I do not understand what may be happening. Nivard Ovington reports that he does not receive ancestry notifications, and a mail from ancestry Mar 11, 2013? seems to imply that the notification service has stopped. I could not find a message from ancestry around that date, but I may have read it and discarded it. Patty Andersen reports: > Yes, it happens occasionally. Maybe once or twice a year. Drew DUBLER reports: > I get at least one month. But some are so vague I have no idea > who they're referring to.? But after a couple exchanges, we > usually are both better inform about our trees. These three reports are contradictory, and they can not each be 100% correct. As some persons have been receiving notifications, ancestry could not have eliminated them, as Nivard Ovington thinks. I have no idea how to pursue this with ancestry. What I did do yesterday was to do a knowledge base search, as someone had suggested. I found an article (I do not remember which one), and at the prompt, "Was this article useful?"" I clicked "No". Then I added some comments in the box that appeared. Maybe someone from ancestry will contact me about my comment. I ran a test yesterday - I sent ancestry mail to two tree owners whom I know and with whom I have communicated in the past. I will send them regular e-mail today to ask if they received any ancestry notification of my mail in their ancestry inbox. One additional item that was not in my original report - When I send internal ancestry mail after seeing an online tree, I am told when the tree owner last logged on. Most of the time it says "over a year ago." But I did receive a reply from a tree owner whose record said "over a year ago"; she said that that info was wrong. And the person from ancestry who replied to my original query said that that "over a year ago" statement is sometimes wrong. Nivard also wrote: > I wonder if that is your problem, ie Ancestry users who simply don't > look at their messages? > I feel sure that at one time I had an email notification for these > internal Ancestry messages but haven't seen one for a long time The first statement is probably true. I have lots of genealogy things on my to-do list, so I am on ancestry almost every day doing research. someone who has placed a small tree on ancestry might not beSdoing active research, and probably does not realize that mail on ancestry should be checked. That is why the ancestry notification mail is IMPORTANT for those doing research. If ancestry has eliminated the notifications (and from the survey results, they have NOT completely eliminated them), then ancestry needs to send mail to its subscribers reminding them to check their ancestry inbox. A few days ago I found an online tree, and the owner userid had a complete name. I did a Google search on that name, and I found a death notice from last June. This is an uncommon name, so I assume that, in this case, the ancestry user has died. But this is not the case for all of the other tree owners who have not responded to my ancestry mails. --Barry Finkel Chicago

Hi Barry Yes it is confusing but I wonder if everyone understands the subject being discussed ie do any Ancestry users receive a notification email *to their private inbox* (not the inbox on Ancestry) From the help file on Ancestry Managing Your Messages on Ancestry.com Answer ID 4597 | Published 02/18/2009 07:56 PM | Updated 02/26/2013 05:18 PM What is the message feature and how do I use it? This article discusses the following: Messages feature overview Managing your Messages Messages feature overview The further you follow your family story back in time, the more likely you are to find other members who have ancestors in common with you. The Messages feature is a great way to connect with these people and share discoveries. This feature replaced the email-based Ancestry.com Connection Service, which has been discontinued. The online Messages feature lets you communicate privately with other members. Unless you disclose it, your actual email address will remain private since all communications will take place on Ancestry.com. All members registered with Ancestry.com can view and reply to messages received from others, whether you have a paid membership or not. Paid members can also click on the Contact link for other members they find throughout the site and initiate messages with them. ================ Note in particular :- *This feature replaced the email-based Ancestry.com Connection Service, which has been discontinued.* The date of the last update 26th February 2013 fits in with my message received March 2013 Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 26/02/2014 15:12, Barry S. Finkel wrote: > I do not understand what may be happening. > > Nivard Ovington reports that he does not receive ancestry > notifications, and a mail from ancestry Mar 11, 2013? > seems to imply that the notification service has stopped. > I could not find a message from ancestry around that date, > but I may have read it and discarded it.