Suggestions

If GR want to continue with this Living Relatives board being by pm only.

Maybe you could add that the people replying are not related and do not want to view your tree and share theirs.

Rather than recieving these requests I would much rather have a "thank you" which seems to pass some people by when its not a long lost rellie replying

jax

Also I think that we should be able to know whether anyone has responded to the requests as we could all be repeating any info available, so wasting our precious time

Jackie

Yup. We should have a list of the problems with the board, and just refer to them as A, B, C ...

I have had pleasant replies from people I've done searching for, with a couple of successful outcomes.

One whom I did a ton of searches for the other day had initially replied that yes, she'd had some info sent to her (not specifying what), but evidently it was not what I'd found (contact info for her father's former spouse and their kids), so would I send it to her. I compiled it all and explained it fully, and sent it. She opened the message. Two days later I PMed to ask whether it had been useful. She replied that she hadn't had time to go through it all yet. That's right, not "thanks", just she hadn't had time.

Of course, that's par for the course for a lot of posts on the other boards too. But at least other users would know what was going on in that case. Heaven knows how many others might have taken pity on her and spent their time on her search, only to be told (maybe) that she didn't have time to consider what they sent.

I agree that there should be some way on the Living Relatives board of knowing that somebody else is "on the case".
Maybe a check button that we click to show we have sent the Enquirer information on their post (perhaps with our screename so others could contact us to compare notes ?)

It's been suggested by myself and others that there should be a *standard* reply button (one that can't be edited), saying something like "info sent", so that we can all see that the person IS being helped.

Even better if the *standard* replies were (a) birth info sent, (b) marriage info sent, (c) contact info sent ...... and any others that might be helpful to the rest of us helpers.

I've given up helping on the Living Relatives Board for this very reason. :-( I've got better things to do with my time than duplicating, triplicating, (or however many more times!), the work that has already been done by others.

So that leaves me bored and not bothering to come on here much now! :-(

Mary

I'm also finding that I am getting far fewer enquiries from others now, how about you folk?

Jackie

The help boards are dead.

So if all of us "helpers" wander off and find other ways to occupy our time, GR will be left collecting money from a bunch of hopeful desperate people posting messages that nobody will ever see or reply to.

But hey, GR will have the money, so what will it care?

If we all leave, think of how much less headache it will have.

Seems they've been listening. Change is afoot. Whether that is for the good or not remains to be seen.

I think anything is better than this pm only board.

The board is not private, the posters can say what they like without it being deleted...so as long as everyone who replies do not do the same it should be ok

jax