Suggestions

Dear Genes,

Can you please put on when a user last logged in ,somewhere next to their name., as it makes life alot easier when you want to contact another member.

Lots of us send messages and never get a reply.

If we can see the last time they logged in we might not waste so much time in sending messages to people who are not going to reply.

DL

Darklord,

The only problem I can see with that is I personally never log out so it would show they last time I logged in but I'm here everyday.

Gai :D

I am the same Gai never log out same with anc*stry but I know I did log out a week ago on anc*stry to try something out but when I looked at my profile details yesterday it said last logged in over 6 months ago so that is a load of rubbish then as I am on there every day same as here

jax

Hi All,

What about a last activity banner, say possibly the last time you updated your tree or posted perhaps.

It says the date and you guys posted on the right. so why can that not be put on you contact details?.


Something along those kind of lines maybe


DL

The majority of members rarely post on the message boards so that would not help. Even date tree updated is probably of little use too. Many members, including myself, upload a gedcom once a year, perhaps twice a year at most.

Last log-in is probably the most useful info, but even then that does not determine whether you get a reply.

Ok how about using our current membership status as a guide.

Free member
Standard member
Platinum Member

and if you are a Standard or Platinum member and you let your membership lapse say if you don't renew then your status would change back to being a free member.

Just an idea as I can see where DL is coming from.

Gai
:-)

I too would like some indication as to whether or not to contact someone, more for search trees than Hot Matches. I hardly ever get Hot Matches and the ones I do get are more lukewarm.

I too never log out and as such would show, as I do on Ancestry, as never been logged in for over 6 months. However, could the indication be how many messages received,say in the past three month, remain unopened? For me this would indicate whether or not this was a long shot.

I never log out of GR, ancestry, or actually any of the other sites I'm on


unless of course the site throws me off



so you would get a very false indication of when I last logged on


I have not updated my tree on here or on ancestry for months, possibly years


so another false indication



I receive many messages each week .......... but many of them have very little to do with genealogy!


but do I really want people to know HOW many messages I receive and send?

Not sure about that one!


To be honest ........... I'm not sure that there is any foolproof way of indicating whether someone is active on the site or not, or of showing when they were last active.


sylvia

Sylvia it wouldn't say how many messages received or sent just how many remain unopened. For example say you receive 10 messages but only read 8 only 2 would be used as this is how many are unopened.

Obviously the higher the number could indicate that maybe the contact is no longer an active member of the site

That could be misleading. I think I have around 44 "unanswered" messages.
When another member contacts you with a written message and also opens their tree, you get 2 messages. You can access their tree through the written message, so I don't always open the "open tree" message. They are all still sitting there with purple envelopes. I can't be the only one!

I never thought of that Christine because I tend to delete those and just keep those with information in

Hi All

Thanks for the replies.

I have been reading the posts and have thought about it a little.

Many members (including me) never log out, so how about a Member is currently Logged in Banner.

Something like (So and So is Online), something like that, or even if you have never logged out and do not tend to post alot (like me),and as many of us do only tend to update our trees once in a while, at least the site can tell if you have been mooching about recently.

Dl

I can see where you are coming from and I have just thought of all the sites I am still logged on in that I haven't visited for a very long while so would show as being active when in reality I am not. Good thought though

Hi,

Expanding this alittle bit.

The only thing I can think of is a proper member connect like on Ancestry.
The one on here means you have to have access to the others persons tree, but Ancestry is different.

Perhaps that might be the best way to keep track.

One for GR to Mull pover.

Br To you all

DL

And another thing....

When we enter our rellies on our tree and are obliged to enter a DOB, with or without a 'circa', it would be helpful to have that 'circa' included in other tree's rellies DOB when trying to match.
'Sarah Wilson 1850' might raise your hopes for a match, but if it said c1850, you might not bother looking at it, especially if it said Victoria Australia and you knew she was probably from Northumberland.

Unfortunately there are many members who upload gedcom files with little regard to including full and proper information. As a result there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of names on here where the date of birth, place of birth and even the surname is completely blank.

HI Island

I was thinking about what DarkLord said about having a banner with who is logged in. I visit another site which list who is logged in and I must be permanently showing as logged in when in reality I haven't visited the site in well over 6 months so I don't think it would really work as a solution.

Hi

I use the 'Name Search' facility a lot and it is very frustrating when you have sent a detailed letter to the person whose name appears at the side not to get a reply. Maybe Genes could put an icon/symbol by the researcher's name to say whether they are still /no longer a member? It would save a lot of wasted time and expectation of a reply.

Hi

How about a auto log out, lets say after a month.

Cannot see why that would not work along with a last log in message.

Br

DL