Please don't spam people looking for employment. It's just cruel

Spam targeting HN hiring threads

• Multiple posters report a surge of unsolicited emails after posting in “Who wants to be hired?” (and, to a lesser extent, “Who is hiring?”).
• Messages range from obvious scams to “platforms,” “hackathons,” or “interview support” tools masquerading as opportunities.
• Many note that leads from these threads are now mostly spam; some have stopped posting entirely or use disposable email addresses.

LLM- and automation-driven outreach

• Many believe recent spam is generated or assisted by LLMs: style is semi-personalized, references specific skills or thread posts, and scales easily.
• Some tools/recruiters explicitly present themselves as AI agents; several users auto-mark any “AI recruiter” as spam.
• There’s concern that AI drastically lowers the cost of spam while also being used defensively for filtering, leading to “bots talking to bots.”

Scams and high-risk schemes

• Reports of offers where a “developer” wants to piggyback on someone’s identity, laptop, or Upwork account for a revenue split, often tied to sanctioned or low-trust jurisdictions.
• Fears of malware, ransomware, backdoors, money laundering, and sanctions violations (e.g., North Korea–linked schemes).
• Other predatory patterns: fake jobs requiring payment, bug-bounty extortion attempts, or contests that double as unpaid work and IP grabs.

Recruiters, the job market, and desperation

• Many complain about traditional recruiters: vague roles, withheld company names, funneling everything into calls, and being perceived as low-value intermediaries.
• Some defend recruiters as useful filters and negotiators when good, stressing contract structures and aligned incentives.
• Several posts describe long-term unemployment, financial precarity, and how spam or scams emotionally compound an already stressful search.

Coping strategies and proposed solutions

• Tactics include: unique or hidden emails, strict filters (e.g., Gmail tabs or custom rules), GDPR requests, and simply treating promotions as trash.
• Suggestions for tools: LLM-based “answering machines” to interrogate suspicious senders, better HN protections, or deliberate poisoning/honeypots for scrapers.
• Consensus: spam and scams won’t stop; individuals must harden their own processes and lean more on referrals and offline networking.