Collaborative Genealogy:
Advantages and Shortcomings of the Various Online Candidates for
the "Ideal" Family Tree
8:30 p.m. Thursday 27 March 2025
Muintir na Tíre Hall
WWW version:
YouTube version:
Outline
Introduction
For many centuries, individuals traditionally wrote out family trees
by hand on sheets of paper or rolls of wallpaper, rewriting them
frequently as new discoveries were made or new generations were born
and married.
By the 1980s, the desktop personal computer allowed family tree
information to be recorded electronically, and reprinted
frequently as new information materialised.
By the 1990s, the World Wide Web allowed family tree information
to be re-published online, and later to be directly recorded
online.
By the 2000s, genetic genealogy began to emerge, with online Y-DNA
comparisons for surname studies requiring corresponding online
family tree comparisons.
By the 2010s, online autosomal DNA comparisons required more
online family tree comparisons.
By the 2020s, a multitude of rival DNA comparison websites were
requiring multitudes of duplicate (and often conflicting) online
family trees.
For several decades, I remained an advocate of desktop genealogy
software over web-based family trees. Efficient data entry
using keyboard shortcuts, and control of my own backups, seemed
preferable to battling slow broadband and trusting my work to the
whims and financial imperatives of a commercial website owner.
In more recent years, as my database grew larger (251,828
individuals) and my remaining life expectancy grew shorter, my
views changed.
It's time to stop reinventing the wheel.
What changes can genealogists expect in the 2030s?
- Pure research continues to lead to new discoveries which can
be commercially exploited.
- Most website users want long-term accuracy before profit.
- Many website operators want short-term profit before accuracy.
- What will be the outcome of this battle?
- The rest of the world has been embracing artificial
intelligence (AI).
- AI uses feedback loops to learn from its mistakes.
- Good website operators can use the real intelligence
of their users as a feedback mechanism to learn from past
mistakes and to correct errors.
- AI uses Large Language Models
like ChatGPT to generate text in relatively unstructured human
languages.
- Surely similar models could and will generate family trees,
which are much more highly structured lineage-linked databases,
helping to break down genealogical brick walls?
Collaborative genealogy is the inevitable outcome of the
integration of:
- traditional genealogy;
- DNA comparisons; and
- AI.
In particular, collaborative genealogy is an essential part of
any surname study, such as those under the umbrellas of:
The DNA and
genealogy industry
Is the competition between the many DNA and Genealogy companies and
websites healthy or unhealthy?
Why does the one company doing Y-DNA comparison (one chromosome)
charge so much more than the many companies doing autosomal DNA
comparison (22 pairs of chromosomes)?
Who here has not yet submitted a DNA sample for analysis?
Are you "fishing in all the gene pools"?
Isn't hosting a DNA comparison database a natural monopoly?
FindMyPast ended its five-year
partnership with LivingDNA on 28 April 2023.
23andMe filed for bankrupcy protection last Sunday (23 March
2025).
Further consolidation is inevitable.
Selling subscriptions is more profitable than selling one-off
purchases.
Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) has become very affordable.
Why has Whole Genome Comparison not taken off commercially?
Sunk costs?
Tens of millions of DNA samples have been analysed and compared
using chips which are becoming outdated.
There are already several collaborative family tree websites:
- Who here uses a single world tree?
Isn't hosting a single world tree a natural monopoly?
How can there be more than one such website, all with similar
desirable ideals:
- a single accurate, editable, correctable, online world family
tree
- with just one profile for every person who has ever lived
- linked directly to the DNA data of those wishing to be
included in the tree?
How many such single world trees can there be?
The various candidates for the ideal single world tree all have
their own advantages and shortcomings, as do the multiple rival
legacy family tree websites designed to assist in the joint goals
of
- comparing DNA; and/or
- compiling, comparing and combining family trees.
None of the legacy websites has succeeded in simultaneously
achieving all of these goals.
Genealogists from Murroe and from around the world are already
contributing to bringing about the ideal collaborative tree, and
you can easily join them.
More questions for
the audience ...
- Who has not yet started recording the family history for
posterity?
- How many different online and offline versions of your family
tree do you, or should you, maintain?
- One?
- More than one?
- As many as there are DNA comparison websites?
- How do you record the master copy of your genealogical
findings?
- Who has not yet committed anything to writing for posterity?
- Who uses pen and paper exclusively?
- Who uses word processing or spreadsheet software exclusively?
- Who uses standalone genealogy software?
- Who uses a genealogy website?
- Who makes regular backups?
- Would you prefer to find your DNA matches and other long-lost
cousins on a single accurate world tree rather than on multiple
incomplete error-ridden stand-alone trees?
- Are you willing to make compromises involving control,
workload, accuracy and speed?
- FamilySearch.org, geni.com, WeRelate.org and WikiTree.com all
share similar objectives:
- to have exactly one profile for every individual who has
ever lived:
- "It's not your tree or my tree. It is our tree."
- Similarly:
"It's not your DNA or my DNA. It is our DNA."
- to merge duplicates when identified
- to avoid errors going viral
- to document sources
- etc.
- ... but there are differences:
- FamilySearch generates duplicates by turning sources into
new profiles, e.g. three profiles for each birth in a large
family
- geni.com allows duplicates to be created for free but
charges to merge them
- geni.com over-reacted to credential stuffing attacks on
other websites in 2023 and locked out users whose email
addresses were no longer valid
- WikiTree.com has an emphasis on DNA confirmation
- etc.
- ... and there are other, uneditable, uncorrectable, behind the
scenes, single world trees:
- AncestryDNA ThruLines and "Common ancestors" hints
- MyHeritage Theories of Family Relativity
How do you
and your matches link your new genealogical discoveries to your
DNA kits?
- Have you linked your pedigree chart to each of your own DNA
kits?
- Have you linked a pedigree chart to every other DNA kit that
you manage?
- You will need to do your matches' genealogy for them to push
their known ancestry back to the common ancestor or, more
likely, ancestral couple, whom you share with each match.
- Do you update your pedigree charts with every new discovery?
- Do all of your newfound cousins do likewise with their
pedigree charts?
- Are you all frustrated by the need for all this duplication of
effort?
- exporting and uploading new GEDCOM files
- editing multiple online family trees
- creating linked matches at FTDNA/MyHeritage
- Why not a single world tree for DNA analysis?
- A DNA match without a linked family tree - containing at least
one generation of deceased ancestors - is virtually useless.
- If the match name is unusual or if there is a pattern to
shared matches and triangulated matches, then it may be possible
to reinvent the wheel.
- Each DNA subject who neglects to link a family tree to his or
her DNA kit potentially causes thousands of matches to reinvent
the wheel in this way.
- The time wasted on repeating research on well-documented
recent ancestors would be better spent elsewhere.
Why WikiTree.com?
- To take advantage of its benefits and to avoid the drawbacks
of its competitors
- Like Wikipedia for genealogists
- Crowd-sourced genealogy:
- volunteer genealogists
- volunteer programmers
- Both most of the data and much of the software are open-source
- The pedigree of WikiTree
- born 5 November 2008, annual WikiTree day
- married to GEDmatch, mitoYDNA, 23andMe, etc.
- will it outlive you and me?
- will WikiTree die?
- will our research outlive us?
- like the DNA websites, WikiTree allows for an Advance Directive
- "100% free" and "forever"
promises, but clouds evaporate.
- Life would be a lot simpler if
- the other DNA comparison websites followed 23andMe's lead
and stuck to DNA and the family tree websites stuck to family
trees, and everyone agreed on protocols (better than those
currently used by 23andMe) for linking and searching
- just one side of the match had to update just one single
world tree with each new discovery
- updates to the single world tree acted as a feedback
loop for an intelligent system to suggest new hints,
which might explain the possible relationships behind DNA
matches.
- ... but we still seem to be a long way from this ideal
- WikiTree is:
- a family tree website with links to DNA kits,
- not a DNA comparison website with links to pedigree charts.
- Waiting for others to add your ancestors to the 41,336,420
people already on WikiTree, or to the 35,932,043 people
connected to each other on our global family tree as of 26 Mar
2025, requires patience, but not as much patience as waiting for
your cousins to appear among your DNA matches, because YOU can
add your own ancestors, and your DNA matches' ancestors, to
WikiTree.
- Intelligence or stupidity?
- the DNA companies seem to be using artificial stupidity
to generate hints, rarely, if ever, learning from past
mistakes or correcting errors in the tree
- MyHeritage
- allows hints other than "appears
in your family tree" (9) to be tagged as Confirmed (13) or
Rejected (39), but Rejected hints cannot be filtered
out or hidden
- has hints which are inconsistent with the "probable
relationship" column
- There is little evidence that either AncestryDNA or
MyHeritage is using amounts of shared DNA or triangulation
to check or generate hints.
- What Are the Odds?
plus combines DNA data and family tree data far more
effectively and successfully, as does BanyanDNA
- FTDNA does use linked matches to assign other matches to
the most distant ancestor through whom they are related, but
then, like an angler returning fish to the water, puts the
matches back in the paternal or maternal bucket.
- On all websites, long-dead ancestors are renamed "Living"
or "HIDDEN" or "Private" if their own dates are missing (see
Louis Kessler's
Behold Blog)
- Life is too short and your family tree is too large for it to
remain practical to do it all on your own.
- There is no need to reinvent the wheel if good genealogists
have gone before you.
- Who wants to check 13,201 separate user-donated trees at
ancestry.com for Brigham Young? (The number of tree
is growing at the rate of about 20 per week!)
- Adoptees are the only people who are able to have
two WikiTree profiles.
- WikiTree has unique features like Ancestors and
Descendants tabs on every profile (accessible in a single
keystroke), Relationship Finder, Connection Finder, etc., etc.
How to use WikiTree.com
- Sign up here (open in new
private window!)
- There are five levels of free membership
- Guest account (includes advertisements)
- Family Member account (includes advertisements and allows
communication with others)
- Wiki Genealogist account (removes advertisements and
includes edit rights on post-1700 Open profiles created by
others, but requires you to first read and accept the Wiki
Genealogist Honor Code here)
- pre-1700 self-certification
- pre-1500 certification
- Is the Honor Code a realistic ambition, or is it Utopian "pie
in the sky"?
- You will be assigned a WikiTree ID of the form Waldron-201,
where Waldron is your Last Name At Birth (LNAB) and the 201
indicates the 201st Waldron profile added to WikiTree.
- A real human official (volunteer) greeter will welcome you.
- There are twice monthly New Member Q & A sessions via
Zoom: next one at 1am (Irish Summer
Time) on Friday 11 April
- There are weekly YouTube Saturday Roundups
- There are seven levels of privacy:
- Anyone who has signed the Honor Code can correct errors and
omissions in Open profiles
- Duplicate Open profiles can be merged, with 30 days
notice to the profile managers
- Profiles of people born over 150 years ago or who died over
100 years ago must be Open
- Start adding your ancestors and relatives:
- manually, one by one; or
- by uploading a small GEDCOM file, maybe starting with just
your direct ancestors, and allow the GEDcompare system time to
search for whichever of those ancestors are already on
WikiTree.
- The maximum GEDCOM allowed is 5,000 people, but
smaller files are strongly recommended.
- If you would like an existing WikiTree user (e.g. me) to help
connect you to the main body of the single family tree, then add
him or her to your trusted list here.
Examples of using the
DNA features of WikiTree.com
- DNA kits can be linked to the WikiTree profiles of active
members and of deceased individuals
- Linking DNA kits to the profiles of deceased individuals
prevents their matches from wondering why they are not replying
to messages via the DNA websites.
- Add details of your DNA kits, in particular your GEDmatch kit
number and your mitoYDNA.org kit id here
- GDPR is cited for
- discouraging the addition of WikiTree profiles for living
individuals, unless you simultaneously invite them to become
registered members; and
- prohibiting the linking of DNA kits to profiles of living
individuals who are not registered members;
- so you must persuade your DNA matches to at least register,
link DNA kits, and add at least one generation of Open
profiles for deceased ancestors.
- DNA kits are listed on the profiles of all individuals who
should match
- e.g. Paddy Waldron
- e.g. Brian Boru (d.
1014)
- his descendant Conor O'Brien's
Y-DNA Test reveals haplogroup R-FGC13418
- the R-FGC13418 mutation is thought to have occurred
somewhere between Brian and Conor
- the enlightened and supportive early participation in the
new science of genetic genealogy of Conor, Lord Inchiquin
(1943-2023) was greatly appreciated by the millions who have
followed his example.
- e.g. James Keas (b.
Abt 1740) and William Keays
(Abt 1787-Abt 1839)
- e.g. Patrick Sarsfield,
1st Earl of Lucan (d. 1693) - the Sarsfield Homecoming
Project comprises three parallel searches:
- an archaeological dig
in Belgium for Sarsfield's remains
- a search among living Sarsfield males on FTDNA and
elsewhere for any man who might share his Y-DNA signature;
see chart
- a search on WikiTree and
elsewhere for anyone who might share his mtDNA signature
- e.g. Joseph Barrington
- e.g. John O'Grady (m.
1698)
- autosomal DNA Connections go back only as far as John or
his son Standish
- e.g. Paul Moloney
- e.g. Tom Ryan
- WikiTree and 23andMe
- WikiTree and mitoYDNA.org
- WikiTree and yourDNAportal.com
- One Name Studies (can be linked to FTDNA surname projects),
e.g.
- Degrees of confidence:
- DNA confirmations
- Project: DNA at
WikiTree.com
- WikiTree project at
FamilyTreeDNA.com
- Seeing known or suspected atDNA/Y-DNA/mtDNA relatives on
WikiTree who are already in the DNA system will encourage others
to swab or spit for the relevant analysis
- Known or suspected relatives on WikiTree who are not yet in
the DNA system can be encouraged to swab or spit
- WikiTree is a great way to find candidates for mtDNA and X-DNA
as well as Y-DNA and autosomal DNA comparisons
Further reading: More advanced
features of WikiTree
Conclusion
The 2030s promise to be the age of the collaborative online
single world family tree, for which I have become an advocate.
I hope that I have convinced the audience that the advantages of
WikiTree.com in particular, properly used, greatly outweigh its
disadvantages.