Genealogy Chat

Hi do other members send messages and not get replies.
I have assumed that people I have had connections to though matches for my family may no longer be on this site.
Sheila

Nudging up the main post as the duplicate has leapfrogged it.

Sheila

Have your messages been opened by the recipient?


Go into Sent Messages ..... if there is a green envelope against the name, then it has not been opened.

If three is no envelope, then it has been opened ........ but who knows whether they have read it!




sylvia

One tip is to contact those members who have added names to their tree within the past 14 days.

I find than this way I usually get a far better success rate in terms of responses, in many cases, up to 100%

I have messages that have been unopened from 2008 so I gather these people aren't members anymore or have changed their email address.

What I find more frustrating is the messages that are opened but no reply is forthcoming. I include a sentence saying that even if you aren't a paid member you can still reply to my message. Some reply some don't.


Gai

Another disappointment is when someone has asked for help on the boards and several people answer with good suggestions. The poster doesn't reply so a p.m. is sent explaining how to get back to the boards.The message is opened but zilch.
Some you win, some you don't.-jl

Thank you all for your replies I will act upon the advice given
Sheila

Reasons for messages not being opened ..........

........... member is dead

........... member is seriously ill or incapacitated

........... member has lost interest in GR, and pays no attention to emails from GR

........... member has lost interest in GR, no longer comes on site, AND has changed their email address but not notified GR, so cannot receive messages from GR re pms.

........... member is still interested but only comes on site once a year or 2 years.


GR cannot remove trees, only the owner of the tree can do so.

Trees in the first two categories cannot be removed if family members/friends/trustee/whoever

a) do not know about activities on GR, and/or

b) are not given the password and other information needed to enter the site and remove the tree and then notify GR to remove the member.



There are important messages for all of us here


1. Make sure you tell GR (and all other sites) whenever you change your email address

2. Make sure that someone knows the passwords and site information for ALL your sites, so that they can remove you if you are incapacitated.

I have a small notebook by the side of my computer, which contains all the sites that I am on, genealogical, social, shopping, free or subscription ...... there is the information needed to access each site ................ url, my name on site, password, etc. My OH AND my daughter know about this book, and will use it to remove me from ALL sites when the time comes.



Don't forget that many of you have automatic deductions from accounts to pay subscriptions. The site, whichever one it is, will continue to deduct the membership fee as long as that account is active.

Some sites will delete members if a sub is not paid ......... GR does not, they move the member into the Free category, and never remove a member from the site, except in cases of blatant ignoring of TCs and proper board behaviour. I think only a handful of members have been removed for that!





sylvia

................ who has to update her little book because it is a mess. Think I will get a small address book this time, so sites can be entered in more or less alphabetical order :-D

I sent a message to my dad who has a tree on here...well not really a tree just a twig with himself in :-D Some months later and no reply I mentioned it to him, saying you must have changed your email address then??

No was his answer I dont look at my emails...Oh well.

As for the subs Sylv that is a good idea if ill, but I always thought that your bank account was blocked when you died so nothing could be taken out, until the time came to share it out with whoever

As for joint accounts I am sure they closed the account then opened a new one for the living spouse/partner in their sole name

I'm going back 20 years when I dealt with these things. they may have changed or I may have dreamt it :-D

jax

here if one has a joint account, it still remains active if one of the spouses dies.


and I think the same is now the case in the UK ...... if what OH's cousin told him when he was over there in January.


We have a couple of joint accounts, and then accounts in our individual names, but we are about to go to the bank to add the other name to those individual accounts, so that the money can be accessed if necessary.


Not actually having had to deal with it, however, I am not sure of the actual procedure. :-)



sylvia

It has been my experience that some people 'discover' GR when playing with the idea of doing their family tree on a wet afternoon. They become engrossed in it and spend the next afternoon and evening on it - and the next and the next - but then, life gets back to normal and they forget all about their family tree and GR. In the meantime, they have sent pm's and others have sent pm's to them - but the novelty has worn off, so they just ignore it all. They forget all about GR and don't log into it to get their messages.

In fairness, I have to say that I often spend a lot of time on GR, then log out of it and back to my desktop and find that I have emails - only to find that there is one from GR saying that I have a contact from someone. This has apparently come through whilst I was already in GR and the envelope which shows against 'messages' takes so long to appear, that I have finished my session and logged out without seeing it.