DNA the advantages and pitfalls for Genealogy

I am a fan of DNA testing. I find it fascinating and interesting to find out the things we learn from it. However, as much as it adds to my genealogical research, it is not a replacement for it. That is the key bit of information for those who are still considering if they want to test or not. Testing your DNA can help you, but you will still spend hours researching trees.

So what are the advantages? What are the Pitfalls?

1. DNA matches can lead to discoveries on your dead end ancestors, but generally only within the first 5 generations, with the odds decreasing for every successive generation.

the pitfall, you have to be able to triangulate for these type of discoveries, which makes the ancestryDNA matches useless if you can't convince the matches to use gedmatch or the free ftdna transfer.

2. You may find relatives you never knew you had. Personally, I think this is an advantage, but I am not someone who was adopted and never knew it, like a recent second cousin tester just found out. Mostly for me it's been being able to help others who have a question, they are adopted, they don't know who their father is, that even with just ancestryDNA and solid genealogical research we have found the answers for.

the pitfall, you may find information you would rather not know, and to help someone else, it's still a long road of research.

3. If you triangulate, you can find some interesting information. That's the part I love, seeing how some family DNA has been passed down more than others. Seeing the amazing way in which we become who we are.

the pitfall, you can only triangulate with 23andme, ftdna and gedmatch And, it is sometimes hard to get responses from matches.

These are pitfalls only.

1. less than 5% - 10%  of your matches on average will have a tree, and if your lucky, about 25% of those you contact will answer your message.
2. Ancestry trees are riddled with errors. While I don't recommend using shared matches and trees as a way to identify a match alone in general, larger matches (above 75 cM) can be identified however, it means really doing the research on your own to verify the match and trees are compatible.
3. Matches that are below 30 cM can be helpful only with triangulation, and only if they can illuminate a larger match or have multiple matches that can point you in a direction.