Origins

[A.Lock]

I am now wondering if I can even trust FTDNA's my origins calculations. I was told one thing and logged on to now be told I am something else. Its not a small change, its massive. I have been telling family members today what happened now they all say they will never trust DNA results and that its not reliable. I had one cousin who was going to order the FF test also and now has backed out. Wished I had never mentioned it around him now...

[khazaria]

Explain to them the difference between raw data and data interpretation. The ethnicity calculator can be inexact/flaky/wrong but the SNPs and matching technology are solid science.

[dna]

Explain to them the difference between raw data and data interpretation. The ethnicity calculator can be inexact/flaky/wrong but the SNPs and matching technology are solid science.

Dear A.Lock, your SNPs (= DNA results) did not change.

Some population estimates might change and continue changing, as new data becomes available. And then there are testers who hope that there would be massive changes. For example, they think there are populations that should be listed separately, but they are not (yet).

W. (Mr.)

[Armando]

Two threads on the same subject? http://forums.familytreedna.com/showthread.php?t=38203

[jsarnacki]

The ethnicity calculators are only as good as the population samples that were tested. Some populations are well represented, others are not. Also remember, many populations moved over time so samples are a bit mixed based on where their ancestors migrated. Many population groups overlap too. One example of an Ethnicity that would show unexpected results would be Sicilian ancestry, Sicily was a melting pot for Europe, just like the US is a melting pot of the world. My Sicilian seems to have some middle eastern/north aftrican/East China ethnicity mixed in with it.

You can transfer your results to Gedmatch and use their Ethnicity calculators too. You can't really say which one is most accurate, but I created a spreadsheet of all my kits ethnicity calculations from FTDNA and many of the Gedmatch calculators. I have each kit number and results side by side. When I look at it as a whole, then the results make more sense to me.

[jsarnacki]

I have been telling family members today what happened now they all say they will never trust DNA results and that its not reliable. I had one cousin who was going to order the FF test also and now has backed out. Wished I had never mentioned it around him now...

What you need to explain to potential testers is that DNA results ARE accurate, but that Ethnicity Calculators are NOT an exact science. Ethnicity results are "predictions" based on who tested. DNA/genetics however is an accurate science. There could be "glitches" in the servers that display matches, but the dna itself never changes. You can download all your kit results from here and upload them to gedmatch or other dna sites, and the results and familial match results will be the same (assuming the same people are in both dna sites). The test for me is my known kits... mine, my husband, my children, and my parents. We all match with extremely close cM numbers and family relation predictions.

[Nataliea35]

Also there might be a bug with MyOrigins. I am waiting for them to be able to fix the bug with me being able to delete my raw data and start over. This has been insane. Almost a month and I haven't had anything. And it was a transfer from Ancestry. Not a regular test.

[nicolam]

It's not just FTDNA ethnicity estimates which change, my results at 23andMe have changed a few times in the 2.5 years since I tested there.

[KATM]

It's not just FTDNA ethnicity estimates which change, my results at 23andMe have changed a few times in the 2.5 years since I tested there.

I've noticed that, too. I'm not sure if 23andMe announces when their populations have been updated, but usually someone makes note of it in their forums ("communities").
I haven't seen FTDNA make any announcements yet on updates to the myOrigins populations, except for when they actually went from Population Finder to introducing myOrigins. I believe they said they will update date myOrigins in the future. Let's just hope they will let us know when they do!