Suggestions

We've had a makeover!

This came to me today.

Genes Reunited will soon be celebrating our 10th birthday, so we thought it was about time we gave the site a makeover. After taking on board some very helpful feedback from our members, we have come up with a fresh, new look that will make discovering your family history even easier.

What changes have we made?

Don‘t worry, we haven‘t made any complicated updates, we‘ve just made a few improvements so the site looks fresher, cleaner and easier to use.

New logo - we've updated our logo.
Colour - you‘ll notice the colour of the background and font has changed. This makes the text easier to read and gives the site a brighter look and feel.
Layout - we've moved a few things around, so you should find it easier to navigate around the site to find what you‘re looking for.

Some feedback!

I have just looked at the new site - I found it clearly explained and easy to navigate. I look forward to working on it soon.
I like the advanced search and quick search boxes, good colouring and very clear! Nice!

This is the first of many exciting changes we have planned over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for new updates and extra features.

We hope you like the new design, and most importantly we hope you‘ll find it makes the site easier to use.

The Genes Reunited Team

Comment:-

I dread to think what next we have to look forward to.
And so as keep the suggestion buffs happy
Don’t bother roll back to what most were happy with.

I dont like the new look.. Preferred the green background. Now it just looks plain and boring. :-(

There should be an option to load our own colour or design for the background.

i wasn't very impressed to get this either.

Its horrible. I need to put my sunglasses on, its like trying to read in a snowstorm. Where is the link to the old tree ? Where is the link to the home page from the tree? One gets stuck in it and can't get back ? Clicking on the Genes Reunited logo does not work!! :-S

Dear Genes Reunited, Since I can no longer get to the old version of the tree and you have insisted to creating the monstrosity that looks like it was put together by someone with about five minutes experience of creating web sites, I have no alternative but to look elsewhere. I have cancelled my subscriptions, exported my gedcom and will reluctantly have to give up on nine years of research.

Hello GR, I have just logged on and seen the new version. My eye was immediately drawn to my name being in someone else's tree. Does this mean the new version does not protect the information of the living? Or did that person put my full name and details in their tree without protecting me?

Michelle, Do you share your tree with anyone? have you ever given access to anyone?

How did you get info for your tree for people you have never had contact with?

Once you give access to anyone you have lost total control over what happens to that info


Whilst you can hide living people in your tree anyone can search a name and copy the details from the results of that search, ( living people included )
eg, John Smith 1940 Wellington, New Zeal Fred bloggs

If i search for a person who i no i share a tree with it will return the results as listed in any tree search that includes living people

but it will not link that result to a tree unless i request and are then given access,

after gaining access the tree will still hide living people and just show birth year and replace the name with "Living relative"


Roy

Edit; If you ask GR they will remove living people from other members trees who don't have permission

Living relatives Members must have permission to add the names of any living relations to their tree.

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/27/thread/1307378/post/8226589?type=edit

Just to update my earlier comments:
Lisa at Genes Reunited Support contacted me after the post below and very efficiently resolved the problems I was having.
And to my great delight, the tree now has the facility to link to existing family members, which greatly reduces duplication and presents a truer picture. Additionally, the default family name now works for ancestors, rather than as previously only for descendants.
Having used the new software for a month, I am delighted to say that in general it works perfectly well. I still miss the pane which showed fuller details of highlighted individuals,and facilitated immediate identification, but the ability to link individuals more than makes up for its loss.


I second Vicki's opinion, above.
This new tree seems scarcely less retrograde a step than it's earlier iteration. GR seems to cater only for small and simple trees and is now aimed squarely and solely at the absolute beginner.
The search function lists individuals in a tree but does not link to them; the edit pane on the general tab in an individual's pop-out does not display all the Notes text which cannot wholly be scrolled through; though the FAQ's refer to a save function, there isn't one, so it is no longer possible to edit or add to existing information.
Only names and dates are now shown in the tree, so to identify a famlily or an individual means opening the malfunctioning edit pane.
Brightsolid seems to failed to have looked at the functionality offered by competitiors. It has looked only at the superficial visual elements of design and not at the functionality the site offers members. This is now a little more than another shopwindow for Brighsolid's database offerings , which are more usefully available on FindMyPast.
Without the facility to interrogate and build the tree, GR has little to offer in comparison to its sister site and much less than its competitors.
The last complacent announcement of an "improved" version of the tree software was followed shortly by a defacto concession that it didn't work and the restoration of the old tree, which did work.
If the old tree is not restored, I and my 15,000+ family members will not be able to remain on GR.

Alison, just a note

Other brightsolid sites include

Findmypast
Findmypast Ireland
Findmypast Australia
1911census.co.uk
ancestorsonboard.com
Censusrecords.com
Friends Reunited
brightsolid also hosts scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Roy

also the community boards and help from other members on GR are far superior to any other site

I only keep a basic membership for that reason alone i have never and would never use GR for their records i believe their are far better sites for records that are also cheaper in the long term

and their are free sites that you can get info such as bmd and parish records
and some cencus info

Michelle

I recently found myself and my brother in the "hot matches" of someone else's tree-I contacted them and they had got the info from FreeBMD-after finding there is a copnnection I did ask them to remove us as we were very much alive despite being a bit ancient :-)

Wonder what rules are? I always try to avoid listing anyone born after, say , 1930.

But I have an uncle (now 87) who is very keen and gets birth certificates of people born in last 10 years. Not the sort of man to take issue with, but when I have tackled him his reply is that "it is a matter of public record, and if it is in the public domain we can circulate it"

Personally, I have nothing to hide and I don't mind being circulated, but I can understand apprehension with all this identity theft. I must admit, we family historians can unearth very embarrasing facts about people remarkably easily, and it quite a responsibility.

If you mean trees on here John?, then you should ask permission from any living person before you add them to your tree.

The 'rules' about adding living people to one's tree are buried in the terms and conditions.

Anything added by users to the site is called a 'submission'

11. Your Submissions and Postings
In particular, you promise that you have obtained the permission of all of the people featured or referred to in the Submission (and if they are under 18 their parents or guardians as well) to our use of the Submission on the Genes Reunited Service. You agree to give us evidence of all such licences, rights, consents, and permissions if so requested by us.

I think the commonly used figure is that the names of anyone born less than 100 years ago should be hidden ........


you can add them to your tree, and request that GR hide them OR you can use Living Living


If you use their name and ask GR to hide them, then anyone searching for that name will be directed to your tree BUT will be unable to see the name.



In order to ensure the privacy of its members, Ancestry.com automatically hides information for all living individuals. Only the owner of the tree and owner selected guests can view living individuals.

Note: Individuals are considered to be living if they are under 100 years old and have no information in the death date field.


Note the above ........................................... "Individuals are considered to be living if they are under 100 years old."



That means born in or after 1912!



On ancestry, you can also select the option to Privatize living people, and all information for living individuals except their surname will be removed and will not be added to Ancestry.com.




sylvia

So many trees have got loads of people born since 1912. And I doubt most of them have given permission for their records to be there.

Is this a major problem? No, don't think so as long as we are considerate of others. Of course, rules have to be followed but it seems a little odd that a family historian cannot put a distant aunt in Canada born 1920 on their tree (someone they have no current contact with) in order to try and make contact with her family.

Newspapers and heir hunters etc seem to be able to unearth all sorts of information about WW2 veterans, pop stars etc. My uncle (87 and sharper than most of us) says that "if something is in the public domain, it can be circulated freely". Not sure he is wrong, certainly as far as adults are concerned.

Appreciate your thoughts and knowledge of thsi area? Please don't give me grief, as I am getting plenty elsewhere. And no, I am not rude, patronising - I am rather lovely :-D

It seems some of you have hijacked my thread for your own agenda. :-S

However I have just sent the following:-

The question is directed to those who are at the London office, not the home workers.

When are you going to change the tree background-color from transparent;

It is a difficult topic John and a little common sense needs to be used. I suspect that GRs T&C are there to provide them with an escape clause if a Living Person objects.

Personally, I take your view - anyone up to about 1925 is lucky to be with us. My in-laws of that age are listed as Private Living. I certainly haven't named people born in the last 60 years. Had I come across a person in the public eye, that may have been different.

Adoptees who post on Living Relatives are frequently advised to add their birth parents and/or siblings to their trees in the hope that matches may be found if not now, then in the future. However, they do have a justifyable reason for adding LR without their permission rather than those of us who might be tempted to add the names of our 4th cousin 1 removed husbands 2nd wife ;-)

The US 1940 census as we know has now been released. When asked, FHistorians contacts have said that they don't mind their names being in the public domain.

EDIT - sorry Stephen - you posted while I was typing. If you wish me to remove this post, please PM me.

It seems some of you have hijacked my thread for your own agenda. :-S

However I have just sent the following:-

The question is directed to those who are at the London office, not the home workers.

When are you going to change the tree background-color from transparent;

Stephen_SG, GR don't have any home workers

Why would you think that they do?

All members of GR staff are identified by a yellow star next to their name when they post

see this link for and example

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/announcements/thread/1303910

If you want to direct a question to GR the best way to do so is to send the message direct to them using the contact us in the help section at the top of the page

Roy

Hi,
I've also noticed that I have tree matches appear next to my name since the new tree has been launched. When I share my tree I always hide living relatives so I wasn't happy to see my details elsewhere. I no longer had access to one of the trees so I had to send them a message. Luckily they removed the names but I'm still not certain why they were included when hidden originally. I would've thought that they would at least have asked before adding my name to their tree.

As for the 100 years living relatives rule , I have to say that I find that perfectly reasonable. My 2x gt. grandfather was 105 when he died in 2006, and I still have a few relatives on my tree in their 100s. Perhaps this is unusual, but I still want them 'protected'.