision, you may send an email to group owner Joe Hage at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.

——————–
NO RESPONSIBILITY / NO LIABILITY
——————–
In no event do group managers or moderators assume any responsibility or liability whatsoever for any post. You agree to waive any legal or equitable rights or remedies you may have against group managers and moderators.

CONTACT

Medical Devices Group Owner Joe Hage at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.

Reviewed and Renewed: December 25, 2014