Brilliant post; great analogy and thanks for all your time/effort. I'm sure thousands of people have benefited from your help. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
On Friday, 23 June 2017 16:46:50 UTC+1, Cheri Mello wrote: > > (Cross posted to Azores, Madeira, and IslandRoutes lists) > > Here are some department stores in America. Some may be in Canada too: > [image: Inline image 1][image: Inline image 2][image: Inline image 3] > > Let's say you find a pair of Levi's (jeans) on sale at Sears. You have a > question, but you see no available clerk at Sears. So you set the jeans > down and go to Macy's to ask the clerk there about the sale on the Levi's > jeans at Sears. > > The above scenario is ridiculous and you know that a clerk in one store > cannot answer a question about a sale at another store, even if they all > sell Levi's jeans. > > Now, let's say you have walked into a thrift store. They sell donated > clothes that others have purchased from many department stores such as > Sears, J.C. Penney's and Macy's. You spot your favorite shirt that you > ruined 5 years ago. It's just like the one you bought at J.C. Penney's. But > you have a question. Since you recognize the brand as one that is sold > exclusively at Penney's, you drive over to Penney's to ask the clerk a > question about your favorite shirt that you bought 5 years ago and ruined. > > And you all know that's completely ridiculous too. > > The example above is fairly easy to understand since they involve actual > brick-and-mortar stores that have familiarity to at least the American list > readers. > > Now let's switch gears. We have DNA testing companies (who have an > Internet presence). The main 3 players currently are: > [image: Inline image 4][image: Inline image 5][image: Inline image 6] > > These three companies, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), AncestryDNA, and 23 and > Me, all sell DNA tests, just like Sears, Penney's, and Macy's sell Levi's > jeans. > > Out of the 3 DNA testing companies, one has many "store clerks" and the > other 2 stores you can't find a clerk in sight. FTDNA has many "store > clerks" called administrators (or admins, for short). They are there to > answer questions about the DNA tests you purchased at FTDNA. If you > purchased a DNA test at AncestryDNA, don't ask your FTDNA admin a question > about it. Or about 23 and Me. That's like seeing the Levi's in Sears but > going over to Macy's to ask the clerk a question. > > Also, you can take your DNA to the thrift shop. This is a web site called > GedMatch. You can download your raw data from any of the big 3 testing > companies and put it on GedMatch. Just like you can purchase clothes from > Sears, Penney's or Macy's and donate them to a thrift store. But you are > not going to find something at the thrift store and drive back to Macy's to > ask a question. So if you upload at GedMatch, don't expect your FTDNA admin > to help you with GedMatch questions and problems. > > The Azores, Madeira (and other Portuguese based projects) were founded 12 > years ago on Family Tree DNA. I'm a Family Tree DNA admin. I'm a volunteer. > I spend anywhere from 10 to maybe 20 hours a week helping people. You don't > publicly see this, as I am helping one individual at a time with their own > personal results. That individual tested with FTDNA. So if you want to test > with another testing company, that's fine. Don't expect the FTDNA admin to > help you with your results. That's like seeing the Levi's on sale at Sears > and asking the Macy's clerk for help. It's the same for GedMatch as well. > > Luckily, FTDNA can accept DNA results from AncestryDNA and 23 and Me. So > if you want help from an FTDNA admin, transfer your results over to FTDNA. > > Now we all know that many store clerks are part time workers and some work > at more than one store. Some FTDNA admins have tested at other companies > and are willing to help with those results. Most do not. For those that do, > many do charge a consultant fee, as it is beyond the scope of what they do > as a volunteer admin with FTDNA. They are acting as a consultant across > companies and not solely as a volunteer admin with FTDNA. > > Hope this analogy clears up some confusion. > > Cheri Mello, Family Tree DNA Admin (volunteer) > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
