General Chat

Well said Stella :-D

Graham that is what I meant in my post by the anonymity of the cyber world. People not used to debating in normal life can't take a difference of opinion to their own and good manners go out of the window. It doesn't help when there is no guidance from admin when posts are RRd and anything said to upset anybody is just wiped out. there is no attempt at mediation.

We used to have a cyber pub on here and it was lots of fun, how we got away with some of the posts i will never know ..they were hilarious and i made a lot of friends in those days, some i still keep in contact with today.

Also i agree with Emma, people are more interested in disagreeing with other people than seeing the light side of life.. we don't come on here to be ignored or have our opinions torn to bits.. everyone is entitiled to have an opinion and share it,ok so others think differently.. that is healthy so why argue who is right all the time? :-D

Some debates haven't been very friendly though; with posts getting RRed or the poster being told to go away.

Mary, we found when we retired that we each needed our own 'me' time. So, he goes to golf and I come on here. We did invest in a second computer though and often we are in adjacent rooms on the pc doing different things.

I suppose we all do what is best for us. I don't have any local friends after moving around so much so most of my friends and contacts are on the pc. that is by email, Genes, Facebook and other groups.

as Mersey says, it will never again be like it was on here when it was all so very exciting to have contact with people all over the country/world who started with a common interest of genealogy and who went on to form cyber friendships, then real friendships when we met. Sadly the anonymity of the cyber world led to problems and falling outs, big bust ups which destroyed the original close community feel of these boards and the original GR team, unpracticed in handling these things didn't help at all. That was the first big split when we lost so many fun people. However, those of us who have embraced Facebook (ignoring, in my case, the games etc and concentrating on the community) have found that many of those much loved friends are 'lurking' over there. There are still so many lovely people on here with whom I enjoy keeping in touch. OK they don't all post all the time but they are there. The long term threads do work for many people, they are used much as the old chat board used to be. I am as guilty as most for not dropping in to them, but there is still that feeling of gatecrashing when we do. I have, though, always been made to feel welcome.

So, if you are missing someone you used to chat to, have a look at the Friendly thread, the Aussie, thread, the Welsh thread, the one misnamed as 'what you remember from childhood' and other long running threads. You may be surprised. :-) :-) :-)

Our lifes change over the years . when I was on my own this was company for me but now Paul has retired the time is for us. Suppose that sounds selfish it is not meant to be. I still look in every day but have to take a turn on computer not having sole use of,

But I do have so many happy memories of times spent on GR . laughed and cried . and it is a shame so many people no longer use the boards. Still think for support you cannot beat the good folks on here.

Lets hope 2015 will see more fun and laughter

Mary xx

Here goes, here is my attempt to post :-D ;-)

I have always tended to post everywhere and anywhere but especially in the last 18 months or so I would say there has been a more drastic change.......

The only way is to look at the change and move forward, we cannot change the past regarding the boards, posts and even people on here with their different characters, points of view and different sense of humour and choices of where they post....

The boards are here to be enjoyed and to be chosen by choice and interests.... <3 <3

I think Gwynne has a good point. All the new forums and facebook have attracted a lot of people away from GR. Then also the gen board slowed down when they added the board for quizzes and hobbies. while, in a way this was what we wanted, what we didn't realise was that people who went on the quizzes would also read the rest of the board and join in. Now, people who just like quizzes invariably don't come on chat. I don.t think the same applies to the hobbies board. I think that works the other way round. People forget that is there and anything to do with hobbies just sits there whereas before if somebody went on chat and saw a thread on, say, art, they would join in. so that split in my mind is not a success.

I echo what Sylvia and other have said.

When I first started to contact new folk who didn't return to their threads, it could take a couple of hours and about 50 messages per day.

Nowadays, it takes between 5-10 minutes, if that. :-(


I suppose the world and members has moved on. There are many more genealogy sites, chat boards and things of interest to capture people's attention and, of course, there is FaceBook! :-D

GR chat had been in decline for years. Nothing to do with posts being reported. Far fewer are reported these days than in the "bad old days".

There are a lot more forums out there now and, of course, face book. People have more choices about where to go.

The GR format is old and tired. It looks very dated, you can't even post pictures.

I think so many people have left the site, and there just isn't the interest.


I used to spend hours working on requests on Genealogy Chat and Find Ancestors ............. and then see pages and pages on this Board.


No longer.


There might 2 or 3 new requests overnight from overseas people ................. while UK members have been racing each other to reply to requests posted during the UK day and evening! I often see 3 or 4 people posting the same census, bmd, etc one after the other .............. seemingly without noticing that the information has already been found and posted!




It's all getting very boring!

I used to have to plough thru 10 pages each night on here to keep up with everyone when I first joined in 2005 These days I have a tablet so I can watch stuff recorded from tv as I read and post but it's not so quick to reply without a firm keyboard and I get more tired too.

At the mo I am watching A Place in the Sun from theSpanish coast, Uzzi, roll on summer

Lizxx

Btw sorry Gwen if I missed your hello thread xx

I used to have to plough thru 10 pages each night on here to keep up with everyone when I first joined in 2005 These days I have a tablet so I can watch stuff recorded from tv as I read and post but it's not so quick to reply without a firm keyboard and I get more tired too.

At the mo I am watching A Place in the Sun from theSpanish coast, Uzzi, roll on summer

Lizxx

Btw sorry Gwen if I missed your hello thread xx

in the early days, it was a case of anything goes........
I remember threads about training young boys not to pee on the toilet seat,

all sorts of banter, talk of scams virus's urban myths........the boards moved like lightning sometimes, comic threads , virtual hotels............all gone....


I think that 12 years on,
many are not as young as they were, the novelty has worn off, too many boards,
lots of original posters are no longer with us....fear of offending, or being RR'd

and general apathy........(apart from the dedicated few....of course)

NITE NITE ALL

AND OF COURSE P <3H
XXXX

Yes Dizzi Dumplin........

I lubs you i doooooooo.



:-D <3 :-D

PH,,
POST AND THEY WILL COME,,

DO YOU REMEMER FIELD OF DREAMS

"BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME"

The other thing is, if you're looking in using your phone, it's easy to read posts but not so easy to write on a tiny keyboard.

That's my excuse ;-)

I dont often post on here. I am not very good at putting words down , and find it easier to talk face to face with people. I do enjoy looking in and reading what people have to say though. :-)

:-D :-D :-D : @ Joy

Liar,Liar, pants on fire.

;-) xx