Frustrated with LinkedIn Changes?

Is anybody else frustrated with LinkedIn's recent change to hide the last name of anyone who's not a 1st or 2nd level contact? I've spent years developing my network, and until recently, the 3rd level connections were very valuable. Now I get things like this:
    
So now, if I want to contact this person, I can track down his office and call and ask for Jason, and hope there aren't two Jason's in the same office. Yes, I can work around this, but how frustrating.

I don't begrudge LinkedIn for wanting to make money, but darn, this is a big change, and a negative one, late in the game. The value of the free account just declined a lot.

Comments

[Vern Preston]

Tony, I agree with you and share your frustration. Like you, I have spent a lot of time developing my network and use LinkedIn on almost a daily basis. The jump from a free account to a monthly fee based account is huge considering I would have to pay at least $30 per month to get something I used to get for free. I think LinkedIn will lose a lot of the free user base as the value diminishes, which will thereby reduce the value offered to the paid user base. The paid user base relies heavily on the profiles of the free users as part of the value proposition. I see this as another incremental shift in the business model and could have unintended consequences for LinkedIn.

[TonyDye]

Thanks Vern. I've seen other posts speaking of LinkedIn's obituary. I don't think it's that bad, but still a shame.