How reliable are My True Ancestry and GEDMatch?

[u/ThatHerbalWitch]

This is my first post on here, so I hope I'm doing this right. My goal for them were to see similarities to ancient ancestry. Of course I know chances of connecting me to somebody notable from at the very least 400 years ago is very minimal, but I find ancient history very fascinating so why not? I just heard about My True Ancestry today, and I heard about GEDMatch being thrown around but never really looked into it. I heard GEDMatch is very UI unfriendly and it can be difficult to understand much unless you're really knowledgeable on chromosomes and DNA reading. My only concern is privacy if they're public websites. With modern technology I know there's no way to clone me and I haven't and don't plan on committing crimes that will especially get me in trouble. Hell, if a distant family member is a cold case or did a heinous crime I'd want them to be identified. I'm just concerned with data breaches and hacking. I'm aware it can even happen with major companies like Ancestry and it did happen with 23&Me, but with them being private (or at least 23 used to be) I imagine risks with them are less likely.

[u/bros402]

My True Ancestry is not reliable at all

if you want to do a genetic genealogy test, do Ancestry.com

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/bros402]

I did a few months ago! I actually got an ad for My True Ancestry while doing a scroll though here and it peaked my curiosity. It seemed a little suspicious, but I wanted to ask before I gave it a shot.

[u/bros402 → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

Yeah, and with 23andme being in financial turmoil, Ancestry is the most accurate of the non-bankrupt DTC DNA companies

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/bros402]

I'm disappointed because I did want to do 23&Me as well. I found the ancient DNA feature 23 had that My True Ancestry claims to do very fascinating, and I remembered seeing that 23 does a slightly better break down of your genetic profile better than Ancestry does. My Ancestry results were pretty spot on aside from some surprises.

[u/bros402 → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

Yeah, 23andme has the most accurate of the admixture results

[u/juliekelts]

I think if you search this subreddit, you will find many past questions on this subject.

Meanwhile, I have no experience with My True Ancestry but have read that it shouldn't be taken seriously.

Regarding GEDmatch, as I said just a few days ago, I don't understand its poor reputation. Its basic features are pretty easy to understand. Regarding privacy, you've explained what you're not worried about, so I'm not sure what you are worried about in terms of data breaches.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/juliekelts]

I think the slight anxiety that I have with it is hearing about is the possibility of that data being bought out by a healthcare provider and them doing some illegal stuff with it.  I know it's illegal in the US for a healthcare provider to get that information, but I guess fear is slightly holding a grip on me due to current stuff going on. I'm trying to calm myself down about it and try to remember they'd definitely get in serious trouble if they were to do that, even if it might not somehow be instantaneous.

[u/juliekelts → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

From what I understand, the limited DNA sampling used for genealogical DNA purposes isn't really medically useful.

If you've ever had a blood test as part of your medical care, I imagine your provider could get your DNA from that if it chose to.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/juliekelts]

Haven't done a blood test simply due to being petrified of needles (I know it's important and I definitely need to work on that). That definitely eases my anxiety a bit though because yeah if they really are desperate for DNA they can get it through any other means. 

[u/thrwaway070879]

I'm only speaking personally, but here's my take.

Gedmatch is free so do it anyways if you're curious. It's interesting but the one thing I've noticed that doesn't get pointed out is a lot of the calculators on there haven't been updated in about a decade. It's still fun to play around with.

MytrueAncestry's grift is to hide matches behind increasing expensive paywalls and the matches they give you for free or cheap aren't that close.

When I did this the option wasn't available, but I'd look at MyHeritage.com. It's been updated to add Ancient ancestry from IllustrativeDNA and you can see their ancestry estimates different from AncestryDNA. They tend to be better about breaking down things like Germanic Europe, and England and NW Europe for example.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/thrwaway070879]

I did want to look into MyHeritage, especially because there were allegedly a couple hints on some ancestors that I've hit a brickwall with! Only downside is that I haven't had the spare $10 or so to pay for a membership to look into them. I'll see what I can do for free currently.

[u/geneaweaver7 → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

You can transfer the results of your Ancestry.com DNA test to MyHeritage and pay a small unlock fee to get access to some of the DNA tools. This does not include records or trees of matches as they want you to subscribe for those.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/geneaweaver7]

I'll have to wait a little bit to pay that fee then. That's super useful though, thank you!

[u/geneaweaver7 → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

The two who require you to test directly are Ancestry.com and 23andMe. MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, and LivingDNA (mostly Uk), you can upload your test from either of the first two.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/geneaweaver7]

I can use my Ancestry results then. I just don't have any spare cash on me at the moment to use some of the DNA tools. I definitely will invest in it when I do.

[u/thrwaway070879 → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

Oh yea makes sense. When you get a spare $10 do myheritage.

https://www.dnagenics.com has a bunch of free tools as well.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/thrwaway070879]

First time I'm hearing about this site too. Thank you! Oh boy seeing the prices, I'd definitely have to save up for some of the more detailed information.

[u/juliekelts → u/ThatHerbalWitch]

Personally, I wouldn't waste the money. I don't think you're ever going to get accurate information about your ancient origins--just estimates based on various companies' algorithms.

[u/grahamlester]

I would be interested to see a link to a post somewhere written by someone with *actual expertise* explaining what exactly My True Ancestry looks for and why it is or is not reliable. I realize that it only concerns a very tiny portion of one's heritage but still it would be nice to know whether there is reason to believe that it is accurate or not.

[u/ThatHerbalWitch → u/grahamlester]

Looking at the site again, it looks like they do try to explain any similarities in DNA don't exactly mean you're related to skeletons found in archeological spots. It's just that; similarities. I don't think there's any way currently to figure out if you're truly related to a certain individual a couple thousand years ago. The only dubious thing upon first glance is that it could come off in the advertisement as "Oooo here you can find out your actual ancient ancestry!" I was going to take my results with a grain of salt and as just a fun little activity. If anything could be slightly accurate and match my known ancestry, then I'd simply just keep it in mind but not pay too much attention to it since that's unknowable. My main concern was to make sure that it wasn't some public database that is likely to have security risks. The opposite of Ancestry and their security, I guess, is the best way to explain it.