I think academia.edu is a legitimate organization. (In fact, I joined a while ago.) The goal is create a database and network of academics. They keep track of papers you tell it about, and they keep track of the school you say you are associated with. They attempt to build a complete faculty tree for each school. It's an interesting idea, but I doubt that it will amount to much, though. Academics tend to have contacts through other sources. One interesting feature, though, is that it tells you about Google searches for you. I'm not sure what it tracks, but every once in a while I get a message from them saying that someone from country X found a paper of mine by doing a search on abc. In that sense it's a form of passive ego surfing.
*-- Russ * On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 7:59 AM, Rich Murray <[email protected]> wrote: > I gave academia.edu permission to send membership requests to every email > on my Google Contacts list, over 500 I believe, after downloading a very > useful 2010 13-page paper for free, and seeing how much they made available > -- I felt a business that recruits highly competent members would be > legitimate -- also believe you are safe as long as you withhold consent -- I > did lose a computer to CyberDefender scam malware in January, by > inadvertently downloading their free purported virus scam program -- a > Google search later revealed that they have actually operating for years as > a "legitimate" corporation with stock, while their stock has fallen from $ 3 > to .45 ... > > I've never seen any bad news about LinkedIn, which Friam members led me to > join. > > What to do? > > within mutual service, Rich Murray > > [email protected] > 505-819-7388 > Skype audio, video rich.murray11 > > On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 6:35 AM, Nicholas Thompson < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Rich, **** >> >> ** ** >> >> I have this uneasy feeling that you may be giving away people’s email >> addresses to some Evil Force. Evil or not, passing on other people’s >> emails without their consent is …. Um …. Not great. I am very suspicious of >> LinkDin and god knows what Academia.Edu is. **** >> >> ** ** >> >> N**** >> >> ** ** >> >> *From:* Rich Murray [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf >> Of *Rich Murray >> *Sent:* Friday, August 26, 2011 6:30 PM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* Rich Murray added you to Clark University on Academia.edu**** >> >> ** ** >> [image: Description: Image removed by sender. >> Academia.edu]<http://academia.edu/> >> **** >> >> Hi Nick,**** >> >> Rich Murray added your name to Clark University on Academia.edu, the >> global directory of academics and graduate students. We checked your >> department directory, and it looks like you are at Clark University. You are >> currently listed as an 'unknown' member: resolve your 'unknown' status by >> following one of the links below:**** >> >> Yes, I am at Clark University: >> >> http://academia.edu/Yes-Nick-Thompson--nthompson-at-clarku.edu--is-at-Clark-University >> **** >> >> No, I am not at Clark University: >> >> http://academia.edu/Remove-Nick-Thompson--nthompson-at-clarku.edu--from-the-Clark-University-directory >> **** >> >> Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker have all >> confirmed their membership of their departments on Academia.edu.**** >> >> Thanks, >> The Academia.edu Team**** >> >> Academia.edu's office is at: 251 Kearny St., Suite 520, San Francisco, CA, >> 94108. To opt out of receiving these kinds of emails from Academia.edu, go >> to: http://academia.edu/optout/010003522bb39108606788c7953c8ca2 **** >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
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============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
