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Has anyone noticed that Ancestry.com has messages that some existing DNA features will soon only be available to paid members?
I have seen these messages in the DNA section. The only users that can access this are those that paid for a DNA test.
Users that took the DNA test have been able to view the trees, ethnicity, and shared matches for their individual DNA matches. It however appears that Ancestry.com will soon stop providing trees and shared matches for your DNA matches. Only their ethnicity will continue to be available from what I can decipher. This will make determining how you might be related to DNA matches extremely difficult if you are not a full paying Ancestry.com member. If Ancestry does move forward on this, I would strongly recommend that people use other DNA options that provide this type of info at no additional cost.
Message Alerts:
TREES
We're making some changes. Soon, you'll need a membership to view the features below this banner
SHARED MATCHES
We're making some changes. Soon, you'll need a membership to view the features below this banner
Has anyone noticed that Ancestry.com has messages that some existing DNA features will soon only be available to paid members?
I have seen these messages in the DNA section. The only users that can access this are those that paid for a DNA test.
Users that took the DNA test have been able to view the trees, ethnicity, and shared matches for their individual DNA matches. It however appears that Ancestry.com will soon stop providing trees and shared matches for your DNA matches. Only their ethnicity will continue to be available from what I can decipher. This will make determining how you might be related to DNA matches extremely difficult if you are not a full paying Ancestry.com member. If Ancestry does move forward on this, I would strongly recommend that people use other DNA options that provide this type of info at no additional cost.
Message Alerts:
TREES
We're making some changes. Soon, you'll need a membership to view the features below this banner
SHARED MATCHES
We're making some changes. Soon, you'll need a membership to view the features below this banner
If Ancestry does this the others will follow.
I'm curious why you think any service should be free? They are a business.
23andMe have already had a lot of features behind a subscription for a while now, AncestryDNA are not the first. But 23andMe did not remove existing features - they just put new features behind the subscription paywall. So people who didn't upgrade to the subscription haven't lost anything, they just don't gain the new stuff.
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I'm curious why you think any service should be free? They are a business.
Anyone who took the DNA test has paid for the DNA test results so they are not free and no one is expecting that. To take features that were previously included in the cost of the DNA test and put it behind an additional subscription paywall is pretty low, even for Ancestry. It'd be more understandable (still disappointing but more understandable) if they were introducing new features that would be only available with a subscription. But to remove existing features, even I can't defend that and I've always given them the benefit of the doubt because they are a for-profit business and having to make money to stay in business. Everything they provide doesn't come free to them either. But the approach they are taking to introducing this is all wrong and it's kind of an outrage.
If Ancestry does move forward on this, I would strongly recommend that people use other DNA options that provide this type of info at no additional cost.
What company would you recommend? In my experience, 23andMe is the next best option, but they have had features behind a subscription for a while now, and they don't even host public family trees. They aren't a genealogy website so many people aren't there for genealogy and personally, it's been of little use to me for that purpose.
MyHeritage I think also has DNA features behind a subscription? But even if they didn't, they don't have very reliable ethnicity reports and their database of testers is small.
FamilyTreeDNA doesn't have any subscriptions but they suffer from the same problems MyHeritage does.
LivingDNA is UK based and ethnicity reports are hit and miss if you're not British/Irish, and they have a small database that's more UK based so not ideal for everyone.
Those are the primary testing companies, none of them are better than AncestryDNA or even a good alternative (for genealogy), if you ask me. You can upload to GedMatch but you have to test at one of those companies first, plus Gedmatch has features behind a paywall too.
At least Ancestry have recently dropped the restrictions in messaging if you don't have a subscription. You can now message anyone (that has messaging enabled) and ask for an invite to view their tree. But the downside to this is now spammers and scammers can message people too.
On principle, I hate that Ancestry is removing existing features to put behind a subscription, but I already have a subscription so it doesn't influence me personally and I'm not going to give up the best genealogy resource on the internet (by far). It's not going to accomplish anything.
23andMe have already had a lot of features behind a subscription for a while now, AncestryDNA are not the first. But 23andMe did not remove existing features - they just put new features behind the subscription paywall. So people who didn't upgrade to the subscription haven't lost anything, they just don't gain the new stuff.
Anyone who took the DNA test has paid for the DNA test results so they are not free and no one is expecting that. To take features that were previously included in the cost of the DNA test and put it behind an additional subscription paywall is pretty low, even for Ancestry. It'd be more understandable (still disappointing but more understandable) if they were introducing new features that would be only available with a subscription. But to remove existing features, even I can't defend that and I've always given them the benefit of the doubt because they are a for-profit business and having to make money to stay in business. Everything they provide doesn't come free to them either. But the approach they are taking to introducing this is all wrong and it's kind of an outrage.
No different than the thousands of companies that have done the same. Their costs keep going up the same as any business. How many things that used to be included are now charged for? The list is endless.
This hit a sore spot with me. How many posts do we have with people doing whatever they can to save a few bucks. I have never answered one to save people a membership in Ancestry. I pay about a dollar a day for Ancestry and newspapers.com. It isn't a large amount of money for anyone posting here since their posting shows they pay for internet.
No different than the thousands of companies that have done the same. Their costs keep going up the same as any business. How many things that used to be included are now charged for? The list is endless.
In my experience, I don't actually see that very often. Prices go up, sure, and new features get put behind paywalls, but I don't see existing features go behind additional paywalls as often. 23andMe didn't do it, MyHeritage didn't do it, even though they both have features behind additional paywalls. And even if they did, just because other companies do it doesn't make it okay. That's a cop out. What's next? "They were just following orders..."?
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This hit a sore spot with me. How many posts do we have with people doing whatever they can to save a few bucks. I have never answered one to save people a membership in Ancestry. I pay about a dollar a day for Ancestry and newspapers.com. It isn't a large amount of money for anyone posting here since their posting shows they pay for internet.
Lol, this is just a total lack of awareness and detachment from reality. Just because people can afford one thing doesn't mean they can afford an additional thing. Maybe their internet bill maxed them out. If you were actually paying a dollar a day, more people might be able to afford it... but when you have to pay hundreds in one lump sum, it's not as affordable. Many people need the internet for their work so they can justify the expense but can't afford to spend hundreds per year on a hobby. Your comments shout of someone who doesn't know what it's like to have to budget. How is it a sore spot for you that some people can't afford everything you can and you can't comprehend how that's possible? People like you are the sore spot for me. Do you even hear yourself?
I haven't seen that, yet. I started to read a very long new TOS and quit after the first paragraph or two. It may be because I'm waiting for a new gift membership to begin. That said, it's worth searching for a copy of the original TOS, i.e. contract, that would have been issued at the time the DNA kits were purchased.
I have a paid membership, but I have to admit a year or so ago when I let my membership lapse for a while, I was surprised that I still had access to all of the DNA test features, IIRC. I thought I was going to lose a lot of that. I only renewed my membership to search for certain records.
DNA testing seems to have waned considerably, so they must be looking for ways to discourage people from dropping memberships. The vast majority are only interested in ethnicity and don't care about trees or genealogy, so losing those features won't matter to most users. They never looked at them in the first place.
But if users have public trees, how would Ancestry be able to hide that from DNA matches? Don't the users decide who gets to see their tree? I have no idea what the features are "below this banner".
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