Smiling Faces on Login Page Tactless

[MoberlyDrake]

I think it was very tactless for FTDNA to put all those smiling faces on the login page. I find them annoying, but can you imagine the effect it undoubtedly has on someone who tested and finds out that they are really not related to a loved parent, grandparent or sibling??? And also to those who spent many years and a lot of money researching a tree that turns out to be incorrect in one or more branches due to an NPE? Or to adoptees searching for parents and not having any success anywhere? I bet those groups hate all those smiling faces!

You'd think that a DNA company would have more sense. They know very well that DNA can reveal secrets long hidden and that the effect on families can be devastating.

[John McCoy]

Vapid, empty smiles are fashionable in advertising today. So much so, I doubt very much that most people even notice. But I think there must be something more meaningful, that would better serve a business like Family Tree DNA.

[Caburn]

The smiley faces are cringe-makingly awful and make me want to turn away from them every time I see them.

Apart from anything else they're completely pointless on a login page; the previous login page, plain and simple, was perfectly adequate.

Another case of fiddling - in coding terms - while Rome burns.

I mean ... why get down to doing something useful, like fixing bugs or adding useful facilities (like 'search-by-location' on the FF match page) when you can, instead, waste time making unnecessary cosmetic changes such as this?

~

[Caburn]

I think it was very tactless for FTDNA to put all those smiling faces on the login page. I find them annoying, but can you imagine the effect it undoubtedly has on someone who tested and finds out that they are really not related to a loved parent, grandparent or sibling??? And also to those who spent many years and a lot of money researching a tree that turns out to be incorrect in one or more branches due to an NPE? Or to adoptees searching for parents and not having any success anywhere? I bet those groups hate all those smiling faces!

You'd think that a DNA company would have more sense. They know very well that DNA can reveal secrets long hidden and that the effect on families can be devastating.

I agree with you that very little thought seems to have gone into the smiley-faces graphic. One of the 'photo squares' in that login page has been left blank apart from the word 'You', suggesting that one's own photo might fit into that space. But why would anyone wish to see their own photo, smiling or otherwise, staring back at them amidst a sea of strangers?

[B198251]

I always wondered why american\european web sites put smiling faces on every page. It looks very strange and sometimes ridiculous. For example sites from slavic and maybe asian countries don't have such amount of smiling faces.
I think it is just a rule of thumb for western companies to put pictures of smiling people on their sites (there always should be white, black and asian people).
So probably ftdna doesn't pay so much attention to this. They just do the same way as other do.

[Amerijoe]

Smiling Faces on Login Page Tactless

Smiley Faces are used to discourage 'Snowflakes' from entering the country. Sorry guys. Now get in front of a mirror and practice, practice. You'll get it.

[krogersvr]

I will take a smile any day, over a scowl. Oh this is supposed to be a gripe forum. sorry

[Conat]

I think it was very tactless for FTDNA to put all those smiling faces on the login page. I find them annoying, but can you imagine the effect it undoubtedly has on someone who tested and finds out that they are really not related to a loved parent, grandparent or sibling??? And also to those who spent many years and a lot of money researching a tree that turns out to be incorrect in one or more branches due to an NPE? Or to adoptees searching for parents and not having any success anywhere? I bet those groups hate all those smiling faces!

Or if you were logging in to check matches on your now dead parent's or spouse's or child's DNA?

[loobster]

The smiley faces ....

.... they're completely pointless on a login page; the previous login page, plain and simple, was perfectly adequate.

Another case of fiddling - in coding terms - while Rome burns.

I mean ... why get down to doing something useful, like fixing bugs or adding useful facilities (like 'search-by-location' on the FF match page) when you can, instead, waste time making unnecessary cosmetic changes such as this?
~

Definitely my position.

[spruithean]

I think it was very tactless for FTDNA to put all those smiling faces on the login page. I find them annoying, but can you imagine the effect it undoubtedly has on someone who tested and finds out that they are really not related to a loved parent, grandparent or sibling??? And also to those who spent many years and a lot of money researching a tree that turns out to be incorrect in one or more branches due to an NPE? Or to adoptees searching for parents and not having any success anywhere? I bet those groups hate all those smiling faces!

You'd think that a DNA company would have more sense. They know very well that DNA can reveal secrets long hidden and that the effect on families can be devastating.

While I don't care for the smiling faces, I would say that discovering things you may not have expected through DNA testing that destroy all the work someone has done are part of the "risk" that comes along with DNA testing. It happens.

[keigh]

Personally, I preferred the old login page. But since the smiling faces have nothing to do with me, I just tend to ignore them. But I can understand people being irritated by all those grinning faces. Genealogy can be a discouraging hobby.