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by nly 4216 days ago
A cautionary tale...

I bought an Ancestry(.com) DNA test a number of years ago. The product had the advantage that it was integrated in to their genealogical research platform (a subscription service). When you found a match in the database you could click straight through to that members family tree

.... then they shut down the "old" platform entirely, gave me X days to download my data, and told me to get lost. Visiting the site today we see "The AncestryDNA product is not currently available for purchase outside of the United States"

Furthermore, their "all new" tests are focused, like 23andMe, on telling you about more gimmicky crap like your health, ethnicity, and ancient migratory ancestry, and not helping you find distant cousins you can work with. Really sad.

I cancelled my ~$160 annual subscription on principle after that

4 comments

Off topic but have you found any services that are good for tracing one's lineage?

I would pay a considerable amount, probably capped at 10k, for a service that was able to provide me with an accurate, detailed and thorough description of my personal lineage...but I can't seem to find any services that offer it.

I ordered from BritainsDNA for the lineage. I'm expecting the results this month. It was 50% off in a Vouchercloud deal, £74.
I know this is a little off topic, but did you really spent $160 a year to find strangers with whom you share lineage?

What was the draw?

It's not about DNA. DNA was just a means of finding people who know may know more about your family history, perhaps stories or artefacts passed down. Genealogy is more a study of history and how you came to be than anything else. It's a unique puzzle that only you have, and only you will ever have any interest to solve.
Gimmicky crap like your health? huh. I care about more health --- a bit at least. I don't find it gimmicky.
It's gimmicky because we understand so little about how these genetic risk factors actually work for all but a handful of diseases. It's nice to be part of the experiment though.
23andme does help you find distant cousins.