General Chat

hmmm


that's interesting

Sylvia
I said that to her when she was telling me ,Told her you can still reply but she said when she did try to reply she got directed to join again which she didnt want to do

Shirley


she should still be a member ....... a free member


as I said above, GR do not remove people ........... if you do not renew your sub, you are dropped down to free status.

and that emans thta you should still be able to access your tree and respond to messages from other members.



sylvia

I talk to my sister in Canada via msn every week,
A couple of weeks ago she told me of a hot match enquiry she had had. She isnt a member any more as didnt renew her subs as I do the family tree and have gone back a long way.She only had a small tree on here anyway.
She tried to reply but was directed to rejoin which she didnt want to do, Fortunately I have been in touch with the same contact so was able to tell them why she couldnt reply.

I think some of us are in the same boat
i have rellis on here that i have sent pms to and thay have not been opened
and i now no
why at least 2 rellis dont have internet any more

i think we have to bear in mind that maybe some nether had internet in the first place and may of used the computer in there work place

the only thing i have done is to get in touch with GR to remove the liveing names that came up in the tree search
my direct line

Free Members can still be 'active' and reply to personal messages that have been sent to them.

If you message has been read then at least you know the member is active in one way or another. Try sending a follow up after a week or so. Has worked for me in the past.

Alternatively, concentrate on members who have added something in the last 14 days. These are most likely to reply to messages, I find probably a 90% success rate ding this.

David


you're just going to get the same sort of answers from us that you got on that previous thread because WE cannot tell you why someone else does not reply


But some numbers for you


GR says they have well over 11 million members

those numbers run consecutively from the day GR started in 2002

GR never removes a member ................ only a member can remove themselves from the site

If a subscribing member doesn't renew, then GR just changes the category to Free Member


I believe that all this translates to possibly something like 100,000 "active" members at this point in time ................... if you're lucky

it might only be 10,000


Of those "active" members maybe 10% are really active, gung-ho about their research.



Of the 11 million members, I wouldn't mind betting that something like 1 million might well have died since 2002, or become so seriously ill that thye can no longer work on their tree.


Possibly 5 million have changed their email addresses, but have forgotten to notify GR



You see ....... you may not believe the reasons that we have given you, you prefer to insult people by calling them lazy etc



but the reasons we have given you do add up



and please ..................... why on earth should GR take responsibility for someone not answering a pm from someone



that's just plain silly!




Have you checked the envelopes in the Sent part of your Messages? Have they been opened or not?


If they have been opened, then that person for whatever reason does not wish to have contact with you, and there is nothing that can be done to force it

If the envelope is still purple, then it has not been opened ................. and again there is nothing you can do about that.




sylvia

All too often, we get the person who has nothing to do over a wet weekend, so suddenly decides to start their family tree. Over the next couple of weeks, they join GR, start their tree and find it all 'fascinating'. Then, something new takes their interest, and they forget all about their family tree. I call them "Seven Day Wonders". They don't tidy up but leave their tree there and if they receive an email from GR stating that someone wishes to contact them, they ignore it because they are no longer interested and don't have the manners to say so.

Over 4 and a half years I have always received replies to requests for info, unless the person has already left the site and the message has been un-opened.

You surely can't reject the 'excuse' of being dead David?

Everyone pays to use the parts of GR they wish to, they make no commitment to share what they might know, or to ask for info if they choose not to. If they choose not to share trees or info, that is their right, though of course it is more polite to say that is what they are doing.

Maybe some just don't LIKE being contacted by strangers that they might not actually wsh to speak to.

Have you checked to see whether your messages to these people have been opened? If so then I agree there is no excuse (except for illness or death) for them not to reply.

However if the person has been a member or quite a while and they change their email address without letting GR know then they probably won't get the email from GR telling them they have a message. Some people only follow this hobby either in winter months or at times when they aren't busy with other things. You can't expect everyone to have the same enthusiasm.

Kath. x

I raised this issue about requests for info not being answered before and there was a torrent of replies about people being busy, dying, ill etc.. I again raise the issue because I reject all the excuses. Over the years I must have sent at least fifty requests for possible matches , exchanges of trees or just plain info. The amount of replies that I get is pitiful considering that I am polite and always offer something in return. Never mind all the excuses .. people are just plain lazy, have little or no interest or are hoarding their info with great zeal. Genes reunited should monitor ignored requests and do some prompting.