'There are many reasons why people may not be responding, but one important reason is that they may not have seen your message in the first place. I have discovered there is an inconsistency in the messaging options available to DNA testers.
If you have DNA tested with Ancestry, there are two options available to contact matches - there is a GREEN messaging button on the DNA Profile page, and a BROWN (some will say ORANGE) messaging button on the Member Profile page.
Both buttons result in a message going to the recipient through the Ancestry messaging system. However, only a message sent via the brown button results in an external email alert being sent to the recipient. A message sent via the green button does not result in an external email alert.
What this means is if the recipient does not log onto Ancestry (or only logs on infrequently and is unfamiliar with the messaging system), they are not aware you have sent them a message.
I have also been advised that members who access Ancestry through some mobile devices don't have access to the messaging system and without an external email alert they will not know that you have sent them a message.
Anecdotally, members of the Facebook DNA groups I am in have reported a far better response rate to messages sent via the brown button. Unfortunately, you can only send messages via the brown button if you have a subscription.
If you do have a subscription, I highly recommend sending your messages via the brown button on the Member Profile page rather than the green button.'
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=766368.msg6191921#msg6191921The above is a quote from this thread aired about a year ago - I wonder whether something similar is happening again. It may be better still to use the brown button rather than the green one.
Pheno