General Chat

Oh, but remember: in the case of my problem (no inbox), I did get an error message on screen, acknowledging and apologizing for the problem and thanking me for my understanding. ;)

Of course, they also got my emails after two days of that ...


I was just sure that InspectorGreenPen would know what the *real* problem was, and tell me how I'd caused it!

Could it be 'they' have fixed the non existant fault?

Well, my good news is that I've been able to access my inbox twice so far today!

Obviously it was my fault. All I needed was a good night's sleep, and it works!

5 PMs waiting - no.

2 PMs waiting - no.

It will be Janey it will be.

Oh, alright. InspectorGreenPen. Explain to me how this problem I am having is my fault.

I just know it is.

Now I see it, Ann! I still think maybe I'm the only one with NO inbox? ;) (My post on Chat.)

I'll let you know what reply I get from them. So far, our correspondence today has gone like this.

It apparently started when I went to my account to switch from contstant payment to sporadic payment, or whatever they call it. I thought I might change the credit card. Then I didn't have it with me, so I just switched it back and wandered off to read my PMs. HaHaHa. Actually, I sent a couple.

Not an hour later I have this in my inbox. Does anything but meaningless noise (okay, sometimes insulting meaningless noise) ever come out of this place's bot keyboards?

(That question wasn't directed at you, InspectorGreenPen, so I beg you not to feel obliged to answer it.)

First their email to me, followed by my two to them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Janey, need any help?

Hello Janey,

Thanks for using Genes Reunited today. You tried to use a feature only available to upgraded members, so I wanted to see if you needed any help.

Once upgraded you can send unlimited messages to other members of Genes Reunited to discover if you are related and share information about your family history. Plus, you can share photos with other members to bring your family tree to life.

If you didn't have your credit or debit card with you at the time, here's a link straight back to the upgrade page to save you a few clicks.

I hope we see you on Genes Reunited again soon.

The Genes Reunited Team

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No, I didn't. I have no idea what fresh nonsense this might be. I have a paid-up Standard membership, expiring on 31 July. I can send as many messages to as many people as I want.

What I did do was go into my account and switch from continuous membership to one-shot membership. Because I was thinking of changing the credit card details. Then I couldn't figure out what card I had used, and I got bored, so I switched back to continuous membership.

Then I went off and sent someone a message. Someone on the help boards whom I've spent several hours helping to find his elderly father's long-lost cousin or some such this past week. Just imagine if I (and a couple of dozen other people) didn't pay my membership. You'd have no service to sell.

Of all the things that need to be done to bring this website (the discussion forums where the paying members do the real work sold to the public by your outfit) up to the standards of 20 years ago, you're putting resources into monitoring my use of the site, getting it completely wrong, and bothering me with email telling me nonsense.

I do hope you enjoy the comments section of that online survey you're running. I know a few people have had a few pointed remarks to make.

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Y'know what, I DO need some help.

I want you to make this go away:

Error [IN BIG BLACK LETTERS]
Sorry. An error has occurred
We can't take you to the page you wanted. The problem has been logged and our team will be working on it.
Thanks for understanding. We're really sorry for any inconvenience!

This is what I have seen for the last two days when I attempt to access my INBOX. With fleeting moments of lucidity every once in a while when I manage to open all my messages quickly before it happens again. Which it does. The very next time.

I have two messages waiting from the person I've been spending hours helping to find his father's long-lost whatever. It's being done by private message because it concerns possibly living people. I can't read them, because my inbox is now an error message.

I don't care whether the problem has been logged. I really could not care less.

I want it FIXED.

You don't have my understanding. I don't care how sorry you are for inconvenience. You CHARGE ME for the use of these discussion boards. I expect to get the service I PAY for, whenever I want it.

The subject matter of this website may be old dead people. This really, really does not mean that we may be expected to tolerate your old dead software, or your old dead programmers, or whatever the problem might be, which I don't care about.

Fix the ****ed thing, if you would.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


No reply so far.

r . o . f . l

nudge up for Janey

On occasions, when it has been an issue affecting only a handful of users that have posted about it, it has been the fault of this site and the administration staff have admitted this.

My passwords for sites are all ticked.

Bouncing - the page bounced about, literally - only on this site; not constantly, just sometimes, and only recently.


I can, of course, only post on my behalf, others may have other experiences.

To be fair, this might not be as a result of anything GR have done to the site. Whilst GR have indicated the recent changes were a s a result uf user feedback, they did not admit (or indeed otherwise) that this particular fault was as a result of those changes.

Apart from certain operations which always require confirmation by re-entering your password, I use Firefox and I haven't been forced to re-enter my log-in password when moving between pages, so that would tend to confirm this is not an intentional site change.

If the same fault effects every single user, then it is likely to be a site problem. If only a handful of users are affected, then it could be their pc or browser set-up that is contributing to the effect.

Your browser settings do control how you log into various sises, whether or not your password is remembered. Under Tools, options Security, ensure that remember passwords for sites is ticked,

Clearing your cache regularly ensures that you load a fresh page from the web, rather than re-load a previous saved page. This is particularly important if the site has been upgraded since the page you have in your cache was created.

Certain 'clean-up- programs can also change settings without you being aware resulting in unexpected problems. Some anti-spyware programs will delete cookies containing site password rules, requiring you to log back in.

Other security settings can also have an effect. There was a member who complained a few weeks ago that the site was no-longer working for him and that GR must be to blame.. After some probing it turned out that he had changed some of his browser privacy and security settings to levels that no longer supported his browsing.

Often closing everything down and re-starting you PC works wonders too, particularly if you are not in the habit of doing this every so often.

If your toolbars and menu bars have disappeared you could be in full screen mode. Press F11 to revert.

What is the 'bouncing' problem, incidentally?

Quite, and the rest looked like a stereotype reply.

And the message notification has gone "silly" again, too.

The site really needs to be brought into the 21st century.

and mine Joy, it leads me to think that is because they can't because they don't know how!!

Very mild :-) but there are allegedly thousands and thousands of readers (ie Minnie Mouse etc) .... :-)

The wording "I will not reply to your points in detail" is most unhelpful, in my opinion.

Silly is a very mild word for it Joy.

Well, yes, I had that problem the other week but then all seemed okay again.

However, just now all I wanted to do was go from one board to another, and this appeared:

"Error
Sorry but there was an unexpected error. Please contact support quoting #JK80#1172790Thanks for visiting today. You've now signed out."


So I signed in again.


How silly!

Thanks Ann.

I've not had that problem.
But I cant find toolbar lol

So somebody on here has requested these changes apparently. I wish they would own up whoever they are. This was my reply from Genes.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

I am sorry that you are not happy with the recent changes that we have made to the Genes Reunited website.

We have reacted to feedback from our members to make these latest developments but inevitably, some of the changes suit certain member use more than others.

We are currently receiving a lot of feedback and suggestions from our members so I will not reply to your points in detail but please accept my assurance that your email will be individually read by our Management team and will be taken into consideration as we work to continually enhance the website over the coming weeks and months.

I am sorry to hear of your problems with having to sign in again. I can see you use Firefox. Please could you try clearing your cache?

Clearing your cache eliminates saved internet files on your system. Depending on how many cached files you have stored on your computer, this process can speed up your system slightly. However, cached files will soon accumulate, so clearing your cache often is important if the excess files concern you.

To clear your cache, click on "Tools" in the toolbar, then select "Options." Once the new window opens, select the "Advanced" tab. Under the "Cache" section, press "Clear Now."


I have assured them that I do clear my cache every night before I shut down!

For goodness sake, I was only away from the pc 30 minutes and I had to sign in again, even though I had not logged out of Genes. This is getting beyond a joke.

Just had to sign in again, - twice.
I had message to say I had PMs and had to sign in to read them, even though I went straight from reading the boards.
I could understand it perhaps if I was responding to an e mail alert, but not to go from one section of the site to another !

Gwyn

Not having a problem signing in Ann but, so tired of having to scroll up and down,down and up to get to the threads I want to read...the bouncing is soo frustrating!! grrr.......personally I think it might have a lot to do with why members don't come onto site much,as it's too time taking!!