Suggestions

Hi everyone,

Thanks Sylvia, as stated when you PM someone they may longer be active, hence the non-response. They may not be consciously ignoring your PMs, just no longer a frequent user or have not received your message. We do not remove trees as the user may return to Genes Reunited.

Regards

Shelley

You're right DC - they can't post on a thread, or initiate messages. They *can* reply to a personal message.

SylviainCanada has listed most of the reasons for not replying.

My 89 year old mother-in-law has a embryonic tree on here. Even if she were to receive a message, she has forgotten her password and can't sign in. With the current problems she is having with computers/laptops, she is seriously considering giving up with the internet altogether.

Am I right in thinking that Free members cannot respond to threads on the boards?

They can read but not contribute....

Reasons for people not replying to pms or messages


First of all, it is important to remember the following facts ..............

GR NEVER deletes a member's tree unless a member has been banned from GR for some reason, and that happens rarely.

Most members are probably Free members, as that is how GR began back in 2003.

Any subscribing member who does not renew the subscription is merely dropped down to the Free category by GR, so the tree remains on site, and they can continue to work on it.

A tree is only removed if the member either does it themselves or asks GR to remove it.


So, major reasons for no response to approaches ..........................


1. They have changed their home email address and not notified GR. So any message sent by GR just goes into the ether.

2. They have lost interest in GR, never come on site so do not see that there are messages waiting for them. However, they have not deleted their tree from GR and remain Free members. Some members have admitted in the past that they only look on site once a year or every 2 years.

3. They have become incapacitated through illness and can no longer access GR. No member of their family is interested, or knows about GR, so they remain as Free members with their tree still on site.

4. They have died, and no-one in their family knows about GR, and thus the tree can not be removed.



To ensure that none of the above can ever be applied to you .............................

1. Remember to keep GR updated with a change of email address

2. Ensure that a family member or close friend knows about your tree on GR, AND that they know your site name and password, so that that person can come onto GR and either continue with your tree building or remove your tree so that someone in the future does not face the same problem.



Also remember that no-one HAS to respond to a request by pm. There is nothing in a membership on GR that says one has to respond to another member if one does not wish to.


Many people, especially in the early days, regarded GR as a good place to build a tree fro free, and are not interested in contacts.

How would you suggest they get prompted? When you send somebody a message on here they get an automated email informing them of that. If they have not seen the message or the email, they would be unlikely to see any prompt.
I have sent messages to people that I have not received any reply from. I would not want those people removed from this site. I'm still hoping that they might return and receive my messages. ;-)

i too am frustated that i have messaged members to view trees or for information i perhaps might only find from them regarding ancestors and no reply on the majority
perhaps something could be done to denote whether the account is inactive or active

It's back and I can see nothing wrong - it is just another impassioned plea from someone who is desperate to make contact and doesn't know how Genes works.

Very strange. The post was strongly worded but certainly not worthy of reporting.

Ummm that's odd

Why was OP RR'd?

It would also be nice if you acknowledged your replies

This site is FREE to build a tree and many members may have never paid to use the site.....So do you want GR to remove their trees?

Or are you talking about a post on the boards made many years ago, which if they wanted to reply they would then need to re-subscribe to do so at a cost of £15-£20

Many people may have also have died since joining.....how are GR meant to know that?

People may have good reasons for being unable to reply. It would be unfair if they found their account was deleted when they eventally returned.

When will some action be taken in respect of those very very many members who do not reply to queries?
It is soul destroying.
I presume these people must still be members. If so cannot Genes prompt them or take down their topic.
Ian