Suggestions

Kay

I get email notifications of messages in my PM box

........... I was only missing it for a couple of days several weeks ago.




sylvia

As the message notifaction to your personal email box has been disabled or lost in the upgrade informing that a message sits in your message box at GR then even if you still have the same email address on joining you are not aware if you dont visit the site.

Restoring that facility could well increase memberships back to GR and many sent messages wouldnt go unanswered.

IGP

I never said that anyone who had not updated their email was not active on the site ................... and that was never my intention.


....... the implication of not updating your email address, I believe, is very clear

........ if you have not updated your email address, GR cannot contact you to tell you that there is a message waiting in the internal system



The person who is still active should, of course, notice the white "# messages" that shows under Messages on the screen. However, we all know that there are times that that message does not show!



This same advice re updating email addresses, of course, applies to ALL other sites that have your email address on file.



and to re-iterate advice I posted on GR last year .......................



make sure that a member of your family, or a close friend (even the executor of your will), has a listing of ALL sites that you have joined, plus ALL passwords for each of those sites.

I have a little notebook by my computer with all this information ......... and OH and daughter know about it.


Thus they will be able to remove me from any site in the event that I become incapable ................... very important if any of the sites have automatic deductions from credit card or bank account.



sylvia

The fact that someone hasn't updated their email doesn't automatically mean they are no longer active on the site. Granted, they might not see GR's email telling them they have a message, but for all we know they could still be logging in on a regular basis.

This is why I believe it would be useful to be able to see the most recent activity timestamp against each member profile. If someone hasn't been active on the site for 5 years then the chances of getting hold of them are remote. On the other hand if they added to their tree six weeks ago, then you stand a far better chance.

One has to remove oneself from GR ........... removing your tree, as well as notifying GR that you no longer wish to be a member


Otherwise, you remain as a Free Member for ever ......... because all that GR does if you do not renew your subscription is drop you down into the Free Member category.


As jax said, the Free member category is probably the largest one on GR ............ as it was the first category. It was not until GR had been in operation for a couple of years that they instituted the first paying category, Standard membership at £5 a year.


This of course means there is another problem ............

............ members who die, become incapable, or lose interest but who do not tell someone else about GR and give them the password (or any other site for that matter) will also remain as members.


I wouldn't like to guess at the number of members who do NOT have their current email address on file with GR (or any other site)


People just do not think of updating them!




sylvia

Not everyone who has a tree has paid a subscription

I know I did'nt for the first 3 years

GR have probably got more free members out of their 12m than paying subscribers

"Suppose if they have not renewed membership GReU should then know they are not active."

No because they are still members even if they let their subscription lapse. Then they can't post on the messageboards but they can reply to personal message from paying members.

If a member does not respond to contact could it not be that they have changed their e-mail address and not informed GReU therefore they are unable to receive any messages.

Suppose if they have not renewed membership GReU should then know they are not active.

Ah! So I am actually logging in and out even though I'm not doing it manually? That's good to know.

I like your option, IGP, but will GR pay any attention to it? They don't seem to be even looking at this board any more.

To say that you never log out is probably incorrect.

You log out each time you turn your PC off, close your browser, or your internet connection drops, so most members will in fact log out after each session. However, if you have both your browser and GR set to remember you, then you should be logged back in automatically next time you go to the site.

Another option, which is something I have proposed on a number of occasions is for GR to show the last time that a member made some sort of update to the site. This could be a log-in, board posting, PM to another member or update to their tree, etc, etc. Anything that caused an action on the site.

This would be easy to implement as the information is already held by GR on the system, and is in fact used to update "My Updates" which shows the activity for members in your Contacts List.

Thanks for your replies, Sylvia I had a look at the messages sent and realised that the little envelope beside it means that it hasnt been opened, on the up side two messages have been opened and ive since found an american side to my family that i never knew existed, thanks for all help :-D

That's very true Sylvia.


Just last year I saw a 'thank you' message from one member on her thread which was 3-4 years old.


The helper she was thanking had, sadly, died a couple of years ago.



Mind you, I can remember when I first started out on my research, posting on some sites I found on the internet. I haven't been back to check because I can't remember which sites they were!


Presumably I assumed that someone would get in touch with me if we had a connection.


I've learnt my lesson now though :-D :-D :-D

This question has been raised several times over the last year or so.


and ti all boils down to how do you sort out the people who never log out.

I'm like many regular users, and Margee ................. I never log out, unless GR forces me off the site


and I like AnninGlos facetious suggestion :-D


Audrey ...... have you checked your pms to see if they have been opened??

That will at least tell you if any have been read.

But then of course, some people do not come on site regularly. I know of one who posted that they checked back about every 2 years!




sylvia

Maybe they are gearing up to doing that and practicing by making some of us log in all the time :-D And yes I am being facetious :-)

Thanks for your thoughts on this, I just thought something like this may be helpful :-)

No, there is no such feature on this site and I think it would be a very good idea to have one. So many members are no longer active, some even deceased. It would help so much to know when they last logged in. Having said that, it just occured to me that some members don't bother logging in and out, myself included. Guess I just shot down my own argument!

Just wondering if there is a feature on the site that shows you when a member was last logged on to the site, most sites have this feature and it helps you to know if you are messaging an active member, right now i cant see anything that shows this so im not sure if the members i have messaged have been online in the last week or in the last 5 years, really is helpful to know if members are still active or not, just a suggestion :)