Charles

?

You provide a good summary of these discussions.

?

I think what FTDNA said was that everyone would eventually be forced to used two-factor authentication. The process will start with project admins. They are also requiring all admins to reset passwords, understandably so given that project admins can have access to hundreds and sometimes thousands of kits. FTDNA said they were still considering whether or not to implement a password reset for the entire database. They don’t want anyone to lose access to valuable data. All the major companies are now starting to use two-factor authentication. It will benefit all of us in the long run and it’s something we will have to get used to.

?

Like you, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the haplogroup designations for Family Finder results. Are these only going to be displayed on the personal pages or is there going to be some way of displaying haplogroups without STRs on a public results page?

?

I have mixed feelings about the use of MyHeritage trees. One major limitation of MyHeritage is that you are restricted to a tree of just 250 people with a free account. I found one time that when my subscription lapsed I was locked out of my account because I had too many people in my tree. However, the FTDNA trees have always been very poor and it will be easier to maintain one small tree at MyHeritage rather than worrying about an additional tree at FTDNA. FTDNA did acknowledge that not everyone would be able to use the MyHeritage facility so trees from old accounts will be preserved in read-only mode.

?

They did also say that they were looking into offering a whole genome sequencing test though there is no timeline.

?

The Family Finder haplogroups are promised “soon”.

?

Likewise the introduction of 2FA should be implemented very soon.

?

Also, FTDNA have finally updated what they call the “onboarding” process so that the consent process for relative matching is separated from the consent process for law enforcement matching. This means that people now have to proactively opt in to law enforcement matching. Previously you were automatically opted in unless you dug down deep into your settings to opt out.

?

FTDNA are also being much more active on social media and they have published a lot of informative blog posts. If you’re not already doing so it’s well worth subscribing to their blog:

?

?

I was impressed by the size of the lab and the number of staff now employed by the company. I was originally concerned about the merger with MyDNA but it seems have resulted in a big spending spree and lots of new developments so I think it’s worked out very well.

?

Best wishes

?

Debbie

?

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Charles via
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 11:18 PM
To: R1b-U106 IO Forum <[email protected]>
Subject: [R1b-U106] FTDNA Administrators Conference 2023

?

The FTDNA Admin Conferences were usually every year before the pandemic, but after 4 ? years, it was great to see old friends, now older, of course!??There is a lot that is new in terms of both people and lab equipment, including robotics.??It’s interesting that robots are analyzing human DNA, but who is analyzing the robots’ DNA?

?

Despite the long time gap between conferences, there weren’t any dramatic announcements of new tests, as sometimes would happen during the pioneering years of the previous two decades.

?

I wrote down a few notes, but other U106 attendees should feel free to add or correct anything I’m reporting here.??My notes are in the order of the presentations.

?

They are planning to increase collaboration or merging of the Customer Service and Group Projects (ie “Groups”) support groups. From my standpoint as an Admin, this sounds a little ominous, since the Groups support has been very helpful to me over the years.??But trying to send a consistent message to admins and customers is a good idea.

?

With respect to Ancient Connections in Discover, they now have 6,100 of about 7,500 male ancient extractions in their system.??268 Big Y customers’ closest match in the system is actually one of the ancient remains samples.??

?

Our own Dr Iain McDonald’s name was cited in multiple presentations, and always very favorably.??We all know what a tremendous asset he is to U106, and as we also know, he was very involved in helping the Discover team get the ball rolling on the age analysis of the haplogroups.

?

For admins, there is (already I think) a place to in effect put up a Help Wanted sign on the Project Banner.

?

Undoubtedly the worst news from the weekend, perhaps at least partly due to the recent 23andMe incident, is that a “forced password reset” is coming soon.??They will send out warnings, and the Admins access to the Admin system known as GAP, will go first.??But all accounts will be forced to reset the passwords.??If you manage accounts of other sample donors, living or deceased, and your own email address isn’t on the account, you’re going to most likely be out-of-luck ever being able to access it again. I don’t understand the details, and other attendees or other computer geeks might be able to help with the discussion, and this pending nightmare should probably have its own thread here.??But my simple thought is that you should try to make sure ASAP that your own current email address is on every account that you manage, because they are going to email the password reset instructions to the email address on the account, and nobody else will be allowed to reset it.??You should also make sure your accounts have Beneficiary designations.??They mentioned two-factor authentication as a distinct possibility in what they’re planning.??Another idea is that since the Fall Sale is on now, you might want to go ahead and order new tests for some of the kits you manage before the chaos begins.

?

Some good news is that Family Finder and Transfers will be given whatever Y-DNA or mtDNA designations can be obtained from these tests, similar to what you get from Ancestry or 23andMe.??It wasn’t clear to me where this will be displayed???Maybe other attendees understood better, but it sounded like it would go where the current red or green haplogroup labels on the Y-haplotypes are now, EXCEPT OBVIOUSLY it won’t over-write an actual Y-SNP test result, unless it’s downstream from such a Y test.

?

They have an idea to add yet another feature to Discover, along with Ancient and Notable Connections, which would be Connections to results from Academic/Scientific Studies.

?

They are working hard to get a Mitotree up and running for mtDNA, which would be built from scratch from their mtDNA database and which will create new branches and update mtDNA haplogroup designations.??Beyond that, they will also have an mtDNA Discover tool.

?

I think people will take this next item as partly good and partly bad, but here goes.??They are going to replace their traditional genealogical family tree feature with the much better one from MyHeritage.

I think I understood there will be some free and hopefully not too difficult way to get your current tree into the MyHeritage system before they toss the current system overboard (for the second time).

?

They have some Wish List ideas, including moving to whatever future T2T Reference system replaces the current “Build 38” reference, an mtDNA Block Tree, and WGS tests if they can get the cost down.

?

It was fun at the lab today watching the test kit vials being filled by robots instead of lab techs who can do “more important things that robots can’t”, and presumably less boring or monotonous.

?

There are now over 100,000 Big Y tests in the system.

?

With respect to the new owner from Down Under having a positive influence on getting more Aussies tested, they said actually Australia is one of the better tested countries.

?

They don’t currently have plans to arrange Y-DNA Transfers for a fee from other Y labs, but it didn’t sound like they were opposed to it (a non-answer answer).

?

Long-Read testing is still too expensive.

?

There were a number of long, entertaining presentations such as a racially-mixed (and mixed-up) adoption situation, whereas the news items I’ve mentioned here were spit out too fast for me to do a decent job with my notes.??I probably can’t answer your questions.??Fortunately, there were multiple other U106ers there, so I hope they won’t be shy about adding, correcting, and discussing these items with y’all.

?

?

?

?

?

?

Charles?

As someone who spends some time every day doing something across one of five projects that contain people of the FGC11672 subclade

1. ?MacMillan
2. MacKay
3. MacCallum
4. MacVicar
5. R-U106

And then looking through others,?

I can attest to how hard it is to get everyone to join a haplogroup project.?

I would hate to try and get everyone to join a second one, a third one and so on.? There would always be some here that would not join this one or that one.?

I have benefitted from the R-U106 project and its wide array of people. I couldn’t imagine a smaller haplogroup project ?without some of the people we have in this R-U106 group as members, observers, commentators ?and administrators.

I have tests from other lines that are in haplogroup projects at a similar level as R-U106 and the projects do not compare to this one. No communication, no discussion about migration paths that compare to here, if there is any discussion at all.?

In fact, I personally know people who are not R-U106 but are on this email list just to see and participate in the discussions here. That says quite a bit in itself.?

This is one of the premiere projects ?at the haplogroup level.?

I think we should all continue to recruit our matches and potential matches to this one.?

Even the parent R1b project contains people who belong in this project, but are not.

What percent of the participants here do you think would also migrate to a smaller project? Many can’t.?

As things evolve, and perhaps at some point in the future, projects below this one may be called for. I think however that this one is managed very well. From the insights of Dr McDonald and many others on this list, to the tireless hero Connie who is continually creating and editing the refined subgroups.?

I recruited a new match to this project recently (who is already in the MacMillan project) and by the time I could login, Connie had already grouped him.?

Your mileage may vary, but I have learned more about YDNA here in this project since it began, than anywhere else.?

For someone who has several kits in other haplogroup projects, I can only hope that one day they become what this one is.?

Robert McMillan

On Nov 7, 2023, at 10:00 AM, Tiger Mike <mwwdna@...> wrote:

?

It is true “many members of sub-projects don't join the over-arching parent project.”
This can be overcome and is why an admin from the master U106 project should be an admin on every sub-project.

It can be a problem that “admins of the main projects aren't always admins of sub-projects”.?
This can be negotiated with FTDNA just like the current ‘no sub projects’ policy is enforced today. These are FTDNA policy mediated decisions.

“It becomes difficult for an admin in the parent project to get an overview of the whole haplogroup.”
Expert analysts can easily download and consolidate project data. I have been doing this for years.

There?is synergy in a master and sub-project system.
** You will have more participants in the combination of projects than in a standalone monolithic project. **

Discover’s functionality?lessens the?need for off project snapshot?analysis is lessened. Discover is updated almost weekly. Off project analysis is still valuable but with admin assignments access to data is resolved and even increased.

It's a good discussion. Anything you do is fine. The U106 team has an excellent team of volunteers. That's the main thing. It's always important to ask what are we doing this for and what works for the members?

On Sun, Nov 5, 2023 at 5:33 AM Iain via <gubbins=[email protected]> wrote:

Hi folks,

This topic comes up every now and again, and it's something we think about seriously every couple of years. The decision is essentially a balance between several issues, and a question of where focus is most important.

The R-P312 groups have taken the stance that more sub-projects is a good thing. However, what this inevitably ends up with is that many members of sub-projects don't join the over-arching parent project, admins of the main projects aren't always admins of sub-projects, and it becomes difficult for an admin in the parent project to get an overview of the whole haplogroup.

The main benefit of keeping the project together is that we can pool resources. That was more of a concern in the past than it is now, when haplogroup administrators were in charge of maintaining the haplotree, when we were more involved in developing products for FTDNA, and before we had access to systems like Discover. However, it's still important when it comes to providing results to individuals or performing deeper analysis of a haplogroup, to have these results in one place. It's the only way we can answer questions like how rare a set of STR markers are, lets us examine SNP recurrences, probe migrations independently of Globetrekker through MDKA information, etc.

The main benefit of splitting the project up is that smaller sub-projects can take a more focussed look at smaller sub-clades. However, that requires people to take charge of and run these projects. We have had two major sub-clade projects within R-U106 already: the R-L1 project was folded into the R-U106 project as administrators became too infirm to run the project; the R-Z18 project has been very sporadic and now appears completely moribund. There appear a good stream of people who have the capacity to set up a project, but few who are able to commit in reality to running a project for more than a decade. We've found the hard way that a large body of administrators is useful in managing the transitions as people inevitably have to leave. Only the R-U198 project remains functioning well, meaning it's easy for us to?

I don’t think so, but literally they simply said this was going to happen soon, and moved on to less shocking items.

Charles

On Nov 6, 2023, at 6:52 PM, Lincoln Lincoln <atanderson2@...> wrote:

?

Charles,

I manage several accounts but each acct uses the same email—- will I have a problem—receiving password email for all accts code change??

PA Turnbow?

On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 6:18?PM Charles via <cdmo29=[email protected]> wrote:

The FTDNA Admin Conferences were usually every year before the pandemic, but after 4 ? years, it was great to see old friends, now older, of course!??There is a lot that is new in terms of both people and lab equipment, including robotics.??It’s interesting that robots are analyzing human DNA, but who is analyzing the robots’ DNA?

?

Despite the long time gap between conferences, there weren’t any dramatic announcements of new tests, as sometimes would happen during the pioneering years of the previous two decades.

?

I wrote down a few notes, but other U106 attendees should feel free to add or correct anything I’m reporting here.??My notes are in the order of the presentations.

?

They are planning to increase collaboration or merging of the Customer Service and Group Projects (ie “Groups”) support groups. From my standpoint as an Admin, this sounds a little ominous, since the Groups support has been very helpful to me over the years.??But trying to send a consistent message to admins and customers is a good idea.

?

With respect to Ancient Connections in Discover, they now have 6,100 of about 7,500 male ancient extractions in their system.??268 Big Y customers’ closest match in the system is actually one of the ancient remains samples.??

?

Our own Dr Iain McDonald’s name was cited in multiple presentations, and always very favorably.??We all know what a tremendous asset he is to U106, and as we also know, he was very involved in helping the Discover team get the ball rolling on the age analysis of the haplogroups.

?

For admins, there is (already I think) a place to in effect put up a Help Wanted sign on the Project Banner.

?

Undoubtedly the worst news from the weekend, perhaps at least partly due to the recent 23andMe incident, is that a “forced password reset” is coming soon.??They will send out warnings, and the Admins access to the Admin system known as GAP, will go first.??But all accounts will be forced to reset the passwords.??If you manage accounts of other sample donors, living or deceased, and your own email address isn’t on the account, you’re going to most likely be out-of-luck ever being able to access it again. I don’t understand the details, and other attendees or other computer geeks might be able to help with the discussion, and this pending nightmare should probably have its own thread here.??But my simple thought is that you should try to make sure ASAP that your own current email address is on every account that you manage, because they are going to email the password reset instructions to the email address on the account, and nobody else will be allowed to reset it.??You should also make sure your accounts have Beneficiary designations.??They mentioned two-factor authentication as a distinct possibility in what they’re planning.??Another idea is that since the Fall Sale is on now, you might want to go ahead and order new tests for some of the kits you manage before the chaos begins.

?

Some good news is that Family Finder and Transfers will be given whatever Y-DNA or mtDNA designations can be obtained from these tests, similar to what you get from Ancestry or 23andMe.??It wasn’t clear to me where this will be displayed???Maybe other attendees understood better, but it sounded like it would go where the current red or green haplogroup labels on the Y-haplotypes are now, EXCEPT OBVIOUSLY it won’t over-write an actual Y-SNP test result, unless it’s downstream from such a Y test.

?

They have an idea to add yet another feature to Discover, along with Ancient and Notable Connections, which would be Connections to results from Academic/Scientific Studies.

?

They are working hard to get a Mitotree up and running for mtDNA, which would be built from scratch from their mtDNA database and which will create new branches and update mtDNA haplogroup designations.??Beyond that, they will also have an mtDNA Discover tool.

?

I think people will take this next item as partly good and partly bad, but here goes.??They are going to replace their traditional genealogical family tree feature with the much better one from MyHeritage.

I think I understood there will be some free and hopefully not too difficult way to get your current tree into the MyHeritage system before they toss the current system overboard (for the second time).

?

They have some Wish List ideas, including moving to whatever future T2T Reference system replaces the current “Build 38” reference, an mtDNA Block Tree, and WGS tests if they can get the cost down.

?

It was fun at the lab today watching the test kit vials being filled by robots instead of lab techs who can do “more important things that robots can’t”, and presumably less boring or monotonous.

?

There are now over 100,000 Big Y tests in the system.

?

With respect to the new owner from Down Under having a positive influence on getting more Aussies tested, they said actually Australia is one of the better tested countries.

?

They don’t currently have plans to arrange Y-DNA Transfers for a fee from other Y labs, but it didn’t sound like they were opposed to it (a non-answer answer).

?

Long-Read testing is still too expensive.

?

There were a number of long, entertaining presentations such as a racially-mixed (and mixed-up) adoption situation, whereas the news items I’ve mentioned here were spit out too fast for me to do a decent job with my notes.??I probably can’t answer your questions.??Fortunately, there were multiple other U106ers there, so I hope they won’t be shy about adding, correcting, and discussing these items with y’all.

?

?

?

?

?

Charles?

The FTDNA Admin Conferences were usually every year before the pandemic, but after 4 ? years, it was great to see old friends, now older, of course!??There is a lot that is new in terms of both people and lab equipment, including robotics.??It’s interesting that robots are analyzing human DNA, but who is analyzing the robots’ DNA?

?

Despite the long time gap between conferences, there weren’t any dramatic announcements of new tests, as sometimes would happen during the pioneering years of the previous two decades.

?

I wrote down a few notes, but other U106 attendees should feel free to add or correct anything I’m reporting here.??My notes are in the order of the presentations.

?

They are planning to increase collaboration or merging of the Customer Service and Group Projects (ie “Groups”) support groups. From my standpoint as an Admin, this sounds a little ominous, since the Groups support has been very helpful to me over the years.??But trying to send a consistent message to admins and customers is a good idea.

?

With respect to Ancient Connections in Discover, they now have 6,100 of about 7,500 male ancient extractions in their system.??268 Big Y customers’ closest match in the system is actually one of the ancient remains samples.??

?

Our own Dr Iain McDonald’s name was cited in multiple presentations, and always very favorably.??We all know what a tremendous asset he is to U106, and as we also know, he was very involved in helping the Discover team get the ball rolling on the age analysis of the haplogroups.

?

For admins, there is (already I think) a place to in effect put up a Help Wanted sign on the Project Banner.

?

Undoubtedly the worst news from the weekend, perhaps at least partly due to the recent 23andMe incident, is that a “forced password reset” is coming soon.??They will send out warnings, and the Admins access to the Admin system known as GAP, will go first.??But all accounts will be forced to reset the passwords.??If you manage accounts of other sample donors, living or deceased, and your own email address isn’t on the account, you’re going to most likely be out-of-luck ever being able to access it again. I don’t understand the details, and other attendees or other computer geeks might be able to help with the discussion, and this pending nightmare should probably have its own thread here.??But my simple thought is that you should try to make sure ASAP that your own current email address is on every account that you manage, because they are going to email the password reset instructions to the email address on the account, and nobody else will be allowed to reset it.??You should also make sure your accounts have Beneficiary designations.??They mentioned two-factor authentication as a distinct possibility in what they’re planning.??Another idea is that since the Fall Sale is on now, you might want to go ahead and order new tests for some of the kits you manage before the chaos begins.

?

Some good news is that Family Finder and Transfers will be given whatever Y-DNA or mtDNA designations can be obtained from these tests, similar to what you get from Ancestry or 23andMe.??It wasn’t clear to me where this will be displayed???Maybe other attendees understood better, but it sounded like it would go where the current red or green haplogroup labels on the Y-haplotypes are now, EXCEPT OBVIOUSLY it won’t over-write an actual Y-SNP test result, unless it’s downstream from such a Y test.

?

They have an idea to add yet another feature to Discover, along with Ancient and Notable Connections, which would be Connections to results from Academic/Scientific Studies.

?

They are working hard to get a Mitotree up and running for mtDNA, which would be built from scratch from their mtDNA database and which will create new branches and update mtDNA haplogroup designations.??Beyond that, they will also have an mtDNA Discover tool.

?

I think people will take this next item as partly good and partly bad, but here goes.??They are going to replace their traditional genealogical family tree feature with the much better one from MyHeritage.

I think I understood there will be some free and hopefully not too difficult way to get your current tree into the MyHeritage system before they toss the current system overboard (for the second time).

?

They have some Wish List ideas, including moving to whatever future T2T Reference system replaces the current “Build 38” reference, an mtDNA Block Tree, and WGS tests if they can get the cost down.

?

It was fun at the lab today watching the test kit vials being filled by robots instead of lab techs who can do “more important things that robots can’t”, and presumably less boring or monotonous.

?

There are now over 100,000 Big Y tests in the system.

?

With respect to the new owner from Down Under having a positive influence on getting more Aussies tested, they said actually Australia is one of the better tested countries.

?

They don’t currently have plans to arrange Y-DNA Transfers for a fee from other Y labs, but it didn’t sound like they were opposed to it (a non-answer answer).

?

Long-Read testing is still too expensive.

?

There were a number of long, entertaining presentations such as a racially-mixed (and mixed-up) adoption situation, whereas the news items I’ve mentioned here were spit out too fast for me to do a decent job with my notes.??I probably can’t answer your questions.??Fortunately, there were multiple other U106ers there, so I hope they won’t be shy about adding, correcting, and discussing these items with y’all.

?

?

?

?

?

Charles?