General Chat

Hi Gail,

Actually I've been "chipping" away my family history (on & off) for over 10 years now, so I've pretty much picked all the low hanging fruit now. However I've found GR particuarly good for finding living relatives & have discovered 3 x 3rd cousins in the last 6 months....so I'm certainly not complaining. Seeing Marion's post however, I wish GR would adopt Ancestry's practice of allowing you to see when other members last logged on!!

Regards

Patrick

My treatment took 6 months.... I suggest you try it... then it took a couple more months for me to be well-ish again....... how presumptious of people to demand that folk who PAY MONEY to belong to a *club*, are deleted if they are unable to join in for a while, when their fee is still valid and viable.

Like trying to take my favourite red shoes away from me cos I haven't worn them for 6 months.

Or my Sky TV cos I didn't watch it for 6 months.

I am amazed.

Hi Daff,

I certainly don't propose that anyone gets "deleted" - that would be quite wrong noting that they have paid to be a member. It would simply be useful to see how active other members have been. If as Marion says, another member hasn't logged on for 6mths+ then it's "probably" not worth E-mailing them?

Patrick

No Patrick, you haven't, and I apologise for finally blowing my top at your thread... the proverbial straw for me!.... but you will find (or might have done had I not mentioned it) that you would have had positive responses to your thread, people agreeing with you, and who would suggest that very thing... as I said, there has been a plethora of threads such as yours.... every week there is at least one... and you would be amazed at some of the suggestions that people have made. Some are actually extremely rude, and unfeeling, as was your probably tongue in cheek list right at the start of your thread..... but it has angered me!

Big Brother Nanny State, well, eat your heart out.

Hi Daff,

Well I realise I'm guilty of having got a little "out of my pram" when I started this thread & have apologised for that. However, looking at the situation calmly, don't you think it would be useful if GR adopted Ancestry's policy of allowing you to see when someone else last logged on?

It could reduce a lot of the frustration that many of us have.

Patrick

Hi Patrick... yes, it would probably stop some threads such as yours... and there have been worse believe you me. And so it would stop people like me blowing a gasket, too.

I don't *do* anger very often.... I apologise for letting it get the better of me this time.

Edit.... although it didn't stop two people from being quite shirty with me when I eventually went back onto Ancestry and caught up with my e-mails.

One there was no connection. The other... well, she had incorrect info, but we share a gt gt grandmother... she had the incorrect mother (who was the first wife). She was very rude when I pointed it out to her... and still has the incorrect info. Her loss, not mine.

So I don't think it would fully stop the problem.

By the way, there are no moderators on the site, although someone from the office does an occasional trawl.

Daff

I think it has to be said though that Ancestry costs rather more for a basic package than GR, so whilst I am thrilled that I can see when someone last logged in on Ancestry, i accept that paying £9.95 for a GR sub, isn't going to buy me the same attention to detail !

I would much rather be able to afford ( just) both options than be without one of the sites,if the prices went up..

Ancestry is a great resource, which I have used. It is understandably much more expensive than GR in terms of what it offers.
I still think GR is excellent forum/site, albeit that it has a more modest scope. However, whilst I'm not an IT guru, I'm sure that GR could rather easily "turn on" a "last logged on" function on their site.

It would just be SO useful.

Patrick

Personally I pay to be a member of this site, I don't want people to know when I last logged on, that is my business and besides it sounds too much like 1984. As I said earlier, just because I haven't logged in, doesn't mean I'm not interested in people contacting me. There are such things like notifications.


Also if you don't follow your normal pattern and log on people can assume you're on holiday which perhaps is an opportunity for burglars. just because it's convenient for some, doesn't mean that it should take away the rights of others.

Not sure how potential burglars would be able to work out your address from the very limited information available to others on GR??

then you evidently don't have a criminal mind Patrick lol, it really isn't that hard to do with the aid of a 'real name' which lets face it you are very likely to hand out to alleged potential contacts at some point even if you hide it on here and a rough idea of area...marrying details from different sites and searches can pin down people rather accurately!

Maybe it couldn't be done ONLY using GR, but then again......

Margaret,

I've read all on THIS thread. Can you clarify?

Patrick

Hi Patrick, some people put their full names on here or divulge it. They also sometimes divulge where they are from. If you've got an unusual name, it can be quite easy to track people down with 192. After all, we're all genealogists and some are experts at just doing that.

How sad that what seemed to be a wonderful opportunity has gone wrong, oldbean.

Is there no other way to make contact, e.g. asking if a member lives in the area so could make enquiries for you?

Have you info on the area they lived, so that maybe you could look at local papers and see if there has been a loss in the family?

It must be so frustrating for you to be so near and then lose the contact, hope some miracle happens and you hear from them again

Lizx

I have some matches that I haven't followed up but they aren't close living relatives

If I don't get a response within 2 weeks, depending on my inquiry, I remove the contact and relevant files and try some other time. It stops the build up of clutter. I have found that if the member is active I receive a response within 3- 5 days.