Questions re Gedmatch

[sugarfizzle]

Gedmatch can be extremely bewildering at first, my reaction was similar to Sinann's - "I uploaded to Gedmatch, had a bit of a look around, backed out slowly and closed the door."

I still find little value in the 2,000 'one to many' matches they give you.  The main value for me has been 'one to one', when I have been able to persuade an Ancestry match to upload there, or where someone has already got a Gedmatch kit number.

Jill, you ask "Another DNA question, if I may:- if I can persuade one of my 3 brothers to take the test, would it help my genealogy quest, given the addition of the Y chromosome? Is THIS where gedmatch comes in?"

Y chromosome is not looked at at Gedmatch, it is purely autosomal DNA matches that you will find there. However, your brothers will have inherited different DNA from your parents than you have, so could give you (if you manage or have access to their results) different matches, both at ancestry and elsewhere. My uncle inherited different DNA than my father - my paternal cousin has different useful paternal matches to me.

I suggest that, even if you don't fully understand it, you upload to Gedmatch and other sites - all bar ancestry has access to chromosome browser, ftDNA charge a fee for this.

Regards Margaret

[jillruss]

Thanks for all the comments and advice.

I'm persuaded to give it a go and see what comes of it. Nothing ventured, and all that!

I took particular note of Steve's comment that you would suppose that anyone who takes the further step to upload their results to Gedmatch must be more interested in genealogy than the annoying hordes on Ancestry who don't have a tree and/or don't reply to your emails.

Margaret, I shall now try to persuade at least one of my brothers to perform their own imitation of Spit The Dog - I can't see why they wouldn't as long as they don't have to pay! If I manage their account(s) (will have to look into the whys and wherefores of doing that later) they literally don't have to do anything more, do they?

Jill

[sugarfizzle]

It is very easy to manage someone else's account, as long as they are willing for you to do so.

You used to be able to manage someone else's DNA from your own account, they literally had only to provide the sample and ensure it was sent off.

There was outcry when they changed it, I think last year, but it is still easy enough.

They have, supposedly, to set up their own account, but I set up one for my husband using an alternative email address of my own.

The idea is to give each person control over their own DNA, but my husband really has no interest at all.

You can still manage their DNA if they set up their own account.

Regards Margaret

[jillruss]

I've only got the one email address. Can my brother set up his own account with my email even though its already used for my own account? If not, I don't see how I could manage his account?  I'm lost!! 

[jillruss]

I've fallen at the first hurdle! Trying to download my DNA file from Ancestry - got as far as wait for an email from us to tell you how to proceed - no email! This was about 5 minutes ago. Does it usually take this long?

ADDED:  Just found something by browsing the Ancestry site which states it could take up to 24 hours for the email to arrive! Why on earth don't they tell you this when you're hitting the download raw data button. I'm not bloomin psychic!! Not a good start...

[Gadget]

It usually takes about 20 -30 mins. I had one after about 10 mins a while ago while I was testing how long it would take.

I'll try a download now and let you know how long.

[jillruss]

Thanks, Gadget.

I finally received the email about 2 hours after I expected it! I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning now to do the download - my wifi has a habit of going down for a few minutes round about early evening. I'd still be interested to know how long it takes, though.

I shall be chomping at the bit to see the results on gedmatch but I know they'll take a couple of weeks at least.

[Gadget]

Just arrived - a few minutes short of 2 hours!  There must be a high demand or something.

Added - gedmatch took a couple of days as far as I can remember. Have you uploaded to My Heritage and FTdna?

Gadget

[sugarfizzle]

Jill. He won't be able to use your email address, has to be different.

He either sets up his own account with his own email address, or you set up an account with a new email address.

Either way, messages won't go through to that email address if you are manager, only the nominated manager, i.e. your usual email address. It is easier to do it than explain how to do it, IYSWIM.

If you gave me permission to view your results, I could do so right now. If you instead nominated me as manager, I would manage your DNA from my email address, you would no longer get any messages, I would get them all.

So, either set up the account for your brother
Use throwaway email address and nominate yourself as manager.
Or
He sets up an account with his email address and nominates you as manager .

Take a look at your DNA settings, see what owners, viewers, collaborators and managers can and can't do.

Regards Margaret