Suggestions

Phil

There was a great deal of anger on the boards yesterday (Jan 3), as a result of pms sent to certain members, whose posts had been R&R'd by someone over Monday night, UK time.

The pms were rude, ungrammatical, uninformative .................. and threatened members with banning from GR, saying this was their first (or second) warning, with banning automatic after 3 warnings.


May I suggest that you and the rest of the Team read the following threads to see the depth of anger that was apparent ......... and which attracted ZERO attention from any GR staff member.

NO-ONE had the courtesy to make any kind of response during the "office hours" on Jan 3.


http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/suggestions/thread/1289123

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1289084

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/ancestors/thread/1289121

Also on the GR Wall on FB





I would note for the interest and education of the GR Team that some of the members who received the pms, and others who were angered by what happened, include ones who are the most prolific and knowledgeable helpers on the Community Boards. These are the people who have given GR its reputation for expert help on the Boards!

Several of them have subscriptions that end within the next couple of days or so ............ and have reported or suggested that they will NOT be rejoining as a result of this event.


In just one event, some member of the GR team has destroyed any trust that members might be once again developing in GR.

There are once again suggestions that it is all part of a "plot" to get around any kind of penalty for ignoring any legalities imposed by the Competition Board. Paranoia has set in, suggesting that "certain" people were targeted ................. those with memberships ending soon.



Several suggestions have been made on the various threads.

We appreciate that posts and /or threads might well need removing .............. but it is suggested that :-


a) the letter notifying a poster that a post has been removed also say WHICH post on WHICH thread, and WHY it is being removed. As it is, a poster may see the pm from GR days after it was sent, and have no idea of what they have done wrong.

In fact, some people who received pms on Jan 3 still have no real idea of what was wrong with their post ..... and neither have those of us who saw the posts before they were deleted.


b) the pm be much clearer in who, why, what and where


c) Some people would like the poster be informed of the name of the person requesting the review


d) that someone with a good knowledge of the English language very carefully read any and all automatic pms and letters sent out to make sure that they are understandable AND do say what they mean.




I do hope that there will be some response from you, or some other member of the GR team, by the time I return to this site in about 12 hours or so.



I really am extremely disappointed, upset, and appalled by what was said in the pms.





sylvia

Agreed, the above has my full support.

Thank you, IGP

Please give this urgent attention.

We are all with you Sylvia,

Let's make sure this thread stays at the top of the board.

Gai

Oops silly me for then responding to the abuse thread.

Please give this matter your urgent attention, and whilst doing so please respond with a reply to my email to the support team ( which I suspect is not the only one waiting to be answered on this subject!).

I am wondering if thre is an ulterior motive in all this.

It seems to me that rather than encouraging membership, GR has embarked on a deliberate campaign designed to drive members away - perhaps with a view to deliberately making the site non viable so that they can plead a case to close it down.

This "Cavalier" attitude does nothing to improve their public image.

To paraphrase:
"How to lose friends and alienate people"

I am not impressed, but I will keep my membership going for a further 6 months on the basis that I wish to retain a "voice" - at least for the time being.

Well said Sylvia.

GR, please sort this out asap.

And if you don't have the ability to sort it, GR, at least give us the courtesy of a response with an explanation of why this is happening now.

GR Team will probably not respond to any of our threads on this subject but always worth a try

At the risk of repeating myself (& many other GR members) I do not belong to Facebook or Twitter, nor have I any desire to do so.
I pay for membership of Genes & expect to be informed of what is going on on this site.
I am appalled at what has been going on, not just over the last few days, but for getting on for 12 months.
The lack of response from the Genes team is not just a discourtesy. It smacks of total contempt.

Probably scared to show their heads above the wall for fear of getting shot at

Dear Sylvia,
we are sorry if the actions of the abuse team have upset some members. There were multiple reports about several message board posts and so we had no option but to act on these reports where necessary. We will speak to the abuse team though to make sure everyone is aware of the message board guidelines.
Our system also tells us when someone has made multiple reports of abusive posts and if we feel these reports are unnecessary we will take action against the reporter.
We use a system where we use set responses and these do not include details of the post reported. However, should anyone wish to know which post it was they can always contact the support team as a record of reported posts is kept.
We do value our members very highly and appreciate the time and effort you put in to helping each other.
If you do want urgent responses we would always suggest you contact our support team as all emails are answered within 24 hours and often much quicker. Whilst we do read the message boards, we don't have the time to do this on an hourly basis and so posts and questions may not be seen for some time.
Kind regards,

Estelle

"we are sorry if the actions of the abuse team have upset some members."

- the unwarranted ill treatment by the abuse team caused immense distress.


"We use a system where we use set responses and these do not include details of the post reported. However, should anyone wish to know which post it was they can always contact the support team as a record of reported posts is kept. "

- individuals asked the support team but the response differed from the above quoted.

- the "set responses" in this particular instance were badly worded, ungrammatical, mis-spelled, and uninformed.

Phil, please would you merge http://www.genesreunited.co.za/boards.page/board/suggestions/thread/1289123 into this thread. Thank you.

Hi Joy, we are going to take a look at our responses immediately. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Not a happy bunny having my thread locked :-P

Can´t say that the responses from the Genes team bear much resemblance to what members are saying they have experienced.

Sorry Maureen, it was only to stop repetition and to make sure we are able to answer everything. We'd hate for anything to be missed.