Genealogy Chat

please see below

I have noticed over the last few months that there have been a lot of the older members ie less than membership no 2,000,000 suddenly posting on this board whose names I have never seen before. How refreshing; and with a lot with good tips too. The percentage of members actually posting on the boards must be very tiny compared to the 5 million or so that have supposedly registered. Just wondered why? Is it because you have just found this board, didn't want to use it before for some reason or have come back to it after a long absence ? Whatever the reason it is good to see some old hands back to contribute to a board that was getting a bit stale. Curious Kat

I guess that a lot of people just don't have the time to post messages or offer help. Also, some people might sign up as members then quickly lose interest.

i have been here about 3 years and have lost count of the nuber of people that have gone, deb the leg bone & Tracey o'Leary on records were always on a few years ago, but have returned.

I can't remember when I joined, nor can I find my membership number, so I don't know if I count as old or not!! I used to use the boards alot a couple of years ago but put my research away for a while due to other commitments. I still can't get on very often, nor help as much as I like but it's nice to be back. It's good to see some old and new names on the boards :-) I can live through other people's research until I can get to the county records office to do some more digging on my own lines!! Jenny Oh yes! I've gone under a couple of different names on the boards aswell (though not highly disguised!). That always throws me when I see new names, finding out they are in fact someone else!!

There are lots of different reasons for joining, and the Success board makes it plain that there are plenty of active members who have rarely posted on Tips or Records. Dodos like me might take ages even to find the tips and record boards; still longer to pluck up courage to post. This board is constantly renewing itself and the great joy is the variety of opinions expressed. Each new perspective helps our understanding. There is no correlation between membership number and expertise: people may have joined early, but put their research on the backburner, or only recently found GR after doing lots of research. I do have profound respect for anyone who joined early, but then visited the site after many months. When I joined, I managed to mistype my email address, so missed lots of messages. Unless you are good at remembering all your passwords it can be very difficult to access a site if you have deleted your cookies or changed your email address.

jenny your membership number is 1812448 and Date Tree Created : 27/09/2004 21:53:05. if you hover the mouse over a name their membership number will be at the bottom of your screen but you cant see your own. jenny I joined about 3 years ago and post sometimes

Thank you Jenny! My tree on here is 'newer' than I thought then. As Phoenix pointed out there are various reasons why people do / don't post. I started this in the 1980's (oh my!) but have managed to contact people and grow my tree much quicker since sites like this and Ancestry came online. It is impossible to judge people's experience by their dates, numbers or amount of people in their tree :-)

Statistics on this sitearevery misleading. For instance I have seen countless times the same person from a tree entered by the same person 4 or 5 fold-this may be due to gedcoms or the like-but the site counts them as individual scores,thus boosting false figures. On the same note,Ive noticed multiple memberships from a family I am related to on here- about 9 seperate memberships-only one of the family actually does any research-the memberships were presents,and were not renewed.But still they are part of the figures in that their entries are still on here and people might think them still members. From the early days I would be surprised if 10% actually stay after 2 years once the bulk of ancestry has been exhausted and other matters take priority-think thats the problem with general-they dont realise that they are in a minority in that the site is a major part of their social life .For every person that posts on here there are probably at least 20 that just read and flick through.

Hello, Kat..... nothing really useful to say... but hello... :-)

Hi All, I have noticed that some of the old hands have made some really useful and interesting contributions just lately, like yourself Phoenix. Whether you have changed your name or not I'm not sure, but can't remember seeing it before a few months ago. I think that the membership nos are a hoot and really don't reflect the true number; I too know someone on here with at least 3. lol. I'm sure GR know that too but why should they care it looks good in the advertising. Kat :) Hi Joy, nice to see you

Hi Kat Used to be on here quite a bit a year or so ago but got a bit sidetracked........ Daisy

Kat - Phoenix is Brenda. Hello, Daisy.

Oh!! *realisation dawns* See what I mean about names - Phoenix / Brenda - I know who she is now and remember her helpful posts from before!! You are more easily recognisable Joy! :-)

It's funny that Joy is more recognisable, yet she has more names than anyone!! I am hopeless at remembering names. I can only remember them if the person is dead! LOL It took me two years to notice these message boards............. Merry

Am I, Jenny? Have I really, Merry ? That is quite something..... :-)

I think it's the 'maid' in you mostly Joy! Though I did get a bit confused on general (though I don't go there often) one day!!

I was very confused one evening, Jenny, when Paul Barton used my Maid Marion name!!!!

Well, blow me Brenda, I thought you must have gone on a Sabbatical!!! That's what I mean, Merry, some people just don't realise what help is available on here. I think it's the Home page that is mainly the problem, all the important bits about how to get started and what other boards are available have to be scrolled down to and they are missed. Kat.

Don't know my member number, but I've been here for awhile. Have constant computer troubles at home so rarely can access the internet there. Was having trouble with viewing (posting, actually) GenesReunited message boards for the longest time, so gave up. Don't have viewing problems anymore; now use the computer at work before I start my day, and use it on my breaks, so here I am. :) Back to work. :(