Genealogy Chat

I think it is £7.50 to rejoin and £9.50 for new members. I think it is quite a big increase. If the site ran faster and efficient I wouldnt mind but it is just so slow, and it,s not just once a month or something it is a regular weekly slowness. And when your on Broadband you think woh whats going on.

Price rise or not I'ant losing my new frainds for nothing. You'll have me here for another year. It worth every Penny to just to chat and help you lot out. And what would you do, with out me here to stick the odd Silly Thread in

I agree with Peter. I renewed mine before Christmas so I'm ok for a while yet but it's worth it for the friends you make on here! And as Susan said, no-one ever said this was a cheap hobby and where else can you get this much entertainment and social life for less than 20p a week! Lou

JOINED TWO WEEKS AGO AT COST OF £9.50,THINK ITS GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY

I am arguing with myself whether or not to renew!! :) Joy

Its an absolute bargain, whatever the price! And I'm with you Marion - its saved me a fortune in shopping as I get stuck on here instead of going out spending money!! Ellen.

The person that founded/invented the 'World Wide Web' gave it to the people....He said that it should be free to all. Having said that, I agree that under a tenner for one years fun and research aint that bad but yes GU should spend some of the profit on speeding it up!! Im broadband and it's MOST of the time like going back to dial up :o((( Gerri x

PS Most genealogy sites are free by the way (ie cyndislist, GENUKI, rootsweb) ... am still arguing with myself! :) Joy

See I am on Broadband, first it was going slow, and just a minute ago I had another error in message. I got kicked off. If they are going to charge a service then they should make sure it runs just like clockwork. If I have a problem with any other site, which is not that often I dont mind as I am not paying for it.

Quite interesting googling to look for news about them. One article dated this month includes: 'In the last 18 months, two Friends Reunited offshoots have emerged. Friends Reunited Dating is looking to tap into an online dating market in the UK, estimated to be worth £50m a year. Meanwhile, Genes Reunited is a geneology site that helps people trace their family roots and reunite with lost relatives. 'Genes Reunited now generates revenues of well over £1m. And 35,000 people sign up to the site every week.'' Joy

Hi all, I don't think the actual amount is the issue here. It is very reasonable, £7.50 for a years membership. Irene's initial message was about the amount is has increased! I agree with her. It is almost a 100% increase in a year. That is milking it for all it's worth!!! If the membership numbers are true to the amount of members there are, that's over 2million people x £7.50!!!! That's a hell of a lot of money! The site is often unobtainable, or extremely slow - even with broadband. Surely some of this money could channeled to larger servers, better equiped to cope! Debbie

i think value-wise it aint bad-although i have to admit that in a way,the members run it-not gr!if it was not for the members input this site would die,so please dont let it go above a tenner-if anyone important is reading this!lol! maybe in recognition of this fact,they could sometimes have a few prizes or compititions for members?6months free membership,or software for most helpful member?just a suggestion-it would not hurt thier purse-strings much!

GR doesn't actually do much. They provide free forms which you can get free elsewhere. They allow you to put your tree online - again, available elsewhere. The membership fee is for the boards and messages. It's effectively £9.50 (or £7.50 for us oldies) to be allowed to email someone or offer our services and advice. There's no reason for the price hike except greed. I bet GR's expenditure hasn't doubled in the last year.

Thank you Debbie Scott and Twinkle you seem to understand what I was getting at. I use to belong to Friends reuntie as well, but can't afford both so decided this was the site. Lots of old friends on this site have long gone and I miss them, it use to be lots of laughs, not meaning its not now but it was like old friends. First thing in the morning and when I got home from work you would see me on here. This site is good but who has made it good our goodselves who use it and help others. I did say last year I wondered how much more it would go up. Now we know. So come on Genes explain why the increase. I am in two mind to renew or not come June. But that will mean if anyone wants to contact me they won't be able to as they don't tell the messenger that the person they want to contact are no longer a subscriber. Irene

There are other forums out there. Free ones at that. Ancestry and Rootsweb are just two examples. People help others there. You can post your interests on there too. Put your tree on the net for free.... people can email you for free.... I don't understand the increase, considering that Genes don't do any of the lookups themselves.

Chloe, I also belong to Forum sites, there the messages stay and anyone can read a messaage from 5 years ago. I had just had a 2nd cousin contact me we had been looking for his granddad since we started (5 years), now we know they weren't more than 10 miles from us, that was not from this site. This site is good, but it's the people that make it good and it is for the UK which the others are not. I don't mind the subscription, when I belong to Friends and Genes I paid out £10 but I can't do both. Irene

dont no whot all the fuss is about, its saving me plenty,and the wife knows where i am every night, i am on a land line and have had no problems with the site slowing down , i just wish i had set the site up, we are on the best site , and a easy site for learners like my self on computers, just nipping out for a pint, tony

Tony Your telling us that when everyone else is having a problem with this site, your's always runs smoothly? very odd. And it is a very good site but it shouldnt go up that much when there are so many problems on here. they just cant cope with all the members, and they should be able to sort something out by now.

hi debbie,i dont find doing something i like a problem when, thing are not running ok,it could be with not knowing all the hi tec detail ,that saves me from the problems other members have, regards tony

My sister joined for £5 and encouraged by this she showed me how to log on. We were flabbergasted to find it had gone up to £9.50! Some rise.