Genealogy Chat

The tree format now contains a Country of Birth field. Initially it did not do so. I presume that when enough people have updated that field the computer will be able to restrict Hot Matches to those in at least the same Country. The Counties are a different matter, since borders have been changed so often that a birth and death may be in the same house but different counties, London being a prime example where huge swathes were Middlesex until quite recently, parts were Essex, parts Kent and others Surrey, and so on.

I'm more than pleased with the results I've had from GR - I have made contact with no less than 9 new cousins (some 2nd/3rd or more distant ones) - all of whom were also researching the same family surname. We are now good friends as well as relatives and help each other with research and buying certs etc. So, although there may be faults with some aspects of this site, without it I would never have met these wonderful relatives - and I can't imagine my life without them (or their families) now. So credit where credit is due...GR can definitely bring families together.

I must just say that despite all my moans and misgivings about GR - all the irritations, frustrations etc completely fade into insignificance against the ONE match I have found on here. A 3rd cousin, who I didnt even know existed. WE have exchanged info and photos etc. I would never have found him any other way because I wasnt looking for him. Worth every penny of the subs - and no, he wasnt a Hot Match, he did a name search on the Site. OC

I know that hot matches can be incredibly frustrating, trawling through sometimes seven or so pages of what is usually rubbish, but I have found seven new cousins since joining in April, three of whom I keep in regular contact, and when we get fed up with our own bits of the tree we help each other out, sorry to hear you are about to give up, I would say please dont, you dont know what next week will turn up xx

Following on from Michael......maybe the real problem with Hot Matches is that they have been given the wrong title? The reason Norfolk is matched with New South Wales is because a computer is doing the matching. If it was made ''word sensitive'' (for want of a better expression) then it would probably miss out the match ''Michael Jones born Norfolk'' and ''Michael Jones born Nrofolk'', or ''Michael Jones born New South Wales'' and ''Michael Jones born NSW''. I understand this, but GR are happy that we will get no matches where the names have been misspelled.....George will not find Goerge etc! Couldn't they have something similar to Ancestry's Ranked Results??? I suppose their computer gubbins are not powerful enough for that?? In the mean time, they should remove the title ''Hot Matches'' and replace with something less inspiring! Merry

Im very new to researching my family tree on the internet. I first started in 1999 (travelled down to london to get the information on my dad my paternal grandparents and the two uncles I knew about back then my dad was adopted at age 6yrs back in 1937 so it was very difficult to get the information tho dad did tell me my grandparents last names lol) I had to quit for bad health reasons and have only just started back doing my tree (i didnt get very far anyway before lol) since then wow ive discovered my grandparents marriage date and also 6 other aunts and uncles i knew nothing about plus my grandfathers death at the age of 33 and my nanna's remarriage in 1946. Ive found this site fantastic and the people simply amazing I do ask daft questions and im guilty of asking someone if the person in thier tree is the same as the one in mine tho I do give details ie place of birth dob siblings etc. I have found 1 genuine match since I joined in may a cousin I didnt know existed on my mums side of the family. So I just want a say a massive thank u to everyone on this site and sorry if I bug ya with daft questions lol Angie xx

I'd estimate that since I joined GR I've received around 100 messages suggesting possible links. Of these, seven were genuine matches, a few looked plausible but turned out not to be, there are two or three which are undecided since neither of us has enough evidence either to prove or disprove a link, and the remaining 85 or so were complete rubbish. Hot matches tell a similar story, although to be fair on my latest list there were three which looked likely to be genuine (but if the one or two rellies listed on HM are all their tree has in common with mine, they've done considerably less work than I have) - among the hundreds that were completely laughable. I was born in 1985 in Norfolk, which even the fairly geographically challenged should realise is in England; why, then, does GR proclaim as a 'hot match' someone with the same name as me who was born in 1985 in New South Wales?

I have generally found GR very helpful and although an infrequent poster on the message boards have always found the topics interesting and often invaluable in working out where to look next. However, I can fully understand frustration with GR (Not, I hasten to add, the vast majority of members). How difficult would it really be to list the birthplace against a hot match? This lack turns the hot matches list into an ordeal rather than a time saver and it is little wonder that the less experienced simply fire off a message to everyone on their list. Good point about linked threads Kev

Had to post this somewhere and here seems as good as anywhere !! (so, sorry Jill, for bursting in on your thread!) Earlier this evening I had a pm asking if the Thomas Harvey on my tree is the other person's ancestor? No details provided for the man named Thomas Harvey. I explained that I have 11 Thomas Harvey's on my tree who are all related to each other. Could they give some more details? Which one were they trying to match with (year of birth?)? Did they have a spouse name, or parents or children? They replied (exact quote), ''Thomas was my granpa an I thought he might be yours.'' Hmmmmmmm.............have not yet replied to this! Merry

Melanie NO questions, whether 'daft' or not, ever offend! If some of the people who have contacted me had only asked questions, then they would have not needed to claim a connection with me! This is not intended to be a 'slap the Newbies' moan - it applies equally to people who have been members long enough to have learnt the basics by now but for some reason havent. OC

It`s a shame to read some of the posts here.I haven`t been doing my family history for very long and am learning as I go along.I have had great help from some people and a couple of terse replies from others.Maybe they thought i was clutching at straws, and possibly I was.There probably are a lot of time wasters , but there are also people like me, trying to find their feet!! Sorry if my daft questions offend!

I only been with GR since March, and that was probably about a month after I decided to seriously sort out bits and pieces of family history I had. Being housebound(I had to stop work due to illness, so was bored) I do find it hard to get to LDS, and being in Australia, Parish Offices are out. But I have bought every Australian cert. I have asked people if there is a connection in our trees when I've found a particular second name that is very unusual, or something that I feel makes a connection. I've always tried to give the other person as much info as I could and told them I'm happy to share anything. I've found people to be mostly really helpful. The only unhelpfulones I've had are a couple who have definite connections. 40 hot matches on all sides of tree. No idea who this person is. What I have done is always ask people where they have found the info, as I'm happy to buy CDs, subs, etc just don't know which ones. I hope pelople will always be this kind and helpful.

Paul I don't presume to speak for J, but I read her message as being utterly fed up with being contacted by people who are just hoping they'll get lucky, rather than doing any proper research. I have been a member for two years (I think!) and in that time hundreds, well maybe dozens, of people have contacted me claiming definite matches. The simplest of investigations and checks shows they have got it wrong. Usually these people havent bought a single certificate, yet can claim 'definite' links with me and my 10 x GGPs. All done from the Internet and nothing else. It gets tiresome, checking other people's work. As I remarked on another thread, I dont mind sharing, but so far havent found anyone to share with! Yes, as I said, I have had wonderful help and information from the other members - this is not down to GR, who provide no facilities or records, or even information on the Site (other than links, of course) OC

I'm surprised to hear these reactions.Speaking for myself I have found GR an extremely valuable resource and I have made a number of contacts that have greatly expanded my knowledge. It does seem a shame that you would wish to delete your tree after presumably putting a lot of work into it. At the very least you should export it and save it for some future date even if it no longer remains on GR. If you do export it, you can save it in your computer's memory even if you don't have a programme to read it. Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

Jill I like to consider myself a serious genealogist and I have my tree on here. Yes, I too get fed up of the 'try anyone' brigade - but of course, you don't HAVE to answer their emails if you don't want to. After my initial disappointment with this Site, which promised so much and delivers less than nothing, I stay because of the invaluable help and advice I get from the other members. Hopefully, the Newbies,and the lazy, the greedy and the slapdash will learn by example and in the meantime,I deal fairly briefly with those who are, in my opinion, just trying it on. The more people on this Site who are doing it properly, the better the Site will become. Hope you reconsider in the light of this. OC

This site started quite slowly after the euphoria and success of the FriendsReunited site It is a shame that: 1. 'Hot Matching' keeps developing hundreds of matches on 'Mary Ann' and others that I don't have a surname for. 2. There are some free members who have generated 'bogus' trees. 3. The forums have not been developed into threads and all important threads need to be 'nudged' in order to keep them current. 4. The management and support do not keep the members informed as to what is happening on the site. Unfortunately, I could keep going on, but on a positive note, it has developed into a site where both 'serious' and 'amateur' genealogists can easily share information. Is your time really up? George

Jill If you look down towards the bottom of the green panel on the LH side, click on Import/Export Tree. Scroll down a little way and there's actually an option to click and delete your whole tree in one go. Have you got it saved somewhere else? It would be a shame if you didn't back it up before you deleted it from GR and then lost all your hard work. Mandy :)

If you click on the 'Import/Export Tree' link on the left, there is a link in there for deleting your whole tree. Sam x

In August I'm going to retire from genesreunited. I want to delete my family tree because I think I'm ahead of my time and I don't wish to field the try anything brigade. I can come back in 3? yrs. Any tips on deleting that you can give me. Jill