Y'all, I have been chewing on it and decided that I need to voice a concern I have about our project and see if we can unite to help. I have been receiving a increasing amount of feedback, from both participants and non-participants, about the lack of information on the website about which families are involved in the DNA project. So, I did a check and was a bit surprised to discover that right now, we have pedigree information, in either the Word format or in the pedigree module for 154 participants. That represents 47% of our 327 project participants...less than half. We have 51 matched groups and of those, we have 9 descriptions of what families these groups represent, less than 20% of the project's known groups. I have long stressed the importance of having pedigree information to share when participating in the project. Not only does pedigree information help me determine whether a match is indeed a match, it also helps those folks who are lurking among the website determine if their Williams family is represented in the project. A few times in the past, I have tried to encourage folks to get their pedigree information to me so that it would be available for the public to see. Most of the efforts have met with lukewarm enthusiasm. Now, I have a bit of fault of my own in this...I have missed some of the pedigree that were sent to me and I know I would be frustrated if someone asked me for something, I provided it and it was unused. I don't have a good excuse. Also, over the last few months, I have been negligent, for one reason or another, in sending welcome emails to new participants, which included information about getting the pedigrees on the website. I could rattle off a dozen reasons for my failures, but won't...I'll take my lumps as they're due. As a potential remedy, I put the work in to get the pedigree module setup on the website so that folks could upload their pedigree information themselves...thereby reducing the dependency on me. I realize that for a number of folks, creating Gedcoms and uploading them to the module is quite a challenge to do and have tried to make it as easy as possible...giving the directions on how to create a Gedcom from most of the common genealogy programs to being as quick in the account setup as possible. There are currently 36 pedigrees loaded in the module...less than 10% of our project. Folks, this is really important. Trying to participate in this project, without publishing some kind of genealogical background, is akin to driving across the country on an empty fuel tank. The testing just gives us a bunch of numbers. Comparing tests just tells us if we have the same genes. The meat of the project comes from the sharing of information about our genealogy. I know that there is some sharing happening...otherwise I don't think the project would continue to grow the way it is. On the same token, however, I think we have room to improve...otherwise I wouldn't see the level of angst I am seeing in folks. So, I would like convey my renewed determination to get these lineages online. By the end of this month, I would like to have the following: 1.) 90% of the project pedigrees uploaded and available online, either in the Pedigree Module (preferred) or in the MSWord format. The easiest way to tell if I have your information is to look at the results table on the website. If I have a link on your name, click it and ensure that the information is correct. If I have no link on your name, I do not have your pedigree information. If you need help creating a Gedcom file to load to the pedigree module, check this link: http://williams.genealogy.fm/TNG_DNA/feature1.php and there you will find links to instructions for creating a Gedcom from RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, PAF and Ancestral Quest as well as step-by-step instructions on how to load your Gedcom to the module. If using the pedigree module is not an option, the please send me the information in an email and I will add it as a Word format pedigree (see Kenneth in Group 7). Please be sure to include the same level of information. 2.) By the end of the month, I'd like to have a description for each and every matched group in the project. And, I know that some of the groups are a mystery...you have no idea where you connect. This is fine....put that in a description (see Group 14). This is also an exercise in working with your matches to put this description together. It doesn't have to be anything "fluffy"...but descriptive enough so that a non-participant looking through them can tell quickly if your family is their family. 3.) I will put together "Group Boards" in the Forums to give matched groups a place to discuss/publicize information about your match. I believe it is important to get these discussions in public because word of mouth is the best advertising around. If you are trying to find participants to get past a matching roadblock, then let folks know what the roadblock is. You may be surprised to find a non-participant who has a new perspective. For my part, I will make myself as available as possible to make this happen. I will do my absolute best to get anything sent to me uploaded expeditiously. Folks, this is your project and exists for the sole purpose of helping to connect family lines and further your genealogy. Please help me help you. Sincerest regards, Adrian Adrian Williams Williams DNA Project Administrator http://williams.genealogy.fm/ stickamw@earthlink.net