None of my DNA matches have ever contacted me

[Zaphod99]

Nine unexpected contacts is very good.  Likewise 14 replies from 16.

I read so many things about people not getting replies, and I really put it down to poor quality 'bait'.  You MUST make yourself sound like an interesting relative.  It's almost like a first date (not that I can remember!).  You only get one chance to make a good first impression, as they say.

Zaph

[jc26red]

I’ve not been contacted for my own tree on Ancestry but have for my husband's which I manage.  I also built my cousins tree and she has also done a dna test and I think she has had one or two contacts but she knows b all about FH let alone DNA results…. she doesn’t forward their requests either 🙄

 I have around 50% response rate, always nice and give far more than I get back but as others have said, unless they are looking for elusive parentage many are not that interested. I have worked out 2 NPE parentages.. one person was very interested as she managed her husband’s tree so not directly emotionally involved and did explain to her husband gently what had transpired (an affair between nextdoor neighbours 🤭) The other one which was managed by a daughter but no response, I think the mother had probably passed away by then and the daughter wasn’t interested in putting the tree right. They had the right first name for the father but wrong man. She would have been my dad’s cousin so a very close rellie and we share absolutely loads of matches on analysis.
I have had good response from FTDNA matches for my husband but he only has handful of matches on there.

[Steve3180]

Zaphod - Never really thought about it, I just get these messages from time to time. I suppose it's related to how many matches you have, I started with 16,000 and it''s crept up to 26,000 over the years but I've spoken to Americans who have over 100,000. Some (very small) percentage of them are curious enough to make contact.
It's the two that didn't reply to me that were really strange, one was a 2nd cousin whose grandmother I knew quite well and the other was a self-proclaimed professional genealogist. The latter changed the name of the account, made the tree private, and changed the name on the managing account, all immediately after I contacted them and all very peculiar. My theory is they were charging for their work and didn't want to be seen receiving information from me.
PS. Not sure I would know how to make myself interesting !

[Josephine]

PS. Not sure I would know how to make myself interesting !

"Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such films as..."

[Steve3180]

   A fellow Simpson's fan

[Josephine]

 

[Josephine]

If you are confident your research is accurate, then it gets more credence as more people copy it.

Zaph

People might think it has more credence, but if they don't know that it's accurate and have merely copied and pasted it because it was an Ancestry hint, does it really matter, when hundreds or thousands of inaccurate entries have also been copied and pasted?

If data has been copied and pasted into hundreds of trees, does that make it good data?

I have shared several of my well-researched family trees with others, who have then added the information to their trees. My research now appears, copied and pasted, in hundreds of trees. I know where and how I found my own data, but does that automatically mean that everything else these tree owners have copied and pasted is equally as reliable as my own research?

I'm not saying this to argue with you -- I'm just not sure I understand your reasoning. The tree owners who have copied and pasted my data hundreds of times over haven't given me any credit (most won't know it originated with me) and I don't derive any sense of validation from seeing it in their trees.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

I may unlink my dna, fake a photo and claim to have won the lottery.

[Josephine]

I may unlink my dna, fake a photo and claim to have won the lottery.

I made contact with a possible cousin once and one of the first things he asked me was if I was famous or had a high-profile career. When I said no, he was obviously unimpressed and disappointed. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me.

I haven't been in touch with him in years. I've recently proven, through DNA, that he isn't actually a cousin of mine. I'm not going to get back in touch with him to let him know, though, because I don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that such a boring person isn't related to him after all. (LOL.)