General Chat

I have sent about a dozen messages to people with whom I share family members. The only 2 who replied were people with whom I had previous contact. The rest are unopened. I suspect members are paying by standing order, changing their email address and no longer really interested. I understand that people are busy etc but after a few weeks I would feel compelled to reply out of curiousity.
Years ago, I found this site really helpful.

It is nearly 20 years since I joined this site and a lot can and has happened in the intervening years.
You are right that people quite possibly have changed their e mail address, they may be ill, no longer interested or very sadly may now be deceased, there is no way of knowing when they were last actively involved with the site.
Their postings and tree members will still show though.

The longest gap I personally have experienced in receiving a reply was 8 years. !!

They might also be 'name collectors' who haven't much idea regarding an individuals tree. Personally, I haven't bothered with contacting others for years. I'd rather build my own tree.

The number of views compared to post count on threads might give a clue .

I think you have got the reason fairly spot on. But as Gwyn says, sometimes a reply pops up so late that you have forgotten why you sent the contact in the first place.

You will still find this site (or at least, the helpers) really helpful if you post a request on one of the boards, asking for help with someone on your tree .

We're not related to you, but are always keen to ferret out information.

Thank you for the replies.I have quite a large tree, just trying to fill out background information and gaps. I was hoping to find out more than appears on census and other publicly available records. In general, I do prefer to do my own research.

Further to what Gwyn said, if you look at some of the posts, particularly on the Find Ancestors board, you will see that they are answering queries from 15 or so years ago!!

Countrymouse, there has been something of a drought for help on gr compared to the early days. I'm sure you will get plenty of keen helpers giving you pointers if you wish that.