How to proceed - haven't heard back from surname project.

[flahagan]

Several months ago, I wrote to the administrator of my surname project, hoping to join and get a DNA test through this group. I've never heard back.
Should we just proceed anyway, or do you need "permission" to join one of these groups?
It is my brother who will be getting the Y-DNA test in an attempt to locate the part of Ireland that our g-grandfather came from. We have a fairly common Irish surname (Casey), but notice that there are quite a few in the surname project.
We also belong to Ancestry.com and see that their autosomal DNA test is now available. Would it be beneficial for us to do both - my brother could do the 67 marker Y-DNA test through FTDNA (we're looking for our direct paternal ancestor), and I would do the one offered at Ancestry. Would this be beneficial?
Thanks for any advice - as you can see, all of this is like Greek to me!

[villandra]

Sometimes you have to get permission to join these projects. The reason is to make sure it's appropriate for you to join the project. For instance it's common for people with no male line descendancy from that surname to try to join surname Y DNA projects.

Not hearing back from the project administrator is a real problem. In fact, it sometimes takes people months to hear back from me; I run two projects.

The problem is that Family Tree DNA is EXTREMELY POOR at actually notifying administrators of any action with their project, ESPECIALLY join requests. They only ever manage to inform us of project member results a third or less of the time.

See of that administrator has an e-mail address on the web site and e-mail him directly. If not, he's bound to hang out on the lists and forums associated with that surname, if he or she has any actual interest in the project at all.

If you don't hear back in a couple of days, e-mail again. I get over a thousand e-mails a day and sometimes I miss some.

Yours,
Dora Smith

[rivergirl]

If you have emailed the admin and have not had a reply, then the problem is with the Project Admin, not with FTDNA.
If you have not had a reply, send a 2nd email. (They may have missed your first email for whatever reason)
If after a week still no reply then email FTDNA to see what they can do.

If you tried the Casey project, I know that the admin is very active on some of the DNA boards.
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/CASEY/default.aspx

[gtc]

I've read on various forums about projects whose administrator becomes incommunicado for whatever reason. If you can't get a response after a number of attempts, report the problem to FTDNA who (I'm advised) will try to contact the administrator. If they can't then they will look to appointing another person to the role, should one put their hand up.

[nathanm]

We also belong to Ancestry.com and see that their autosomal DNA test is now available. Would it be beneficial for us to do both - my brother could do the 67 marker Y-DNA test through FTDNA (we're looking for our direct paternal ancestor), and I would do the one offered at Ancestry. Would this be beneficial?

I'd hold off on ordering any autosomal tests from Ancestry. Their record on DNA testing has been pretty bad, and they aren't letting people who've tested download their own raw data. I had my sister tested, but only because it was a free test ($9.95 S&H). So far, I'm underwhelmed; even at $99 I'd advise against it. There's another thread on the forum discussing the test.