Anyone know what upcoming FamilyFinder changes are?

[CAM]

Family Finder

On 1/11/11 I sent a note asking FTDNA to add these features:

1. Have the in-common feature working again.
2. Download of all chromosome data.
3. Tags or notes telling our FF matches of our confirmed relations so others can narrow down which part of our GEDCOM they connect to (if they match some of our relatives they will know what part of our tree to look at).

So basically I was told this can't happen right away because IT is already booked....

I will ask again next month, and the next, .. hope others ask too.

.

Matt,
I agree with no. 1 &2 not sure if I understand 3 for myself if I have an idea of what side one of my matches is on I email them and explain the reason why I belive their more likely on a certain side of my family.

Could you go a little more in detail on no. 3 ? Maybe I am not picking everything up on what you are getting at.

When I talked with someone at FTDNA a few weeks ago I asked about the in-common with feature she did not know what I was talking about.

Can you tell us any more about how IT is going ? No missle to Matt's place the dog needs a place to sleep.

Thanks in advance

Cam

[mkdexter]

Could you go a little more in detail on no. 3 ? Maybe I am not picking everything up on what you are getting at.

When I talked with someone at FTDNA a few weeks ago I asked about the in-common with feature she did not know what I was talking about.

Can you tell us any more about how IT is going ?

No 3. A way to share with others who your relatives are also tested. In my case I have a match but could not figure out if I matched his maternal side or paternal side, luckily he had other relatives tested and I matched his uncle. That immediately allowed me to know I match his paternal side and could narrow my research to just that side. I think that once people start seeing they have multiple matches to the same family they will have an easier time trying to figure out where the connections are.

FTDNA knows what the in-common feature is, maybe not the office staff but the IT staff does. They can't figure out how to make it work. It uses a nested database call where it first finds the known relative list then goes back and finds the names in common with the set. At the point it gets the first list and trys to generate the second, it fails. They don't know why. One drawback is that his only worked with known relatives but it was nice. If I had a list of matches and my mother did too, I could immediately see which names were in common to the both of us. You can also do this at GEDMatch.com but its not as easy, won't go into it here.

Changes for FTDNA/IT. Yes an interesting topic I wished I could say more on. There are some things I know about FTNDA that some people at FTNDA do not know I know... so I obviously can't say without causing some problems and of course I have promised not to say anyway. Basically I'll split this answer into three sections and I'll base what I say on email I have from FTDNA's President so as to not complicate things for anyone else.

A. The lab. You notice the lab has delayed FF tests, not the other tests. That is all I can say, An announcement should come out very soon as to the reason for the 3 week or whatever it is delay. I'm told that soon we will hear something. We just have to wait.

B. The IT work revealed last Oct. This would be the user interface pages and things like that. I don't know of its current progress but a month ago I had word that they were already working on this. I expect it is almost completed.

C. Pop Finder. I have been told they are adding population groups to it, don't know what groups or when, and that they will provide pages with maps like the ones revealed in Oct. We will see it when we see it is my motto. When Pop Finder first came out I communicated with the developer and I've seen samples of what it is capable of doing. The problem is that taping into what it can do requires a lot of IT resources. That said I believe we will constantly see PF improving all the time because has a powerful engine behind it.

All of this is unofficial and my comments only.

This is their baby. They will need to show it off to us. If they succeed so will my research so I wish them speed and the best. And I can't wait!

I have had 'to start a FF tips website' on my to-do list . I've slightly changed plans on that. I will not be doing a website. I'm just too busy. I will still write a PDF on tips for using Family Finder (part of my original goal) but I won't be doing much else. When I complete the article I'll post it and make it downloadable for free and that will be about all I will use my website for at this time.



.

[nolnacsj]

On 1/11/11 I sent a note asking FTDNA to add these features:

1. Have the in-common feature working again.
2. Download of all chromosome data.
3. Tags or notes telling our FF matches of our confirmed relations so others can narrow down which part of our GEDCOM they connect to (if they match some of our relatives they will know what part of our tree to look at).

So basically I was told this can't happen right away because IT is already booked....

I will ask again next month, and the next, .. hope others ask too.

.

And....I would like it if the match date was a column as it would help to keep track of oldest to most recent. The new matches since last log in button doesn't seem to work for the 5th-distant matches.

Judy

[mkdexter]

My expected result date was changed from 1/24 to 2/28.
When I spoke to FamilyTreeDNA CSR, she said everyone's results were delayed b/c of "changes", but she claimed she did not know what changes were.

Does anyone reading this post know?

Thank you

I think you'll find out today

[CAM]

Family Finder

I think you'll find out today

Thanks Matt for the heads up .

Cheryl

[CorkyBean]

PDF with tips on using FF

I will still write a PDF on tips for using Family Finder (part of my original goal) but I won't be doing much else. When I complete the article I'll post it and make it downloadable for free and that will be about all I will use my website for at this time.
.

Matt,

This will be much appreciated. What a gift! I have seen a big need for this.

Thanks!
Corky Bean

[nolnacsj]

I think you'll find out today

Matt, care to revise the estimate??????!

Judy

[mkdexter]

Today.

The reason for the delays have been a change in the lab. FTDNA is moving from Affy to Illumina microarrays.

Please see your email if you are a current FTDNA FF testee to sign up for a conversion to the new chip. All people will be converted but those who sign up will be placed in the front of the line..

[dwight]

Awesome! I got the email about 20 seconds after you posted this, Matt. Signed, sealed, order completed!

What about people like my wife, who's FF test is pending. Will she be given this conversion option before her results are released or after - do you know? Thanks.

Today.

The reason for the delays have been a change in the lab. FTDNA is moving from Affy to Illumina microarrays.

Please see your email if you are a current FTDNA FF testee to sign up for a conversion to the new chip. All people will be converted but those who sign up will be placed in the front of the line..

[Ann Turner]

Awesome! I got the email about 20 seconds after you posted this, Matt. Signed, sealed, order completed!

What about people like my wife, who's FF test is pending. Will she be given this conversion option before her results are released or after - do you know? Thanks.

There is a new FAQ, too:

http://www.familytreedna.com/faq/ans...x?faqid=17#302

[Javelin]

That's some great news. Thanks, Family Tree DNA! The Affy chip does have more unusual SNPs, but is based on CEU (Caucasian Mormons from Utah) variants, while the Illumina is not. I suspect among other things this should make Population Finder more robust.

I also suggest that everyone who has already been tested download your list of matches for future reference as it stands now: it will be very interesting to compare the two when the new results are in. I imagine a few people will drop off and a few new ones will be added (plus of course the large number of new kits will mean new adds).

As to your question, dwight, they are being tested on the new chip.

[mkdexter]

All the tests that are coming out next week are already on the new chip. Sorry I could say anything on this sooner. They've been working on this for a long time, hence the past FF results delays. They already have tests back with the new chip.

[Kasandra]

Done! I really hope this improves the error rate. It might not make a difference in the 'big overall scale' of things but it does matter when trying to compare 23andMe to FTDNA data. In fact, had they done this before the 23andMe sale I might not have bothered with 23andMe at all. There's still the SNP overlap issue of course. But if they add SNPs over time they can at least be competitive. Especially with 23 treating it's Genealogy customers like ugly bastards. I can't believe 23 threatened to pull the Ancestry Finder today because of the complaints about the service. (and no, it wasn't that AF was buggy it was an attempt to shut down complaints).

[LSSmith]

Done! I really hope this improves the error rate. It might not make a difference in the 'big overall scale' of things but it does matter when trying to compare 23andMe to FTDNA data. In fact, had they done this before the 23andMe sale I might not have bothered with 23andMe at all. There's still the SNP overlap issue of course. But if they add SNPs over time they can at least be competitive. Especially with 23 treating it's Genealogy customers like ugly bastards. I can't believe 23 threatened to pull the Ancestry Finder today because of the complaints about the service. (and no, it wasn't that AF was buggy it was an attempt to shut down complaints).

Kasandra after reading this I can say I am so happy that I did not waste my genealogy funds on the 23 test. I can use the money to test more people which is always good.

[mkdexter]

Done! I really hope this improves the error rate. It might not make a difference in the 'big overall scale' of things but it does matter when trying to compare 23andMe to FTDNA data. In fact, had they done this before the 23andMe sale I might not have bothered with 23andMe at all. There's still the SNP overlap issue of course. But if they add SNPs over time they can at least be competitive. Especially with 23 treating it's Genealogy customers like ugly bastards. I can't believe 23 threatened to pull the Ancestry Finder today because of the complaints about the service. (and no, it wasn't that AF was buggy it was an attempt to shut down complaints).

Yes I heard FTDNA say that the error rate is much better.