I built my Linkedin Groups Bot to break algorithms

Designers are responsible for more than just creating visually appealing designs. They are accountable for solving problems and simplifying experiences in ethical or unethical ways.

Scenario and Challanges

I’ve been managing a very active designer’s group on Linkedin for the past two years, with over 2,73,000 members. Every day, I used to get over 500 requests from designers and other interested individuals. It was initially simple for me to accept and approve requests for 500–1000 group members.

However, due to a lack of time and a lot of work due to working from home, I was unable to spend time accepting requests from members, so I had to spend an entire weekend doing so. On one day, I received over 32,000 requests to join the group. (The screenshot below was taken while the automation bot was running.)

You can only approve 50 requests at a time on Linkedin groups, after which new dynamic content will be loaded.

(I come from a programming background, so I understand the logic, but my terminology may be incorrect.🙄)

If someone starts approving requests 50–50, it will take more than 10–12hrs to approve all of them.

I was looking for hacks, tips, and tricks to automate group requests last year. There were a lot of connection requests and other tools, but none of them was related to the group.

I modified and converted the bulk connection requests script to bulk group requests script (Works only for a single page)

var x = document.querySelectorAll('.groups-manage-group-admin-actions__primary-action.artdeco-button--secondary.mh2.artdeco-button.artdeco-button--2.artdeco-button--primary');
(function accept(i) {
if(i < x.length) {
setTimeout(() => {
x[i].click();
accept(i + 1);
}, 100);
}
})(0);

This script worked fine in the console, but it wasn’t enough to redirect and approve requests for other pages.

Defining Problem & Ideation

I‘d to built a bot that can perform all of the following tasks at once -

1. Can run above scripts automatically.
2. Can refresh the page automatically after a delay.
3. Can block all the CSS styling to reduce page loading time.

Solution

To understand the logic behind the problem and find the best solution for free, I did my best research and brainstorming.

I solved the problem with the help of my coding ninja mind.

I discovered Chrome Extensions that made automating my Linkedin Groups much easier.

1. ScriptAutoRunner

ScriptAutoRunner Plugin helped me in running bulk Linkedin request auto approvals. This plugin executes the script every time we open the page.

Task 1 — Can run above scripts automatically. — Done

2. Easy Auto Refresh

Easy Auto Refresh Plugin helped me refreshing my page on a particular time delay so I can make sure that my page will be automatically refreshed once the whole script is executed or all requests have been approved.

Task 2 — Can refresh the page automatically after a delay. — Done

3. Disable HTML

Disable HTML Plugin helped me disabling the CSS on the Page so the page can load faster.

Task 3 — Can block all the CSS styling to reduce page loading time. — Done

Design & Usability Testing

Finally, I combined and prototyped all three extensions in order. 😁

I did a lot of experiments and solutions for Usability Testing to fix the delays and rewrite the scripts. I accidentally rejected more than 200 requests from the group due to experiments.

Demo Day

Here is how this demo looks like! Watch in 2x (Recommended)

Conclusion

We, humans, are always looking for ways to save time and simplify things.

People take shortcuts for one simple reason… because they can! They believe that it is acceptable, that there will be no consequences and even that it is rewarding (“I will save time”, “I will increase results”).

o save time on weekends, I did my best shortcut work! 😁

Follow me on Linkedin