Genealogy Chat

Reply to Michelle In simple terms: Personally, I find the new system to be a pain in the proverbials compared to the previous arrangement when direct contact could be made.

Having read that "non paying members CAN read and reply to messages. You do not have to be upgraded for this.", I am becoming concerned as to what the £7-50 membership is actually for, and wondering what is the point of re-subscribing when my membership runs out in April. I would be pleased to be told the advantage of paying, or disadvantages of not paying. Thank you. Joy

Thanks for your comments on this. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify that non paying members CAN read and reply to messages. You do not have to be upgraded for this. There are security reasons for clicking through to the site to read messages. And we also realised that some email providers were blocking our reply to message buttons. These combined lead to the decision. We hope this doesn't cause to much of an inconvenience and that the overall improvements to site are a benefit to you. Very best, Michelle

It is also another way for GR to get more money as non paying members cannot now get emails direct. So, if you contact someone that is not a paid up member, they cannot reply unless they pay their subs. Those of us who have paid up wait and wait for replies that we will never get. I think that we should know, when we want to contact someone, if they are paid up or not. If they are not, we might as well not bother contacting them, as it is a waste of time. Don't think I will bother to renew my subscription next time unless there are major changes. Nesta

Martin, I don't think it automatically gives them access to your tree. You have to click to allow access. None of my contacts have ever been given access automatically. I imagine they introduced the new message format because of complaints that the email address was given to the receiver, but speaking personally, I have to agree with you - I hate it! Carole

I also do not like the default setting that allows people access to you my tree when I send them an initial message (not sure if it is still the case). It is better to have the full address because I have often found with Genes Reunited that I have had very promising messages from someone but then nothing further. With an EMail address you can at least try contacting direct. "Contact Centre" is just the name that Genes Reunited use on your Home Page for access to your Messages Inbox. Martin

Yes, I agree it's annoying...... I had an automatic email from someone I contacted who I think is a family member. They sent a message back via genes asking to see my tree...... Th message from genes said to either click to allow or if i wanted to see more surnames from their tree or find out more to go to my contact centre........ but WHERE IS THE CONTACT CENTRE? I can't find it....... maybe i'm just thick! Frustrated G

Is anyone else not happy with the Contact Centre system? I can understand that Genes Reunited need to protect your identity when first contacted by someone but you used to receive the actual message with an EMail address and so were then abke to contact the person direct. I was away from home for a few days recently. I received notifications of messages but I was unable to read the messages because I was only connecting briefly to download EMail. I would prefer an option to be able to receive the full message rather than just a notification. Also to have the EMail address of the person contacting me so I can reply direct. I often send an extra of my tree to the person contacting me and this is much easier when sending direct than allowing Genes Reunited system to mangle the formatting. Martin