6cm matches etc [Archive] - Genealogists' Forum

JBee

15-07-20, 10:17

I have concentrated on close matches of 4th cousins and above but now on here I find that those matches with less than 8cm are to go on ancestry.

Well I've just scrolled down on the 6cm matches and there's so many and they're still coming.

So how do people go through them with so many - do you have to check each one.

Is it worth looking at 6cm over 1 segment as many of mine seem to be?

ElizabethHerts

15-07-20, 10:55

Julie, I've been starting with those with a common ancestor. I seem to have a few!

maggie_4_7

15-07-20, 10:55

I filter them first with common ancestor and public tree. I found quite a few on mine that were very good matches, told me something I didn't know. Then knock off common ancestor once I have gone through them and just leave public tree and go through them and put them in a group or other groups if you can spot the link.

kiterunner

15-07-20, 11:47

Is it worth looking at 6cm over 1 segment as many of mine seem to be?

I read something a while ago which said that an Ancestry DNA match with 6 cM's and more than 1 segment started off as more than 6 cM's of matching DNA but some of that was ignored because of their algorithm (Timber) which ignores matching DNA that is common in certain populations. If you started off (before the Timber algorithm processing) with only 6 cM's shared across more than 1 segment, they would not be counted as a DNA match. Though I realise that doesn't actually answer your question!

JBee

15-07-20, 13:39

Thanks everyone.

I just tried to find common dna ancestors and nothing was coming up even though I do have real matches - anyway eventually it did and most were with only 1 segment but not linked to anyone.

Now is that because son's dna tree is private? So if I make it public it might work and give some links? It's also complicated because he hasn't got an ancestry sub but I have and manage his dna.

I have made his tree very basic just names and some years of births and deaths but no place names.

I find this dna very confusing.

kiterunner

15-07-20, 14:23

"Common ancestors" is closely connected to ThruLines, and it should work the same whether the tree is public or private, as long as the DNA test is linked to the tree, and the tree is searchable. So if you have made it a private, non-searchable tree, you will need to change it to searchable.

Tree settings > Privacy settings - untick "Also prevent your tree from being found in the search index".

JBee

15-07-20, 14:28

Thanks will do that Kate.

Kit

16-07-20, 06:07

I've found all the matches with trees - they are at the 6cm level.

Phoenix

16-07-20, 07:42

I have checked each one, Julie, and gone back to check the 6cm ones to ensure I have comments/goups for the ones I want to retain.

The sort I am interested in would be ones with shared matches. I have eliminated 26k unlikely matches. Had they announced this at the start of lockdown, I might have completed that excercise for trees I manage, but there's no chance now.

JBee

17-07-20, 10:45

It's a daunting task - not sure I am up to it.

kiterunner

17-07-20, 17:19

Phoenix

17-07-20, 17:37

Slightly nervous that she says Ancestry don't say they won't delete matches above 8 cM.

kiterunner

17-07-20, 17:40

Also here:
https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2020/07/17/losing-distant-matches-at-ancestrydna/

kiterunner

17-07-20, 17:49

I've been reading various posts on Facebook from people who are worried about this, and some say "but I've found the genealogical link with some of my 6 - 8 cM matches". Yes, but that genealogical link might not be where the shared DNA segment comes from.

Not long after I took my DNA test, I was impressed to find that one of my matches with one of those small segments was something like my 8th cousin once removed on a certain line. But later I figured out that I'm not actually biologically descended from my supposed ancestor on that line.

maggie_4_7

18-07-20, 06:49

There is some info and advice on here, though I don't know whether it is correct:

https://dna-explained.com/2020/07/16/ancestry-to-remove-dna-matches-soon-preservation-strategies-with-detailed-instructions/

That is a good blog post.

I have just had a strange experience going through the 6cm-7cm I just came across one not in a group but with a note I didn't write and do not understand unless I have had a complete memory loss.

I assume you didn't write it Kiterunner because you would never have found it, it wasn't in a group and 7cm!.

Phoenix

18-07-20, 07:39

As both my parents died over a decade ago, I don't have maternal/paternal DNA.

One match crops up as having a common ancestor. On Mum's side. But they also match my aunt - on Dad's side. So I can hardly treat the information with other than suspicion!

kiterunner

18-07-20, 10:14

That is a good blog post.

I have just had a strange experience going through the 6cm-7cm I just came across one not in a group but with a note I didn't write and do not understand unless I have had a complete memory loss.

I assume you didn't write it Kiterunner because you would never have found it, it wasn't in a group and 7cm!.

I didn't.

maggie_4_7

18-07-20, 17:10

I didn't.

I didn't think it was.

I think it must be me but I have a good memory and I do not remember.

The note says, and it isn't the way would write a note:

I think this is the C.K. [email protected] on Family Finder X- Match through a female

It is a 7cm match. I have deleted the email, now I did upload to Family Finder but did nothing on there because I thought it was a risk when reading the t&cs and emailed the customer services to delete my DNA and my account.

So I am baffled I must have had a complete memory lapse.

kiterunner

22-07-20, 10:25

Here is some more info about small matches:

https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2017/12/29/a-small-segment-round-up/?fbclid=IwAR34cC8jbhiFWu9ByCmNtFOCtUV5IE8KWA-5z_lAWEYqXI43BGnGk_xa1Xc

I remember spending quite a lot of time trying to find how my Bristow line might connect to a Bristow family who were early settlers in America, since I had quite a few small DNA matches descended from them. But then I found that my Dad also had several of their descendants as matches (about as many as I did), even though my Bristow line is on my Mum's side! I can imagine that if I didn't have access to anyone else's DNA matches, I would have kept on wasting time with that line of research for ages.

kiterunner

22-07-20, 18:41

I saw a post on Facebook which says Ancestry are postponing their changes until September, so that gives people a few more weeks to save their DNA matches.

kiterunner

31-08-20, 22:07

It looks as though they have pulled the switch. I put all my small matches into a coloured dot group but I seem to have missed out about 20 of them. I think I will survive without them! Other people's total numbers of matches have gone down a lot.

Phoenix

31-08-20, 23:41

My Jewish friend has gone down by 80k!! I've lost about 14k

Phoenix

31-08-20, 23:44

By the looks of things, most people have lost about half of their matches.

kiterunner

03-09-20, 10:09

I know that sounds bad, but most people will never have looked at those matches anyway. Some people on FB seem to be madly over-reacting, cancelling their Ancestry subs and deleting their DNA tests etc. Surely that's just cutting off their nose to spite their face? Would they be bothered if the matches had only gone as far down as 8 cM's from the start? Some other DNA testing sites have higher cut-offs.

Phoenix

03-09-20, 11:13

I might be peeved if I had joined in August and found a useful tree, and then wondered what I had missed.

But there was enough time, if you had bothered to look at the matches before, to check whether you had saved the relevant ones. I know the 80k Jewish ones were never going to be of any use.

As they will doubtless repeat this exercise when their servers next get overloaded, now is the time to tidy up our lists. I have 12k matches unlikely to prove useful, while Best Mate has 26k - a figure likely to rise by another 2k, as there are still lots of unviewed matches to investigate.