While I agree that some of the replies to the original message were not entirely necessary, I would not go so far as to consider them “spam”. In any conversation, sometimes people say things you are not interested in hearing. Being a member of a mailing list is like being a part of many conversations at once - some of them will be interesting, some will not, and some will be a mix of both. I don’t think it’s productive to complain that you are getting messages you don’t want. We all are. That’s just how it is.
I would recommend using sorting rules in your mail client of choice to put NANOG emails into a dedicated folder. It makes it easier to sort out the noise.
I see folk giving quite a bit of time and attention to this.
By now, I know that 98% of Linkedin messages hitting my mail box are for connections from people I don’t know. It’s faster and simpler for me to delete the message and move on.
A few times a month I’ll get a digest of reminders for connections I haven’t acted upon. Again, delete the e-mail and move on - I’m not obsessed with having “0 items to action”.
2% of the time, I’ll receive a request to connect from someone I know or someone I’ve met before, or a message that is actually useful which someone sent via Linkedin. After sometime, you achieve muscle memory as to what to catch and what to ignore, i.e., the 98% vs. the 2%.
No point in trying to be more creative than that, if I’m honest. Linkedin and all other social media apps are so entrenched in our online lives, it’s as guaranteed as catching a cold at some point every year.
Mark.