Genealogy Chat

Margaret

Threads are usually nudged to the top so that OTHER people can see them, especially if it is a "tip" thread of some sort!

OR it may be nudged so that the person who started the thread may see it. It seems that many newbies do not know how to find any of their postings ...... so they don't know how to return to a thread to see if anyone has answered the question.


I think very few people actually nudge a thread for their own purposes. They rely either on Bookmarks or on My Threads.



sylvia

I'm just as frustrated with people who nudge threads instead of book-marking them (on the site). There really is a need for a "tutorial" on how to use the site. I've just wading through 18 pages of a thread, 90% of which was "nudges".

I agree I do things wrongly myself at times, and only learnt about the bookmarking system a short while ago, but it would make such a difference if everyone did the same.

Margaret

Sylvia,

Thank you for such a full answer. I take your point about old threads but I think that new ones of the type I have mentioned are incredibly cumbersome and that the search facility here is likely to be more efficient if, that is, anyone will reply.

Peter

sue,

Hi

Thanks for your message. We certainly do seem to be, don't we?!


sylvia.
xxx

Peter,

Of course the search facility can be used to find names on TTF or any board ...... no-one is even suggesting that it should not.

Each board does have its own search facility, so you have to do them all independently.

The problem is that people who put up threads in 2003, 2005 or even early 2007 most often do NOT check back to see if there any replies. AND they are very likely not to be using this site at all.


I think I am repeating myself here .................. a message left on such an old thread is most probably a wasted message, with the only result being that a lot of old threads are raised.

In addition, old threads have often already received information from censuses etc but this does not show on that board, because you used to have to respond only through GR email. So providing that kind of information is duplicating previous efforts.

It is far, far better, and much more likely to have a positive result for you, to use the Search facility to find threads that list names of interest to you, but THEN send that person a personal message through GR rather than posting directly on that old thread.


All you have to do is click on the person's name and it takes you to the internal email system.


As regards my use of TTF.

I very very rarely use it to find my names, as there is little on this site that is new to me! I have provided the information to most of the people who GR now recognises as my Hot Matches. Or I have told them where to find the information.

I do go onto TTF at least once a day, and look at the threads on the first couple of pages, to see if I can help anyone with information, just as I do on Tips and Records. The problem is that a lot more of the people who post on TTF are newbies who have little idea of how to ask for what they want, or who are searching for live people.


In fact, I gather that TTF was originally intended to be the board for trying to find living people.


hope this is of help to you


sylvia

Sylvia (and apologies to Sue for diverting her thread),

Thanks for the information about the Trying To Find board. I must admit that I have never used it as it seems terribly unwieldy; rather like the threads on this board ("who we are looking for in Leicestershire or Liverpool"), it seems to require laborious scrolling through of long threads or long lists of threads. Clearly you make use of TTF so could you explain why the same effect cannot be achieved much more efficiently by using the search facility to find people who have listed names that are of interest to you?

Peter

Peter,

I find the major problem is with the Trying to Find board.

Before mid-August this year, when the systems were changed, you could not leave postings on that board, everything was done by pm.

Many of the message now being brought up by the search facility date back to 2005, or even 2003, ie back to the very earliest days of GR!.

I'm willing to bet that most of those early posters do not check back on the TTF board, nor do they check back on their My Threads .......because a) they don't know that facility exists, and b) they are not expecting to get any contact through the Board itself!

Plus of course, they may no longer be members of GR, and do not look on here at all!

If you send a pm, GR will send an email to their last registered email address ............. and as long as as that address is still in use, they will be notified.


sylvia

Peter

yes, checking threads does deal with this but I bet there's a lot of members who don't know what a 'thread' is or how it works. It's a very recent facility and it took me a while to realise that it picked up the very first GR posts. When we log in, it might be useful if GR gave a prompt along the lines 'why not check your threads today'. I might put a request in.

Sue

SueS,

Doesn't checking your threads deal with this? The most recent postings bring the thread to the top however old it is.

Peter

Thankyou both for this I WAS unaware that this could happen. I have just checked my old threads and yes one i posted at the beginning of september had a reply which i was unaware of. It sounds quite a promising contact too/
Thanks for the tip.
best wishes Chris

I also have been trying to do this ..... or at the very least I post a response on the thread advising the "new" poster that he/she might be better to send a pm to the thread owner.


I work on the theory that the "new" poster will check back in a couple of days to see if there has been a reply!





sylvia

...I know I've mentioned this before but I do think some members (maybe new) don't realise that GR does not altert topic originators that a reply has been posted years later! I've just looked at a post on the TTF board from April 2004 and someone has replied today as if he was replying to today's email ...I 've just sent him a brief note to advise a personal message by clicking on the persons name and I think we should all do this when we spot it.