General Chat

If you are having problems Avril perhaps some of us can help you get further back?

Sometimes a few others looking can get through a brickwall.

Good luck
Sue

Thank you very much, Jim! I appreciate that help.
Ann.

Happy New Year to you!

I don't access any census info through this site, as it is too expensive.
IE6 is on the way out, Vista uses IE7 and IE8 will be out next year, supposedly as will Wndows7, which won't use IE6. Try using Firefox to see if that helps, you don't have to stop using IE6, but just use Firefox for GR. It is stand alone and will not interfere with IE. It is also customizable.
See http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp for statistics on which browsers are being used.

Rosalind

Is anyone else having problems accessing Census info. My membership ends in April and I am also thinking of not renewing. I have come to a complete standstill with tracking back any further than 1901. Now finding this a complete waste of time and money. GR have replied to my e.mail advising it's probably because I am Internet Explorer 6 rather than 7. Surely this is their problem not mine. No one asked them to change format. As was rightly said "If it ain't broke - don't fix it".

Hi Ann
To remove colour
tools
internet options
accessibility
tick ignore color
ok
You can reverse the process by removing the tick.
Jim

Does anyone know how to print out a page from your tree without the green background? I'm wasting loads of green ink and it's very difficult, in fact, nigh on impossible to read!
Ann.

I guess the designers are long gone, sunning themselves on a distant beach, laughing all the way to the bank. Wonder how much they got paid for causing all this chaos ???

Wombat and Ron, you have hit the nail on the head there. Any of us on this site who are employed (whether self-employed, full-time, part-time or whatever else) - and even those who aren't - know of that golden rule, "The customer is always right".

(Admittedly in my time during college as a supermarket shelf-stacker I faced customers who saw that little rule as a licence to throw tantrums and sulks that a toddler would be embarrassed about, but there is still something in it.)

If, for instance, I took some photographs for someone, sent them copies and they didn't like the results, I would consider it the very least I could do to offer to retake the shots (at a discounted rate or even for nothing if need be) in a way that made my customer happy with what I'd done.

So I am surprised, really, that so many standard replies are being sent. (When I e-mailed them listing my impressions of the changes and why I didn't like them, I got the "We are so sorry to hear you don't like . . . , however our design team have worked very hard on it" e-mail which I suspect is the standard response.) If I had a complaint from a customer and I replied with, "You asked me to do a day's shoot and I did it so you paid me, therefore you have to have what you're given" I wouldn't expect them to ever use me again.

I find this new layout quite depressing, I usually look here to help with depression not aggrivate it .

I've sent a message to GR.

Dee x

It's our money that supports this site. And they need it. Friends Reunited now offers free registration - so you can send and receive messages by simply registering. Not sure about Friends Reunited Dating. But these sites must be losing subscribers to Facebook (which is no use to us, of course).

Don't give in - stand up! Email them. And if you get one of their standard replies that don't really address your concerns, email them again. And again. And again.

They will have to take notice of us at some point. Or they fold.

I am horrified with the new format for the same reasons that have prompted so many of you to contribute to this thread.

I emailed them almost straight away, which has led to a exchange of emails between Feedback and myself - but of no help. I am being offered somewhat patronising technical advice, while ignoring the subjects of my complaints completely.

In fact, the replies have been so off hand that I thought I must have been the only person with a complaint. Thought this morning I would look at community postings (for the first time) to see if anyone else had complaints about the new design. Surprise, Surprise!

It is hard to understand how any business in this day and age can expect to prosper without taking into account the needs and interests of its target customers. I don't think they even bothered to identify their target!

We are a pretty specialised group of people and I would guess, in the main, of a much more mature age group than those who use the Friends Reunited or Friends Reunited Dating. We have specialised needs with regard to clarity, readability and simplicity. We don't need all the bells and whistles, useless crap and garish colours which are presumed to attract the young. Our focus is on family information - pure and simple.

The site owners are running the new format in tandem in conjuction with the old. I don't think it would that difficult to allow the link to be made available to us and give us the option of using Classic View, as many other websites do.

I also agree with the poster who said that the GR powers that be wouldn't read these postings. So bombard them with emails!! Demand that they take our views and age-related disabilities into account!! If they want our money, then they have to provide the service that we want.

Let's become UsersUnited!!

To all recent additions of finding problems with the new site. There are a few ways of changing the colour & text set up. The most popular suggested by SueM is to download & install firefox on your desk top, with this the only site attached to it.
You can then change colour settings etc to make this site easier to read, without compromising other sites you visit. Please search for her solution as this has helped many people here.

People here have sent a number of messages to GR, regarding people with sight disabilities. But so far they seem to remain silent.

Steve.

This New change on this site makes people ill. GR won't do anything about it, and if you contact them with your view, they just send a prewritten copout reply.
GTS
I know of a new site you can try if you like too. PM me if you would like more info.

Jean - I am like you would leave the site but would miss all the people dreadfully.

Perhaps if someone who knew how to set up such sites could set up a site for us to chat on! lol

Tina xxx

This new design is madness, it's design for designs sake, why on earth couldn't they leave it as it was, clean pages, clear text, directions that work, and no false trails.

I have complained but have been told more or less "like it or lump it". Can't check off hot matches by keying newest and just going down the list either. What a waste of OUR money.

I hate the new layout. I am trying to read everyones posting with aHORRIBLE whizzing advert for transport direct info distracting me. It makes me feel sick and unsettled.
Now its changed to T mobile. Somehow the advert colours are in your face and its full of fast jerky movement. Not right at all. I can't look anymore.
After it changed to NHS direct I couldn't bear anymore and e mailed GR to say how horrible it is. I get a lot of migranes and have to be careful so now I cannot look at the screen for long. What a nighmare.

I'm finding it a nightmare too. Acres of empty blue-green space and the text boxes are so small you can't look at more than a couple of lines at a time. If you've more than 3 or 4 siblings in a generation you're endlessly scrolling from side to side until your eyes cross.

Why does it all have to be so spread out?? Before you could look at a person and see all the salient facts in one look at the screen. Now it's up and down, side to side until your head aches.

And as for anyone who has difficulty with certain colours - well it must be just about totally illegible. I do hope our subs didn't go to pay vast sums to consultants to come up with this horror show.

I sent an e-mail to contactsabout the changes. The reply was that there is no way to go back to the old site and the changes are here to stay. Does anyone know of a site where we can all keep in contact? I shall miss you all like crazy, but my eyes are watering after 10 mins of this, and cannot imagine I will be here often. Never managed to get Gedcom to save to my computer. Will have to spend time trying to copy my tree to save the work.

I will also miss GR. I am due for renewal soon and will renew but for just one more year to give me time to find a better site. I do have a tree on my heritage. I dont think it has the message boards though and doesnt provide hot matches. People have to actively search and send a message to the tree owner. Perhaps that is an advantage.
I am on several MSN sites but they are closing in Feb so dont know what the new sites will be like.
I will also be asking my relatives and friends on GR for their email addies so we can keep in touch when I finally leave GR, if they do not do any genuine improvements.

Huia with a headache.

Well I have had to type this into notepad because the pevious message was wiped out by the preview button.

I have logged on several times today to see if I can get used to the new colours and design. I wondered if I was being too fussy.

I am not. Although I am not getting the adds that are driving some of you mad, the great expanse of white where the adds should be are too bright and are causing me a problem.

The wall paper is likewise causing a problem. I can't view the tree for more than 2 minutes and the diagonal lines on the details part of the screen are also giving me a problem. The combination of things are likely to trigger a migraine in my particular case.

I can't log on to a site that I know is going to make me ill. That's just insane. I will check back in a few days to see if things have calmed down.

I note in one of the messages that the support team are running the old system in parallel. Can I have a go on it?

I shall miss GR dreadfully if I have to leave.