End of the road for Friends Reunited - official.

[5129frederick]

FriendsReunited.com is closing down - official.

I have just received noticication that the above will be no more.  When it started up in 2000 it had big openings and more to the point it was free!  To register it was as easy as falling off a log where all you had to do was to fill out a brief form, type in a search for a school, university or what, and off you went.  I found colleagues from an old private school that has long since closed down, and ex work colleagues who had since left.  All went well until big money played a part.

It was then sold in 2005 and that was the beginning of the end.  It took about twenty minutes to get into the right site because you had to navigate your way through various different options and if you wanted to take the more advanced options it would actually cost you money!  The new owners soon realised the folly of their ways when they came up against people like Facebook, better and bigger by far.  Although not perfect, once registered it takes you in immediately where you can then navigate your way around.

FriendsRe started off OK but saw the writing on the wall and sold out just at the right time.  

They have brought a new site called Liife.com but don't bank on it going anywhere fast.

FriendsRe were good, but the new owners ripped everything apart.  Sad demise?  Not really - that's the way the cookie crumbles.

[*.*..lola..*.*]

I joined Friends Reunited years ago, had a mooch about for an evening and never went back. It just didn't hold my attention at all.

Facebook is much better for finding people you've lost touch with.

There's a reunion group on there for my old school which I joined recently also a few groups from the town I used to live. It was really nice re-connecting with old faces I haven't seen in years.

I'm sad Friends R is closing down but can't say I'll miss it.

[5129frederick]

What killed it for me was when I tried to contact old school friends I found myself getting nowhere - I knew them, but my response was very lame.  Three people had the coutresy to reply and that was it.  It was all one-sided.  In six years I received eight messages.  Not the most encouraging of responses, was it?

I'm on Facebook which has given me a far better response.  Look me up some time.

[******lynda******]

I went on FR in its early days. I put up class photos. Met up with a couple of people as a result and we still keep in touch and exchanged messages with a couple more, who were commenting on the photos, but having moved around a lot, I never had a lot of friends at school. Even those who messaged me were not friends. I didn't bother with FR then for years ...when I did go back, it had changed beyond all recognition but that visit I was contacted by a guy who had been my then boyfriends best pal, we double dated, and we chatted a lot and caught up before he was killed on his motorbike 18 months ago. So I am glad I went on...
I have to say I was shocked when I went on the first time to learn of those that had died soon after we left school.I had always imagined everyone leading full lives.

[vamo48]

I too joined FR many years ago, and it was interesting to see what classmates and ex-neighbours had been doing and where they were now living - several had moved abroad.  I contacted one classmate with whom I had never particularly been friends, just because I saw her listed, and we exchanged emails for quite a while after that, becoming pals after all, though we're never likely to meet as she's on the other side of the world.  I stopped visiting the site because it changed so much, and everyone I knew had also lost interest.  Their loss seems to have been Facebook's gain.