MtDNA FMS matches missing or has the system changed?

[larzus]

I haven't checked for a month or so, but this morning I received a notification about a new HVR1 match so I went to my MtDNA matches to take a look. The notification was correct, no issues there.

I then browsed the HVR2 - all good though somewhat smaller I think. I recognise the match names.

I then went to the FMS section which used to have 12 matches, 4 at genetic distance 3 and 8 at genetic distance 2. I have never had a 1 or 0 show up.

Now it says "No matches found at this level of testing. You are being automatically directed to the previous level of testing."

Which takes me back to the HVR2.

Is this a known issue or a planned change? I still show the same haplogroup so I don't seem to have been recategorised. Are we now only shown those within the closest of genetic distances? I kind of miss those matches, I'd communicated by email with several of them even though the genetic distance was so great.

Apologies if this has already been discussed. I had a brief look but failed to find a thread about it.

[dna]

I haven't checked for a month or so, but this morning I received a notification about a new HVR1 match so I went to my MtDNA matches to take a look. The notification was correct, no issues there.

I then browsed the HVR2 - all good though somewhat smaller I think. I recognise the match names.

I then went to the FMS section which used to have 12 matches, 4 at genetic distance 3 and 8 at genetic distance 2. I have never had a 1 or 0 show up.

Now it says "No matches found at this level of testing. You are being automatically directed to the previous level of testing."

Which takes me back to the HVR2.

Is this a known issue or a planned change? I still show the same haplogroup so I don't seem to have been recategorised. Are we now only shown those within the closest of genetic distances? I kind of miss those matches, I'd communicated by email with several of them even though the genetic distance was so great.

Apologies if this has already been discussed. I had a brief look but failed to find a thread about it.

Retry after 24 hours, and if your matches are still gone, then submit your problem using web (not e-mail!) or phone them.

There are many user with transient problems like that in past weeks. I have no idea why, I am just offering a practical advice.

W. (Mr.)

[Lwh02]

I am having the same problem today. Many pages of matches missing today, including all of my FMS ones.

[LornaHen]

Missing mtdna matches

Add me as a 'me too'.
Was advised that I had a new FMS match today - went to look but there are no matches reported for mtDNA at any level - all have disappeared.

[larzus]

I just received a notification saying I have a new FMS match. When I go there I'm getting the Houston error. I would assume the 'new' match is my old matches being reinstated and this is something they are currently working on.

[Sarmat]

My mtDNA matches have been disappearing and reappearing, seemingly at random, for at least a month now.

I submitted a trouble ticket, but they just told me that when they logged in, they could see my matches, so they consider the matter resolved.

I didn't bother reporting it again.

[Caburn]

Apart from my FMS matches having gone missing, the mtDNA default now seems to have switched to listing the HVR1 matches first rather than the previous method of going to FMS first and then working backwards through HVR2 to HVR1 if no matches are found at the higher level.

Just to make this clear, I prefer seeing my FMS matches first (always assuming they've been restored to be visible anyway.)

[Ann Turner]

According to Janine Cloud on an ISOGG Facebook thread, a bug has been identified that affects the way mtDNA matches are reported. My FMS have also disappeared. The logic for HVR1 and HVR2 matches is also affected. All HVR2 matches should also match at HVR1 (except for rare instances involving heteroplasmy), but they now appear to be two distinct sets. My guess is that it was an unintended consequence of some other change. They are working on a fix. I don't think there's any need to report additional cases at the moment.

[keigh]

I just checked into my mtDNA for the first time in a long time, and found all my FMS matches gone, including 3 exact matches. No HVR2 matches showed up and about 14 HVR1 came up. Seems there is a glitch somewhere. I'll check back in a week or so and see if it's been fixed.

[telly441]

According to Janine Cloud on an ISOGG Facebook thread, a bug has been identified that affects the way mtDNA matches are reported. My FMS have also disappeared. The logic for HVR1 and HVR2 matches is also affected. All HVR2 matches should also match at HVR1 (except for rare instances involving heteroplasmy), but they now appear to be two distinct sets. My guess is that it was an unintended consequence of some other change. They are working on a fix. I don't think there's any need to report additional cases at the moment.

Why does Janine Cloud only post to closed Facebook pages? Why won't she post these updates to someplace that everyone have access to or even FTDNA's own website?

[dna]

Why does Janine Cloud only post to closed Facebook pages? Why won't she post these updates to someplace that everyone have access to or even FTDNA's own website?

Yesterday (Houston time), FTDNA made a detailed official announcement in the Group Administrators forum here. It is an announcement, not a post. Given the facts presented there, the future looks good, but I will be slowing down for a next month or two.

W. (Mr.)

[Sarmat]

There's no reason to keep the contents of the announcement secret. It can be read here: http://forums.familytreedna.com/announcement.php?f=214

It looks like it's set to expire after today, though, so it may not be there tomorrow.

Dear Group Administrators,


We appreciate your patience with us through the recent bout of technical difficulties we’ve experienced. We know the last couple of weeks have been challenging with the connectivity issues and other bumps in the road, but we assure you we’re working to correct those issues and lay a foundation on which future growth can be built.

Family Tree DNA is unique in the market since, as you know, we’re the only company that offers a full suite of DNA testing for genealogy. Maintaining and improving those discrete pipelines is a challenge, but it’s one we embrace and are committed to meeting.

The most recent and obvious issues have involved matches disappearing and reappearing. We assure you that in those situations, the data from the lab were there and correct. The problem involved the "cache"--a temporary storage location intended to speed up access. It’s similar to your browser’s cache, but at the server level.

The team is first focusing on resolving those caching issues, since they impact the website’s speed and stability, which is the other major issue that has affected everyone.

Here’s a list of the primary corrective actions we’re taking:

We are working to reduce human error by automating our QC processes. We’ve added more QC checks into our processes and will be adding more as needed.
We are upgrading our servers to be able to handle the increased load we are experiencing. In December we doubled our capacity, but more is already needed. These upgrades may take a few weeks to complete.
We are re-organizing our database to distribute the load among all test types so that processing one type doesn’t affect the performance of the other types. For example, uploading a large batch of mtDNA results shouldn’t cause noticeable slowdowns on the site. This network reorganization will take about 2-3 months.
We are moving our results process to a "pipeline" using small, discrete, automated steps. This method will make it much easier to find and fix problems, and will increase processing speed. This will be done in phases over the next 2-3 months. When it is complete, we expect much better consistency and quality.
We are working on new automated pipelines for each DNA line (Y-STR, Big Y, mtDNA, Family Finder) designed to reduce human error. Each pipeline has new quality control checks built in. As we complete each new pipeline, we'll be auditing and re-running existing results to ensure that they are correct, and ensuring that new results go through the added qc checks. This doesn’t mean we haven’t always had QC in place - just that it’s not sufficient for the volume of tests we’re running and will continue to run.

To summarize: in the past, some of our processes relied on manual intervention, which can lead to errors. Increased levels of automation remove that element, allowing us to do a better, more consistent job in the delivery of results. Automation won't make it perfect, but it will help to ensure that we are doing things the same way every time, and that proper QA is done when we do have to fix problems.


Thank you all for the work you do. We truly appreciate your dedicated efforts.

FTDNA Management

[Sarmat]

Also, there may be a much simpler explanation for the problem some of you are experiencing. See my bug report here:

http://forums.familytreedna.com/showthread.php?p=413036