Genealogy Chat

Over the past three months I have sent out over 100 emails to people regarding surnames in their tree and only about half of them have responded. My contact list is about a mile long at the moment and on several occasions I've made contact with someone who has turned to be related then I suddenly don't hear anything from them. It really infuriates me. George

I gave up using my H otmail account, it wasn't worth the hassle. My Y ahoo account offers 4MB more space than the H otmail one and the amount of junk mail I receive is fairly small. I too had to have my H otmail filters set to high so that the only mail that arrived in my inbox was from people in my address book, which is obviously no good for GC correspondence. I haven't contacted many people regarding family links, but the ones I have contacted replied fairly promptly. Whenever, I receive a message, I reply as quickly as I can. Common courtesy goes a long way but there are legitimate excuses and GC has let me down in the past with mail not being received or not being forwarded. I don't always tend to think of looking in 'Your Contacts' as my first port of call and I'm sure others don't. I think also that sometimes you just have to accept that some people won't reply. It's possible that they started putting their tree on GC then either gave it up as a bad idea or other priorities took over. They could have changed e-mail address and forgotten that the one that's registered with GC is their old one. Andy.

Looks like I have to write H otmail with a space, I do check my junk mail box and respond to any enquiries I get from GC members, however I was just explaining that if I was to be on holiday with junk mail box locked, then that may be why an enquirer may have a problem contacting me. In a week Junk would be over 200,some of them can be quite large, which fills up alloted space for my personal contacts, and once I had over 1600 Junk e mails in one day from one source!!

Please people I really did not ask my question to start an argument, I honestly didn't understand Valerie's reply, as how mail from GC can go into a junk box. I use mailwasher to filter all my junk, as Valerie is quite lucky only getting approx 30 junk hits a day, sometimes I get about 100 (my husband is now getting a complex, with what comes to my mailbox!!!) and the spam mail that wants you to buy a program that gets rid of spam, well!!! So, sorry if my reply was read differently wasn't meant that way. Kim

Hi Jacky You have helped me recently, I sent you an email thanking you which i hoped you recieved. I think this is a common issue people dont mind helping and I can understand that a little common curtousy doesnt hurt. Like my mom says manners cost nothing !! Regards

Hi Carol, Thanks for the advice. I use Outlook Express. Can you tell me how I can set that as the e-mails are always from different addresses. Sorry to sound dumb! Regards Margaret

sometimes people just don't recieve the mail and as in my case once i treid four times to send a reply to someone who contacted me and couldn't do it so I put a message on this board. Sue

If you use outlook for email, you can set a rule to put all GC emails into one box.

My GC queries also sometimes arrive in my Junk Mail folder but I never empty it without reading the addresses and titles. It's a bit of a pain but it stops all of the other rubbish getting into my inbox. I sent out seven queries two weeks ago to members with the same surnames that I am researching and not one of them have replied yet. I have just sent out another friendly note to them. Seems strange not to get one response? Regards Margaret

I have had great response from many people and an awful lot of help. It is just those few, especially when names, places and dates match perfectly who do not respond and could help just by saying no match. At least it would stop the wondering, waiting and hoping! So thanks to all who do respond! Jacky

Only today I had an enquiry. I couldnt help the person, but emailed a reply to that effect. I always acknowledge enquiries. I am a little wary of sending enquiries though. I got a really snooty reply from one, saying how dare I email, as I am a stranger. I thought that was the point of the site. They dont seem to be on here anymore.

Valerie does say "I use and......" The name of what she uses has disappeared, probably a programme that supposedly filters out junk mail, but these things can get it wrong. I personally, prefer to delete the junk myself, then I know I havent missed something important.

Eve, Please be careful not to jump to the wrong conclusions. This is how arguments start. I think Valerie means she uses H otmail or Y ahoo and the junk filters seem to put most of the GC emails in the junk folder. I have this problem too, but I periodically check for GC mail. Crista

Know how you feel Jacky. Frustrating isn't it. Would it be an idea for GC to allow a single contact from someone who has posted a message? I don't know, only a suggestion Paul

Valerie, Have I read your reply incorrectly? I have read it that anything that comes from GC goes into your junk mail is that correct? Kim

I use Hotmail, and any enquiries that come from this site go to my Junk Mail Box. As I get at least 30 junk e mails a day, I now Lock this box when I go away on holiday, so if anyone were to try me then, presumably it would be returned.

Hi Jacky This is a subject that has been thrashed out here many times, and I really understand your frustration having had many more than 3 enquiries ignored ! I think the problem is that most of the people that don't reply are not the people that use this board! Try not to let it get you down too much, after all you havn't lost any info - just havn't gained it- and there will be plenty of people who will come back and be really helpful (sorry this is not intended to sound patronising - I am being sincere and talking of my own experience) Best Regards Maxine

Can I please request that when anyone receives an enquiry that they get back to the person even if a negative reply. I have contacted 3 people recently, one of them 3 times, who have had people in their tree the same name etc. as my people but to date have not had a respone. I know most people are good but when there is someone out there that could hold the link to something that has been hard to find, it is sooooo frustrating. Maybe people change addresses and never receive the contact so if that could be you, please make sure you update your details. Thank you, Jacky