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My husband is a geneticist and he thinks 23andme is the biggest ripoff.
Could you clarify? I was pleased with the results and was just disappointed that it didn't turn up anyone more closely related than 4th and 5th cousins. I sort of understand how the results didn't reflect what I know they should be--it's more complicated than just saying that your ancestors were in someplace 500 years ago. Now that I "get" that, I'm okay with it. I think a lot of us would welcome the opinion of a geneticist.
I was disappointed too, but for a different reason. My mother was adopted and her adoption records burned in an orphanage fire over 50 years ago. Her adoptive parents are also long dead...as is she. I can trace my father's family back somewhat-- I'm pretty sure on my grandfather's side they were Scotch-Irish from the last wave to emigrate here. I do know from the census records of 1900-20 that they were pretty much white trash, which isn't surprising. My grandmother's side only shows an English-born father.
I was hoping for something interesting from the report. No luck. I'm in the most predominant genotype or whatever it was called...it's been a year since I got the report. Never ran into anyone there who was closer than a third cousin and (s)he didn't want any contact.
Suzy,
I understand what you are saying--but most of my results didn't narrow to geographic area, but were
just general or undefined European which is a huge land area! I am not blaming 23andme, by the way..
I guess I blame my genome!
The problem is, it's not a huge "land area" but it is a large number of separate countries that are all very close together. And they didn't put fences up between the countries to keep people from moving around them. Isolating ancestry to very specific places would be difficult, because all they are really telling you is that those areas are where the majority of people with those markers also have ancestry. It's not like it's tied to a plot of land.
Could you clarify? I was pleased with the results and was just disappointed that it didn't turn up anyone more closely related than 4th and 5th cousins. I sort of understand how the results didn't reflect what I know they should be--it's more complicated than just saying that your ancestors were in someplace 500 years ago. Now that I "get" that, I'm okay with it. I think a lot of us would welcome the opinion of a geneticist.
The reason it did not turn up anyone more closely related to you is that your closer relatives have not tested with 23AndMe. They do have to be in the data base for you to get matches.
My closest relative at 23AndMe is a first cousin once removed. My next closest is a third cousin. The third cousin tested because I did and suggested it to her. I was able to deduce who the first cousin once removed was from the information he gave in his profile, even without knowing his name until he confirmed it.
These two cousins and I are looking for hints to break down the same brick walls.
The reason that your results cannot pin down ancestors in a particular country is that countries come and go, the borders between countries change, and people migrated back and forth between countries in Europe. Your DNA results are compared to those of people who are confident about where their ancestors lived a few hundred years ago. Matches imply that your ancestors were in those places at some time in the past, too, but may not be able to narrow it down to a small region.
The reason it did not turn up anyone more closely related to you is that your closer relatives have not tested with 23AndMe. They do have to be in the data base for you to get matches.
My closest relative at 23AndMe is a first cousin once removed. My next closest is a third cousin. The third cousin tested because I did and suggested it to her. I was able to deduce who the first cousin once removed was from the information he gave in his profile, even without knowing his name until he confirmed it.
These two cousins and I are looking for hints to break down the same brick walls.
The reason that your results cannot pin down ancestors in a particular country is that countries come and go, the borders between countries change, and people migrated back and forth between countries in Europe. Your DNA results are compared to those of people who are confident about where their ancestors lived a few hundred years ago. Matches imply that your ancestors were in those places at some time in the past, too, but may not be able to narrow it down to a small region.
That's a good explanation and I more or less understand that. Someone else quoted me and it looked like I was asking but I was replying to this post:
Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs
My husband is a geneticist and he thinks 23andme is the biggest ripoff.
I asked her to clarify it as to why he thinks it's such a ripoff. I was satisfied with the results once I understood them. They seem to use the same labs as the Big Money Charging Guys and they seem to be looking for honest results to create a larger data base for the benefit of science so why does this particular geneticist think it's such a bad thing?
Last edited by in_newengland; 01-25-2014 at 11:12 PM..
That's a good explanation and I more or less understand that. Someone else quoted me and it looked like I was asking but I was replying to this post:
Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs
My husband is a geneticist and he thinks 23andme is the biggest ripoff.
I asked her to clarify it as to why he thinks it's such a ripoff. I was satisfied with the results once I understood them. They seem to use the same labs as the Big Money Charging Guys and they seem to be looking for honest results to create a larger data base for the benefit of science so why does this particular geneticist think it's such a bad thing?
I see what you mean. I would be interested in knowing, too.
I did it more from the genealogy point of view. I have three brick walls that are driving me batty.
The medical results are interesting, but I know enough to not make any decisions based on the results. The two results I got that looked potentially significant I have shared with my doctors.
Last edited by in_newengland; 01-25-2014 at 11:11 PM..
The problem is, it's not a huge "land area" but it is a large number of separate countries that are all very close together. And they didn't put fences up between the countries to keep people from moving around them. Isolating ancestry to very specific places would be difficult, because all they are really telling you is that those areas are where the majority of people with those markers also have ancestry. It's not like it's tied to a plot of land.
true enough...we are very close genetically as Europeans...may be true of other groups too...
I have fourteen 2nd-3rd cousins identified on 23andMe, with many more at the 2nd-4th level. I don't actually KNOW any of them, although several of the 2nd-3rd level cousins are also in one of the three Facebook genealogy groups that I'm in, and we've chatted through there. I wish more people would fill in their names on 23andMe. I've been happy with my 23andMe results, and as I've also taken the Nat Geo Geno 2.0, AncestryDNA, and FTDNA tests, I know they're quite accurate with an acceptable margin of error. They match up very well with what I've learned through my genealogical research.
LOL but I thought I would have a more specific result....anyone else with similar results?
So you had unrealistic preconceived notions of what you thought you were, and science didn't confirm it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MelismaticEchoes
DNA and genetics test, are testing SPECIFICALLY for geographical ancestry and geographical populations and patterns and frequencies.
Then it would behoove people to study tribal patterns of migration.
There's a reason why a number of places in Europe all have the same name (Galicia). It's because one tribal group, namely the Celts, migrated in a counter-clockwise pattern around Europe going from Southern Spain to Turkey to Poland to Northern France and then back to Southern Spain, and repeating that migration pattern over and over for centuries. Actually for several thousand years. They stopped around 900 CE or so due to the migration of Slavs.
[quote=MelismaticEchoes;33105301]It is not testing for race. No such thing as race.[quote]
Actually there is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MelismaticEchoes
Part of the problem with DNA tests is that it only shows half of your ancestry. Each parent contributes half of their ancestral material and the other half is lost. And the contributions are not the same for each child. So DNA tests do not show all of your ancestors, just the ones that made it into your body.
You might want to study genetics in greater detail.
Migrating....
Mircea
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