About us
29 Oct 2004 - the POTTER Surname Project was announced
18 May 2018 - Important Potter Project Annoucement
Introduction
My name is Zack Daugherty and I'm not a patrilineal descended Potter or variant as many may tell. It recently came to my attention that there were no administrators for this surname project and that it was being managed by the operators of worldfamilies.net (Terry Barton). Unfortunately, worldfamilies.net just announced that they are closing down the site effective May 23, 2018. This would result in this surname project being passed back to FTDNA without any administrators to operate the project. For now you will noticed Terry is listed as an administrator of the project; however, he will no longer be an administrator in the coming days/weeks.
FTNDA users may have received annoucements regarding privacy changes in light of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that goes into effect on 25 May 2018. As an administrator I take project members privacy very seriously and plan to only keep user data within the FTDNA platform and not share to any site outside the Project Page. I also will follow the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) guidelines for DNA Project Administrators which can be viewed at FTDNA HERE, and with regards to the GDPR, HERE. I encourage any project member to contact me with any issues or concerns with regards to their privacy so I may resolve the issue promptly. Administrative Duties
I plan to help all project members on questions related to Y DNA testing and their results. This includes questions with regards to helping members implement testing strategies that will help them meet their goals and understanding the nuances of SNP and STR testing. However, because I'm simply a volunteer I won't have the time to help with member genealogy.
Project Pedigree Lists
This project's worldfamilies.net page hosted a Patriarchs section where permission of various project testers shared their patrilineal pedigree information up to their most distant known ancestor. I do feel this can be very helpful information to those who may have non-patrilineal connections to various Potter ancestors. However, in light of this migration to the new FTDNA Project page I ask that all those project members to again submit to me via email to zack.potterproject@gmail.com their kit number, pedigrees to most distant known ancestor, and your permission to share the Pedigree under the RESULTS tab of the Project's ABOUT page (not yet visible). To maintain privacy I plan to list the kit donor's grand parent's or great grandparents information only unless the kit donor wishes to have the details of the most recent ancestors made available. You can see an example of this on another project page HERE. Project Page Activity Feed
The new project page at FTDNA has an Activity Feed section that will be visible ONLY to project members. This section functions like a forum where project members can communicate with one another visible across the project, share photos, ask questions, see new member announcements, among other things. The Activity Feed is somewhat clunky at times and not as refined as Facebook or even some Forum platforms, but it does serve its basic purpose. Please be mindful of other's privacy when posting information, i.e., try to avoid posting information about other's such as kit numbers, living ancestor information, etc. Project Join Requests
For now, I've implemented a Join Request feature to join the project. The purpose of this is to screen new members so I may gauge their goals within the project. This helps me when keeping project member grouping organized so that I know whether or not a new member is joining because they have a non-patrilineal Potter ancestor (i.e., a maternal Potter) or a patrilineal Potter ancestor (father's father's father's, etc. line with the project member inheriting the Y chromosome). I would like to hear from project members if they think implementing a Join Authorization feature is appropriate and whether we should continue to let non-patrilineal Potter descendants join. I myself am a non-patrilineal descendant, but I'm keenly interested in the progress of the Surname Project's work. Female test takers also aren't patrilineal descendants directly since they don't have a Y chromsome; however, I feel that they should be able to join as well. So my purpose of the new member screening is to simply make myself aware to hide their Y DNA results from the project if they are known to be a non-patrilineal descendant. Member Grouping and Public Display
The new Project page required regrouping all Y tested project members. I organized each into various subgroups first by major haplogroup clade (i.e., I, E, G, J, R, etc.) and then by project members that likely share a patrilineal common ancestor within a genealogical (<300-500 years) or surname era (<1000 years). This grouping was facilitated by the Y-DNA Family Grouping App which you can find out how it functions reading the FAQ. If project members feel they should belong in a certain group or have issues with the grouping please contact me so I may get it resolved. IMPORTANT -- In light of the FTDNA privacy changes some project members have been automatically "Opted-out" from being displayed with the Y-DNA results section. Of the 86 project members with some form of Y-DNA test only 71 are currently visible publically. What is visible publically? Kit ID, Surname, and the testers most distant known ancestor information. If you wish to "opt-in" you will need to login to your FTDNA account, and go to Privacy & Sharing (https://www.familytreedna.com/my/privacy-sharing), and scroll down to Project Sharing - Group Project Profile to "Opt-in" or "Opt-out". Here is a link to what is publically visible for Y DNA project members currently. Administrative TO-DO List
With that I encourage any questions or concerns either by contacting my via my administrator email for this project or via the Project's Activity Feed.
18 May 2018 - Important Potter Project Annoucement
Introduction
My name is Zack Daugherty and I'm not a patrilineal descended Potter or variant as many may tell. It recently came to my attention that there were no administrators for this surname project and that it was being managed by the operators of worldfamilies.net (Terry Barton). Unfortunately, worldfamilies.net just announced that they are closing down the site effective May 23, 2018. This would result in this surname project being passed back to FTDNA without any administrators to operate the project. For now you will noticed Terry is listed as an administrator of the project; however, he will no longer be an administrator in the coming days/weeks.
- The reason I chose to step in and adopt the project are that I have a direct Potter ancestor, albeit, a very distant ancestor, but ones with interesting stories. I do plan to one day leverage Y-DNA as a tool to explore their ancestry further than where the paper trail leaves off...a goal of many project members I would imagine.
- Another reason is that I hope to use my interest in Y-DNA testing and my experience in helping to administer my own surname project (Doherty) to perhaps find other administrators for this project either to assist or maybe even take control of the project.
- Address Privacy Changes
- Administrative Duties
- Project Members may need to "Opt-in" since only 71 out of 86 Y DNA tested members are visible
- Listing of Project Pedigrees on New Project Site, Permissions Needed
- Annoucing Project Page Activity Feed to communicate within Project
- Explanation of Project Join Authorization being need and wishing to hear project members thoughts
- New Project Member Grouping
- New Administrator To Do List
FTNDA users may have received annoucements regarding privacy changes in light of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that goes into effect on 25 May 2018. As an administrator I take project members privacy very seriously and plan to only keep user data within the FTDNA platform and not share to any site outside the Project Page. I also will follow the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) guidelines for DNA Project Administrators which can be viewed at FTDNA HERE, and with regards to the GDPR, HERE. I encourage any project member to contact me with any issues or concerns with regards to their privacy so I may resolve the issue promptly. Administrative Duties
I plan to help all project members on questions related to Y DNA testing and their results. This includes questions with regards to helping members implement testing strategies that will help them meet their goals and understanding the nuances of SNP and STR testing. However, because I'm simply a volunteer I won't have the time to help with member genealogy.
Project Pedigree Lists
This project's worldfamilies.net page hosted a Patriarchs section where permission of various project testers shared their patrilineal pedigree information up to their most distant known ancestor. I do feel this can be very helpful information to those who may have non-patrilineal connections to various Potter ancestors. However, in light of this migration to the new FTDNA Project page I ask that all those project members to again submit to me via email to zack.potterproject@gmail.com their kit number, pedigrees to most distant known ancestor, and your permission to share the Pedigree under the RESULTS tab of the Project's ABOUT page (not yet visible). To maintain privacy I plan to list the kit donor's grand parent's or great grandparents information only unless the kit donor wishes to have the details of the most recent ancestors made available. You can see an example of this on another project page HERE. Project Page Activity Feed
The new project page at FTDNA has an Activity Feed section that will be visible ONLY to project members. This section functions like a forum where project members can communicate with one another visible across the project, share photos, ask questions, see new member announcements, among other things. The Activity Feed is somewhat clunky at times and not as refined as Facebook or even some Forum platforms, but it does serve its basic purpose. Please be mindful of other's privacy when posting information, i.e., try to avoid posting information about other's such as kit numbers, living ancestor information, etc. Project Join Requests
For now, I've implemented a Join Request feature to join the project. The purpose of this is to screen new members so I may gauge their goals within the project. This helps me when keeping project member grouping organized so that I know whether or not a new member is joining because they have a non-patrilineal Potter ancestor (i.e., a maternal Potter) or a patrilineal Potter ancestor (father's father's father's, etc. line with the project member inheriting the Y chromosome). I would like to hear from project members if they think implementing a Join Authorization feature is appropriate and whether we should continue to let non-patrilineal Potter descendants join. I myself am a non-patrilineal descendant, but I'm keenly interested in the progress of the Surname Project's work. Female test takers also aren't patrilineal descendants directly since they don't have a Y chromsome; however, I feel that they should be able to join as well. So my purpose of the new member screening is to simply make myself aware to hide their Y DNA results from the project if they are known to be a non-patrilineal descendant. Member Grouping and Public Display
The new Project page required regrouping all Y tested project members. I organized each into various subgroups first by major haplogroup clade (i.e., I, E, G, J, R, etc.) and then by project members that likely share a patrilineal common ancestor within a genealogical (<300-500 years) or surname era (<1000 years). This grouping was facilitated by the Y-DNA Family Grouping App which you can find out how it functions reading the FAQ. If project members feel they should belong in a certain group or have issues with the grouping please contact me so I may get it resolved. IMPORTANT -- In light of the FTDNA privacy changes some project members have been automatically "Opted-out" from being displayed with the Y-DNA results section. Of the 86 project members with some form of Y-DNA test only 71 are currently visible publically. What is visible publically? Kit ID, Surname, and the testers most distant known ancestor information. If you wish to "opt-in" you will need to login to your FTDNA account, and go to Privacy & Sharing (https://www.familytreedna.com/my/privacy-sharing), and scroll down to Project Sharing - Group Project Profile to "Opt-in" or "Opt-out". Here is a link to what is publically visible for Y DNA project members currently. Administrative TO-DO List
- Here are a list of ongoing tasks I plan to undertake in the coming days when time permits.
- Reorganize Y DNA results using the Y-DNA Family Grouping App (Y-DNA Family Grouping App FAQ) -- First revision completed, contact me if there are grouping issues.
- Implement a Join Request Authorization to screen members freely joining that are not direct patrilineal descendants of the project surname to better organize and maintain the Y-DNA results section.
- Gauge interest in possible future administrators and/or co-administrators to help facilitate the project.
- Re-implement pedigrees (with permission) that were entered at the surname project worldfamilies.net page under "Patriarchs", perhaps under "Results" tab.
- Draft a bulk email to announce who I am and why I adopted the surname project (this email).
With that I encourage any questions or concerns either by contacting my via my administrator email for this project or via the Project's Activity Feed.
Contact Information
Zack Daugherty
zack.potterproject@gmail.com
Volunteer Administrator of the Potter Surname Project