ancestry.com - anyone here use it?

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Brewdude

Brewdude

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Anyone here do the ancestry thing and what can you tell me about it? I want the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'm wary and skeptical of it for many reasons so have not even looked at their website since I don't want a bunch of friggin cookies on my 'puter. In fact if I did it at all I'd prolly use the computers at the library. Call me paranoid but that's the deal. And I'm mistrustful of anything that that particular organization is involved in. So there is that.

So go ahead and tell me how wonderful and easy it is, and what it costs.


Cheers,

RR
 
I used them a few years ago. Pretty simple to do, received my test results in two weeks. Received an updated result about a month later. Other than that, I've had no problem with them. :cheers: FTRPLT
 
ftrplt":go4kurkv said:
I used them a few years ago. Pretty simple to do, received my test results in two weeks. Received an updated result about a month later. Other than that, I've had no problem with them. :cheers: FTRPLT
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OK. How expensive was it?


Cheers,

RR
 
I was gifted the test. I think the standard charge is around $100. However, I occasionally receive discounted offers about half that!! :cheers: FTRPLT

You might check out "23 and Me.com" as a comparative.
 
ftrplt":vijy2ksi said:
I was gifted the test. I think the standard charge is around $100. However, I occasionally receive discounted offers about half that!! :cheers: FTRPLT

You might check out "23 and Me.com" as a comparative.
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Roger that. Gracias amigo.


Cheers,

RR
 
For family history or DNA testing?

I and my siblings have done several DNA tests.  The basic info seems to be always available.  It told us what we needed to know.  

Family history, once entered seems to become theirs unless you keep paying.  

As I recall, you are on Linux of some form.  If you are wanting to keep a structured family history, check out Gramps in the repository for your distribution.
 
I tried it for family history when they offered a free month.
I was able to get several generations but never found royalty.
I should have started when my parents were alive.
 
I like when people find out they're something they didn't realize. As in, when it potentially flies in the face of their prejudices. That religious ethic really gets tested.

I've seen special offers for around $50. Never done it though.
 
Carlos":9vtjj4a3 said:
For family history or DNA testing?

I and my siblings have done several DNA tests.  The basic info seems to be always available.  It told us what we needed to know.  

Family history, once entered seems to become theirs unless you keep paying.  

As I recall, you are on Linux of some form.  If you are wanting to keep a structured family history, check out Gramps in the repository for your distribution.
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Family history. Not interested in DNA stuff.

Can't say I like hearing that family history once entered becomes theirs unless you keep paying.

All I really want to know is the family going back more generations than I have personal experience of.

Might check out some of those other sites mentioned above. Prolly safer than the other one for various reasons.


Cheers,

RR
 
Brewdude":8jyq4i1t said:
Can't say I like hearing that family history once entered becomes theirs unless you keep paying.
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I don't think it ends there with any of them. I think you can be relatively certain they sell your information, even if anonymously, to other sites and data tanks. It's the only way they can prove the quality of their tests, if they have big, and ever-growing, rosters. If they're going to tell someone they're 3% Jewish, it's more prestigious, and believable, if they can say they have 10 million other users to bounce the data off than if they only have 1 million. Same goes for when they connect similar DNA and show your family is here or there and when if. And then you have governments, medical companies, and whoever else wants that type of information to collect in their marketing and demographic studies. Heck, I bet even the Mormons (no slight against Mormons here, but they're infamous for getting involved with people outside their ranks) are buying all the DNA and family histories they can legally buy.

I'm not judging anyone for doing these things, but if they think they somehow maintain control and privacy over the results, I think that is a bit wishful. It's information, and it is valuable to more situations than just family curiosities. Money to be endlessly made there.
 
Zeno Marx":8yg0gwsa said:
Brewdude":8yg0gwsa said:
Can't say I like hearing that family history once entered becomes theirs unless you keep paying.
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I don't think it ends there with any of them.  I think you can be relatively certain they sell your information, even if anonymously, to other sites and data tanks.  It's the only way they can prove the quality of their tests, if they have big, and ever-growing, rosters.  If they're going to tell someone they're 3% Jewish, it's more prestigious, and believable, if they can say they have 10 million other users to bounce the data off than if they only have 1 million.  Same goes for when they connect similar DNA and show your family is here or there and when if.  And then you have governments, medical companies, and whoever else wants that type of information to collect in their marketing and demographic studies.  Heck, I bet even the Mormons (no slight against Mormons here, but they're infamous for getting involved with people outside their ranks) are buying all the DNA and family histories they can legally buy.

I'm not judging anyone for doing these things, but if they think they somehow maintain control and privacy over the results, I think that is a bit wishful.  It's information, and it is valuable to more situations than just family curiosities.  Money to be endlessly made there.
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Right. Very thorough and candid response there Zeno. I appreciate you taking the time to detail that.

This being the case I will not pursue it any longer.


Cheers,

RR
 
Voluntarily give up my DNA profile to the interweb?

Me thinks not...
 
I did 23 and me with my wife earlier this year. She got a deal through her work, so it was cheap to do the basic ancestry profile. I am more Native American than Elizabeth warren lol (.01%). And also .01% west African? News to me haha. All the rest is Scotland and Scandinavia. Weird, huh?

I’m not sure I’d go in for ancestry.com though. The Mormons have some stuff going on there. They are searching for anyone they can find related to them who is dead for religious purposes. More power to them, but it is a bit odd to me.
 
I'm no fan of the Mormon religion as it is no more than a made up cult. With that said I do like how they find family history important and have made this information available to all of us. Joseph Smith and I have the same ancestry and I took an ancestry DNA test earlier this year. So far the Mormons haven't come knockin on my door since their founder and I are cousins.

I am impressed with all the 3rd and 4th cousins I have (thousands), that seems fairly accurate. I don't find their regions as being accurate. My wife and I first took the test and I came back as 2 percent Eastern European. My parents later took it and neither showed Eastern European. They also both showed Swedish and I didn't show any. I do question the accuracy of that. It did show there are no surprises, I'm pretty much a Northern European mutt.
 
Oh and I must add, the U.S. Army got my DNA years ago so if they want to clone me go right ahead.
 
They wouldn’t come find you haha. They have a believe they can be sort of like Jesus of their own planet inhabited by their relatives. So they can be baptized for dead relatives to make them Mormons. It’s kooky, but like you said, it’s a cult. Not different from Jehovahs witness or seventh day Adventist.

Now that we’ve offended everyone. I’m a fundamentalist baptist. Most other denominations think we’re a cult. Or at least obsessed with believers baptism. And too rigid on cultural fads/taboos.
 
The example that comes to my mind when I think of this Mormon meddling is when they were scouring registries, historical documents, and digging around Europe, getting the names of all the Jews who were murdered in the holocaust, so they could baptize them and maybe other things. When Jewish organizations caught wind of it, they asked the Mormons to stop.
 
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