How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?

[jillruss]

I wouldn't go so far as to say I regret taking the test but I must say that I am distinctly underwhelmed by it all.

I'm still wading through the possible 5th-8th cousins so who knows I might come across a little gem hidden away! However, I am amazed by the number of people in my match list who either don't have a tree or, if they do, have a tree that consists of 3 or 4 people, all marked 'private'.

Even more frustrating are the people i've messaged to try and open a dialogue and have simply ignored me - so far. I'm always polite and keep it short and, hopefully, sweet. Of the few who have replied, only a couple have bothered to try and discover a surname match - the others don't seem to want to know.

Oh, and I've come across a gaggle of people (mostly from N America) 'surfing' on info I gave to one of them some time ago on a family member who emigrated.

I'm trying not to get too downhearted by it but I'm just hoping that future matches may prove more rewarding. 

One thing I am learning is that, if, like me, you've been researching your family history for some time and have quite a few monumental brickwalls, you've got to realise that you're going to be very lucky indeed if anyone on your match list has been able to knock down any of those walls - and that was my main reason for doing it in the first place!

Mind you, it was interesting to discover my ethnicity. When I told my brother that I was 11% Eastern European and 9% Scandinavian, he suggested I change my name to Jill Johansson Kurayakin!!! 

On the plus side, the whole exercise made me take out a half price sub to Ancestry and I'm now going to utilise my time more profitably (again, hopefully!) searching through the digitised West Yorkshire PRs. I will, of course, keep checking my DNA matches but with no great optimism.

Jill

[HarryW]

Jill,

I thought it was just me !

The number of matches that don't have trees or who have a handful of names is incredible.   I've got really frustrated with people who I match with who simply don't reply when contacted or reply once and then.......nothing

Harry

[Finley 1]

Well I have to say ---

I still feel its all a big.............  ho ha.....

I am extremely dissapointed. 

The only good thing it has told me is that I AM ME -- which in my case is extremely important.. this can be read on other posts.

But as for anything regarding other distant cousins...... 150 odd 5th to 8ths that really are no more than the previous hints...

I again will go and open up a suggested match...  to show what I mean...

back in a bit.

xin

Back

OK  so I just ran through quickly and randomly picked two of the 5th - 8th moderate matches.. and this is the result. 

NO MATCH  in my estimation..

[Milliepede]

I still feel its all a big.............  ho ha.....

I agree, that's why I haven't done it. 

[Nanna52]

I haven't done mine yet, but plan to.  However a first cousin did his ages ago.  Some time later he was contacted by someone and was a bit confused as to whether or not they were a match.  However it was a line I had investigated and it confirmed my research.  I was able to tell him all about this line again and it finally confirmed my 2X great grandmothers line.

[sugarfizzle]

Jill, I am very happy with my DNA test results.

I must admit to spending a lot of time on researching both my tree and my DNA matches.  Too much time probably, but in the winter it is my main hobby, gives way to second place later on in the year for gardening.

I wasn't underwhelmed when I got my results back, I was overwhelmed.  So many matches, was I connected to all of them, how do I go forward, why so many matches with USA testers, etc etc.

But on the very first page was a match with someone whose wider family I had been trying to convince for years that they had made an error in their Australian ancestor's origins.

No brick walls for me until several months in, but they are being broken away, bit by bit.  The only problem with brick walls in genealogy is that when you break one down, you create two more in it's place.

Of my 130 or so 4th to 6th cousins I have positively matched with about 25 of them. Something tells me that if they and I had the right information and were willing to swap that information, I would positively match with a lot more, perhaps unlikely to break down many walls for me.

Of my many thousands of 5th to 8th cousins I have positive matched with about the same number, about 25.  These are where the nuggets of useful information come from.

Xin, you say ''OK  so I just ran through quickly and randomly picked two of the 5th - 8th moderate matches.. and this is the result.  NO MATCH  in my estimation.''

It is up to you to decide where the match lies - Ancestry are merely finding matching surnames in both your trees, they are not saying that Nancy Brown from Portsea is the same as your Brown from Scotland.  Or that Rhoda Duncan from USA is a match with your Duncan from Scotland.

Have you entered all of your 7G grandparents? That is 512 names.  Have they entered all of their 7G grandparents?

I know all 16 of my 2G grandparents surnames.  I have names for 50 of my 64 4G grandparents. I certainly don't know all of my 512 7G grandparent names, though I do know quite a few of them.

If you or your DNA match have not got all 512 names, how can you say that you don't match with them?   

Regards Margaret

[JAKnighton]

Perhaps you should look at it as an investment, now that you've done it your profile will be available to match with anyone who chooses to get their DNA tested in the future. Hopefully one day it will be someone who has a well-researched tree and is open to communication. Sadly, the broad appeal of these DNA tests is in the ethnicity estimates which means you will get a lot of non-genealogists doing it.

[KentishChris]

DNA testing is still a relatively new process that is being worked on and developed all the time. At the moment, in the grand scheme of things, not many people have actually had their DNA taken. The more people that do the DNA test, the more fun we will be able to have with the results.

DNA testing is far more interesting that the results that we are given. I recommend reading 'The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy', by Blaine T Bettinger. It is a fascinating read that will help everyone understand more about it all.

Keep in mind that there are people that have taken the test for a number of reasons including; jumping on the DNA testing bandwagon for the sake of it, because they received it as a Christmas present or just because they wanted their ethnicity in a graph. Not everyone is interested researching their family tree and this is quite obvious on the many videos on YouTube, unfortunately. A lot of people just want to find out their ethnicity estimates, which at the moment, are still quite new and which the scientists are doing a lot of work on.

This leads me on to agreeing fully with JAKnighton's comment. Definitely see it as an investment!
Encourage people to take the test (if they want to, of course!) and keep contacting those matches (even if you aren't getting replies). I see the development in DNA technology similar to that of any technology. Things will start of slow and suddenly there will be a boom of interest and quick development of the process which will improve the results and the knowledge we gain from it.

Anyway, just my take on things!
Chris

[rosie99]

This leads me on to agreeing fully with JAKnighton's comment. Definitely see it as an investment!

It may be an investment to the young but there are a lot of older people on here that would have liked it to help them solve their brick walls and are using it as a last resort before they stop doing their trees.