Genealogy Chat

Hi Everyone,

I’m Natasha and I’ve worked at Genes for 2 ½ years and have a keen personal interest in family history. You may have met me before if you have visited one of the family history events we run throughout the year!

I wanted to let you know that I have recently taken on a new position within Genes Reunited as Community Manager. This is a brand new role, we have never had a Community Manager before, so this will be a learning process for us all. My main aim will be to make sure that people are getting the most out of the boards and the thriving online community Genes has to offer. I will be listening to your suggestions, and making recommendations to the Product team for new features and changes that apply to the boards.

I will not be acting as a full time moderator to the boards but I’ll be there to offer some extra support and guidance as to how the boards should be used. You should feel free to PM me and I will do my best to answer your questions and queries when I can but please be patient as I will be fitting this role around other work I have. We still encourage people to contact customer support directly if they are having difficulties with the site or their account.

Looking forward to working with you all,

Natasha

No one from the Team seems to be listening to the suggestions already made on the Suggestions Board so is any action now going to be taken ?

Which ones are being worked on by the Team ?

Hi GlitterBaby,

All of the suggestions on the Suggestions Board have been read by The Genes Team. We are unable to respond to each post individually but I can assure you that we really welcome your suggestions and take them all on board.

Natasha

Good Luck Natasha in your new role.

Jane
Yesteryears Genealogy

Hi Natasha

As the centenary of the commencement of WW1 is soon, has Genes Reunited considered opening up a Military board .... for example from 28th July 2013 until the 28th July 2014 - as I am sure many members would appreciate it

I know lots are members are actively involved in transcribing the WW1 ( and WW2) names on village and towns war memorials ....

Finding info on their families and details of the men and women of the Armed Forces who fell ...

28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 (Armistice)

Hi Renes,

Thanks for your post. We agree on the importance of marking the centenary of the start of the WW1 and I will pass your idea on to the Team.

Thanks
Natasha

Hi Natasha - are you actually going to post on threads if you feel some intervention or guidance is necessary?

Welcome to your new position, Natasha!


Can you try to ensure that there is some sort of consistency in how posts that have been RR'd are treated??

There have been many instances recently of posts RR'd, removed, appealed by the poster, reinstated, RR'd again, removed


It seems as if one member of the team makes one decision, and another member makes the opposite.


It really does not make much sense .....

..... and makes it almost impossible for us, the members, to be sure as to what we can and cannot post!


Could you also try to get the team to act on what they said some time ago ........ that some sort of record is kept of members who continually report posts vindictively or unnecessarily, and that action will be taken against them?





sylvia

Hello, Natasha.

We have been told before
"All of the suggestions on the Suggestions Board have been read by The Genes Team. We are unable to respond to each post individually but I can assure you that we really welcome your suggestions and take them all on board."
but, from the little visible action taken by GR, one has become more and more disillusioned over the years.

In fact, the Suggestions thread has become, de facto, the Complaints Thread ............ with posters wanting to know how to solve a problem, and other memebrs trying to help them.

'Taking on board' the members' suggestions does not seem to include actually implementing them.

Admittedly, some of them are not practicable, but the majority of them, if acted upon, would improve the community.

It would also be a step forward, if, when contemplating changes to the boards, you consulted the people who use them.

Hi Sylvia, sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the way in which posts are reviewed. Posts that have been RR’d are then looked at by our Customer Support Team who try to be as fair as possible but sometimes it does come down to a matter of personal opinion. The Team do keep of a record of members who’ve continually reported posts unnecessarily and we do issue warnings against these members.

In reference to the Suggestions Board, this board is in place so we can listen to all of your opinions and ideas. It is not possible for us to implement every suggestion made. Sylvia, I will help these members where possible or advise them to contact our Customer Support Team who will be happy to help them with their queries.

Thank you, Natasha

It will be good to see some sort of consistency in reviewing reported posts.


and to get more help for those having problems wit aspects of the site.

I think we all want to the site to work well!

Oh dear.

There was a stickied thread on this board last night, about the resident genealogy expert, that the Team has removed.

Did anyone from the Team bother to read it before they deleted it?

Hi GlitterBaby, we would never remove a thread without reading it. I have responded to this query in the Anthony Adolph thread on Genealogy Chat.

Has the Community Manager thread that was on Find Living Relatives Board been deleted ?

This post has also been unstickied .........


.................. so is it going to be allowed to slide into oblivion?????


Doesn't give us, the members, a good impression at all of how much support there is from GR

Hi GlitterBaby, yes I removed this thread because I had replied to all queries posted and it was creating confusion with members visiting the Living Relatives Board for the first time.

Hi Sylvia, I have unstickied my threads on the new Community Manager role because they have been up for a week, and we wanted to make sure there was still plenty of space for more current discussions. You can still comment on these threads and I will be checking the boards and assisting members with their queries and questions. Don’t forget that as soon as anyone adds to a thread it moves it back to the top of the board, keeping it current. You can also PM me any questions you have if you would rather not discuss them in public.

Well that is strange because I thought I had posted on that deleted thread.

So will ask the question again.

Can any post before being added to Find Living Relatives Board go thru to the Team first before it appears on the board.

I know this question had been asked before but not sure that anyone got an answer.

We don’t have any plans to do this at the moment. We only pre approve posts for the Success Board. We feel the system in place at the moment works perfectly well, as soon as someone request reviews the post is removed instantly. What I will do is have a look at the last few pages of posts on the Living Relatives Board to see if we do need to review the way this is done.

Natasha