where to start??

[Eric Hatfield]

Did he really say that? I have read his reply and didn't see that.

I have heard (I think on the DNAeXplained blog that a transfer from Ancestry to FTDNA doesn't give as good results as a FTDNA test for 2 reasons - Ancestry doesn't test as many locations (or the same locations, and FTDNA only shows higher level matches because it says other results would be misleading. That's my recollection of what was said.

Also I was surprised by his advice to test with ftDNA AND MyHeritage as I thought it was the ftDNA labs that carried out the MyHeritage tests

Yes, I'm surprised by that advice too. I think I may have meant to test with Ancestry and My Heritage and upload to FTDNA, but I typed the wrong company in. Thanks for picking that up.

[davidft]

Hi Eric

Thank you for the clarification.

[sugarfizzle]

(though as Eric says, you don't get a full service from ftDNA).

Did he really say that? I have read his reply and didn't see that

Eric said 'You can test with Ancestry and then upload to FTDNA, but the test isn't quite as good, and it doesn't cost much to do the separate test with FTDNA.'

I have found that they don't give any distant matches at all with a free autosomal upload. My matches at FTDNA stop at 15cM, at ancestry they go down to 6cM.

Regards Margaret

[davidft]

Margaret,

Thank you for replying. Eric has now explained what he meant and I fully understand that. What I did not agree with was the way you paraphrased it which I thought was potentially inaccurate and misleading. If you want a full service from ftDNA then you test with them, you don't test with another company and then bemoan the limited service you get on a free (?) transfer. Just my opinion of course.

[diplodicus]

I think that for a beginner, Ancestry is a better starting point. The presentation of results is simpler and I think this helps in the early stages. Take plenty of time to analyse the results. Concentrate on your first page of results and work through these before moving down the list. making sure you understand what you are being told including the limits of the data. They usually offer discounts around high days and holidays (mothering Sunday, Christmas, etc.) so keep an eye out. You will save £20 but the P&P is a sting in the tail just the same.

Then, despite the caveats outlined earlier, you can transfer your Ancestry results to both Gedmatch.com and ftdna.com when it suits you and at no further cost.

I would do these one at a time and after each one, giving yourself lots of time to absorb all this extra data with which you are suddenly confronted.

Occasionally, a DNA match will be a real "light bulb" moment  but most of the time it is a hard methodical slog to make sense of the data now in your possession. I do urge you to "make haste slowly" pausing to find answers to all the questions you, ask yourself. (What does this mean? What are the implications of that? etc.). The isogg.org site is a brilliant free resource to answer most of your questions but within in is a lot of information.

Finally, unless your ethnicity results include Ivory Coast, Melanesia or the moon, they are of almost no value in North-West Europe.

And remember, when you get stuck, there is always Rootschat

[davidft]

I think that for a beginner, Ancestry is a better starting point.

Terrible advice in my opinion. They take the test there do not read any of the help pages on Ancestry and come here and ask questions.

And remember, when you get stuck, there is always Rootschat

See above. Arghhhhhhhhhhh   

[sugarfizzle]

David, I think you misunderstood me.  I am not at all bemoaning the limited service I get with ftDNA after a free autosomal transfer.  I'm sorry if my paraphrasing offended you, it was not intended to do so 

jaybelnz was asking which was the best company to test with. In my opinion, and I realise there will be many other opinions, Ancestry is the best company to test with. I have many confirmed matches there, little to none at other sites where I have uploaded. At ftDNA I have no confirmed matches, at 3rd to 5th cousin level or closer.

As I said in another thread, I think if I were tested again, it would be with 23andMe, to take benefit of the second largest autosomal DNA database.

I don't mind about not getting any speculative matches at ftDNA, just wish I could positively connect with some of the closer ones.

It really does depend upon which of your 'cousins' have tested and where.

As you say, Eric has explained what he meant far better than I did, so hope any misunderstanding, inaccuracies or misleading statements are not held against me! 

Regards Margaret

[davidft]

David, I think you misunderstood me.  I am not at all bemoaning the limited service I get with ftDNA after a free autosomal transfer.  I'm sorry if my paraphrasing offended you, it was not intended to do so 

As you say, Eric has explained what he meant far better than I did, so hope any misunderstanding, inaccuracies or misleading statements are not held against me! 

Regards Margaret

No offence taken I was just worried others could get the wrong end of the stick or take the wrong interpretation as I did. Though I think the discussion with you and Eric has clarified things and hopefully will be usefu to others too. Thank you for your reply.

[sugarfizzle]

I think that for a beginner, Ancestry is a better starting point.

Terrible advice in my opinion. They take the test there do not read any of the help pages on Ancestry and come here and ask questions.

And remember, when you get stuck, there is always Rootschat

See above. Arghhhhhhhhhhh   

If you don't want to help other people with their problems, you don't have to! 

I tend to agree with diplodicus, Ancestry is a good starting point, but maybe that's because I started there. I have no regrets, I would have had to do an ancestryDNA test in the end anyway.

Regards Margaret