Jim and Bob It could possibly depend on how a Surname Study Administrator sets things up - I never checked into that (yet) However.... on the ARMSTRONG YDNA study. FTDNA does tell each participant and Administrator if there are any matches... When your lab results are done, they set up a web site just for you it will tell you a lot about various aspects of your DNA... However, it all depends on how you initially filled out the "Set UP'... Do you want the comparisons from your Surname only, of the entire data base. (I think many people are missing out if they don't go for the entire data base..) If you checked the right boxes, and given the right authorization, FTDNA will notify you each and every time there is a match with your YDNA as they will also notify the other person(s) if you match them. Althought FTDNA sets up a Surname Study web site, Most Administrators Or Co-Administrators set up another web site to compare, discuss, explain various aspects of the Surname Study... The problems encountered with a Surname Study are.... initially there are not sufficient results from enough different people to make any real comparisons.. Once the Surname Study gets to rolling and picks up more participants, you begin to see patterns.. i.e. different lines... Non-Parental incidents, etc... One bit of advice... If you have independently done a Y-DNA study through FTDNA, you should join ( or Start) a Surname Study .. because then there is a discount on the cost... You Don't necessarily have to know anything about DNA to be an administrator, but it pays to find someone who does know a little something about it and con them into being your Co-Admin...!! :-) As Jim suggested... don't wait for FTDNA or someone else to do the Y-Search for you... As soon as you get your web site, check into the Y-Search... play around a little and see what you can come up with... Sincerely, John Armstrong Administrator Armstrong Surname Study A little SoWest of North Jimgordo1@aol.com wrote: > >Bob -- > >If you've got your DNA results in Y-Search, don't wait for them to tell you >anything -- you do it yourself. The instructions are on their web page >(_http://www.ysearch.org_ (http://www.ysearch.org) ). Also FTDNA won't tell you if >your results match someone else -- your DNA-surname group administrator does >that. FTDNA just returns your results with an explanation of what they mean. >If you don't belong to a DNA-surname group, it's a good idea to do so. Your >group administrator can tell you how closely you match other members of the >group and an approximation of how far back your Most Recent Common Ancestor >(MRCA) is. That way, you can compare your paper trail with those of others in >your DNA-surname group, especially those who are close or exact matches with you. > >Cheers, Jim Gordon >Laurel, MD > > >Mine was a bit of a disappointment too Bob, and like you I struggle to >understand the finer points. My registration at FamilyTreeDNA permits them >to compare my results with everyone else and I've also done the same on >Y-Search. That way, if anything does come up they'll tell me. I don't need >to stretch my brain cells, which must be a good thing at my age. :-) > > > > > > > > >==== SCOT-DNA Mailing List ==== >Mailing List archives are at: >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SCOT-DNA/ >Subscription to this list is free, as are all of >Rootsweb's resources. > >============================== >Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the >areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. >Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > > > > >