General Chat

Exactly the same as we did I should say Amanda. I dont' think it's any worse here than it was before, nor any better when it comes to the rows.lol

In fact, I can remember what my first post was about. There was yet another row going on in Gen, and Paul in Hampshire (I think, it wasn't norfolk Paul) had a 'sitting on the fence' thread. We all painted hippie flowers and things while sitting on said fence LOL

Another thing I found totaly strange was on the boards was people call one and another by their board names...I would read like ..



I am going to meet Donkey plop tomorrow and cant wit to meet cig packet and notepad and pen....shame lighter cant be there you will be missed hun..

( disclaimer they are random names btw)

And there was me wondering how I could have missed someone called " Donkey Plop "................lol

Yes , TW , I bet there is always a lot of " plucking up courage " going on...........even now............lol

I THINK my first ever post on General was asking about the etiquette of changing my name.........did I have to announce it beforehand etc

I could be wrong........But what I do remember was cringing as I sent it expecting to be shot down in flames lol

.........I wasn't.........everyone was lovely :0)

I think clearer "ground rules" would be good. For instance, it's sort of an unspoken understanding on here that you don't post e-mail addresses on the boards and you shouldn't add details of living people (or, if people do, the information shouldn't be posted on these boards) but if you look amongst the message board guidelines some of these things aren't explicitly stated. I don't think there's any point in them being tucked away in the small print because small print is hard to digest. I know we have the "before posting, read message board guidelines" thing above the Submit button, but - like with the small print - nobody is going to want to move onto a new page to do it. Just a few key points on do's and don'ts would be good.

Perhaps rather than the "report abuse" thing, there could be a "cause for concern" link, so if somebody found a post offensive they could flag it and if enough other users also found it offensive, it could be removed and a notification could be sent to the person who posted?

Also, some "Starting Points" would be good ie. a lot of people want to know how to find out about adopted relatives or their own birth parents, so perhaps there could be a section for general help/advice/guidelines on where to look for help in a non-board format, so it was like a reference guide. (A bit like the Help tab on most internet browsers and computer applications.)

Was it Chunky Monkey Paul TW ? The first time I went to reply to a thread I sent a pm instead and the first time I posted a thread I thought people were jolly rude for ignoring me as it never moved and noone replied but I hadnt even refreshed...pmsl

Definitely agree with BrummieHelen, too - maybe it could be a "colours" system so site users who had logged in within the past day were given a green dot, those in the past week could have a yellow dot, the past month an orange dot and the past 6 months a red dot?

That way, you might also be able to guess if they hadn't responded due to a holiday (could be a yellow dot in that case) or if the membership was likely to have lapsed (red dot, possibly).

Hayley I remember doing that many many moons ago, kept wondering why no had replied. Do you remember the original chat page? where there wasn't pages and pages of different threads on the chat board, you just posted and everyone who was on chat could see what you'd put.

I like the cause for concern thing.......

I quote roots chat again, because I think it is well run and I was used to that site before GR - if a thread is in the wrong place, then the moderator would move it; that could be done here if, for instance, a question is asked in duplicate here because a new poster wasn't sure where to post.

I think it was Hayley, it was a Paul who wasn't from Norfolk anyway LOL.

I think the fence buckled and collapsed under the weight of so many fence-sitters after a couple of weeks, and we all got sore backsides :-))

I do agree with the do's and don'ts list, which can be clearly visible, maybe in entry to the boards...

It doesnt bother me none if it goes or stays to be honest...I chat with who I want in others places,

I have a subscription to FMP and I wonder if I will be 'doubling up' now? On the other hand, it may just be an 'investment' type of thing and that everything will continue to be run by the same people as has been in the past.

I will certain look closely at the situation when the renewal time comes around. These are not the only genealogy sites around. There are some others - and quite good too. They even have their 'chats'!!. Also, they are FREE!