Genealogy Chat

10 people are just not enough to cover all the areas of genealogy bearing in mind that helpers sleep, eat & have lives and that queries are posted 24 hours a day.

Well

the Help Clinic does not operate between about 9 or 10 pm and 6 or 7am UK time


which means that NONE of the overseas members can get any help while they are on the board



and what do we tell people asking questions?

What have we been telling them for years?? .................................
.
.
.
Stay around and check back regularly for 10-20 minutes after posting a request because people will often get back to you asking for clarification within minutes, if not seconds.




you have to laugh ......... otherwise you'd weep at what is happening as a result of all the changes that were put into place on Thursday, most of which are just plain not working!



sylvia

please guys
do not fall out you have help us and iy is gened that are at fault

i thibk the best way to solve it is not to use the help clinic and then it wood die natualy

sally w

I have just sent the following pm to GR through their Contact Us ........ it's number 6 since Thursday!


after a weekend of utter turmoil on the site, .............. where people cannot move from thread to thread, ........... cannot move easily from board to board, .............. cannot move easily from page to page within a thread, ............ cannot understand exactly when a posting was made ("today" meaning any time from 12:01 am to 6 hours ago), ................ where people have lost names or been assigned strange board names, ....................... and the horror of the Help Clinic ............. I think it is time that you guys got your acts together, and made changes that actually work! ............ Those poor people who volunteered to help on the Help Clinic have largely found themselves in untenable positions .............. often unable to help answer requests posed for them because of the limitation on which sites can be used, ...... responding very inappropriately to a request for help because said request had been made earlier on a board with no success in breaking down the brick wall, thus obviously suitable for posting on a board which says "break down your brick wall" ............... and unable to have the TEAMWORK that was the basis for the magnificent work done previously. ........... I have a suggestion for you:-------- Help Clinic, when you think about it, is in fact excess to needs! .............. Other boards do the job better, have done so for many years, and in more timely fashion ........ There was no-one working on the Help Board from about 9 pm last night to 7am this morning UK time. Which means that none of your overseas members could get help. There has been no-one apparently working on that board most of this afternoon and early evening. The other Boards are doing fine! ......................... As an answer to the problem that volunteers felt unacknowledged, as shown on the market survey done in the spring, literally ALL that needed to be done was ............1) a statement in a very obvious place that all research was done by volunteers "and we thank them all"; ........ 2) inclusion of the fact that member to member help was available on the site in advertising; and ............. 3) for you to refrain from inferring in advertising that the help available on the site was by GR itself. ............... I think that would have done the job magnificently, and been approved by us all! ......... Instead of which, there are many members very upset; members seriously considering leaving GR because of the difficulties in using the site; the disparity you have caused by having Starred Official Helpers and the rest of us unstarred, and presumably to be considered less than worthy. ................. The feeling of being unacknowledged and not valued for the help provided is WORSE now than it was before.. ........ We all heard about the sale to brightsolid with hope in our hearts that the site would be improved. What a terrible job you have done.



I wonder what the response will be





sylvia

Sally

That is a very good idea !

Just back to something from way back in the thread -- the time of day thingy.

Mel75 in Australia mentioned that it actually makes it worse for us outlanders operating on different clocks -- and counter-intuitive as that may seem, it's true.

I find the same thing in Canada. I prefer to know what time things were posted, on the clock most people at this site use, so I know when the activity was. I'm used to converting it quickly to my time (subtract 5 hours, bingo).

Normal, 21st (and even 20th) century internet boards allow users to set the clock to the time zone they want. As well as allowing the use of html (boldface etc) and the creation of clickable links ... and of course just generally *functioning*, as this place is very much not doing at present ...

... I say, as I prepare to make my FOURTH attempt to load my inbox and get something other than an error message, a problem I have repeatedly reported to site management and had no reply of any kind to ...


Error
Sorry. An error has occurred
We can't take you to the page you wanted. The problem has been logged and our team will be working on it.
Thanks for understanding. We're really sorry for any inconvenience!


I offer no understanding, and I still don't care how sorry anybody is. I just want my Inbox when I click on it, the first time.

I've now tried for the FIFTH time to load it, with the same result ...

Janey

I'm not having much trouble with my message inbox ......... just that it is slow


But I do agree about the clock .............. I automatically subtract 8 hours (for all but about 3 weeks in the eyar), and I know exactly where I am


But to see Today for postings made any time from 12:01 am to 10 am or 12 noon just is no help at all!


maybe we just don't think like web people think!



sylvia

Mel 75 is right. it is actually worse here in Aus. Had great trouble trying to find out if I have been up to date / time with the postings. even my own.
And the message or board links wont scroll and stay down to be clicked on unless I double click on them first. That not the way it used to be, so its frustrating me alot.

I havent even tried to go into the Boards Summary box after reading all that is happening with that.

annette

Sylviain Canada

I agree with everything in your 6th complaint. I hope you get a proper reply rather than 'we take everything into account' that I got back this morning.

I don't post much but enjoy the ebb and flow of postings - but am so confused now without the times.

Posted at 09.45 UK time Number 111

My Inbox is diabolical when I first try to use it. I just keep clicking to get it going. Once I have looked at the first message, it seems to unlock itself and move faster. V. Strange.

The other nameless/invisible one. Cx.

Just noticed on Search Trees you cannot now look for new names added in the last day or two without adding a year of birth.

You have your name back Cynth...congratulations...For now

Thank you nameslessone


I have no response from GR to that 6th complaint .... or to 2 of the ones I sent in on Thursday


and GR is now closed .................... as I believe it is about 8:12 pm UK time


sylvia
12:13 pm Canada

Alan

I don't often use the Search Trees facility, althouhg I'm always advising others to do so


That is far from helpful!




sylvia

Good to see my catchphase doing so well

Well, I got a reply to my inbox error message. They can't replicate it. What operating system am I using.

The error message I get is a GENESREUNITED error message. Nothing to do with my operating system. And it says the error has been logged by the GenesReunited system. Well, in the time it's been logging my error messages, they will have got about sixty eleven brazillion of them. Glad to see they're paying attention.

I have seriously never in my life, and I've been on line for nearly 20 years and using discussion boards for more than 15, seen such a non-functional website. It quite simply needs to be torn down and redesigned.

well

we thought it was bad before last Thursday!!



and it is now so slow ........... very few posters around asking questions, relative to what it used to be like




sylvia
.... going out to get her new glasses, willl they make this site work better?

Going to bed. Early for me, a UK surfer. No fun any more.

Very madmeg.

sleep tight MM



it's only a few minutes before 6 pm here!


another boring evening in front of me!

Has anyone noticed this thread

www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/help_clinic/thread/1249609

Cynthia dont hold your breath waiting for a reply!!