Find Ancestors

Like Sylvs says .. for us on the outer regions of the world an English Store voucher would not be of much use.

NZ research is my main interest and a lot of your members once they find out that I have been helping someone I get quite a few private messages also in search of help. None of which go on the boards...

I am sure I am not the only one that does this.. the beauty of me being in a small country I can generally contact the Living Relative and find out if they want contact with a person but I steer well clear of adoptions and birth parents.. this should on the whole be a domain for the proper services and not us on chat boards.

I am with the others on this we do it because we want to and you may find that those who find the most and win the prizes have not used GR facilities but other means like Ancestry etc. That might not go down well with your team.


BUT Am quite happy to do the round trip and can collect Mo on the way at New York.

Persie

......... and what about collecting me in Canada???

:-)

Sorry Sylvs, I guess that will mean collecting Nutty as well plus a bit of a divert to WA for Cherilyn and Gracie from Victoria.

Maybe we should travel in a charabanc all for under a £ you know..... and the wheels went round....

;-)

sounds a good idea :-) ;-)

I was asked to be a Helper on the Help desk that didnt last that long!

It was very stressful . we had a daily number we had to post to still qualify for our Helper status.

I thought it would just be the same as when I was doing look ups voluntarily but no I felt I had to spend so much time at the PC that I didn't have time for what the family needed.

Plus too it wasn't made clear that people that had researched as far as the records went could still ask for look ups again so repeating ALL the research others had already done.

I fell fowl when I pointed out for one request that it had already gone as far as anyone could find.

Was I glad when the help desk was closed after only about 2 plus weeks. I felt an outcast from all the other members by all the negative comments that experiment engendered.

SO i really dont think making the look ups for this new program a competition is a good thing

:-|

Another reason why this is such a bad idea is it relies of people who have been helped to nominate those that have helped them most when those being helped may not wish to nominate anyone.

It's pretty obvious I think that new members on FLR who are given the contact details of the person they are looking for may well be the ones who nominate helpers for a reward ?

That is my concern because it is clear that some (a very few) 'helpers' are ignoring the possible dangers to safety and privacy of people being sought...some of the helpers who do this, imo, are not able to keep a sense of detachment , because they empathise very closely with one side ( very understandably) , and there are always two sides to a story.

I recall one incidence where someone seeking their birth parent, was talking about turning up on the doorstep with no prior notice, that might work out, but even on Lost Families there is a degree of privacy and caution applied.

My further concern on that is that the search might be done entirely OFF the board, as some may decide to do in order to gain some kudos, and that would mean there is not even the chance of other members either giving words of advice or caution.

Guiding someone to where they can find a possible address, with the advice that they send a discreet letter is rather different to ( as I have seen) someone sending a phone number and address and saying in effect 'here's the phone number, call them'. This is particularly worrying when it involves elderly people, who are especially vulnerable.

And it's not just for the benefit of the person being sought, but for the person who is hoping to establish a relationship, to go slowly. 'Lost families' do this by first giving an introductory letter via a 'third party' and establishing that both parties wish to meet, that is fair enough.

As far as FA goes, team work is always better anyway for a broader search base and bouncing off ideas, on a recent thread several people worked well together to get as much good info as possible...it was a pleasure to be part of it, the reward of finding the info was enough, especially as the name being sought had so many variations lol :-)

I am not in favour of this suggestion, for the reasons given above. Also, I think that it is bad business practice.

I agree this is a bad idea for all the reasons already stated.

Think its time Natasha came back and gave us her reply

This is typical of Gr..."love to hear your thoughts".....but judging by the lack of response don't actually care?

I've just posted on a thread where the OP had deleted an earlier thread because he didn't like the "uncalled for" responses. As I pointed out, if he asked for help then the responses are by definition "called for". This sort of "competition" setting up helpers to be complemented is also also setting them up to be shot at. GR has lost a lot of goodwill in help on the boards as it is without losing more

Jude

and they have just issued another slap in the face to overseas members by apparently not deeming them worthy enough to be included in the Subscribers' Loyalty Club ............. in addition to not being included in the Genes Extra "thank you to members" promotion.


That lets me know what they think of my contributions over the last 9 or 10 years :-| :-P

There has been a resounding 'NO' on here - will they listen?
Some of the posts say they are uneasy with the Finding Living Relatives board. If you have Genes on Favourites you might be missing the new page. It seems to me that the emphasis is now for people searching for Adoption info, probate research, medical history, lost close family etc.
I would be put off as a novice looking for a site to research back into my family tree.
Yes I have made a couple of good contacts on here but I already knew or knew how to find my closer relatives.

This idea from GR has made me wonder if the GR Team have come up with this idea because they may, themselves, have to 'meet targets', and they think that this may help in some way..... ????

'Meeting targets' is very much part of today's employment culture but here, on these boards, we have a different work ethos, with no targets to meet.

We are voluntary.

We are unpaid.

We do what we do, when we want to do it, because we enjoy it.

We are friends - (many of us) - and would prefer to work together in harmony rather than get into a competitive situation.

Whilst it is nice to be appreciated, not everyone needs an incentive to help others.


Those are my thoughts....

......and if anyone is thinking of calling me Hovis......you can think again!!! ;-)

Hello, much great discussion.

Perhaps we could ask (apart from winning a prize) the point of the exercise. I share with most comments - caution on this one.

Those who help do it in many different ways and usually as a way of thanking for all the help given, freely and usually without question, to them previously. For me, I am ever grateful for the help I have received and do not wish to have a prize given or received - it is offensive!.

Thank you helpers for all you do and have done without reward. It is a gift you give yourselves.

Sappho

ps thank you is always appreciated

A response from GR would be nice....................

Cynthia...you are right...we have never met,; we probably never will; but we helpers are friends......evens if that silly Gins supports the Blades ;-)

Jude

You can join us in Lancashire in September if you like Jude - we are having a 'get together'' !!

Cynthis (Hovis!!!) - I do SO agree with everything you have said !

Dea Xxx

P.S. - The points they gave me some time ago for some reason I can't remember have now been taken away :-( :-( :-(

Dea Xxx

Dea - The points were awarded to us as 'compensation' when the site went AWOL during a special offer last year. I never used mine and they were deleted recently.



As Sappho says, a thank you is always nice and all this is needed. :-)

p.s. - Didn't want them anyway and I said so too !!!

Dea xxx

As you say Cynths - a 'thank you' is all we need !!

Dea xxx

I am a voluntary member of a Steering Group for Autism in our area which is made up mostly of professionals - Social Services, NHS, National Autistic Society etc.

Whenever an event is planned and I 'volunteer' to do something at no cost, they all look at me as though I have two heads!!

I simply shrug and say that this is what volunteers do........they..... er.......volunteer because it's something either dear to their hearts or they simply enjoy it!

It's a concept many younger ones find hard to grasp. Cx