hrm, define penalized? I've not been banned, but again, I have a real account. LinkedIn restricts you after so many people say they don't know you. All that really means is you have to have an email to add anybody else to your contacts. A warning box pops up that says you're restricted. You can check the box to remove the restriction, but if you keep mass adding contacts, I'd imagine they'd ban you, so I haven't removed the restriction yet. Out of the 3.2k or so, I've got over 1300 contacts, so its worth it to some extent.