Ancestry Public Trees versus Private - a new debate

Just call me Boris.
See my earlier apology. How do I contact a moderator?

 

Your experience is very puzzling to me. My husband no longer has a subscription to Ancestry (as I mentioned earlier) and I have just now logged in as him to check what is viewable in his DNA results. I can see his matches listed in order of closeness of relationship, giving details of shared DNA ('x cM across y segments') for each person, along with whether they have a linked tree (in which case it gives number of people), unlinked tree or no tree. I can also see the list of shared ancestor hints.

If I click on 'View Match' I get the 'Discover how you're connected, subscribe now' message, but I can view the shared match list for each person (useful in working out which branch is relevant to the match). I can also click on the Send Message, leading to the pop-up to fill in with the message details, with no mention of needing a subscription to make contact. Of course, if I log in as myself and look at his DNA results, I can view the linked public trees directly, but even without a subscription there is a lot you can do, as Peter and I have both mentioned.

It seems very strange that you had to take out a subscription for your wife to research her results, as that was not the case with my husband and me. I wonder if Ancestry have changed their access conditions recently?

 

I suspect something similar happened when I contacted a cousin through Ancestry and didn't receive a reply until over 6 months later when she apologised for the late reply, saying her Ancestry subscription had lapsed so she couldn't reply then, but she had just resubscribed, so now she could. Of course, she could have replied to my message without a subscription, but didn't realise it (either that, or maybe just making an excuse for the late reply?). I wonder if this is a common reason for people not responding to messages - they wrongly think you can't reply without a subscription?

Sorry if I'm going off topic, but we seem to have all digressed somewhat from the original topic of Public v Private trees! Perhaps we need a new thread on DNA results and access to them.

 

I have found a similar thing with MyHeritage. I have had a free account for a long time and got lots of hints etc. but not been able to contact anyone. Now I have uploaded my DNA results to the same account and am able to contact my DNA matches.

 

Well Boris, if I may be so bold, I think a MODERATOR may spot your post anyway, but if not can I just say HELP - "palfamily" wants to draw attention to a mistake made in an earlier post (No. #146) and wishes his X Disgreement withdrawn. If that doesn't help contact Tim privately (using Messages). Cheers anyway

 

Food for thought there Helen, but I think with hindsight (and more knowledge of the DNA scene) I might have done things differently, but at the moment things are tickety boo even with two subscriptions, but I will be seeking to change that at a later date, next year in fact but comments from both you and Peter duly noted.

 

Message for palfamily: It appears(from Peter's comments) you just go back and delete your post (the one with the cross) as he believes there is no time limit. No need to send an Agree message as you have made it clear since, you agreed anyway, but that's up to you. All well that ends well perhaps.

 

APOLOGY TO PETER: I misled with my statement that implied the author (of the quote) had followed up with additional supporting posts. This was not factual. I was relying on memory and although there were additional posts, they were not those of the author. Nothing changes my interpretation of the quote itself, but there was no follow-up support. Hope that sets the record straight.

 

Thanks very helpful. I really must start paying attention to Support articles and Q&A fact lists as I find it hard to shake off trial and error methods. Sometimes my way pays dividends when I sort things out myself but there are times when on new ground (as with following through with my wife's DNA results without a subscription) when I try to do something and get thwarted. Reading the Support page shows I opted to do something that required a subscription (can't remember what exactly but likely something I do with my own DNA Tree which has a subscription) and was told I needed to subscribe.

Perhaps, had I known, there were some things that could be done without a subscription, that might have sufficed, but somehow I doubt it because I get stubborn and at this point sometimes -not always - I will opt for the quite life, expensive though it undoubtedly can be, and acquiesce. If I was made of money that would not be such a bad thing, but that is not the case so I may have to change my ways.

 

All done. I thought I had used the Undo rating button but obviously not. I suffer a bit from "fat finger syndrome" when I use my tablet.

 

If you're a manager of your husband's account, you don't need a second tree (unless you prefer it that way), you can just connect your husband's DNA results to the same tree that your results are connected to.

I am the manager of my 95 yr old grandmother's DNA results and I set up a dummy account only because I had to (all my other DNA results are simply within my own account as I added them before Ancestry changed the rules), and my grandmother's results are connected to the same tree as all my other results, with no problems.
Alternatively, to stop having to keep signing in and out of accounts, add your account as a "manager" of your husbands tree, and then it will be added to your list of family trees on your account; all messages in regards to DNA from other members should, I presume (as I haven't tried it), be sent to you as the manager.
I would test it, since I'm 90% sure there's a LostCousins member in my grandmother's list of results (I swear I've seen that black & white photo before!!) but I don't know who it is - and they're a fairly close relative too.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd rather keep the trees separate. I used to have one combined tree but found it was getting rather unwieldy so split it before we had the DNA tests. I can see his tree from my account, and all enquiries about his DNA come to me as manager, it's just the invitations I need to send from his account. It's not a major problem, and as Peter said I can log into both accounts simultaneously using two browsers (which I have done in the past).

 

Your grandmother isn't from Lancashire is she? That's where most of my relatives come from!

 

Then you can always add yourself as an editor to your husband's tree and you should be able to control it from your account as well.

I do have ancestors from Lancashire, and it seems some are on my paternal grandmother's side - the rest of her English heritage is from Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Surrey... (for one quarter English heritage, that always surprises me.) The Lancashire surnames are Ellison and most likely Seacome/Seacombe. (To explain that my grandmother has one quarter English ancestry; one half Ulster Scots/Scottish and one quarter European Jewish and they're all highly mobile!)

Yours isn't the picture I've seen the list though, so I'm still looking!