I've ended up being more proactive about contacting 23andMe matches than FTDNA, simply because I can't do a thing at 23andMe without seeing where they match. And, with my detailed boilerplate letter, I get a decent number of responses there. At FTDNA, I haven't contacted as many, in part because few responded initially and in part because the matches are relatively distant and often dismiss people who aren't obviously part of their tree. This makes it pretty difficult to figure out which people are related through Scots who emigrated 100 or more years before mine and which are connected to the guy who got the Scottish immigrant pregnant, whose ancestry is not really certain (I'm beginning to wonder if yes, he's the man I think but that he was adopted or some such thing.). Thus, I'm really following Jim Bartlett's practice and trying to get things mapped out as well as I can. There are people on this list who match my mother, and I'd be delighted to hear from any of you (or who match me or anyone else I've got). We don't necessarily have to locate the MRCA; sometimes just determining the country of origin or ethnicity is progress. Karla On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 1:42 PM, Jim Bartlett <jim4bartletts@verizon.net>wrote: > I second Tom's perception. I sent messages to over 100 AncestryDNA Matches > in the first year. I stopped sending messages this past year; and have > received only 2. > > The same is the case at FTDNA and 23andMe, but I usually send emails and > messages to them as soon as the Matches are posted, so there is little > opportunity for them to contact me first. And at both of these, the > response rate is somewhat higher - and persistence pays off. > > Jim - Sent from my iPhone - FaceTime! > > On Dec 4, 2013, at 12:50 PM, "Tim Janzen" <tjanzen@comcast.net> wrote: > > > Dear Paul, > > My perception is that only about 1% or less of people who have tested at > > Ancestry.com, 23andMe, and FTDNA's Family Finder actively pursue contact > > with their matches in those databases. Perhaps a higher percentage than > > this are pursuing contact with their closest matches, but in all of the > > accounts that I monitor, I don't get very many people contacting me > either, > > particularly from Ancestry.com. I haven't even contacted all of my > family's > > Ancestry.com matches yet due to personal time constraints. In any case, > I > > do plan to eventually contact my family's matches at Ancestry.com and > > encourage them to upload their raw data files to GEDmatch so that I can > see > > the matching HIR data. > > Sincerely, > > Tim Janzen > > > > ______________________________ > For answers to Frequently Asked Questions about mailing lists, please see: > http://dgmweb.net/MailingListFAQs.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUTOSOMAL-DNA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >