General Chat

I do find it ironic that an e mail I sent as part of a continuing conversation with support regarding the error messages has not been able to be delivered because it keeps timing out!!! :-D :-D

:-0 :-0

I never used to get them Ann - until recently.
I keep reporting them just to see how many different replies they send!
'Clear your cache' - it clears itself
'Try a different browser' - why? I only get errors with GR

It's less hassle to click the logo on the error message but reporting gives them something to do :-D

I think there's only one person responsible for GR ...... and not always the same person either!

No wonder your emails are timing out ........... their boxes are full


I've given up complaining to them. They only suggest the same old same old, and there is NO techie able to sort it all out since Phil left.

In fact, I doubt there IS a techie assigned to GR.


It's as I have long said .............. GR is being driven into the ground.

We can hang in here, keep the members part going, but I doubt there will be any serious effort to improve the mechanics of the operation.

I am also fed up of the error messages and the replies you get from support - it's NOT my end it is theirs.

My subscription was due to renew last week. I have it on auto renew but I knew my card had just expired - they did send me an email telling me this and how to update the details of my new card. I tried to do this 4 times and kept getting a message saying "Error, your payment has been declined".

I sent them an email telling them this and asking what I should do. Their answer was that I needed to inform my bank. Did this and there is nothing wrong with my card or funds. Again they kept telling me how to update my new card details. In the end I decided to send a cheque for the payment. Only after I had sent the cheque did I get the following email:-

"Thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention.

This problem has now been resolved and will work correctly if you would like to try again.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that was caused by this problem.

If you need any further assistance please do let me know."

So you see the problem WAS at their end, but the cheque had already been posted.

Now my continuous membership has a gap of three days while they sorted this out and I couldn't add to the boards during that time which annoyed me after being a member for almost 15 years. Hopefully I will still get the cheaper subscription price next year or I'll be even more annoyed - that's if the site is still going next year!!

Kath. x

Kath ............

they did used to give a month's grace period in which to renew without losing your grandfathered status.

Hope they still do that for you.

I did actually have a halfway intelligent conversation with Liam who asked techie type questions that were not stereotyped, but then the next time I was back to one of the females with the usual rubbish about clearing cache and I should log in on the uk account. It was when Irepliec to tell her I had been on the N Z site for 15 years with no problem until the last year or so that I had the mail returned. Fair do they have tried to deliver many times so far.

Perhaps we could threaten a class action against the operators, after all there is an implied contract between them and their customers to provide a service that is fit for use.

That is a serious suggestion, not one of my usual 'jokey' type responses

That might be a good idea, Allan!

The T&Cs contain this line "We may remove all or any part of the non-Core Services (such as message boards) from the Genes Reunited Service, either on a temporary or permanent basis, without liability to make a refund to you."

That implies that they could withdraw the message boards if continuing them became more trouble than it was worth.

Judging by comments on the threads it is contributors to the two large active threads on page one of the General Chat board who are plagued by the errors.

The fact is that few people get these error messages and those that do are usually contributors to the large threads. It might be a temporary solution to increase the timeout period but that could have an adverse effect of the operation of the site for most people.

So I suggest that posting is stopped on those threads and replacement threads are started which you can link to the old threads using hyperlinks. When the big threads have dropped off page 1 you should find that the errors become much less frequent.

I don't contribute to "the two large active threads on page one of the General Chat board" - whichever they are - Ken. In fact I rarely post these days but have been getting the error message for the first time in the last couple of months.

We don't really know how many members are getting the error message.
It's getting onto the site in the first place that is the problem not accessing the boards once in.

How do you get on to the site Island? If you go via the home page you shouldn't have any problem, if you go via My Threads or General Chat or Quizes, it may be more likely that you will have trouble depending on how many threads you have contributed to and how active they are. If you have ever contributed to one of the large threads (Nutlodge and Childhood Memories) then you may be affected.


I agree we don't know how many members are affected but when I looked at big threads recently it seems that everyone posting complained about it but on the general day to day threads there is very little complaint.

I agree Island. I don't contribute to any very large threads and it is when trying to access the site that I get the error message - every single time! I now just click on the Genes logo on the error message and usually get on after one or two attempts at that.

If I leave the computer for any length of time (leaving Genes open) then I get the error message the next time I click on anything at all.

It's a sorry state of affairs for what was once a thriving site with a great community, and, just like my attempt to renew my subscription, I'm certain the fault lies with Genes themselves and not the members or anything they are doing.

Kath. x

It is probably that the people on the large threads are consistently on them (i.e. among the best customers. And it is definitely not only them. Admin admitted they had had complaints but were unable to replicate the problem.

Kense it seems that you always appear to stand up for genes/admin and infer that the rest of us are at fault. There have always been longer threads (some of which have gone now, but we have not always had the problem. And yesterday I tried to log on as if not being a member and, guess what, I got the error thread.

Perhaps occasional posters on the 'day to day threads' can't be arsed to complain about error messages Ken? :-) I only responded to Ann in support, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to comment on the issue,

I'll change my route in and report back in a few weeks time but that doesn't explain why, as someone who doesn't go on Nutlodge and Childhood Memories - not even for a nosey, should be affected according to your theory.

Uddy ell! It's come over very dark - time to batten the hatches :-0 :-0

I don't go to those two threads

I enter GR Boards Summary via Bookmarks .............. often get the Error message, especially after midnight UK time :-S

I then click on My Threads ................. get the Error message about 50% of the time, especially after midnight UK time :-S


Go figure!!!


I'm now not swearing or getting upset ........... I give it 2 tries, then hit the GR logo, and usually (!) get onto Home Page

Occasionally I get the Error Message trying to go to Boards Summary from Home Page.

Again ............ go figure!!!

I access the site via the home page.

So fed up trying to change boards and constantly getting the error message

It does seem to be more prevalent trying to switch to the general board BUT also get it just trying to open a thread

Happens every time whether I am on the iPad. PC.with windows XP or laptop which has windows 10

It only happens on the genes site too so it's their system :-(

I have to try several times to get on to gr, it drives me nuts!

Lizx

No I am not standing up for Genes, they are not doing enough to keep the system going properly, but then I doubt that they are taking enough from subscriptions to employ more than a skeleton staff.

Basically stuff is being added to the site daily and eventually it will become unusable unless their is an increase in server capacity.

The error report problem is not caused by a single problem but in general it seems likely that most errors are caused by the amount of processing needed being too much for the server loading at that time. For some it may be that the available capacity is low when they log on, for others it is the amount of data hat has to be retrieved.

I don't know the details of the GR software so I can only guess at what may be critical. To me it seems likely that he number of threads contributed to is a factor and from the comments on the two large active threads on General that anyone who has posted on them is more likely to get an error. Just looking at them however does not give an error.

I note that there are some large threads on Quizzes and Games that don't seem to result in errors. That may be because the posts are very short so the total data involved is relatively small.

I wonder if it would improve things if they deleted any threads before a certain year, I don't know haow much old threads add to the amount of data held, or do they not matter because they are inactive?