Bowes, Bowe, Related and Similar Surnames DNA Project

Bowes, Bowe, Related and Similar Surnames DNA Project

MEMBER ACCOUNT SETTINGS

~ Thank you to all those who take time to review these settings ~

Q. Why should I review my account settings?

Your account settings default to the most private available with the least amount of sharing. Adjusting them to increase sharing will:

optimize your ability to use your DNA to further your personal family history research
most benefit the project as a whole
allow your administrators to help you better
allow your administrators to spend more time focusing on developing the project than on attending to setting issues

Q. Where do I find my account settings?

You can locate all the Account Settings in the dropdown menu that appears when you click your name in the upper right corner of your account.

Q. What account settings should I focus on?

The Y DNA focused settings below — conveniently listed in the order in which they show in your account — are the most important ones to consider at the outset. In case you're short on time, I've marked some 'very important.' Please become familiar with all the settings as time allows.

ACCOUNT INFORMATION > Contact Information VERY IMPORTANT

__ Do you have the preferred email address checked as the default?

__ Have you included two emails to receive communication in case something happens to one of them?

ACCOUNT INFORMATION > Beneficiary Information VERY IMPORTANT

__ If anything happens to you, who do you want to administer your account? Leaving this blank can present challenges to your family and administrators in the future.

GENEALOGY > Earliest Known Ancestors VERY IMPORTANT

__ Entering your direct paternal ancestor here will include it in the project STR and SNP results displays, giving helpful context to your entry there.

__ Adding your direct paternal ancestor's earliest geographic location will include it in the project results Map display, optimizing review of our member and haplogroup geographic distribution.

PRIVACY & SHARING > Matching Preferences

__ Do you want to see your matches? Be sure this is enabled.

PRIVACY & SHARING > Law Enforcement Matching

__ I've forgotten what the default is here. FTDNA provides some background at the setting level.

PRIVACY & SHARING > Y-DNA Match Levels

__ Generally All Levels is helpful, including Big Y. However, those in very large haplogroups may want to turn off the lower STR levels to avoid receiving many new match emails that are irrelevant. The tradeoff is that if a match arrives who only tested at the lower STR level, you would miss notification of it.

PRIVACY & SHARING > Family Tree Sharing

__ If you enter your family tree (bottom of account dashboard; you can hide information on living people), sharing it will activate the tree icon showing by your name in your matches' match lists. They will be able to click the tree icon and explore how you might be related.

PROJECT PREFERENCES > Group Project Profile VERY IMPORTANT

__ Enabling this setting means your pseudonymized Y DNA results will be included in the public view of our Y DNA results pages, rather than only showing to you when you're logged in. This really helps inquiring new members to assess the pool of potential surname matches available to them if they join. The more the project grows, the more potential members will see a larger potential match pool and that the project is active and growing.

NOTIFICATION PREFERENCES > Email Notifications / Projects VERY IMPORTANT

__ Please enable this to stay informed of activities and developments in our project.

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