We are getting an awful lot of questions about DNA surprises. People who are adopted finding potential bio family, people who are discovering that their parentage or that of close relatives isn't what they were told, people questioning their bio relationships with close relatives, etc. For recent questions, it's about half of them. And I'm not counting all the DNA questions.
It's hard to say they're all duplicates of each other because each circumstance and each cM number creates a slightly different answer. Though really it's all the same: "Go look at cM numbers and test as many of your close family that will agree to it." One post or FAQ on how to do this would serve for almost all of them.
I'm not suggesting we do this (it's not like we have a lot of traffic as it is) but I wonder if it's something we should make some changes for. New tags, new FAQ posts, new pointers?
In addition to these are similar DNA questions that aren't as easily lumped together. Mostly, genetic genealogy is becoming the primary focus of this stack (and of many genealogy groups around the net).
Stats:
Our last 50 questions go back to Dec 9, 2018.
- 9 questions are for surprise DNA (a close family member the poster didn't know existed or the lack of an appropriate DNA match with a close family member).
- 2 questions are requests for DNA relationship analysis for non-close family members.
- 7 questions were other DNA questions.
- 32 questions were not about DNA.
36% of questions in the last month and a half were about DNA. That should go up as people send back the tests they got for Christmas and start looking at the results.
18% of all questions, and 50% of all DNA questions, are "DNA Surprise" questions.
What are your thoughts?
Please join us on Chat to discuss details. I've done a rough draft of an canonical question for DNA Surprises. Please go to chat for the link and read it.