Published December 30, 2018
| 1 Comment | Leave A ReplySomeone’s probably come up with a snazzy term for the way I deal with technology: I’ll settle for “Not So Early Adopter.”
That is, I’m not a luddite and don’t fear it, but I’m not first in line to try out the latest and greatest. Prime example: I rather religiously am always at least two models of iPhone behind the current.
So it is for me and DNA.
No family historian today can avoid at least talking about it.
And my interest in it is intense enough that I plan to go to a weeklong genealogy institute for the first time next year in an attempt to get myself up to speed with what I’ll call the “tools beyond the testing,” since I know the basics about genealogy DNA tests but it seems like there’s a new tool to help people analyze those tests launching just about any day.
And along with the ever-new bells and whistles for interpreting tests, there is an ever-growing audience of people completely green to DNA, genealogy (or both) – asking the naturally basic questions that come along with being a “newbie” to anything.
There are many Facebook groups devoted to all sorts of aspects of genealogy, and generally people are pretty well mannered both in asking their questions and those commenting upon them.
Of course, the quality of the answers given in those comments covers a fairly wide track (On a German genealogy Facebook page at which I look regularly, I both learn a lot and also learn how specific the knowledge I have often is!).
I did note that there can be an undertone of meanness that surfaces in the genetic genealogy Facebook groups.
In particular, there was a thread just a week ago in which a woman was absolutely beside herself because her recently deceased ex-husband was not showing up as her daughter’s father. Her post ached not only from the DNA surprise but also from the grief of the ex-husband’s death to cancer.
Given these twin traumas, it’s not out of bounds to think that the woman isn’t fully accounting for all the possibilities, but that’s for her to work her way through.
But some of the responses to her thread?
Several were disgusted with her having made the same post on several DNA genealogy Facebook pages.
Others were flatly dismissive that she hadn’t responded to commenters’ questions quickly enough.
Still others did “instant analysis” of the situation and decided she was lying about the whole thing.
I felt nothing but empathy for this woman who got a lot more than she bargained for from a DNA test. I hope she finds out what has caused this anomaly.
And I hope that people in DNA Facebook groups play a little nicer.
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The Best of "Roots & Branches", Fifth Edition published July 2017, edited by Terri J. Bridgwater.
It contains a selection of columns from Beidler’s award-winning newspaper column (currently published in the Altoona Mirror), which is the only syndicated newspaper column on genealogy in Pennsylvania.
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Rick Bender
5 years ago
People tell me I need to be on FB. I’ve resisted. Sometimes I think I could possibly find distant relatives or information about old home towns in Germany or Holland if I joined.
Every time I decide to join, something ugly happens at FB and I become a doubter again.
A voice in my head asks, “Do you really want to jump into that cesspool?”