Suggestions

So many have agreed with you Roger over last few weeks. The only exciting way forward for Genes in my view is to immediately revert to old tree. The retrograde and negative way forward is to continue to try to make a silk purse out of a sow's crackling.

And, no. We don't want to be told to adjust this and that and buy this or that. And we don't want to be told it is impossible to revert to old tree, because that is wrong. The old tree was fit for purpose, some say it wasn't. But it was!!!

Keep going Roger. Nil carborundum.

Thanks for your email

I'm sorry you're having problems viewing the whole of your dashboard

If you can only see some of the names on your shared tree list/dashboard it's likely you've got your compatibility view switched on on your browser.

If you go to 'tools' and then please ensure that compatibility view and compatibility view settings are both unticked, you should then be able to search your tree again. For Internet Explorer 8 when you open your internet browser on an internet page you will see at the top of the page, File, Edit, View, Favourites and Tools - please click on 'Tools' and you will then see compatibility view.

If you turn this compatibility view off you'll find that you can view the whole of your dashboard.

The old tree has been removed from the site now so it's not possible to access this any more.

A few weeks ago we removed the old tree from the site as we felt the new tree was ready to completely replace the old tree. It was always the teams' intention to retire the old tree eventually and after a long period of ironing out a few glitches, Genes decided to remove the old tree permanently.

If there are any aspects of using the new tree you'd like any help with, or any problems you've spotted, please do let us know and we'll try and get the issues resolved for you.

For any queries you might have regarding how to operate the new tree, we've answered some FAQ's which you can find here.

So Genes were niot interested about our feed back they were going to do what they wanted to do reguardless.

And to tell me to switch of Compatible view, I never have it a=switched on so this is not the problem, it is Genes as the old site which they have switched off worked perfactly well, so what have they altered and made the site worse for the marjority of us.

So as soon as my subs is due it will be goodbye genes.

Rollo, you say "Site traffic statistics (Alexa) do not support the contention that everybody has gone away following the makeover, rather the opposite."

That may well be true - but I've spent more time here on the Boards than ever before and less time on my tree than ever during the previous 7 years.

I don't want to be here on the Boards - I just want to have a nice, simple to use, good looking, functional tree to sit down with and add to every evening...

Perhaps this fiasco has been to increase site traffic and increase hits and advertising revenue.

A lot of the traffic has been complaints and/or bewilderment from customers not happy to use this exciting new tree.

Anyway, team are looking at our suggestions this week and we will learn some of the truth soon hopefully.

Most of us have been very committed to Genes for many years and want the company to develop and prosper. What similar product is available? Nothing really that meets the needs of both chatters and tree huggers.

Why would it be an improvement to revert back to the old tree ?

Genes are trying to offer a more advanced product - after a few months of hiccups the new site is a real improvement in many ways. I do wish they would offer a choice of color schemes or skins tho. (*)

The web is moving to a new standard, html5 and ongoing development will be based on this so restoring the old tree really is not an option. HTML5 has lots of upside - faster, less dependency on plugins, better security, better features for developers.

Unfortunately smaller sites eg GenesRU simply cannot afford the significant resources to ensure backwards compat. with IE 6,7,8. Gru runs just find with Opera, Firefox 15, Chrome, Safari etc. Installing any of these is free. No compat. mode required either way. If you want to Firefox even has an IE theme so you can have a modern working browser looking like IE on XP ;-)

Even the latest release version of IE, IE9, has poor html5 support, as Microsoft prefer developers to use Silverlight rather than standards.

You can expect more and more sites to adopt html5 as their standard and new Flash development to fall away. Adobe have now positioned Flash solely for streaming video going forward. In any case Gru no longer uses Flash SFAIK.

If you don't like change then you ain't seen nuttin' yet as Microsoft wheels out its latest and greatest (?) OS late October. Get yr copy of Win7 now... Win8 though has some great things going for it (a) very cheap (at least to start with, inc ug from XP ...), does not need mega resources in terms of RAM, support for expensive super graphics cards or even much in the way of a CPU. Yeah it will run on an old P4 with 'orrible Intel built in graphics and 1 GB ram. IE10 though which is *NOT* very much like IE8. Good with Gru :-)

Right now u can download WIn8 from Microsoft and run it for free, no restrictions.

(*) It is pretty easy to set up the look and feel of most sites to yr own preferences using CSS tools. Browser preferences also allow you to establish an overriding color/font scheme for yr browser which will override nearly all sites in just a few clicks.

GenesRU do not want people to post-how-to-do-this so I won't, but most people have a computer literate friend or rellie who would relish an hour or two's tweaking. I must confess that my Gru schema - basically yellow/cyan font on dark gray - is easier on the eye. It is even possible to have a flock wallpaper of choice tho' having looked at the result I decided not.

I am sorry but Genes should look after they paying members base on what ever system they use.

So the old tree worked perfectly well on all computers so should any new one.

And I am sick to death on hereof those with a better computer to me and many others saying we should do this that and other to see all our tree, not use compatible view etc etc to see my complete tree, which I have been able to see perfectly well before.

So it is not uss that have BALLS the site up but the IT bods who work for Genes.

They should listen to us the paying members and say sorry to us for the mess they have made of a perfectly good site it one was.

If they had the guts to do just that they might be able to salvage something, because the marjority of members cannot be wrong can we.

It seems it is only a certain few who are coping with the new tree etc.

How do you know the majority of members agree with you?

Looking at the traffic stats very few members use any of the boards anytime let alone "Suggestions". By and large people without a beef neither complain nor say they are happy, life's like that.

Why don't you read posts instead of saying the same thing again and again and again ?

Gru will run perfectly well on old computers - certainly anything made in the past 10 years. The tree itself does not display very well using ie8 but is fine on any of the modern browsers which can be installed on XP for free. All of these will run on an old P4 or old Athlon with 512MB RAM.

BUG: It is true that the current tree makes unrealistic assumptions about available vertical resolution even on new laptops and Gru should sort this out.

However boiled down to essentials you are saying that Gru should devote its resources to supporting an old and obsolete browser ( IE8 ) which even Microsoft doesn't support except for security patches. Similarly XP is only supported for security updates by MS.

It does matter which browser you use. Older browsers have all manner of deficiencies and curious non standard behavior. Supporting them all with all kinds of clever work arounds can be a very big and expensive job. This is not a problem for Amazon, the BBC, eBay et al but can be very daunting for smaller sites. Moreover html5 allows smaller sites to offer modern features without excessive cost. That is why Gru has moved on and why restoring the old tree is not an option.

I suggest that you stop being boring and instead post a suggestion not the same complaint ad nauseum. What you are asking for is not going to happen.

Can you think of any constructive suggestions?

How many people today are running Netscape on Windows95 with a dial up modem? A few geeks who like to play with legacy computers. Times move on, even XP and IE8 are dogs which have had their day.

I know that the old tree might be defunked but it was a damn sight better to use and much faster to use that this tree that we have been lumbered with now.

So it is Genes that has taken a step backwards not us.

And if the old tree worked perfectly well so should the new one.

You go on and on as well about what is coming and we should change as well, well I cannot afford to update every time something new computer wise comes out.

Before I attempt a reply to your post a suggestion for Gru.

When IE7 /8 is detected as the browser put up a message box:
"You are using Internet Explorer 8. This is an obsolete browser no longer supported by Microsoft. You may encounter various problems using this browser and we suggest that you upgrade to one of Chrome, Firefox, Opera or equivalent. These browsers are all free."

FYI users of Windows 7 will be running IE9 which is ok though not optimal.

There is a spell checker built in to the editor used by this board. Why not use it?

There is not much point in ranting on without any facts to support your case.
In particular which browser are you using ? Have you actually used any of Chrome / Firefox / Opera ?

I am not talking about coming changes but the change we have now - Gru's new look or makeover. I frequently use it on an old box with not much oomph (P4, 1GB RAM) and the speed is perfectly ok with any of the non-Microsoft browsers. IE8 is ok except with the tree. I dislike the color scheme but as I said it is fairly easy to alter.

If you choose to ignore any information given to you don't expect to be taken very seriously. The same old questions / rants do not usually get the same old answer but are just ignored.

>>>>> An up to date browser is free. <<<<<

All UK public libraries, even in the wilds of Peckham, have free internet access and most also have a free version of Ancestry. Many allow you to plug in a USB drive and from it you can run portable versions of many apps eg Firefox if it is not already on the library machine. Tesco have 4GB drives for a few pounds.

It is possible to buy a fairly good desktop computer on eBay for well under £ 50 and even £ 20 if you hunt around a bit - there is a Dell GX620 P4 small form format going for just that at the moment. I am told that a store called something like "MoneyConverters" often has bargain laptops.

I used to have a Folk Boat, a (very) small yacht. It did not have an engine and that suited me fine. Harbors got busier and eventually the insurers demanded that the boat had power. So I moved on to something else. Times change there is no point expecting otherwise.

:-\

Rollo I am not against change. Doubt Roger is. But you have got to want the new product and enjoy using it.

I doubt this product wil ever be acceptable. Nothing in it for me, northing in it for many others.

Think of cars. My first car did 57 top speed, took most of the afternoon to brake from that speed. Every car I have had since (50 years now) has been better and more exciting and luxurious (and cheaper relative to my income). And I love trying it out, reading the instructions (in that order). Same with TV's, same with mobile phones, same with computers. We all LOVE change when it makes things more fun for us.

Well, we tried the new tree out and chose the old tree in July. When we finally lost that option about 2nd August, we tried the new tree again. And it is awful - absolutely awful. A 16 year old doing a programming project would fail his GCSE.

I thought only I thought it was awful. But I am pleased that I appear to be in quite a large majority.

Well Chrome is not as good as some make out. - it has faults, like all others '

As I said I have got use to using what I have.

And why has Genes given us a new make over which IMO is much much worse than the one we had.

I have 4 GB of Ram and 400 of memory far better than some, but as I said Genes has spoilt my enjoyment of this site, as well as many others.as reading all postings we who don't like what they have done are in the marjority by a long long way.

Roger, as has been explained to you most people who are happy with the new tree are just getting on and using it.

If you look at all postings that are against the new tree a large proportion are multiple posts by the same few people and most of the rest are simply of the "I prefer the old tree" type, without any specifiic criticism. In addition quite a few of the original antis just had problems with their browser set up.

I do agree that those of you with very large trees (over 20,000 names) do have a good reason to complain at the moment but I am sure the time to download the trees will be reduced as a matter of some priority.

The question still remains as to why those of you who are complaining now didn't make much fuss last year whe GR announced that the old tree was going as soon as the new tree was viable. Ostrich syndrome?

KenSE My tree is 23,000+ I have had a couple of mails most days for over 6 years now from people who think they have a match. I have John SMITHs and John JONES on my tree, so I expect to get a lot. And I have tried to answer them all courteously, and if it is not a match, have tried to point them in right direction. I am more familiar with John Smiths than an alcoholic.

Since end of July, I have had 5 letters in TOTAL. One a week., compared to 12-15 pw previously. And tree building must have virtually ground to a halt. I have put an average of 60 new people on my tree every week for last 6 years - nil since beginning of August.

Yes, most of previously active members (like me) have hardly ever been on Community till this fiasco. And I doubt many of us were interested enough in site development anyway (yes, myopic ostriches really enjoying our hobby)). But we did expect something easier and more fun and bugless, not visually challenging and quite fiddly and complicated..

I opted out of hot matches a few years ago....I have preferred to use the surname facility every 7 days or so.

Although I have hundreds of members still adding to the more common names in my tree over the past few weeks I have been unable to find a match.

I cannot blame GR....to me it is that there are sadly no people researching my particular family tree as with my tree on Ancestry.

I have no problems with the new tree...I like it....sorry.

Linda

To me Genes have spoilt this site, I am no tech, but enjoy the company, but not anymore.

Yes things move on they always do, but in case like this some don't like what we have got so will not rejoin when my sub runs out, as they are other places to go.

But when I sr=tarted out I was getting lots of hits but lin the last couple of months nothing - does that not say something.

So I say to Genes come on make this site good like it once was or it will be your loss not mine.

Roger


the fact that you are not getting more hits may just reflect that it is the summer, the Olympics, holidays,etc etc ....... and people ahve just not been wokring on their trees.


You can only say that it is GR's fault if you have carried out a scientific study that rules out all other options


For example .............. how did this July or August compare with those months last year, in 2009, in 2007, etc etc

you can't, unless you have kept scrupulous records every year ...................


so you can't, and should not, make statements implying that everything is down to GR.



Like Linda ............... I opted out of Hot Matches years ago.

In my case it was because I have a small tree on here ................ and practically everyone who got matched to me had previously received the information from me :-D





sylvia

I know why I don't get many replies, because Genes keep everyone on this site, even though they no longer use it, so we think they have thousands of member but don't.

I normally send an PM to people who have a link to my tree, but of late I am not getting replies, because those people are not here.

Why, lost interest I dare say.

I am not against change but I am dead against change for change sake, which has happened now, and with large trees well it is a nightmare to find relations in there now, not like the old one where you put a name at the top and they popped up straight away.

Roger we both joined GR in the same year...yes I had great hits in the past however I have not found a possible contact for the past 2 years...as I have said I can hardly blame this on GR.

I would suggest you view your surname summary to see exactly how many members (this is present members) who have added to their trees.... with the appropriate surnames to your tree over the past 14 days and if like me you will find this site still alive and kicking...however sadly no matches to my tree :-(

Linda

Well I use Genes differently than most, I know my surnames and will send pm's too people with the same surnames, but when I look at my sent messages in the last year more than half have not replied, so must be people who have changed e-mail address or have left the sie.

But when people don't rejoin they names are still on the site.

So in this day and age surely a good IT bloke can get they names deleted.

Also I have had a pm about this site and it states I should use F11 to get full screen, well as I said before and I say again since Genes are the ones who have altered this site it is they fault that I have to do this as the old site worked perfactly well.

So it is they fault, not me my compter or anything else as I still get full screen on all the other sites I visit.

And as I said before it is the experts the IT people who have balls up this excellent site to a one I don't like using anymore.

Roger

Genes is a free site so there is no such thing as rejoining unless you have have paid a standard or platinum subscription..

I joined in 2007 but did not pay any money until 2010 nor had I touched the site in those three years, so should they have just deleted my mini tree?. My dad and ex both have small trees on here and also neither have ever paid any money...so perhaps they should be deleted too?