Hot Matches Make Me Grumpy!

[Duchess of Duke Street]

Genes reunited's hot matches make me grumpy. On average, I get 2 correct hot matches to every thousand that turn up in my inbox. The rest go straight in the trash!

However, what makes me really grumpy is when someone replies to ME re mistmatched Hot Match they have received from GR! They can't seem to get it into their heads that I didn't send the hot match - GR did!

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

I know what you mean about people writing to say that they have no match to you ........ when you haven't written to them to ask! Luckily, I've only had two like that.

As for the Hot Matches email from GR ...... I don't even open it, I bin it in MailWasher! :D

[Peter Goodey]

Genes reunited's hot matches make me grumpy

The knowledge that in a moment of madness I once paid money to that load of rubbish is what makes me grumpy.

[HiFly]

Although there is a lot wrong with GR, I have to say if you know how it works it can be a very useful additional research tool - even if it helps one eliminate possibles/probables/maybe's.... and to be fair to GR I have even found variant branches on there to research [after some suggestions received on this site from Goeffers and Diane if I recall correctly). I have also found good reliable info and helpful people on GR - just as on here..)

With regards to Hot Matches...apart from the first couple of times I ignore it too..(nice idea..but poorly executed..and I know a lot of GR member shave complained but GR doesn't look like it will change it - for many newbies it's a great selling point).

Of course the people subscribing to it are often newbies..and just like me gradually have to learn how/what to record in one's searches and information collection - we probably have all been there!! So just like all the other sites we tend to use, one just needs to use it wisely for best effects.

So having got on my soap box to sound off - and to primarily say - GR can be a useful tool - I shall now step down and go and lurk again.....:-)

[PS Thanks to all who have helped me in my lookup requests etc. - much appreciated - and tea & scones is being served on the Longleat lawns at 2PM tomorrow for you all].

HiFly

[LynA]

I must add to GR's defence as well. I agree that some areas could be improved, but the hot matches have lead me to contact with several cousins.

One contact resulted in my receiving a previously unseen photo of my Great great grandmother with all her adult children Including my great grandmother. As I's never seen any photos of gggrandmother before this was a real success story.|jumphappy

I have just found out one thing the hard way. Whatever you do do not enter any "Unknown"s into your tree or you will get pages of hot matches to delete.!:eek:

Although I understand your frustration, don't give up on GR. It does have some good points

Lynda

[arthurk]

I have just found out one thing the hard way. Whatever you do do not enter any "Unknown"s into your tree or you will get pages of hot matches to delete.!
Therein lies one of the problems. My policy is to publish only things relating to my grandparents (all long dead) and earlier generations, but at GR I found I had to start a tree with myself and include my parents before I got to my grandparents. I actually called both my parents "Private Private", but the same situation arose. In the end I gave up and removed my data, but is it any different now?

Arthur

[LynA]

Therein lies one of the problems. My policy is to publish only things relating to my grandparents (all long dead) and earlier generations, but at GR I found I had to start a tree with myself and include my parents before I got to my grandparents. I actually called both my parents "Private Private", but the same situation arose. In the end I gave up and removed my data, but is it any different now?

Arthur
Like you I do not put my parents' names on GR. I called them "Name Name" and so far I have been lucky enough NOT to get any hot matches for them.:)

Lynda

[harfin]

I have found GR to be very successful, as a point of contact, which I imagine, is its raison d'etre.

My tree has been on GR for 2 years now, and through that site 7 cousins form 3 differnt parts of my family and myself have established contact.

My family tree has really sprouted heaps since, as my cousins and I have pooled our collective research and photos.

I give it 8 out of 10

Alan

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Therein lies one of the problems. My policy is to publish only things relating to my grandparents (all long dead) and earlier generations, but at GR I found I had to start a tree with myself and include my parents before I got to my grandparents. I actually called both my parents "Private Private", but the same situation arose. In the end I gave up and removed my data, but is it any different now?
Arthur

Hi Arthur,

When I uploaded my gedcom to the site, I found out (as we all do) that it has to include yourself! In my case, I merged my families with my husband's families, (these are separate files in my Family Tree Maker 2005 programme) into one gedcom, named GenesReunited .... (highly original!) :D before uploading it.

Consequently, my husband's name had to be listed as well as mine, in order for his families names to appear on the site.

After a successful upload of the gedcom, I proceeded to change two things.

1. I am now listed as Living Individual, born 1944, Somewhere in England
2. My husband has the same info, but born 1939.

I can happily report that I have had no Hot Matches to these two entries, but if a few others now decide to do the same thing ...... I could get some! ;)

It won't matter to me though, as I delete the Hot Matches emails as mentioned in a previous message. :)

[arthurk]

Hi Diane

It's a long time now since I first tried GR, and I've a feeling that at that stage everyone had to be entered manually rather than by GEDCOM. In any case, I thought it might be preferable to do this so that I would know exactly what was being published, just in case any gremlins had crept into (or out of) my program data. I don't think I'd realised that names could be edited after uploading a GEDCOM - though I suppose you could do that in a copy of your main database before creating the GEDCOM as well.

Anyway, I never got beyond entering my grandparents - what with all these forums, various mailing lists, and trying to build my own site (and sometimes doing a bit of actual research!) there never seemed to be time to get any further.

I'm sure GR works for some people, and I might go back to it some time, but for now I'm managing without it. In fact I think I might be more likely to give Lost Cousins a try - maybe fewer contacts, but presumably they'll all be connected somehow?

Arthur

[Duchess of Duke Street]

Hi Arthur,

I've always found Curious Fox a great contact site. It's easy to use. No trees to view no buttons to push - just a general exchange of info.

Try it out sometime!