Saturday, 9 March 2019

Why I Love ThruLines





Right now ThruLines is in BETA, which means users are testing it, taking it for a spin to see what they like or don't like about it. When you check out a match you get a little pop-up to give feedback. This is how the developers know if it's working for you or not, not by complaining on Facebook!





To learn what ThruLines is, how it works, and what it can do for you read the manual. It's not very long and will answer questions you may have.

ThruLines is not gospel, it is suggestions according to your and your DNA match's trees. If one of you has wrong info on your tree, that doesn't mean you aren't a match. It just means one of you is barking up the wrong tree. The only truth is the dna. I usually message the person and give proof on my side and ask the same from them. For one of my surname matches, his is right and mine is right, but we're both stuck at the same generation! This is helpful information going forward with our research, as we most likely have a common ancestor 1 or 2 generations further back.

 When looking at your DNA matches you often get something like this...


I have no idea who this person is or where he fits on my tree. I only know it is somewhere on my maternal line because he is a shared march with my maternal cousin. 

While I was in ThruLines I saw my 5x ggf Gilbert Frost in the lineup...



I click on Gilbert Frost as I haven't had any matches in this line, and I get TWO matches...



And there is RH and exactly how he fits on my tree! It also shows me another match on same line. 

Sometimes you'll see a number, say 3 dna matches with a drop down box, meaning there are more matches from that person. 


Well that's cool! I only knew about one of them... now I have two more lines I can verify and add to my DNA Tree. 

I have my full tree with everyone on it and it's private. I have my DNA Tree with only my DIRECT ancestors. When I find a verified match I add that branch to this dna tree and for the person who is a match put one of special images I made. 



Another thing, since the program is ever-changing click F5 to refresh ThruLines at least once a day and, as someone suggested, clear out your ancestry cookies and cache at least every few days. (It actually wouldn't hurt to clear ALL of them often)

Long story short, ThruLines is helping me discover where those anonymous matches belong on my tree, enabling us to better help each other. 

Have you tried ThruLines?  What is your experience with this new feature?







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4 comments:

  1. Marian B. Wood10 March 2019 at 08:17

    I find ThruLines good for clues. Some of the people have copied my ancestors to their tree without adding any sources or proof to show connections to their ancestors, so those matches are not helpful--especially when there is no actual DNA match, only a "tree match." Verify, verify, verify.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dianne10 March 2019 at 13:02

      Exactly! When it’s a dna match I add their line then use the new TAGS, either verified or unverified.

      Delete
  2. QB10 March 2019 at 12:47

    thanks for a very helpful article! Is it ok to use your 'DNA symbol' boxes on my tree, please? I will save this and refer back to it. Peggy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dianne10 March 2019 at 13:06

      Sure, you can use them if you want. If you email me I can send you the originals.
      Glad to help!

      Delete

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