Posts in August 14, 2021

The note I made for a DNA match said only “likely Trautvetter.” There was no reason given for my conclusion. All I wrote were those two words: “likely Trautvetter.” It’s even possible that I got mixed up and meant to type another name besides “Trautvetter.” Without any commentary or record of what was running through my head, there’s no way I can evaluate the “likely Trautvetter” statement without trying to reproduce the work that got me there. That’s time wasted. The evaluation is not time wasted. It is always beneficial to review one’s work after it has had time to cool. Reproducing that work from scratch? That’s time wasted. My statement could have been as simple as “Reviewing the shared DNA matches I had with this unknown match […]