Ancestry has officially retracted their plan to delete DNA matches below 8 cM. Your participation provided the essential pressure needed to protect this genealogical data. I encourage everyone to download their match lists as a precaution while we remain watchful of future policy shifts.
September 20, 2020
Final supporters
Ancestry recently announced that they will be removing all DNA matches below 8 cM from every customer's DNA match lists "in early August" of 2020. (Previously the DNA matches list only excluded below 6 cM.) This comes as they roll out a new matching algorithm.
While this may be welcome news to some (those who dislike having false positives among their matches) it is disastrous news to all those who rely on these distant matches to research their distant ancestors. Conventional research only gets one so far - the DNA side has become crucial for getting past brick walls. Now Ancestry wants to restrict our matches.
Partly, this is a cost-cutting measure. As stated in their white paper, "The first factor is data storage. Since the number of matching segments grows exponentially with decreasing length, we dramatically reduce the storage requirements of our matching database by increasing the cutoff." Ancestry has grown to 18 million customers and that means a lot of server storage. By cutting out the most distant matches from everyone's lists, estimates suggest it will cut our DNA matches lists in HALF. Source: https://www.dataminingdna.com/impact-of-ancestry-r...
The other reason provided by Ancestry is that "the accuracy ... drops rapidly with decreasing IBD length—that is, the shorter the length of the detected IBD segment (expressed in genetic distance), the less likely it is that the detected chromosome segment is truly inherited from a common ancestor." In other words, not all matches are "true" matches when you get this small. But this has ever been true - and Ancestry should continue to allow its users to work with these valuable true matches among the false positives.
Ancestry has outlined ways of preserving matches so they are not lost when this change rolls out, but it involves marking each match yourself. They provide no way to do this in bulk. With tens of thousands of matches to mark, it will be impossible to save all our data - not to mention, we'll be missing out on *future* Ancestry DNA matches we might have seen in that under-8cM range.
As Ancestry customers, we urge you, Ancestry, to reverse this decision. Do not remove our data.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
August 26, 2020
August 25, 2020
The number of signatures is nearing the two hundred and fifty mark. Please take a moment to post this link on your social media accounts to help us reach this threshold today.
Reached 100 supporters
July 23, 2020
July 20, 2020
The number of signatures is climbing steadily toward one hundred. Please distribute this petition to your contacts to ensure our position remains clear to the leadership at Ancestry.
130 Comments
I have over 300 potential common ancestors that show as less than 8cM. Some are the only connections validating specific ancestors are connected to me. Most serious genealogists want to go back more than 4-5 generations. For the most part, this is not possible without including these small DNA matches
Deleting matches with these small segments perpetuates the harm done to enslaved Africans and African-Americans, as well as to Native Americans. These small segments are sometimes the only path back to some of our ancestors. Finding that path can help tell their silenced stories.
I have been active in genealogy research since 1966 and count myself a heavy user of DNA test data, administering a number of relatives' DNA test as well as my own. I USE AND VALUE 6-8 cM matches -- triangulate them with groups of my relatives' test data. PLEASE do not remove them. Thank you.
In more than 30 years of genealogy the single most exciting thing I have discovered is that I had an ancestor who was a Royal Marine on board HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. This discovery came via a ThruLine connection to a 6 cM match. Don't delete my small DNA matches.
Please don't do this! I have numerous 5th and 6th cousins on my tree that were proved by DNA at 7 centimorgans. I use my tree to find living cousins, and changing your system will remove a very useful tool for me. Why not have a option to choose the minimum centimorgan match, like Gedmatch do?
I had my DNA tested with Ancestry because it was reliable and WOULD BE THERE FOREVER.
Defeats the purpose of having the largest databases if we cant access the information we need. Either show all our matches or let us download our small matches. The further along with our research we are, the more important those small matches become.
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Ancestry has officially retracted their plan to delete DNA matches below 8 cM. Your participation provided the essential pressure needed to protect this genealogical data. I encourage everyone to download their match lists as a precaution while we remain watchful of future policy shifts.
September 20, 2020
Final supporters
Ancestry recently announced that they will be removing all DNA matches below 8 cM from every customer's DNA match lists "in early August" of 2020. (Previously the DNA matches list only excluded below 6 cM.) This comes as they roll out a new matching algorithm.
While this may be welcome news to some (those who dislike having false positives among their matches) it is disastrous news to all those who rely on these distant matches to research their distant ancestors. Conventional research only gets one so far - the DNA side has become crucial for getting past brick walls. Now Ancestry wants to restrict our matches.
Partly, this is a cost-cutting measure. As stated in their white paper, "The first factor is data storage. Since the number of matching segments grows exponentially with decreasing length, we dramatically reduce the storage requirements of our matching database by increasing the cutoff." Ancestry has grown to 18 million customers and that means a lot of server storage. By cutting out the most distant matches from everyone's lists, estimates suggest it will cut our DNA matches lists in HALF. Source: https://www.dataminingdna.com/impact-of-ancestry-r...
The other reason provided by Ancestry is that "the accuracy ... drops rapidly with decreasing IBD length—that is, the shorter the length of the detected IBD segment (expressed in genetic distance), the less likely it is that the detected chromosome segment is truly inherited from a common ancestor." In other words, not all matches are "true" matches when you get this small. But this has ever been true - and Ancestry should continue to allow its users to work with these valuable true matches among the false positives.
Ancestry has outlined ways of preserving matches so they are not lost when this change rolls out, but it involves marking each match yourself. They provide no way to do this in bulk. With tens of thousands of matches to mark, it will be impossible to save all our data - not to mention, we'll be missing out on *future* Ancestry DNA matches we might have seen in that under-8cM range.
As Ancestry customers, we urge you, Ancestry, to reverse this decision. Do not remove our data.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
August 26, 2020
August 25, 2020
The number of signatures is nearing the two hundred and fifty mark. Please take a moment to post this link on your social media accounts to help us reach this threshold today.
Reached 100 supporters
July 23, 2020
July 20, 2020
The number of signatures is climbing steadily toward one hundred. Please distribute this petition to your contacts to ensure our position remains clear to the leadership at Ancestry.
130 Comments
Please don't delete the 6cM thru 8cM DNA as I need them to prove that I am descended from my 3rd grandparents and beyond. Since I am over 75 years old, there are not many historical records for ancestors born before 1800.
I have over 300 potential common ancestors that show as less than 8cM. Some are the only connections validating specific ancestors are connected to me. Most serious genealogists want to go back more than 4-5 generations. For the most part, this is not possible without including these small DNA matches
Deleting matches with these small segments perpetuates the harm done to enslaved Africans and African-Americans, as well as to Native Americans. These small segments are sometimes the only path back to some of our ancestors. Finding that path can help tell their silenced stories.
I have been active in genealogy research since 1966 and count myself a heavy user of DNA test data, administering a number of relatives' DNA test as well as my own. I USE AND VALUE 6-8 cM matches -- triangulate them with groups of my relatives' test data. PLEASE do not remove them. Thank you.
In more than 30 years of genealogy the single most exciting thing I have discovered is that I had an ancestor who was a Royal Marine on board HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. This discovery came via a ThruLine connection to a 6 cM match. Don't delete my small DNA matches.
Please don't do this! I have numerous 5th and 6th cousins on my tree that were proved by DNA at 7 centimorgans. I use my tree to find living cousins, and changing your system will remove a very useful tool for me. Why not have a option to choose the minimum centimorgan match, like Gedmatch do?
I had my DNA tested with Ancestry because it was reliable and WOULD BE THERE FOREVER.
Defeats the purpose of having the largest databases if we cant access the information we need. Either show all our matches or let us download our small matches. The further along with our research we are, the more important those small matches become.
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Please don't delete the 6cM thru 8cM DNA as I need them to prove that I am descended from my 3rd grandparents and beyond. Since I am over 75 years old, there are not many historical records for ancestors born before 1800.