Genealogy Chat

We were wondering which parts of the site you like/use most.
1). Building your family tree
2). Message centre
3). Searching records
4). Community area
5). Searching trees
6). Hot Matches

Please reply to this post with your answers. Thank you
:-)

Actually prefer the Find Ancestors Board as I enjoy helping to find information for other members. Do you class this as no 4 ?

Not all bothered by the Quizzes and Games Board as never looked at it.

My tree is not built on site but use FTM and then do a Gedcom.

Hot matches are in desparate need of an overhaul

So number 4 but not in its full sense

Wondering why a poll now when there are so many outstanding issues with the site. What use is the poll going to be put to ? Will the results actually be shown on this site ?

Nowadays the only part of the site that I use regularly is its message boards (No 4 ?). Out of those the most used are the "Find Ancestors" and "Genealogy Chat" as I enjoy helping others where I can.

With regard to the other elements of the site I must confess to having little or no interest in them these days although they were of limited use when I first began my quest to discover my family history. As my experience and knowledge of genealogy increased it became obvious that a single genealogy site would not be able to provide the answers that I sought. As a consequence I joined another site which provided a much wider range of records for me to explore.

The part of the GR site which I found to be of least use to me personally was the "Hot Matches" facility. I would often receive long lists of details which matched an individuals name and birth year but their birthplace was often not in the same continent let alone the same country, county or town. In the end I opted not to receive any "Hot Matches" as those that I got only annoyed me.

In summary I would say that Genes Reunited is an ideal site to join for people who are just starting out but that in its current form its research limitations are quickly exposed.

As I had already done a lot of my research before I joined, my main aim was to get in touch with others researching the same families, and in this respect have been very successful.

So now I just tick over with my tree, searching records, messages, hot matches etc.

But every day I come on the community boards, to keep up with the latest suggestions, genealogy chat, and keep an eye open on Finding Ancestors.
Seldom use General Chat, and never use Quizzes and Games.

I also only use the Find Ancestors and Genealogy Chat boards in order to help others with their research.

I have no use for General Chat or Quizzes & Games.

I also use Search Trees but only to check names that have been posted in the last couple of days. Otherwise you can get a match with someone who has left the site. lost interest or even died.

I have no use for Hot Matches. What a disaster that is!

2, 4, 5 and 6.

As far as 1 is concerned, I use a PC program to manage my tree and upload gedcom to the site every six months or so.

For 4, mainly Suggestions and Genealogy Chat. General Chat and Find Ancestors very occasionally.

I occasionally use 5 - Search Trees, and 2 - Message centre if I succeed in finding a connection, but I regularly check 4 - for Genealogy Chat and Find Ancestors where it is possible to pick up very useful information.

I have only quite a small part of my extensive family tree on this site and do not intend to expand it here.

I cannot see the point of having Quizzes and Games on a genealogy site.

I use (2) message centre +(5) search trees + (6) hot matches.

I have Family Historian software that I use to build, maintain and expand my family tree. I have transferred my family tree from this onto GR solely for connecting with others researching and sharing sections of my family tree. I therefore use search trees to find others sharing names with me. I also use the 'tree matches' in each box on family tree. As I and others do this then messages ensue , many of which have been very interesting. I greatly miss hot matches, which is now virtually non-existent - Please bring it back! I preferred the old system which gave me too many hot matches - now the system is missing true matches.

I rarely use search records on GR - I prefer another site. Community area I have only recently started looking at, always genealogy chat.

Jenny

Find Ancestors message board 99% of the time

I glance at Genealogy Chat, and Find Living Relatives.

I avoid General Chat.............

My tree isn't on here, and I use other sites for searching records

I imagine the timing of this Poll is not unconnected to the complaints GR have received about the planned 'survey' in London, which will be accessible only to a miniscule number of members...........

1) I maintain a smaller version of my offline tree to get hot matches and contacts from tree searches.

2) I use the message centre occasionally but it is important to have it.

3) I don't use searching records

4) Every time I go to the site I check Suggestions and Genealogy Chat, less frequently I look at Anouncements and General Chat and sometimes I look at Find Ancestors to see if anyone wants lookups that I can do at my local Record Office. I don't usually look at Quizzes and Games nor Find Living Relatives.

5) I use search trees from time to time usually to see if any new matches have turned up.

6) I like hot matches as they can produce unexpected contacts but I prefer the old system where I got lots every fortnight although most were not real. Now I haven't had any since the middle of the year and no indication that any have been looked for.

PS The General Chat and Quizzes boards are very useful in keeping irrelevant stuff off the Genealogical Chat board.
:-)

I read Genealogy Chat most days, as I find it interesting and have picked up several useful tips. I have also been able to help people sometimes, although not on look-ups as I don't have access.

I occasionally look at Suggestions, but very rarely at any of the other boards.

When I first joined, I used Hot Matches a lot, and made a lot of good contacts, but that source has more-or-less dried up.

(I don't log on unless I want to do something like this, as I find the site behaves much better if I don't)

2
4
5

I only use 2, 4 and 5

On no please not another survey, what will it prove.?

If the site doesn't work properly then none of the above can be used.

1). Building your family tree... Find this hard to manage and making changes can be a nighmare
2). Message centre... occasionally helpful
3). Searching records... too costly for what you get, cannot look at previous or next page on census. Other sites do it much better
4). Community area don't use it Games etc are watse of time, and as to the chat, there are plenty of other sites to do just that.
5). Searching trees... never use it
6). Hot Matches havne't had any hits for months, need overhauling, and not mush good as some memebrs do ot even bothe to answer. Not much point in having it.

:-D Lindsey

I would say only 2 and 4 but do use 5 when trying to help someone find a contact.

To all you free members can you reply to this?

hello i mostly use 4 genealogy and fined ancesters family tree

nevergames or sucsess

sally w :-)

1). Building your family tree
not very often, have the bare bones here, that's all I want

2). Message centre
yes, for helping other members and talking to people I know

3). Searching records
never, horrible site for records, inefficient search function, no ability to correct mistakes, impossible to find things if there are errors in transcriptions, unwieldy access to images, too expensive for the product

4). Community area
often, for helping other members, sometimes asked for help with finding something in the past
but the 'chat' boards no, they have their own groups who come here to visit with one another, I posted a 'game or puzzle' once and was studiously ignored :-)

5). Searching trees
yes, for helping other members on the find ancestors boards, sometimes for people in my own tree ... in the past I did my tree searches and did find several people I didn't know with shared ancestors some quite recent , and when I persisted with searches every once in a while in the hope of finding a couple of lost branches I did finally succeed when someone new joined and had knowledge of my mystery people, so that has been a very useful and successful function

6). Hot Matches
I check them but with the old system they were useless, now there aren't any, people I match with are those I already know, but I did find them originally by searching trees here

I am continuing to build my tree on this site. I therefore also use Tree Search and Find Ancestors as well as Geneology Chat.
When I joined there were no Records on here so I use other sites and never bother with these especially when some of the paid Records on this site are available for free elsewhere.
Have always used Message Centre and occasionaly when bored with my Tree I use the Quizzes and Games.
In the early days Hot Matches was helpful but with a large tree I find them more a nuisance than a help.

I use Genealogy Chat the most.
Hot matches need to be brought back in their old format as you can easily delete those that are not relevant.
Games and Quizzes do not really belong on this site
The old format for this site in general was much better should never have been changed when there was a change of ownership
Hope this helps
Norma