Some lists are dead as the grass in winter. You cannot imagine how inactive and how little help there is unless you are there. It is good to read all the comments on these digests and attempt to learn so that one can figure it out on their own so as not to depend on someone too busy to run a list but still is listed as a moderator or admin of such list in name only. A list I am on has not had new results moved into the proper order since March this year. Emails to the proper people have zero results. Emails to FTDNA are 100% ineffective. I no longer encourage anyone to use FTDNA. Why would people spend all this money and look at all those ads about what these results are going to do for you when in fact they do nothing for you. They just sit there like that dead grass outside the window.

Did you try calling FTDNA? Perhaps you have bad email addresses for them. Whenever I have called them with a problem they are very helpful. Just giving up is not very effective. I don't think very many of us have had your experience. -----Original Message----- From: y-dna-projects-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:y-dna-projects-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Linda Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 3:41 AM To: y-dna-projects@rootsweb.com Subject: [Y-DNA-projects] The view from the outside looking in Some lists are dead as the grass in winter. You cannot imagine how inactive and how little help there is unless you are there. It is good to read all the comments on these digests and attempt to learn so that one can figure it out on their own so as not to depend on someone too busy to run a list but still is listed as a moderator or admin of such list in name only. A list I am on has not had new results moved into the proper order since March this year. Emails to the proper people have zero results. Emails to FTDNA are 100% ineffective. I no longer encourage anyone to use FTDNA. Why would people spend all this money and look at all those ads about what these results are going to do for you when in fact they do nothing for you. They just sit there like that dead grass outside the window. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to Y-DNA-PROJECTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

For every moribund project -- and I'll agree there are some -- there are a dozen active ones, so I wouldn't paint all FTDNA projects with the same brush. Of course, if your project is one of the moribund ones, it's hardly comforting to know you're the exception. You say emails "to the proper people" have had zero results. I'm not going to ask whom you emailed, but in six years of running projects, I can't think of a message I sent that didn't get *some* response, even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. The new web site design at FTDNA has a "Feedback" item on the menubar towards the top of the page. We are now supposed to use that form to make suggestions or complaints, rather than the old helpdesk@ and info@ email addresses. If a project web page has not been updated since last March, the question is: Has it not been updated because there are no new members or results (i.e., nothing to add)? Or has the project admin really been remiss in updating the site? The reason I ask is... With the financial collapse of 2008, I had a *profound* drop in the number of new members, in all six of my projects, and I'm still not getting new members in anything like the number I was getting before September '08. Is it possible there's nothing to update? If your project admin is not responding to your emails, you definitely have a valid complaint regarding the admin's performance. If you haven't sent a message through the new Feedback form, I would recommend doing so. FTDNA cuts admins a lot of slack with regard to how the run their projects, but its my understanding they will come down hard on an admin if a customer complains to them about an admin not answering emails. Heavens, that's what the "Join Authorization" thing is about -- to exercise some control over admins to make certain they respond to join requests. Hope this helps, Diana P.S. If you want to contact me offlist (email address in message header, above) and tell me the name of the project, I can take a look at it and give my opinion. > -----Original Message----- > From: y-dna-projects-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:y-dna-projects- > bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Linda > Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 4:41 AM > To: y-dna-projects@rootsweb.com > Subject: [Y-DNA-projects] The view from the outside looking in > > Some lists are dead as the grass in winter. You cannot imagine how > inactive and how little help there is unless you are there. It is > good to read all the comments on these digests and attempt to learn so that one can > figure it out on their own so as not to depend on someone too busy to run a list but still > is listed as a moderator or admin of > such list in name only. A list I am on has not had new results moved > into the proper order since March this year. Emails to the proper > people have zero results. Emails to FTDNA are 100% ineffective. I no > longer encourage anyone to use FTDNA. Why would people spend all this money and > look at all those ads about what these results are going to do > for you when in fact they do nothing for you. They just sit there like > that dead grass outside the window. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to Y-DNA-PROJECTS- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject > and the body of the message

Linda All projects are run by volunteers regardless of which testing company is used and there will inevitably be times when e-mails go unanswered or when results aren't updated. Sometimes too admins become unwell, and in a few cases admins have passed away so it takes time to sort out a replacement. I would suggest that anyone thinking of ordering a DNA test through a project should contact the project administrator first for advice before taking a test. DO you have one particular project in mind? Can you perhaps share the name of the project? Debbie Kennett