General Chat

In the last two years I have sent 160 messages to various people asking and giving information re. various close and distant rellies in my family tree.
Looking back through my messages I find that of that 160 messages 109 people did not bother to reply. This is only going back two years.
This is not the fraternal and helping climate that I encountered over 30 years ago, before the instant gratification of the internet. I have heard all the excuses, maybe people died or moved, baloney !
51 people out of 160 replied, about 1/3. Makes me wonder if I am wasting my money
at Genes Reunited
David John

I think it's time for GR to start recording when their members last logged in or used the site.
I think that some users uploaded/ added trees a very long time ago, and never returned to the site or the email address that they registered with.

Other sites that I subscribe to have this facility. There, if I see another tree that I think may be matching mine, I can look at the members profile and see when they lasted logged on.
If it was more than a year ago, I don't bother sending messages.
For the first time in over a year, I have today sent a message via GR re matches.... I will be surprised if I get a response!

Anne

David


It is NOT Baloney to say that people have died or become incapacitated.

It happens ............ I think I know of at least 10 members who have died within the last 10 years .................... and there must be hundreds more.


I don't think anyone has ever said people MOVE ................ we do say that people change their EMAIL addresses ........

................. and if they do not let GR know the new address, then GR can not contact them to let them know there is a message waiting


I'm correcting you because I do hate to see wrong information being promulgated!


People do, and have started trees, then lost interest and gone away.



Did you check to see whether people had actually OPENED your message .............. which could mean that they are no longer active


If the envelope has been opened, and they still have not replied ................ then I guess it means that they are not interested in what you had to say/offer.


That is assuming that you have given sufficient information to them for them to be certain that there might be a link


There is a nasty habit of people sending the automated message that says "May I see your tree" or "Will you open your tree"............ NOPE, not if that is all you have to say!!!




sylvia

I have had replies in the past and been given access to trees only to find that the tree has less than 10 people on it!!! I even had one with only 3.

With regard to people dying, the vast majority of people who take up this hobby do so in later life after retiring (like myself) so the odds are that their research years are 'limited' and if no family member bothers or knows how to access this site then the tree will sit here unloved and untouched forever.

I would estimate that there are around 40% of trees on here which are inactive for a variety of reasons from death to lack of interest. Also some use this site as an alternative place to store their tree which they can do so for FREE.

Just because someone has a tree on here it does not necessarily mean they want or need to make contact with others.

I have complained about this lack of response before and its always the same old excuses covering for the fact that many people are to Lazy or disinterested to reply to a query. As I said a full two thirds of my queries have not replied. Am I given to believe that there is a world wide epidemic among the family researchers. I would like to hear one person reply with " Yes you are right, there are a lot of bad mannered people out there and I wish GR would put in place a means of showing the disinterested / last entry as Ancestry does."

sylvia is right with her comments above,but i can see where your coming from because ive had lots of people not replying to my mails,maybe it would be good if GR gave the option of being contacted by other members or opting out.just a thought. :-)

Sylvia, As I have been at the family research end of things for over 40 years let me advise you that I do have enough moxie to provide full details in all of my queries.

If people who are fully engaged in the concept presented by Genes Reunited would work to improve the workings of it instead of offering lame excuses for bad manners shown by some the results would be positive and enhance the performance of G/R that we pay for.

Does it take much energy to reply saying "not my rellie" or "Thank you for your information" ?

David


I did not intend to insult you ................... and I do object to the tone of your response!


It is impossible to tell from the information on here how long you have been doing research. It could be just a few weeks, few months, or as you say 40+ years.

It is obvious however that you have participated very little in the Community ............. from the number of posts showing on your profile.


It was a standard response ........ because most of us HAVE received the plain and simple pm that says basically "open your tree to me", and nothing else.

and many of us just now plain ignore those pms!

As such, it is common to ask whether a poster with a very few posts might well not have realised the etiquette of providing more information that just that request.




We are not offering LAME excuses for GR ....... we are telling you what we ourselves have found to be the case over the years.


I suggest that you take this up with GR staff, by pm or email ............... and stop belabouring people who are only trying to help you.


I don't know who you think we are ......... but we are just members like yourself.

And as such, do not merit the rude remarks you have directed at us.

GR very rarely responds on the open board .................. hence my suggestion that you pm or email GR Support

[email protected]





sylvia

Personally I think if I had been doing it for 40 years...I'd hope wouldn't be sending messages asking other people questions, I'd just be sitting back with my tree all done and answering the messages asking ME for help ;-)

David, if people don't want to reply to you they don't have to... all of us pay to use this site as WE choose. Some use it for their own tree which they construct entirely alone and share with no one, some gather names of anyone and everyone that might be connected ( 3rd cousin by marriage 16 times removed) and some just potter in and out when the mood takes them and never make a tree at all :-D

And some get SO many messages asking for info they would have to stop their normal life altogether and just sit here all day replying...they're mostly the helpers whose expertise given freely contributes to the success of the site :-)

Its the same old same old, people do not want to address the problem and avoid it by accusing me of being insulting.
I give up and will not waste my money by renewing my subscription nor will I bother to view any responses from from ostriches with their heads in the sand.

David the only people who can address the 'problem' ( such as it is) are GR admin... talk to them.

David


WE cannot do anything!!



It is GENES REUNITED STAFF that you need to contact ................. and you will not do that by posting on the Boards.



Don't cut off your nose to spite yourself because WE cannot give you the answer you want.


CONTACT GENES REUNITED AT THAT EMAIL ADDRESS I GAVE YOU.


See if they can, or will, do anything


What is certain is that they cannot FORCE any member to respond to any pm if that member does not want to do so.

Nor can they raise someone from the dead or from their hospital bed to answer pms.



I'm only too grateful that they do NOT remove trees within a certain length of time because they have been inactive!



sylvia

And people do die

I contacted a gentleman on here about 2 years ago. After about 2 weeks I got reply from his wife. She was completely overwhelmed. He husband had died and although she had access to his tree she could not help any of the people contacting her (nor was she conversant with the site, the tree etc.).

I offered her advice on how to get the tree removed by contact GR helpline which she did and they kindly removed the tree.

I must say that you come across as a very beligerant person, who only believes what they want to and blow everyone elses opinion. As said before, on these boards you will only get replies from other members like yourself and we only offer some advice gained through our own experience. Yet you are quite happy to poopoo our help.

IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY CONTACT GR DIRECT moaning at us will not help the situation.

I'm not understanding what it is that you find so incredulous about members getting ill/dying/losing interest etc Do misfortunes not happen on Planet David?

I remember your previous outburst on the subject.
Maybe others do too and that is why they haven't responded?