New Matches that don't respond

[peter]

I'm still "awaiting a reply" from two of them.

Just a reminder that if any LostCousins member is connected to a new cousin I'll chase them up if they don't reply within 14 days - but you must ask me to do this.

I suggest you make a note of the date you first tried to contact them in the Notes section of the My Contact page (you can get to this page by clicking on your cousin's initials on your My Cousins page).

 

[Norman]

I've now had three contacts. I'm still "awaiting a reply" from two of them and I've emailed the third. This was a couple of weeks ago but I've had no response from him yet.

Just a reminder that if any LostCousins member is connected to a new cousin I'll chase them up if they don't reply within 14 days - but you must ask me to do this.

I suggest you make a note of the date you first tried to contact them in the Notes section of the My Contact page (you can get to this page by clicking on your cousin's initials on your My Cousins page).

An update:

I emailed Peter to inform him of the details. He immediately sent a reminder to one of the two who had not responded. Almost by return I had notification that the contact had agreed to exchange email addresses. I've now emailed her and hopefully contact will soon be established.

Another thing I've just noticed is that the date that contact was made now appears in the "Relatives" section. Is that new and is there any way that the initial contact date can be shown in the "New Contacts" section? This could act as a reminder for any necessary follow up. (I've got a head like a sieve).

 

[peter]

Another thing I've just noticed is that the date that contact was made now appears in the "Relatives" section. Is that new and is there any way that the initial contact date can be shown in the "New Contacts" section? This could act as a reminder for any necessary follow up. (I've got a head like a sieve).

Me too, that was why I suggested your record this information in the Notes section - you can use it for all sorts of things, but this is one of the most useful. And it will be displayed in full view on your My Cousins page.

 

[AnneC]

Me too, that was why I suggested your record this information in the Notes section - you can use it for all sorts of things, but this is one of the most useful. And it will be displayed in full view on your My Cousins page.

I had noticed this before, but never worked out how to use it....then I tried clicking on the name and got the notes screen! Very useful (and simple when you know how...)

 

[Norman]

I did see that area before but never thought to enter the date of initial contact as I didn't anticipate the problem. Too late now though. I still wonder whether it would be possible to report the date of first contact. It would probably mean a new field in the table but I'm sure is easily achieved.

The other thing I'd like to see is a history of the messages sent. I know you can have a copy of the message sent to your own email address but messages to a particular contact/relative would be easier to keep tags on from within the site. That's one area that FR and Ancestry excel at.

 

[peter]

I did see that area before but never thought to enter the date of initial contact as I didn't anticipate the problem. Too late now though. I still wonder whether it would be possible to report the date of first contact. It would probably mean a new field in the table but I'm sure is easily achieved.

Everything seems easy when it's someone else who has to do it!

I'll see what I can do, but I have a newsletter to write and 30 Resources pages to compile before the forum can go live (and that's just the English counties). In the meantime, is it really so difficult to make a Note on the My Contacts page (you ought to be looking at it anyway before contacting someone - so that you can see how the two of you are related)?

The other thing I'd like to see is a history of the messages sent. I know you can have a copy of the message sent to your own email address but messages to a particular contact/relative would be easier to keep tags on from within the site.

I disagree. In my opinion it makes far more sense to store the information in your email program, because that way you'll have all the correspondence in one place (after all, at some point you're going to exchange email addresses).

I find the Genes Reunited/Ancestry system extremely inconvenient because half the correspondence is in one place and half in another. Even worse, I've noticed that if a Genes Reunited member closes their account all the correspondence disappears without warning!

 

[Norman]

As I said, I didn't see the notes area until some time after I made the initial contact. It was my first contact.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the message storage matter. You provide a form to compose an email message and, obviously, store it somewhere but we can't see the message(s) unless we trace the message that arrived from LC (assuming we checked the box to forward a copy to our own email address).

I was just making some suggestions that some people might find beneficial.

 

[AndyMick]

<snipped>
I find the Genes Reunited/Ancestry system extremely inconvenient because half the correspondence is in one place and half in another.

Agreed!

Even worse, I've noticed that if a Genes Reunited member closes their account all the correspondence disappears without warning!

I didn't realise that - that's a disgrace!

 

[AnneC]

I find the Genes Reunited/Ancestry system extremely inconvenient because half the correspondence is in one place and half in another. Even worse, I've noticed that if a Genes Reunited member closes their account all the correspondence disappears without warning!

I have had problems with Genes Reunited losing the correspondence from contacts - the contacts are still there but no mails.However the support I have had from them has been excellent, and although they haven't solved the problem yet, they have found copies of some of the missing mails and forwarded them to me.(Downside is that I had to trawl through my contacts to see what was missing!). They have kept me informed of the progress, and it seemed that it was real people who actually cared about service to their subscribers.

 

[Fern49]

On the 24 August,13, I received an email saying that a 'relly' wanted to make contact , I obliged within a couple of days, (not sure of the date now) but she has not replied, which I believe is pretty poor. Going on past experiences it is probably not an oversight/or a problem. Why do people ask for contact then not carry through with it.

 

[Tim]

On the 24 August,13, I received an email saying that a 'relly' wanted to make contact , I obliged within a couple of days, (not sure of the date now) but she has not replied, which I believe is pretty poor. Going on past experiences it is probably not an oversight/or a problem. Why do people ask for contact then not carry through with it.

There are a number of legitimate reasons why someone wouldn't respond. But if they have accessed the Lost Cousins site AND still not responded, then yes, that is pretty poor.

 

[Britjan]

It's also annoying when you politely "fess up" that you made a mistake and had entered the wrong person and thus the wrong census on LC and get no acknowledgement. I've had a couple of replies from inquiries about public trees at Ancestry etc. that are short and sweet to the point that it's not a part of the tree they are interested in. Fair enough but at least they've replied. There have been occasions when people have contacted me around all kinds of issues when I'm super busy but it only takes a minute to acknowledge them and set a future date to follow up. Probably our problem is that the message doesn't show up on Facebook because people seoem to do a better job keeping in touch that way

 

[Fern49]

There are a number of legitimate reasons why someone wouldn't respond. But if they have accessed the Lost Cousins site AND still not responded, then yes, that is pretty poor.

I didn't make it very clear, she contacted me through the Lost Cousins site.

 

[Liberty]

. Probably our problem is that the message doesn't show up on Facebook because people seoem to do a better job keeping in touch that way

PLEASE let's not go down the Facebook route! I don't suppose I am the ONLY person in the western world not to use it, but I've manged without it for xx years and don't see the attraction or necessity.

 

[Tim]

PLEASE let's not go down the Facebook route! I don't suppose I am the ONLY person in the western world not to use it, but I've manged without it for xx years and don't see the attraction or necessity.

It's a good way of keeping in touch with family. But there are a lot of idiots and gullible people out there, who repost stuff without checking and post stuff that they really shouldn't.

 

[peter]

Something to bear in mind when you've established contact with someone new is that both the emails are generated automatically. You can get a situation where each person is waiting for the other one.