AncestryDNA’s new BETA

And you're right Helen as Pauline confirms.

 

Didn't think of that - yes, that is the only one of my DNA results never to have had a DNA Circle (but also the only one to have two "Potential Ancestors" below the normal three panel dashboard, and they are still there, but not - thankfully - replacing anyone in the ThruLines).

ThruLines is easier than DNA Circles, as it doesn't rely on the trees being exactly the same to have you appear in the circle.

 

I think that ThruLines an improvement on DNA Circles - and is much easier to read and understand and gives a lot more hints and help than DNA Circles ever did.

 

Whilst ready to write off (or play down) the usefulness of ThruLines in my own Tree (with perhaps a few exceptions) the moment I switched to my wife's DNA linked Tree, things changed. This possibly because unlike my own it is still work in progress (advanced but still incomplete 4th/5th and beyond) because I found some quite useful leads. So will wait to see if my mind can be changed.

On the other hand I found New & Improved DNA Matches useful in my own Tree and at quick glance, likely the same with my wife's Tree. Hence thumbs up for that.

I have used the feedback option for ThruLines now quite a few times, giving vent to some of the 'sillies' found and, in a nutshell, telling them its Beta leaves a lot to be desired, and of course why. If enough people do that the message may get through, unless of course there is a majority for the opposite viewpoint...(which may remind of something similar on the political scene!)

 

I've also sent feedback on ThruLines, that a potentially really good tool is currently being spoilt by the ridiculous substitution of false ancestors for actual ones. I haven't yet sent feedback on the 'New and Improved DNA matches' but will do so. My biggest beef with that one is that the option to search by surname and birthplace seems to have been removed. Or have I got that wrong - can you still search by name/birthplace on the new screen? If so, how?

 

My wife is in a DNA circle. There are 6 participants in this particular DNA circle, but only 2 have a DNA match with my wife (the other 3 have matches with the other 2 but not my wife), so if DNA circles did not exist, I would lose sight of the other 3 participants.

However I can still see the DNA circle even with New & Improved DNA Matches switched on. There is an prompt on my wife's Thruline panel : 'Still want to use DNA Circles?', which if I click on it the DNA circle is displayed as before. This prompt does not appear in my own Thrulines panel because I do not have a DNA circle.

Given the choice between the 2, I would certainly choose New & Improved DNA Matches.

 

Click on 'Search' -white on black (with magnifying glass top right -next to Map). It then offers to search by surname or birth location

 

Oh, that's great - many thanks. I don't know how I missed that one!

 

I went back and checked a DNA Circle for my paternal grandmother's results - the DNA Circle gave me three links (one for 4 people in the same family group), but no information about where those people linked in to my family tree. I went to the same ancestor on ThruLines, and now everyone is linked in to the child/grandchild of that ancestor that they are descended from, and now there are another 3-4 people who are descended from that ancestor who did not appear on the DNA Circle.

I honestly think this is clearer information then just telling me I was related to someone else but not really explaining where that link was. I can always check an Ancestor whose circle included people not sharing DNA with me, but I don't think loosing those few people will impact on the ability of ThruLines to cut out months/years of research to confirm people's position in a tree that you didn't already know.

Attempted to check the only ancestor I can find with a DNA link who is not a direct link to any of my results, unfortunately however, for some reason ThruLines has made this ancestor "Private" (although his wife isn't), and while I can see the position of 3-4 more people in direct line, I can't see anyone linked with the now "Private" potential ancestor (which is one of the more frustrating elements after ThruLines was "updated" as I used to be able to view this ancestor fine!).

I would presume that ancestor should give me another 10 or so links because on general colour coding of my results, that seems possible, but the "private" label limits the ability of the program to work.

 

Very true - ironically this ancestor is on plenty of public trees, and when I first accessed ThruLines he wasn't listed as Private. I do wonder if ThruLines is struggling with the concept of pedigree collapse.
This particular ancestor and his wife were first cousins (their mothers are sisters), but only one of the sisters is visible in ThruLines, when technically both of them should be - the alternate sister will appear when clicking through, but it is currently suggesting that she is a half sister of the one who appears (they're full siblings) and it's not recognizing that that particular sister is also one of my 5th great grandmothers. Then everyone else in that ancestral line is marked as "Private" except for the furthest ancestor I have managed to get back to, who appears normally... (as does all the other links below him when you click on him.)

And as a note for New and Improved DNA Matches; my grandmother had 32 shaky leaf hints without the New & Improved Matches, with New & Improved/Thrulines, it has more than doubled to in the region of 60-65, and, much more importantly, you can use ThruLines to discovered exactly which ancestor it is, regardless of Privacy settings!

 

I haven't yet tried the 'New and Improved DNA matches' because as far as I can see it can only be trialled on a 'per account' basis, rather than by test, and my husband and I both use the same account. Before I give it a try, he would like to know if you can easily switch back to the previous format, and if all the previous shared ancestor hints etc come back.

 

Yes - I did that the other day to find a shared ancestor hint from the previous format. The beta format can be switched on and off.

 

I had 15 green leaf "shared ancestor hints" under the old system; I now apparently, under the "new and improved" DNA matching system, have no "common ancestors" whatsoever in over 38000 matches..... oh, and no sign of "Thrulines" (or "Circles") despite meeting the criteria easily.

 

Might seem rather obvious but did you turn on the 'Common ancestors' in the 'Add a filter' drop down menu?