Here is some functionality I'd like to see on AncestryDNA that I think would make it a lot easier to solve my little mystery:
1) In "Shared Matches," show me not just how much DNA I share with my matches but how much DNA those individuals share with each other. 23andMe recently implemented this feature in their "open sharing," and it would be super useful, if only more people participated in open sharing.
2) Allow me to search the DNA database by user name. 23andMe does this. Or even just let me search my own matches by user name. You can currently only search your AncestryDNA matches by searching for a surname from their family tree. If you want to find someone who isn't a relatively close match and didn't link to a family tree, good luck finding them in your (in my case anyway) hundreds of pages of matches.
3) Allow me to search my DNA matches by not only surname from their tree but also by full name. This would be very helpful when I'm trying to find people who have Joseph White in their tree and not just any random person named White. Better yet, allow me the option of inserting their birth and death years too and/or locations, which is already what the Ancestry "shared ancestor hint" algorithm seems to function around.
4) Allow me to search my DNA matches by more than one surname. 23andMe does this. Maybe I don't want to know literally everyone with Williams in their family tree. Maybe I only want to know the ones whose trees contain both Williams AND Smith, regardless of whether those family lines intersect or not. This feature would make it dramatically easier to find more DNA matches descended from that 1800s mystery couple of mine because I could search for his surname AND her maiden name.
I love AncestryDNA. The fact that they allow users to link their family trees to their profiles makes it an easier service on which to find matches than on 23andMe or Family Tree DNA. I can tell you how I'm related to over 200 of my DNA matches on Ancestry, largely for this reason. HOWEVER, their search functionality is still the worst of the three of companies.
I love AncestryDNA. The fact that they allow users to link their family trees to their profiles makes it an easier service on which to find matches than on 23andMe or Family Tree DNA. I can tell you how I'm related to over 200 of my DNA matches on Ancestry, largely for this reason. HOWEVER, their search functionality is still the worst of the three of companies.
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