GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

From: (John Chandler)
Subject: Re: [DNA] FTDNA pie chart of haplogroups [and a note to Max]
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 15:41:58 -0400 (EDT)
References: <004601c45f29$16a24e50$74ab36cb@pc>
In-Reply-To: <004601c45f29$16a24e50$74ab36cb@pc> (fred.vines@bigpond.com)

Fred wrote:
> I looked expectantly at FTDNA's pie chart for haplogroup distribution...
> The chart shows 70.74% in R1b group, numbering 1115 so the total in the database must be 1576.

Not exactly. 1115 was the instantaneous number of R1b when you looked,
but the pie chart represents a snapshot from some earlier time, perhaps
days or weeks ago. More importantly, note that the pie chart does not
have a slice for "unknown haplogroup." Now, observe that the number of
persons in the YSEARCH database is almost 6000. It follows that something
like 3/4 of the entries in the database were not included in the pie.

I believe the plan for YSEARCH was to include only the measured
haplogroups and not the guessed ones. If an FTDNA user clicks on the
automatic upload button, the haplogroup guess, if any, is not uploaded,
but an actually measured haplogroup *is*. The data entry panel, in
fact, has a footnote attached to the haplogroup box saying "if you are
not sure of the haplogroup, leave it as Unknown". It is clear that
some users are filling in the haplogroup guesses, but others are not.

NOTE TO MAX -- it might be a good idea to clarify this point and perhaps
also to reconsider the plan for the haplogroup field in the database.
Since many users will choose to be "sure" of the guessed haplogroups
anyway (and have already done so), why not give in to popular demand
and upload the guessed haplogroups as a matter of course? You can
perhaps add another field that describes the provenance of the
haplogroup.

John Chandler

This thread:

• Re: [DNA] FTDNA pie chart of haplogroups [and a note to Max] by (John Chandler)