Genealogy Chat

Sharyn's not gone? :-) Joy

Jeanette, I don't know - I clicked on it, but just the header for the message came onto my screen. When I clicked back to the threads list, it had vanished altogether! Last night it was looking slightly tipsy lol Sarah

I can't believe I didn't see it last night. Think I was too busy taking the micky out of poor Jess! lol

There does sem to be less 'mysterious vanishing' of late though,Generally. Perhaps GR have got wise to the wingers Jess

Jess, ''perhaps GR has got wise'' That sounds like wishful thinking!! Sarah

I see that Sharyn is still here, on another thread, thank goodness for that. However, ''someone'' saw her name, I expect! it was that selectiveness again!! :( Joy

I've Found 176 William Shakespeares, 4 Oliver Twists and 2 Alfie Moons (1 in Walford, the other Alfie FULL Moon). Maybe these should be reported to GR and see if they remove them. I agree only full paying members should be able to use the site. Lynne

I have emailed GR and have received a reply, 'They are looking in to it'. I wonder how long it will take them to sort it out. Rosemary

Hello, Can anyone tell me whether search names are removed if a member does not renew his/her subscription? I sent messages to two people, whose entries seem to connect with my family about 3 weeks ago but received no reply. Thought they might be on holiday so tried again - still no reply! Suppose I'll have to give up on them. Barbara

Just to prove to myself I entered some names - Donald Duck 8 Mickey Mouse 24 Minnie Mouse 9 Scooby doo 1 Batman 1 and then I thought, I must be as bad as the people who registered, interesting though, if you think how many of 36 million registered are cartoonies!!! Heather

Barbara Even if they are not members anymore they should still receive your message - unless they have changed their email address. Julie Are you saying that GR are have put all the names of members of FR on here? Do the members of FR know about this? Have you tried emailing your family members through this site?

Jeannette, I don't think that the names came from FR. The names look genuine from 1888 and 1916 so I assume someone is researching their family tree. I just can't understand why my messages haven't been acknowledged, even to say there is no connection, although I believe there is a link. I've received replies from other enquiries. It's a mystery. Barbara

Meercat - It really needed saying :) Heather

Barbara I think you've been very lucky if you have received replies in the past. I can say that I have had more people not reply than have over the years I've been a member. The problem is that anybody can put their family tree on here - fee paying and non fee paying members. So that person may have entered a bit of what they knew then decided that geealogy wasn't for them and lost interest. Another good reson that this site should be for fee paying members only! Julie Perhaps you could email GR and ask them how they came to be on. I know my sister added a few names when the site first started up. She didn't quite 'get into it' as much as I did and really there wasn't much point in her names being there. So I emailed GR and asked if they would remove them and they did. Jeanette x

Barbara As far as I know, the only 'tree' names to be deleted from this site are those you delete yourself. The trees of people who are no longer members, remain on this site. If you add to that the number of names that are duplicated everytime anyone updates a Gedcom and then add on all the Roger Rabbits and Darth Vaders, then the REAL number of REAL ancestors on trees on this site is probably only about half a million at the most. Hmm, reminds me of another site..... GR will do nothing about this situation of course, because the banner looks so much more impressive with '36 million ancestors listed' than it would with say, 435,129, half of which have not been verified by the poster anyway! Old Crone

Good evening, Have just caught up with all the “genealogical postings”. These all because I was bored when the LDS site went down for a while! I must admit that I did not expect such a lively debate, with comments from down under also received while I was behind my eyes. Having seen what has happened to other debate or fun threads, like disappearos, I did not expect this to survive. With regards to the dummy names I must admit I have been both amused and annoyed. My improvement comment for the GR survey was that surely a more positive identity and date with proof noted from certifications would be better for searchers. Nevertheless, I again have received an email reply today, percentage rate for me is about evens. Enjoy the rest of today, I personally intend at least to message, Jess, Mike from Leicester, reply to my mail and continue Thomas begat Thomas on the LDS, monitor the threads, maybe a beer or three and some telly. x Bob

Thanks Jeanette and everyone who answered my query. I now realise that I'm not the only one, who doesn't receive replies sometimes. It's so frustrating, especially when you are 90 per cent certain that there is a connection. Just have to hope that the submitters regain their interest some time or maybe advise GR of a changed email address. We can but hope! Thanks to all Barbara

Having read four pages of replies to this thread I thought I should add one of my own. The chances are most of the spurious names have been added by kids. In my day our entertainment came from phoning London Zoo and asking to speak to Clarence or Mr C Lion now with the advent of modern technology............ It's better than intimidating old ladies (no offence meant to any 'old ladies' reading this) or vandalising the neighbourhood. However, I guess, any Woodentops, Andy Pandy et al, have probably been added by more 'mature' persons. Oh! and if anyone finds Mary Christmas she is genuine as she was living next door to one of my ancestors in the 1861 census!

... two results for Santa Claus (and one for 'Santa Clause')... ... three for King Kong...

I have complained to GR about the couple of people aliasing as Osama Bin Laden (born in a cave in Afghanistan). Extremely tasteless joke in my book. Needless to say I have not had a reply..... Sarah