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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: Craclyn on Monday 11 May 20 20:00 BST (UK)
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If you have tested with or uploaded your DNA results on LivingDNA take a new look at your match list. They have changed the matching algorithm to include a greater range of relationships. My match list jumped from 6 to 179 overnight. Another kit I manage jumped from 6 to 340.
If you do check it out please take a minute to add a meaningful display name to your results. A security change they made a few weeks ago reduced all match names to just initials until the user actively adds a specific display name.
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Thanks for the heads up - I have just checked Dad's profile and still no matches in over three years now!
Liz
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Have you opted him in to Family Networks? If you have done that and are still getting no matches after this current change then it would be worth contacting them to ask why.
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I 've got matches and I certainly agree re the initials. We may have to do a lot of messaging.A few had full names and one I recognised but have two of that name! The one I am in touch with says she is n't on the site. Wondering how much use this is going to be but its early days here's hoping.
jean
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I have opted into Family Networks - perhaps I need to contact them again - last time I did I was sent what I assumed to be a standard reply saying no one had tested that was a relative and to be patient. It strikes me as odd though because on other sites his father’s maternal line has plenty of matches.
Liz
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I have gone from 1 to 277 connections. Thank you for alerting me to what has happened. :)
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Yep it seems a pattern! I joined in 2018 and for about a year i has zero matches, then gained 1 match. More recently ( last month or 2) went up to 3 - none of whom were identifiable or linkable to my tree in any way. Now today I have 341 matched - well thats a result. Have'nt looked yet but I hope there will be something there for me, of use!!
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I can see the same sort of thing - now I have matches whereas before I didn't. I've edited my display name so it's not just initials (thanks Craclyn for suggesting this) and one of my matches does have a name, not just initials, but I've no idea who they might be.
Am I just being inordinately thick today or is there no means of uploading a tree?
Jane :-)
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Thanks for the tip off. I uploaded my data at beginning of 2019 and used to check regularly but stopped as I got no matches. Got loads now - including a few of the usual suspects from Ancestry and other sites - which hopefully will give me some markers to identify quite a lot of new people.
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Yes, despite 361 matches ( got that wrong earlier), dont see how it will help much. Most matches have only initials, as already discussed and there are 'shared matches', but as you have no idea who anybody is (as only initials here too), it wont be much help to know that lots of othere people with initials are also linked to you and your unknown match!!
Very frustrating!
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I have had a couple of looks at the site now thanks to the tip off from this thread. My observations
1. I now have matches, 104, yea!
2. I see they are going to have a chromosome browser, yea!, but it is not ready yet. Wonder if this will prompt Ancestry to finally get round to do the same. Here's hoping!
3. As others up thread have said can you upload a tree and if so how, or is that still a work in progress? I assume there are no actual trees on there at the moment. is this correct?
4. Silly question time. Where do you see what your display name is and how to you change it (you can tell I seldom use that site). Thanks
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No you cannot upload a tree. They have a collaboration with Findmypast so you can connect your DNA result to your account there, but at the moment nobody else can see your FindMyPast tree.
They are also working on a Family Network which should be something like the DNA based tree at 23andme.
Instructions for adding a Display Name are here: https://support.livingdna.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012485420-Your-Family-Networks-Display-Name?fbclid=IwAR2_Sut1Pa6rf_mixebvSc_Tff218UoGoBvfVYs7aGZdb-zShj3EmPtoak4 (https://support.livingdna.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012485420-Your-Family-Networks-Display-Name?fbclid=IwAR2_Sut1Pa6rf_mixebvSc_Tff218UoGoBvfVYs7aGZdb-zShj3EmPtoak4)
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David - go to the Dashboard page. Look top right on the picture bit - edit profile - enter that and you can update yourdisplay name there, if you so wish!
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Thanks both, I have updated my display name on there :)
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I’m feeling very left out! But, have just had a thought - if I upload my DNA from another site then surely in a few days Dad will have at least ONE match!
It won’t really achieve anything but might make me feel a bit better!
I have been reading the comments with interest - davidft’s point 2 - that would be so good!
Liz
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I checked yesterday, and my Matches on that Site have gone from 1 to 314!
However, most of them seem to be under the 45cMs level.
Am I alone in finding the green Messaging Tab on there very frustrating?
Mine keeps disappearing...
Romilly.
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Liz_In_Sussex, Have a go at the upload. It initially gives a slightly misleading status message on the dashboard that suggests it is not working, but if you wait a day the upload goes through. You then have to remember to opt in to family matching. After that it can take a couple of weeks until the next time they run a matching process before you will see the matches coming through.
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Liz_In_Sussex, Have a go at the upload. It initially gives a slightly misleading status message on the dashboard that suggests it is not working, but if you wait a day the upload goes through. You then have to remember to opt in to family matching. After that it can take a couple of weeks until the next time they run a matching process before you will see the matches coming through.
Thank you! Well I uploaded my DNA and my Mum's - and it has changed status to being uploaded - all three are opted into Family Matching. So I will wait and see. If I end up matching Mum but not Dad I will know that there is something wrong with his profile - but hopefully within a couple of week's he will have one match and Mum and I, probably lots!
Liz
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Good luck Liz. I hope your matches line up the way you expect them to. It is a shame they do not run the matching process more frequently. I am waiting for 6 new uploads to feed into the matching at the moment so I can start to get my matches more easily grouped in the shared matching.
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Ah - now I have names!
Like some above says, they are mostly low level matches and the 'usual suspects' - those who (like me!) have uploaded to multi platforms, and you cant find how they match you on any of them!!!
But, maybe there will be some that might help.......
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A lot of them are on other platforms, but not all. Some of those I have been in contact with over the past couple of days have only tested on LivingDNA. One of them, who was complaining about not having enough matches, surprised me a little with her reaction when I suggested she could remedy that by uploading to the other sites. She said she had chosen LivingDNA specifically because of the way they adhered to GDPR and would not put her results anywhere else.
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I have asked LivingDNA to delete all the accounts I uploaded.
They are already on MyHeritage, Gedmatch, Ancestry and MyFTDNA and I couldn't see any value to having them there.
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The biggest problem is that being comparatively low level matches , only one match over 50cM, and the next one below that is under 37 cM, they are unlikely to be 1-3 rd degree cousins, unlikely to have surnames that you necessarily recognise, and you are therefor unable to link them to any given branch of your family tree.
You may be lucky to find somebody you know from another platform among your matches, and due to success on the other platform, be able to link your joint matches with them on Living to that same branch, but otherwise, unless you message people in some wholesale manner looking for clues from them, how do you make use of the Living infirmation?? I know that such wholesale messaging is frowned upon, and anyway the whole point is to have the pleasure of working it out for 'yourself' (with lots of site help sometimes), and then letting your close 'cousins' know, then basking in the 'glow'! This is one of the pleasures of this hobby! After 10 years of searching for the wearabouts/?death of a 3xGGmother, it was a great pleasure to find her under a really mangled surname on the 1851 census, and then I knew exactly who I wanted to let know first, a 4th cousin who lived close to me, who of course I did not know before, but who had been searching much longer than me!! We had an email chuckle together that evening!
It would really help if a tree was allowed, like on other sites to help you categorise your matches into family groups! That would be wonderful. Not many of us, i imagine can afford to pay for multiple subscriptions to theses various platforms. I use Ancestry for the obvious reasons, and while not ideal (no chromasome browser among them), I don't see that changing any time soon - though a free access long weekend on 'Find my Past' last year did tempt me.
So ancestry is it for me, the other platforms are sometimes useful, but absolutely suplementary in nature, as I don't have contracts with them, so I am lucky to see the matches, I even have trees on them (except Living), but I don't/can't use their paid services. It is true that occasionally you do come up with a gem on them of course!
Well thats my thoughts on Living:-
Much better than before, but without a tree, or even just somewhere to log family names of interest, it will definitely be fifth among not equals!
Jane x
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I have asked LivingDNA to delete all the accounts I uploaded.
They are already on MyHeritage, Gedmatch, Ancestry and MyFTDNA and I couldn't see any value to having them there.
If you do that you miss out on the opportunity to connect with any match that may only have tested at LivingDNA.
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I have asked LivingDNA to delete all the accounts I uploaded.
They are already on MyHeritage, Gedmatch, Ancestry and MyFTDNA and I couldn't see any value to having them there.
If you do that you miss out on the opportunity to connect with any match that may only have tested at LivingDNA.
Of course I understand that.
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An update: well nothing has happened! :'(
I uploaded my DNA on Wednesday 13th and comments on here suggested that LivingDNA had done an update of matches on the Monday night - so I was excitedly looking forward to what I might find today (2 weeks later - they still say they update ever 2 weeks).
A "good" outcome would be that they are behind because of the Bank Holiday - but do computers take holidays? So, I have contacted them again to let them know that now neither I nor my Dad have any matches which is odd because we should at least match each other and asked if they could check what is going on.
I was so disappointed!
Liz
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I am also still waiting. I uploaded several kits on 11th May and am not seeing any matches for them yet.
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Thank you for replying - it is nice to know it is not just me ;D
Liz
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In my top matches, I have 3 people who have also tested on Ancestry, but the cM values are different on the two sites
LC 39.91 on LivingDNA: 31 across 2 segments on Ancestry. He is my 3rd cousin once removed
ID 41.44 on LivingDNA: 32 across 1 segment on Ancestry. He is my 4th cousin once removed
RR 41.82 on Living DNA: 34 across 2 segments on Ancestry. Not established relationship yet.
All higher on Living DNA but not consistently higher. ???
I have one shared match with ID on LivingDNA who is different to the one shared match I have on Ancestry - way different cM and different gender. So that gives me one new person to contact and I know which branch they fit with
I have two shared matches with LC on LivingDNA at 9.97 and 12.57 cM, which given the difference between L-DNA and Anc, would be below Anc's threshold.
I have two shared with LC on Ancestry, but again they are different ones and much higher on Anc.
So two new people on a different branch to contact.
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Thank you for replying - it is nice to know it is not just me ;D
Liz
I have just had a response from a LivingDNA to a comment I made on the Living DNA user group on facebook telling me that it takes them three weeks to produce match lists for new uploads. They load them into the system once every two weeks, then we have to wait about another week for the matches to run.
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I'll have a look for that user group - good to see you get a reply. I'll ask why the cM is much higher on L-DNA than Ancestry. I expect it is the cut off value they use. It would also be good if they said how many segments were involved instead of just total cM.
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I have just had a response from a LivingDNA to a comment I made on the Living DNA user group on facebook telling me that it takes them three weeks to produce match lists for new uploads. They load them into the system once every two weeks, then we have to wait about another week for the matches to run.
Thank you - that's interesting - so from uploading my DNA it could take 6 weeks for a match with Dad to appear?
It still doesn't explain why he has absolutely no other matches though! Especially if others like LizzieL are questioning the cut off value - surely Dad should match people on Living DNA that he wouldn't on other sites?
Perhaps I should just write it off as a waste of time. :'( (I might look for that User Group on FB though!)
Liz
ADDED: I have just applied to join that group and can see your question Craclyn and the conversation it prompted ;D
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LC, ID and me have all uploaded to Gedmatch some time ago, the cM of our matches are very slightly greater on Gedmatch but not by much.
A 6th cousin of mine (JP) tested on Ancestry (in fact he was the one who persuaded me to do a DNA test), but we don't show as a match. He uploaded data to Gedmatch, so I did too. We don't show as a match until I manually reduce the threshhold value. 3 segments at 3 - 4 cM each
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Liz, Don’t write it off. My post on the facebook group was aimed at trying to get them to understand that many people might lose interest if they don’t speed up the process.
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::) To add insult to injury I have just received an email from Living DNA encouraging me to check out their new matching system - promising "99% of our users who have opted into Family Networks now have matches" so I guess Dad is one of the 1% who despite being registered over three years now, still doesn't have any - and my DNA upload will be another week at least before the outside chance he matches me (I am not hopeful!!).
I tried to join the Facebook group earlier in the week but despite there seemingly being quite a bit of activity in the group my application is still "pending" - so I guess no admins are active ... I saw your post Craclyn - well done for trying - but is there anyone from the company actually involved in the group?
The email I sent to their "customer services" has also gone unanswered.
I am not sure I would ever be able to recommend this company to anyone!
Liz ::) :'(
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Yes, there is someone from the support team at the company who is in the facebook group. She has responded to my post with an indication of when I could expect to see matching. She has not commented on my subsequent suggestion that they should run matching more frequently.
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Another week gone by, no matches at all :'(
I’m wondering if it is just me or if anyone else has any today?
Still no reply to my message to the website and my application to join the Facebook group is pending.
I am telling myself that despite the advertising and clear statements they have made about timeframes it really has been affected by the virus and when they said 3 weeks they meant “in normal times” though BC (before COVID) they were saying 2 weeks ::)
;D better go to work and forget about it - perhaps they will upload matches this afternoon and it will be a nice surprise?
Liz
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I'm still pending (sounds painful!) to join the Facebook group too. Think I may have a couple more matches, but not sure if I just missed them when I looked a week or two ago. I was concentrating on known people who had uploaded from other sites who I use as "markers" for my different branches. These two new matches have same surname, rather a rare one and as they're in UK, easy to trace. They're mother and daughter and share another match with me from USA with different surname. I am now constructing their tree. So far not too difficult, surnames and combinations of them lead to very few possibilities coming up on a search.
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:o Good to hear I am not the only one pending!
Result of sorts - I have had a reply -it's a bit similar to an extract from a Morecombe and Wise sketch though, in that it doesn't really address the question I asked!
The gist of it is that they have just launched many more matches and improved their systems. They hope to run more matches in a couple of weeks. But no answer to why Dad has no matches or indeed why I don't match him (or anyone else!).
Liz
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Result of sorts - I have had a reply -it's a bit similar to an extract from a Morecombe and Wise sketch though, in that it doesn't really address the question I asked!
Sounds like the 5pm Downing Street briefing ;D
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Sounds like the 5pm Downing Street briefing ;D
;D ;D ;D very true!
I had an email today in reply to my comment yesterday saying that they hadn't answered the question I'd asked - saying that Dad does have matches - but I just can't see them. ::) ::) ::) They promise I will be able to soon!
Liz
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That was an unusual response from them. I wonder how many more folks have matches they cannot see.
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I took a little time to find it. I clicked on relatives on side bar
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That was an unusual response from them. I wonder how many more folks have matches they cannot see.
Quite!
I have seen the attached message or something very similar for over three years now :'( They need to adapt to to say "Your matches, like your ancestors are hiding!"
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I had exactly that message - keep fishing! Until the recent rejig (within the last month i became aware, due to posts in rootschat). It was quite bizarre.
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Exciting times!
I got my first message from a potential DNA match on LivingDNA today :)
OK the amount of DNA we share is probably too small to ever sort out where the connection is and without the chromosome browser, promised but so far not delivered, it is a lot harder. Nevertheless he gave me a list of names and locations and I have replied with my list of names and locations for the potential areas we may match. Probably wrote too much as had to split it over two messages :D
Anyway I am pleased to have had a contact and who knows what the future may bring if they do manage to get their promised developments to work. Just a couple of gripes ::) The message box limit of 1,000 characters is a bit stingy and the size of the box is too small IMO. Also I would have liked them to have a message centre where all my messages are rather that having to look for them on each person contacted. (And if I have got that wrong ??? can someone put me right, thanks).
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Excellent! Small steps forward ... sorry I have no idea about the messages, not having anyone to message ... ::)
It is such a shame because they have promised so much and their "Ancestry results" are spot on for Dad given his paper trail - I just feel a bit let down to be told that he does indeed have matches - but I can't see them!
::) ;D
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I agree about the message box being ridiculously small. It is very difficult to proof read a message before sending it.
The message centre is lurking at the bottom of your match list under a little green tab that gets a bit hidden among the sales blurb :)
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The message centre is lurking at the bottom of your match list under a little green tab …..
Thanks for that. Yes that is what I have been using. Didn't realise that was the "message centre" ! :D
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Well I am not sure if message centre is quite the right term for it, but that is where you get access to all of your latest messages and can see which ones are unread. Clicking on a message from there takes you to the relevant profile where you can see the message history and respond.
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We have matches! ;D
But - I'm not sure if this actually makes things worse not better ::)
I appear to be my father's sister (shared cM = 2713 37.42%). With Mum I share 3609.85cM, 49.78%.
On FTDNA I share the same amount with both of them (3384cM) and on 23andMe I share 50.0% with Dad.
So I have serious reservations about the accuracy of Living DNA's predicted relationships and although I will look through them, I don't think I will take them very seriously!
Liz
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The only large cMs Match that I have on that Site is with my late Mother's half brother, - and I already knew about that anyway. The rest of them all seem to be at 4th Cousin level, and hardly any names that I recognize.
When they were first added, I messaged quite a few matches, but to date I've only had one reply. It certainly hasn't moved my research on at all, - I still have a Brickwall on my Paternal side:-(
Romilly.