Suggestions

I am happy for those who like the design of the new tree,if one can call it design,all tucked up there in the left hand corner of the screen with it's silly little boy/girl heads in boxes.It seems to be aimed at schoolchildren rather than adults.The purple stars indicating tree and record matches remind me of those dreadful fluorescent price tags one sees when passing the window of a pound shop.I would like to point out that I am not complaining for the sake of complaining I really do dislike this new format,it is time consuming to use even when it is working properly.

As Genes give us so few facts to debate, I wonder if people will add to this list - which might give a clear indication of what has happened since old tree was removed on 2nd August

Me (John) - Began tree 2003 Current Tree 23,018 names . Additions since 2nd Aug - NIL
Cynthia - Tree 1,431 names. Additions since 2nd Aug - ?
Sylvia - Tree ? names. Additions since 2nd Aug - ?

Whether you have only a couple of people on your tree or over 50,000 (how did he do that?), it will be helpful info to add what you have on your tree and how many you have put on using the new format.

I am not trying to say that having a huge tree is good (probably makes me a pretty sad person :-)). And I am not saying that not using the Genes tree facility makes you bad. Just that it might give an idea of whether people are using this new tree or not.

Cynthia and Silvia

I think it is about time that you stopped being so negative about the old tree format. New people are coming on these Boards every day (andf not many coming on at all now regrettably) to say that the old tree was fine. "It did not need fixing" is a common point they are making. Very positive and uplifting messages for most of us.

There seem to be obscure and technical reasons why we needed to upgrade tree and "modernise" it. We are always told this by Microsoft and most sites we subscribe to, and we have become used to upgrades and paying a bit more over the years. Similar ro Mars Bar for 5d when I was a child, then a new larger bar for 6d, then reverts to old size for 6d. And so on. They played that same trick for years till a Mars Bar cost over 20 pence - and was exacly the same size as the original 5d (or 2p) bar of my childhood.

The new tree has to be like the popular Mars bar. It has to be slightly better and more satisfying. I did not want my 6d Mars bar to be replaced by a block of Sharps toffee, and I would have looked for a better substitute..

Someone has told Genes that the old tree was unfit for purpose. You are quite right, Sylvia - we have no facts. Since the amazing official announcement on 2nd Aug that it was exciting and positive and new, we have had virtually no information at all. We have no idea at the moment whether the change agent was someone important in BS, one of the anonymous "team" or one of the unpaid helpers.

For all of us on the positive side of this debate, we have no idea who thought changing the tree was a good idea. But as you state, Sylvia, the majority who have posted have been positive about the old tree. By a large majority (my analysis).

Probable that you can extrapolate from that sample. I rather think the statisticians would find the sample plenty large enough to come to very clear conclusions about how large the positive majority actually is.

I am still hopeful that there will be postive change as a result of all this protest about removing our dear old tree, and that we will all eventually be much happier than we are now.

John, I quote...... "But those with big trees and consequently very few posts to their names do not like it. " :-S :-S


The size of their tree does has no bearing on the number of posts to a persons name. None.


The number of posts to a person's name does NOT indicate how many messages they have sent to possible relatives - it really doesn't.


The number of posts relates to how often you have posted a message on the Community boards.

For instance:


I have 1,431 names on my tree.

I have 11,000+ posts on the Community boards

I have 13,000 people in my Contacts list - this once stood at over 30,000 but I have been whittling it down.


Does that help? :-S

It is fact that the most people posting about the tree are those who do not like it.


However, that can no way be extrapolated to say that no-one likes the new tree, or even that the majority of people do not like the new tree.


I know of many people who DO like the new tree, who are working with it very successfully, but who do not post on the Boards to say so.



I would even make a guess that I know of as many people who like the tree as have posted to say they do not like the tree!


How many more millions are out there happily adding names to their trees?


Probably at least as many as are naysayers.



It is wrong to make such statements as "the majority do not like the tree" ....... because there is NO WAY that we the members can know that.

It is so significant that the few who are happy with this new format have loads of posts to their names. But those with big trees and consequently very few posts to their names do not like it. :-S :-S

O DEAR GENES. LOOKS LIKE MOST PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THE NEW FORMAT. DOES THIS MEAN BY COMMON CONSENSUS YOU WILL BE PUTTING THE OLD FORMAT BACK ON. IF NOT I WILL BE GOING.


BY THE WAY I TOO HAVE CANCELLED MY RENEWAL :-( :-( :-( :-|

Have not been on the site for ages and could not believe the change. Can only see a few trees of other people on my site will not show all of them. Had to find some instructions on use!! When I first joined Genes it was so easy then it was changed which I wasn't keen on now its been changed again and it is awful. Please revert back. Am thinking of cancelling my auto re-new :-(

I've just written to Genes again but I don't suppose it will have much impact.
I have been trying to edit family members.Having added lots of info I clicked on save only to have all the info disappear.Now the same edit panel appears for any of the 6000 people on my tree.I wish I was a computer savvy and could download my tree onto a disc I could then walk away .

Hmmmm. May revise my thoughts on 'friendship' :-D

Im glad you are staying Patricia..........


..............but Cyns, think again ;-)

Well as I'm in my mid 50's I'll take 'Youngster' and be thankful :-D

I think the fact that a lot of comments are against the new tree and or the new layout is because people will complain more about something than praise something, that is just human nature I'm afraid.

The fact that most comments are against just means those people are more vocal, it does not mean that the majority of GR members don't like it.

As I have said before I like it the new layout, I don't have a problem with this 'brightness' but I have calibrated our monitors and my laptop for colour/brightness correctly [instructions should be with your monitor as each can be different] and I wear glasses, I wear sunglasses in mid winter as I find I screw my eyes up on even dull days. But I don't have a problem on here. A......try pages are brighter than these.

Any tree takes time to get used to I began many years ago with an early version of FTM, I have updated that a few times and each time it took awhile to get used to, but get used to it I did, it takes time and patience on the part of the user.

It is well known that using a pc for long periods can cause migraines in those that are prone to them, if I choose to play a game on mine then the first thing that comes up is a warning to that effect!

I won't be cancelling either, as the helpers on here are worth every penny I pay to GR.

It's sad to think that people 'hate' the new tree with such an intensity that it affects their blood pressure . Surely there is more to life than getting so worked up about something so trivial.


I'm a pensioner and I am also a carer for two yet my blood pressure is that of a 20 year old and I 'hate' very little in life.


Yes, the new tree is different but I have patiently experimented with it; tried this and that; uploaded photos; altered relations; added comments and have no problems.


Some of the problems mentioned on various threads have been the inexperience of the user, not a fault of the site.


I will NOT be cancelling my automatic membership because, at under £10 pa., I consider it extremely good value for money and well worth the friendships I have made on here.


Cx

Nice to see a few positive comments about the new tree on here. So very unusual.

Me, I am one of the large majority who hate the new tree with an intensity that goes far beyond normal hatred. And so many seem to be doing what Barbara is doing - cancelling automatic renew and removing our membership when it expires. It would be nice to get a refund of my last 6 months till my annual renewal in Feb 2013, but suspect thsi is out of the question.

Perhaps we are all Luddites, unprepared to learn these wonderful new systems. All I know is that my blood pressure goes through the roof every time I even try to look at this new tree. And if someone thinks they have a hot match with me I cannot anymore check it out or help them. I simply open my tree for them and explain why I have no idea if it is a match or not. And have a rant about the totally deaf GR Team.

:-( I don't like the new tree, looks like a childrens product. I think we should have options as to which tree we want to view. I was happy with the old tree, didn't like the last tree and this is worse. Cancelling my renew membership.

Oh good! I like it too - does that mean I qualify to be classified as a youngster???

:-D :-D

Patricia

Me too....maybe we are youngsters on here ;-)

I agree the white is to bright and tiring on the eyes.

I would like to see the old tree back as the new one does not work for me.

The view of trees you can only see the first few and then nothing regarless of what you do to try and see the rest.

I'm another one with "old eyes" and am having great difficulty with the new look. I simply can't stay on the site as long as I used to. Too much of a strain.

Had to laugh though at the email I just received from GR announcing the new look. They posted some of the feedback they'd received, as follows:

Some feedback!

I have just looked at the new site - I found it clearly explained and easy to navigate. I look forward to working on it soon.
I like the advanced search and quick search boxes, good colouring and very clear! Nice!

I love the new look, imho it looks more professional after the extremely childish looking old site

What white????????????

I did the beta testing and never saw it then either apart from one time on my shared works pc where the guy that uses it before me has the brightness set at 100%, I never have brightness that high. If you calibrate your pc monitor correctly you shouldn't need it that bright in any case.

I never saw any difference in size of font either, and I tested the 2 sites side by side on a large monitor, the only difeerence, and I see they have changed that was the new site the font was more grey in colour, now it's black.

I can't comment on the tree though as I don't use the tree here