Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Still missing close relatives at FamilyTreeDNA

Following up on the DNA files uploaded to FamilyTreeDNA ("FTDNA") with their free promotion.  I uploaded several kits originally processed at 23andMe (and one from AncestryDNA, but we'll deal with that at a later date).

The uploaded kits received twenty matches (except for the person with half African ancestry) as promised, with limited viewing.  My concern when the the results were first released was that the top twenty matches in the entire database were not shown, but rather the matches were gathered from the existing pool of paid clientele.  The uploaded kits needed a few days to fully process, so I waited.

Some of the paid kits received email from FTDNA that new relatives were found.

Family Finder at FamilyTreeDNA for Jody's father

My father's list of relatives, called Family Finder, contains the top three people that he has been seeing, Me, his daughter; his third cousin, and his fourth cousin.  Now on the list is his paternal first cousin, once removed.  This cousin is one of two kits whose results I completely "unlocked," which is a part of the transfer promotion.  You can unlock more matches by paying $39 or by getting four people to upload their DNA files from 23andMe or AncestryDNA.

My father's other close relations, including another daughter and three siblings, are not shown in his list of relatives.  But their information is at FTDNA.


Family Finder at FamilyTreeDNA for Jody's sister

My sister's uploaded information remains locked.  She has twenty matches.  Although she is not displayed in our parent's lists of relatives, they are displayed to her.  She can see me, as well as our mother's brother, which are all previously uploaded and paid accounts.  She cannot see any of the newly uploaded, free accounts for our father's siblings or the cousins of our grandparents, including the one that is now "unlocked" via four referrals.

(People have been posting their unique links to unlock their relatives.  So here's one for an uncle's account.  If you have tested at 23andMe or AncestryDNA, please try to use someone's link to upload your file to FTDNA.)

At this point, I don't know if the site has not finished processing all of the newly uploaded accounts and matching them with everyone else already computed.  The uploaded accounts are not getting a full view of the close relations at FTNDA, and neither are the existing, paid accounts.  This situation does not allow someone to do a complete check for close relatives at FTDNA.


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