General Chat

Hello Steve I would like to say how much I admire your coming to the front on the matter of the name change. You have explained your side of it quite well, but I am sorry to say that you still do not seem to accept that Genealogists - either indepth or just as a hobby, joined your site for what it offered. i.e an excellent research facility backed up by some really helpfull people with identical interests. Recently the site has become garbled by the influx of people trying to trace 'living' rather than dead relatives, this in my opinion clearly demonstrates the reason for a clear and fully understandable name. Calling it Reunited only leads to people thinking it will Reunite them with Lost Pals etc. Communication is the main theme of this complaint and it is obvious that the News Letter which should be the ideal platform for you to raise points on, does not get curculated as it should. When I joined Genes Connected it was like taking up 'family membership' as everyone was willing to help each other, so changing the name of a family has become a big thing! Owing to the type of work I do which takes me abroad for days without notice far too often, I cannot get 'stuck in' to any serious research, therefore the help I've received from members was a boon for which I am eternaly grateful. Recent times have shown that because of the amount of those seeking the living rather than the dead, trawling the boards has become very laborious and time consuming. There has to be a clear distinction between these two very different persuits in my opinion and that is why I got 'heated' thinking that we were beginning to loose out. I recently sent an email asking for your staff to consider a set of Advice and Guidance Rules for new joiners to adopt, the use of which would make their 'pleas' on the boards more inteligible, but I have not yet had a reply. Finally, I don't want to fall out with anyone and I do admire what you have achieved and would appreciate it remaining as GC with a clearer guiding distinction from your staff to new members only seeking the living. Sincerely Jim

Steve I for one appreciate you taking the 'personal' touch by posting this thread and adding appropriate messages along the way. I have only been on this site for a few weeks but it is certainly unique; I have found many ancestors already, including one that my family weren't aware of, and I've also made contact with a living uncle from whom my birth was kept hidden. Added to this, there are some really lovely, kind and helpful people on the site, and a bonus to my hobby has been making some great new friends. These friends supported me hugely in a recent bereavement. I've actually paid two lots of subs so that I can have two separate logins - I'm running a 'birth family' tree and an 'adoptive family' tree, so my commitment and enjoyment is clear. However, my one frustration (and it's a huge one!) is the speed at which the boards sometimes operate - it's so annoying to be on the chat board, which is supposed to be instant, only to find that messages take minutes to load and then seem to multiply. If you could get this one sorted out, you have a happy customer, and I'm not too bothered what you call the site! Thanks again for becoming involved 'in the front line' !! Best wishes, Mandy :)

Thank you for having the courtesy to reply. I appreciate it. I had felt that 'the powers that be' just weren't interested in people and seemed very distant! You see, it does make a difference when just one person - so far, you! - actually bothers to say something instead of the standard letter that some people have been receiving! People matter - people count - people connect! By the way, I do check the Wanadoo website for mails in the junkmail folder that shouldn't be there, and I can tell Wanadoo about ones that should be sent to me, so they've not slipped through the net that way! Also, I stil have not received a monthly newsletter! Thanks again for replying. Joy

Steve - thank you for your "Shocked" thread. l personally think the site is great - but communication with us all is important, even if its just to warn us of something new. Your staff have always answered my emails (thank you). One thing of great importance is the fact that this site is not ours, it is yours,which means you can do as you wish - although you have created the site for us!!!! Jude:o)

My last post for the night I'm afraid. Thanks for all the support and sorry if you are still not happy but we are listening. Steve PS - Don't know if I am related to an Emily but Anthony Adolph is looking into it for me and he is getting very close!!!

i think this site is brill its not the name that important but our families,and any site that charges only £7.50 a year as got to be good compared to most sites and there prices. we've got a good site here where we can help one another i've had only one reply from all the e-mails i've sent to people on this site,and then people have the cheek to complain, if you dont like it go or stop moaning and just get on with it after all you get a lot for £7.50, and make a lot of friends that you wouldn't have if you didn't have this site. so lets either stop whinning about the site and get a life and yes i know some of you will rant and rave, tough.

Joy Not sure on the numbers but I'll try and find out. In terms of not receiving emails I have thought of another problem people have sometimes had on FR. I'm not sure if this relates to you but we have found that some peoples company or personal mail servers actually block our emails and treat them as spam. That is why we introduced Site Mail on FR so that all emails are stored centrally on the site. We plan to introduce this into GenesReunited as part of the site re-structure. This will mean you cant loose any emails and also allow you to see when other members have read your email to them which is a big complaint of GenesReunited

Ken Point taken - I'll see what we can do - maybe a regular thread like this one.

I am so sorry that you are shocked, Steve. Well, I just wanted to say that sometimes a name can matter. Also, although I am supposed to receive a monthly newsletter I have never received one. And I have not received replies to more than one feedback I have sent. Also, if you look at the home page you will see, I believe, that it is mainly about finding lost people in the here and now. That is not what genesconnected is about, or so I thought. Finally, I have been pleased to pay my subs for friends reunited because I was interested in contacting a former schoolfriend. I was also pleased to be contacted by former schoolfriends. I was happy to subscribe to genes connected in order to connect, and, hopefully, to help others (and I believe that I have done this) because I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of help from fellow family historians. But to subscribe again later on to genes reunited - that I shall have to consider at the time. Just as a point of interest, I would be interested to know how many subscribers were consulted. Thank you. sincerely Joy

A couple of things learnt whilst studying business (many moons ago!) Good PR goes a long way, bad PR goes even further. Attracting customers is the easy part, keeping them is harder. Sue:-)

I am really impressed that you have taken the trouble to tackle the problem head on and I like many of the members here really enjoy a good debate and am willing and interested to hear the other side. I now feel GC/GR has its personal friendly side back thanks to your messages. I for one was just a bit worried that the essence of this geneaology site was going to change to a find your old friends and long lost (alive) relatives and that we would be pushed out. I may well join one of the new breed of geneology sites that have been mentioned here recently, but it will be in addition to GC/GR. I suspect this will remain the most prominent one for many of us. And hey I,m not averse to Tescos one week Asda the next I love choice! With regard to the GC?GR business well its your baby and I will get used to it (but I love a good moan/gossoip I'm afraid) I think its just we were all so fond of GC. Its like a trusted best friend. Thanks for a lovely site I for one will be renewing. Penny

Hi Steve I have been a member on this site for almost a year now and have only praise for a great site,which represents great value for money and most of the time great generous hearted people willing to help others in their research.As far as I am concerned it is OUR site it does not belong to a few but to all of us who use it and if some people do not like the name change and leave then it is their loss. I have never had any problems with slow running or lost info.Let us all appreciate what we have on this site and continue to help each other as we have in the past. Thanks Steve for a great site. Mary

I can understand members being angry about the name change taking place without you letting us know in advance, personally I don't care what the site is called. I come on here to communicate with the many good friends I have made, for the help that so many offer and it is the first place I look when I come on line. Not so often lately but that has nothing to do with GC. I have only just renewed my yearly subscription, so I'll be staying for the next year at least. I don't agree that all our emails are answered, a couple of mine haven't been. I agree too that the slowness is a pain and should be sorted out, because this tends to send us all off elsewhere. So keep improving the site, but keep us all informed too. Thanks. M.

As a member of both FR and GC/R I have been quite happy with the way the sites have been run. I have liked the fact that they are seperate from each other but am concerned that now they will be co-joined. I point out the obvious, friendsreunited is for reuniting friends, genesconnected is for connecting with your family(genes). The name change makes no sense to me at all. I will be staying here for a while but there are other things to sort out on this site before changing its name-namely the slowness, lost emails, errors etc..... Regards Viv.

Clear up a couple of more things. To clear up any confusion about viruses and spam. We get thousands of spam and virus emails sent to us every minute - they get filtered but this has an obvious overhead on our mail server. A few weeks ago a new worldwide virus started and this increased the amount of rubbish we get and sometimes its flipped over our mail server. We have been working our socks off to get an upgrade to work (you should see the guy who installs the software at night times!!) and are now looking at other options. Its not something you can do overnight as it takes a bit of time. It will get fixed and everything is still working fine - it just needs an upgrade. We never have had a virus and there is no danger to anyone else. I just thought our mail server problems might be the cause of a few lost support emails but the technical guys would know better. In terms of other threads being removed. We removed one site because it is a bit of a copy of ours and a clear competitor. I dont think Sainsbury's would like Tesco advertising for free in their shops!!! The other site I asked to remain as a lot of you feel strongly about this and we'd rather wait and see. I haven't had a chance to look myself. Our view has always been if a site compliments ours then we would rather endorse it and add it the Linked Site page, any others that are just advertising are removed.

Hi Steve, Good on yer mate. Personally I think the site is great. Well done. Baz

Hi Steve Thank you for explaining the reasons behind the name change. I still don't know how you can reunite with your genes, be they dead ancestors or cousins you have never met. The site will still be Genes Connected to me, as I think it is a much more suitable name, but you're the boss! I too have made many friends and connected with distant cousins (and some not so distant). I will still be paying my £7.50 as I think the site still represents excellent value for money - and it's British! I would really be a happy bunny if you could manage to speed the site up a bit - LOL Thanks again for your explanation, it's nice to know the site still has the personal touch. Sue

I personally think this site is really helpful,I know it has been a bit slow recently,but hopefully that will change.A name is just a name after all,it doesnt matter what its called as long as it helps people.Ill probably still call it GC though,like I still call "snickers" marathons lol. You cant please everyone all the time and there are always going to be people who are unhappy with whatever changes are made and will find something to complain about. Sorry if anyone is offended but thats my personal opinion!! Anna :-)

I am afraid this thread may degenerate into name calling and will then be a wasted opportunity for us all. I think what Steve needs now he has come into the open - and we also need - is honest and constructive comments not squabbling amongst ourselves about who is right and who is wrong. Can we all agree to accept that our opinions may not be the same, but they are all none the less valid and expressed calmly and clearly (as many are already doing) will help Steve and colleagues to see a way forward to improve the site in partnership with us? That's the real issue, and if we focus on it we'll get a lot further. I'll keep quiet now as I've had my say already and I'm happy to see what others have to offer. Angela :')

Yes this is a good site, but why dont they ever listen to us? why did they need to go to friends and other places to do their surveys? Why wasnt the survey done with all of the members on this site? And what ever your name is the one that posted for the first time. You have not got the right to call us whingers. we are merely voicing our opinions. and we havnt been name calling (which is what you were dong)so think before you write your next message.