Genealogy Chat

Could I please ask all GR members to acknowlege messages which are sent to them, if only to guide other GR researches in another direction.

There is nothing more frustrating than finding very likely matches on your tree, sending a message, it being opened and read and no reply coming back. Sending another message at a later time possibly to ask to view their tree, this message being read and still no reply. A simple "this is not my relative" would soon put the sender onto a different track. Or, "sorry I cannot help you"

This seems to be happening more and more often. Please ask yourself, what you would want if the shoe was on the other foot!

Surely, it is common curtesy? Isn't it?
Sorry for the rant and to the people that do acknowledge messages.

yours frustratingly
Dee

Hi Dee,

Yes, this has been the trend lately with a few people. Hope your email "hits the spot".

Cheers.

I have been a member on GR for about 6 years now and it has always been the case that members ignore messages.
However, just lately, it seems to be the norm.

I cannot for the sake of me think why it is so difficult to put a short message in reply and click a button to send. Simple!!

I can only agree with all that has been said, when I first joined some years ago this hardly ever happened but now it is quite common

Agreed, but you are likely to be preaching to the converted. The same topic comes up on here about every two weeks.

Bear in mind that some people send their thanks by PM. I get these quite a lot.

You do realise that the message may not have been read?
I have just tested the system. Deleting the message without reading also gets rid of the red box.
I guess some members have no wish to communicate.

inspector green
I know, but, I needed to get it off my chest as it is really frustrating me at the moment. Particularly as I know there is a connection. I have read other threads on the same topic, but I do think it has got worse over the last 12 months and it is good for new members to realise how frustrating it is - don't you think? - I am talking about the PMs not being acknowledged.

Sat Nav
I always thought that if the envelope in the sent folder is shown as open - it has been read? those which are not opened have not been read?

The messages can be read in your emails. so if someone started a free tree 6 years ago and then got bored I can understand them not wanting to reply now.
I get quite a lot of request to view your tree messages...no explanation at all why they want to view.

jax

Just to add if I had no interest in family history and recieved this message I would ignore it


Hello jax chan,

You have a new message from *****

Click to read the message

(Please do not reply directly to this email. To send a reply click on the reply link in the body of the email).

Kind regards,

The Genes Reunited Team

When I joined this site as a paying member I noticed my ex husband had a tree and sent him a message (we are on good terms) complaining he had spelt my name wrong and had also got my place of birth wrong and his mothers year of birth was also incorrect.
His reply was " Well you can see how interested I was in doing a tree"
As you can see I do not use my real name now, had he recieved the message in that name I doubt that he would have even bothered to open it

Sorry Dee, I thought you were referring to thread postings, not PM's. Again the reasons for this are endless and have been listed numerous times on here.

I probably reckon on around a 75% success rate in getting replies. If the message has been opened and I am really interested in hearing from them, then I send a follow up after about a month. This can sometimes prompt a response. Otherwise I just delete the contact after a couple of months.

The main problem is you can't easily tell who are active members and those who no longer bother with the site at all.. I find the success rate is far better if you contact members who have added to their tree over the past two weeks.

Our youngest sister lives in Canada and we "talk" every Sunday via msn. She joined genes a while ago when I was in the early stages on family tree research and put a small tree on here. She did renew for some time but then felt it wasnt worth it as I have done considerable work on the tree.(being retired I have the time !!)
She was telling me a couple of weeks back that she had a hot match enquiry but when she tried to reply she was invited to rejoin Genes , I had said you will be a free member and can reply but she found that wasnt the case. She doesnt want to rejoin as although she hasn't lost interest there's no point in both of us doing the same thing especially as lots of the family info is now at Parish records time.

I fortunately have already been in touch with the same enquirer so was able to tell them why she wasnt replying . We do have the family connection so they will ignore any more hot matches that come up in sis tree and stay in touch with me.

No, she wouldn't have been able to send a message as a result of a HotMatch. The other member hadn't initiated the contact and in any event would not have been aware of your sister's tree

However, had the other member sent her a PM, as a result of a HotMatch they had received notification for, or otherwise by searching manually, then your sister would have been able to reply to that message, and indeed any other messages sent to her.

No InspectorGreenPen she didnt initiate any contact the other party had one of our relations as a hot match in sis tree and sent sis the enquiry.
Sister doesnt get any Genes Hot matches because she is no longer a member, she didnt realise when she didnt renew that her tree would still be on Genes . She tried to reply but couldnt without rejoining Genes

She is in fact a member, albeit a Free Member. All members get HotMatches, if the program finds any, that is. It is part of the service available to everyone, unless they unsubscribe from them on the My Account page.

If she did get a personal message direct from the other member then I am surprised that she couldn't reply. It always used to be the case, unless GR have changed things recently. as I have had several replies from Free Members in the past.

Odd.....!

I have just sent a test PM from my Standard Member account to my Free Member account on GR and given myself access to my tree. Whilst I am unable to view the tree whilst logged on to the free account, I have successfully replied to the message without being asked to subscribe.

So, this would confirm that Free Members CAN reply to messages sent to them by paying members.

As I said above I sent a message to ex husband and he replied and I know he has never been a paying member

jax

Yes, I wanted to check that that was still the case as Shirley and her sister's experience seemed indicate not.

Eringobragh1916

No, I hadn't forgotten, just haven't been on GR since yesterday. Got it now and will be replying when I can take all the info in.
I don't come on every day. But, when I do, I do reply on the threads until they are dried up or answered.

Just wish my messages were replied to. Had my rant now. Calmed down a little and moved back into my research.

Question,

What is the definition of a 'Current Member'?

Slartibartfast.
I am with you on this one.
If you pay renewal of membership. Your tree stays on, and contact can be made.
If you don't renew. tree deleted from view of "paid up members" but perhaps still accessible to you incase you would like to renew at a later date therefore avoiding inputting your tree all over again.

Surely the GR team can build in a "hidden" section when not a paid up member?

This way, contact cannot be made to none paid up ex members and being frustrated when replies are not made!