Free users become Paid users when......

http://www.geni.com/corp/press/geni-named-one-of-%E2%80%9Cbest-free...

What a superb and eloquent public relations analysis of a very complicated situation.

Geni is treading a very fine line since it is the general non Pro membership's hard work, projects and family tree profiles that created Geni's unique interactive One World Tree.

Is it my imagination that Geni's crackdown on blanket free use really began with the hurtling downwards of the global economy? So, perhaps the distressing changes of late are necessary to keep Geni's complex interactive platform competitive and running independent of a probable dwindling pool of outside investor financial support.

I agree, " Geni has industry leading technology, and ability to become the wikipedia or facebook of genealogy". Geni's potential is certainly tremendous.

Thank you for posting that fabulous PC Magazine press release. Hopefully, some sort of arrangement will be arrived at that is satisfactory to all users.
http://www.geni.com/corp/press/geni-named-one-of-“best-free-web-app...

Thanks!

I want to say one more thing. The reason why I had no hesitation buying a lifetime membership was because all indications were that Geni understood the dynamic of letting everyone have a free account meant exponential growth, which means maximizing the number of paying users.

By eliminating free users' ability to add relatives, my Pro account, the one I paid for because nearly worthless. If the 165 relatives I've invited to the site cannot contribute their knowledge to MY family tree (and their own obviously) then the collaborative value of Geni has vanished.

Why would I ever invite another relative to the site? Just so they can get immediately asked to pay money? I hate spam myself, and I refuse to be a spammer. You have to remember, of the 165 people I've invited to the site, well more than 100 of them I have not met. These are people who my grandparents, great aunts and uncles have put me in touch with. My first interaction with them will not be, hey, look at my family tree, and by the way, if you want to add your children you'll have to pay money.

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I REALLY love Geni, and it is painful for me to see these changes taking place. As of 12 hours ago you still were the worlds best genealogy tool. Your competitors were a faint inept shadow of what you offered. None of them can touch Geni in any of the ways that _really_ matter (collaboration, wikipedia style editing of a single, global tree) but by eliminating the free accounts I can no longer share my tree and get relatives' input.

With the current limitations to free accounts, I believe Geni has lost it's industry lead. Geni has reverted to the low quality of it's competitors.

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If you guys are _really_ hurting for money, then I suggest you find another way. Any other way, because the whole idea of a socially viral website relies on free users being able to be full participants. You can't discourage and turn people away, because there are already enough barriers to entry. You need every person, because 1% of them will become a paid user eventually.

...but they won't if they never join the site. Don't shoot yourself in the foot! You're in the home stretch. Critical Mass was imminent!

That "superb and eloquent public relations article was written before the changes, Where are those unlimited numbers of free entries now.
What are those great tools. Two links to additional pay sites. Merges that only Pros and curators can make.
What does the magazine writer think about geni now? If they ever keep tabs on what is going on at the site.
The notion that geni (not Geni to me anymore) is the only "one world tree" is false. What site doesn't want to be that.
I continued adding to this site after the first travesty but I've had it. geni may be large but it's not the only one. One site actually requires a source with every entry.
Stephen Vice "All others are a faint inept shadow" All right WHERE ARE the books and census records as are available at My Family and Ancestry. Ever hear of them? All genealogy sites are social networks.
If geni is hurting for money they might as well sell out to Ancestry like everyone else.

Ed,

I was referring to other sites' lack of one unified tree for the world. That's where Geni dominates the competition. Every other site's ability to "collaborate" is an absolute joke. Yes, Ancestry.com is the best information finding tool out there. But it's just a tool. Geni is more than a tool, it's an ecosystem, where other Geni user's work is added to the quality of MY tree.

Collaboration is all that matters for the future of genealogy. That's why I have such high hopes for Geni, and that's why I am like you, and sad to see these changes.

My understanding that Geni merging started with GEDCOM uploads with little ability to show source information.

When I work as a "merge monkey" the collaborative aspect of Geni unfolds right before my eyes: a birth date filled in, a location filled in. Another marriage filled in, three children. It can be sketchy - and then, wow, someone took the trouble to complete some biographical information.

A beautiful and exciting way to learn my own history, and the history of th world.

But most of my family members do this casually, now and again - and since I already entered what I know, of course my expectation is they'll build out what they know. It could well be that a 100 profile limit is fine for their use - but not if my previous profiles inhibit that on down to 40, or 10 ....

Even the best of sources are often incomplete.

In case it helps in some way, the topics of these three Discussions are very similar.

1. http://www.geni.com/discussions/102404 "Free users become Paid users when......"

2. http://www.geni.com/discussions/102255 "Geni's PROs Vs. the rest of Geni's members"

3. http://www.geni.com/discussions/99067 ". . . a single, collaborative world family tree . . ."

I'm a pro user with a tree of just over 3000 people. This was compiled with the help of several dozen people.

The limit that has been imposed on new users is misguided and will hurt Geni in the long run. Any person I invite to the tree now will not be able to add a single person and therefore wont see the ease and beauty of working within Geni. These are potential customers who will never experience the product. There is no incentive anymore to invite people.

The restriction should be modified to at least allow these newly invited people to be able to add some people.

Suggestion : If the tree is bigger than 100, limit the individual free users of that tree to be able to add only 25 profiles each themselves.

Do the decision makers read these threads? Should I post this suggestion somewhere else to make sure it gets seen and gets considered?

Tony Basoglu
Post your suggestion here:

http://help.geni.com/forums/337266-feature-requests/entries/new

and if done post link to it into discussions so we all can Vote (Like).

Thank you for the suggestion.
Now I'll ask for some votes please:
http://help.geni.com/entries/20633086-for-free-users-if-the-tree-is...

I'm pretty sure that new users each get to add 100 profiles, even if they join onto an existing tree. The 100/1000 limits are on how many profiles _you_ have _added_, not the number of profiles on your 'forest' that were added by other users.

That said, I was displeased by the 4G limit, but it didn't freeze me entirely like this new limit does. Even upgrading to 'Plus' is no longer an option because I have added over 1000 profiles (that used to be considered a good thing by GENI).

I have been underemployed since the financial meltdown, and while I had been looking at month-to-month Plus or Pro memberships, those are now GONE. I would never consider a year or 2-year membership since I have no guarantee what the cost will be to renew. I keep hoping that if some money starts coming in, I would get a lifetime Pro membership - but the price of that has gone up 40% and so that is looking even less likely.

Hey, I did just think of the "bright side" of the new cap. I have kept putting off downloading a GEDCOM since I keep thinking I will add "just a few more" profiles first - Now that isn't an option, so I no longer a reason to put it off.

Thanks for making the decision so clear GENI - I now have lots of different options for adding on to my tree - but none of them are here! Now that is great customer service!

I'm a basic user. I agree with Tony Basoglu. Let the new invited member adds a certain number of his/her own family members. However, waiting for Geni to change the restriction policy is such a waste. Here, I suggest an alternative method.

When we invite someone whose profile is already in our tree, suggest him/her to join Geni as a free individual member and let him/her build his/her own family tree. After the 100 member limit is reached or he/she has no intention to do more addition, as a pro user, you can merge his/her profile in your tree with the profile in his/her own tree.

The disadvantage, he/she cannot "browse" your tree to open his/her relaitive's profiles while building his/her tree. Once they join your, automatically there are no more additions.

All public profiles can viewed (doing a tree-walkabout as a curator called it), even by an unconnected user.

You just have to send him/hear a link to a public profile where he/she can start because basic users cannot view a public profile by clicking a search result within Geni (but funny enough he/she can if using Google to search, - Google have better access than registered users).

To make sure I understand the suggestion correctly.

Instead of starting a tree from self (private/ living), find (externally) a (deceased / public) ancestor, contact the manager, be added as a manager, join, and build the tree down to self?

Bjørn

Regarding http://www.geni.com/discussions/102404?msg=752826
When you are not logged on to Geni, the search screen will allow you to click trough to the profile.
Using two sessions (one logged on and one not), you can use the search screen without the limitation for basic users.

Job, -exactly, - none-users have better access than registered basic users.. We have pinpointed this absurd fact in curator discussions with Geni staff but so far too many other distractions have removed the focus on this.

Geni are also as far as I know working on a full replacement on the DB engine at the bottom which will have a big influence on searches, so time will see.

@Chuck Bury you are mistaken. Try what I have suggested and you will see that the new users will not be able to add anything at all

ony,

As long as new users do not connect to an existing tree they can add 100 profiles or alternatively if they add to the big tree they can also add 100 profiles.
If they start off with a separate tree that can be joined by a curator or PRO after they reached the limit of 100 profiles.
After the join a new administrator can be added to the profiles and the new user can cancel the account.
Then that user can start all over again with a new e-mail address.

Yes, I understand the workaround but do you not see how silly this is? Why create such workarounds that destroy collaboration and the beauty of GENI when a simpler solution is possible?

Change the way limit is calculated from treesize only to treesize plus number of profiles managed.

Even 100 managed is far too few for people to see the value of Geni.

Free users need to remain free so that they can add 100% of their "fourth cousins and closer, plus another 100 direct ancestors. This ensures that they are invited lots of new Geni users, and thus, Geni has a potential to continue to exist.

Without capable and powerful free accounts, Geni will stop growing, and start shrinking.

A limit of 100 gives only enough room for my Paternal direct line of 8 generations with an average of five children per generation. Adding the forefathers plus their wives and children and their spouses makes 72. That leaves only enough numbers to add the parents of the forefathers wives minus one pair.
No room at all on my Maternal line
Where is there any space to add even one cousin?

If you have colonial families how can you connect them to Europe or some other world area with an 8 generation limit. The world tree stops at the immigrant generation. It's a one country tree unless your ancestor came after that generation.

My limit has been reached so I'm only here to see what people have to say. Obviously geni didn't learn anything from their previous decision and won't go back to as before. Or not enough members carried out their decision to quit.
It's not so funny that things rarely go back to the "good old days". And improvements (not just here) usually go the opposite way for the user.

Unknown cousins have been contacting previously unknown cousins now and for a long time before geni.

Is this a good or bad sign for geni? , 4 days 5 respondents sending 25 posts. ending 7 hours ago on a Sunday. Everybody giving up or have most just gone away?
Only five revision have been made on my connected lines all day.and most of it was on historical figures that shouldn't have anything done to them.

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