new beta on ancestry dna results

[davidft]

I think everyone has it, or will be getting it.

I have it yet I have not done a DNA test with them and my tree is private so not sure why 

[stevemiller]

I have been popping in and out of the beta during the day - in between sifting compost!

I fear the scroll will win over the page - this is for the so-called "smart" phone users, and is spreading over more and more sites. Don't forget Ancestry want people to have "fun" ! - which presumably includes aimlessly flicking through a listing.

It is a serious drawback for those of us who keep a spreadsheet and want to slot new matches into order on those sheets, and generally to navigate around. In addition, pages allow you to calculate how many matches you have  - I can't see anywhere to work that out now (although to be honest why do I want to know?).

I wonder how Common Ancestors work? - some of my closest matches have minimal trees of a few generations, yet the correct ancestor is being identified. They MUST be using private trees of other users.

I have found a couple of decent - and correct - matches, crossing over 2 or 3 missing generations.
BUT also some absolute howlers !!!  All part of the "fun".

[melba_schmelba]

I've realised, that even if both trees are private, you can work out the link, by following the chain of sexes as it shows a tree linking the two, with blue for male and pink for female.

[stonechat]

Thrulines is the best new beta feature it is sensational i, suddenly I can work out many more connections

[clayton bradley]

It's very good, but the line of my direct ancestors has a mistake in it. They have swapped my ancestor and his wife for an identically named cousin and his differently named wife. Otherwise they all seem to be correct. One tree they said had a matching name, didn't, when I went to that tree. I suppose they will iron these glitches out. cb

[melba_schmelba]

Thrulines is the best new beta feature it is sensational i, suddenly I can work out many more connections

Unfortunately the first ones I looked at were completely wrong . I have to say, although originally against the idea the scrolling is growing on me . Originally to skip pages, there was about a 3-4 second wait, but now there is just a micro second pause as you scroll down. The only thing that concerns me is the memory running out if you scroll ad infinitum.

[melba_schmelba]

It's very good, but the line of my direct ancestors has a mistake in it. They have swapped my ancestor and his wife for an identically named cousin and his differently named wife. Otherwise they all seem to be correct. One tree they said had a matching name, didn't, when I went to that tree. I suppose they will iron these glitches out. cb

The Thrulines is even worse than I thought! Having made this wrong connection around the 1850s, it now gives me all of these legions of ancestors of these wrong relatives, back to the 1600s, some people of which will now gleefully add to their trees . The other lines I checked, on different parts of my tree were also wrong .

[MIG79]

My reaction to Thrulines is very positive. I have found a good link to a cousin with only 10cM and another with only 17cM. I think they would have been difficult to connect having female lines.
The ones I know about and would expect to see are there. This gives confidence that some of early guesswork  was actually correct. I like it.
I also like the Common Ancestor feature. I think these two features will build up real links over time.

However I can see many people just copying the ones from further back form other trees with out research. They should of course be worked through properly.

[melba_schmelba]

My reaction to Thrulines is very positive. I have found a good link to a cousin with only 10cM and another with only 17cM. I think they would have been difficult to connect having female lines.
The ones I know about and would expect to see are there. This gives confidence that some of early guesswork  was actually correct. I like it.
I also like the Common Ancestor feature. I think these two features will build up real links over time.

However I can see many people just copying the ones from further back form other trees with out research. They should of course be worked through properly.

As far as I can see they have exactly the same problem as the Ancestry tree 'hints', i.e. the criteria seems to be if one person has it on a public tree, ancestry will suggest it, without any checking whatsoever. Then of course, after a few people have accepted the hint, others see how many people have the same link and assume it must be right. Thrulines is just taking ancestry tree hints and attaching them to DNA links.