Genealogy Chat

Stephen Sorry if l appear to be moaning,but l know l'm not alone on this - Would it be a good idea for some sort of vote on the new "Tips Board".Before, you could look at the board and see immediately if anything was usefull to you or not - now, you have to go through all this threads,to me its a nightmare just like other boards,thats why l was so keen to use Genesconnected - it WAS so easy to use.Perhaps we will all get used to it,but it does'nt mean we'll find it any easier. Jude Heather(S.Wales)

Stephen I to think a vote would be good, totally agree with judith, we will get used to it, but we dont want to as it was very enjoyable the other way, I`m getting a bit bored now keep forgetting which things I have read, and missing a lot as well. Please Please Please change back to the old way. Debbie

I've been on holiday for a week and have just logged-on to find these changes to the Guest Book and Tips Board. It had taken me about half an hour to work out how they function, but already I think they are a better way of displaying questions and answers. I do agree with Debra; is there a way you can colour-code the messages, so we know the ones we have read? Perhaps a members board would be a good idea for people who just want to chat. Let's at least give the changes a few days before asking for a vote.

I've suggested to Stephen that there is some kind of 'active topics' so that when we log on we are shown anything thats new since the last time we logged on - other sites use this facility and it works well. Christine, Billingham, Cleveland

Could the threads be something like what we have at the moment on Names Summary, whereby we can send our own individual frequencies (1 to 14 days) and it indicates the threads that have been updated in that time. This would keep the regular users and weekend users both happy? I love the threads, but working out what is new is hard to see on my poor eyes at night! Sally, Coventry

Perhaps l'm not being understood - Where it says "TOPIC" you really have no idea what its about.Occasionally it gives you a hint.But,by seeing the "TIP" as before - you could find all sorts of "TIPS", where as NOW YOU CAN'T. The other day l found a "Tip" about Ellisisland passenger lists and found relations on those lists.I doubt if l'll see that kind of "Tip" under "Topics".Also when you read the messages,they are all back to front,its difficult to see who replied when.The more thingsyouadd to it eg:colour codes and any other extra's will only add to the(my)confusion. Yes l'm still up at 2.45am could'nt sleep trying to convince myself it's me, plus have a crafty ciggy and cuppa. See yeh Jude Heather

How about when a thread has been added to it moves to the top of the board that way you could read down the threads for new messages like the old board. The only thing bothering me is reading the small print for the time of last post. The new way the boards are layed out makes things easier in my opimion

I will try and make the latest posted thread appear at the top as I think that makes sense. In terms of a vote. GenesConnected main purpose is a search facility and tree drawer. The boards have been added over time as some people enjoy them. We have nearly 500,000 people registered using the searching for names, whereas only a few hundred use the guest and tips board. We are getting to the point where all our effort is taken up on these boards at the expense of the rest of the site. I haven't the time to write a quick survey for a vote because I have a long list of other jobs to do. It seems clear from the responses on the boards that the majority seem to prefer the new layout. Also one of the reasons its getting hard to use is the boards just seem to be made of people talking about the boards themselves and not about tips for geneology which the Tips board is intended for.

Hi Stephen, If you can put the latest message at the top and colour code what has already been read it would be brilliant. It would also help if new postings on the Tips Board had a mandatory "Subject" field. Jill

Hello Stephen Ok l give in,sorry if l have been a pain.Lets all back to the work in hand and find our relatives.I do appreciate the hard work you all put into this site and its a great site really - l will get used to it. Cheers Jude Heather

The new threaded messages system is much clearer but it helps if people think of clear headers for their messages.