Suggestion: change Ancestry.com username to WikiTree ID

Question

I signed up for Ancestry.com last month ... and didn't even know I had an 'id' distinct from my name! I've never seen it as I browse the site, and am not sure who else sees it in what context. But: it was asked here at WikiTree as part of adding my DNA Test.

So, after finding instructions for editing my Ancestry ID and seeing that it was something obscure, I decided to change it to my WikiTree ID ... omitting the dash since that's not allowed.

Anyway: might be useful for others as a simple way to informally / unofficially connect the two accounts.

Comments

I like this... thank you Scott

Answer 1

Your ancestry userid shows several places. It is on your own menu line at the top right where it takes you to account information. Other people see your userid to the right of the tree name if they are viewing your tree. They see it on DNA match lists. They see it if you are admin for another kit. They can look you up by it in the user catlaogue and they can use it to send you an invitation.

Changing it if you are new to Ancestry is probably not an issue, but as a long term ancestry user I would not consider changing mine. There are far too many people that will have been using it to analyse their connection to me or in correspondence with me. I might lose valuable leads and contacts if I changed it. I would also be somewhat frustrated if leads I am working on had to be redocumented under a new username and it screwed up all of my exports to third party tools.

Comments

> Your ancestry userid shows several places. It is on your own menu line at the top right where it takes you to account information.

That menu label shows my name ("Scott Lawton") which I thought was also my ID. I only learned otherwise when WikiTree rejected that ("space not allowed" or some such).

> Other people see your userid

Which is exactly why I decided to use my WikiTree ID!

> as a long term ancestry user I would not consider changing mine

Agreed!

Thanks for your comments.

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Try with an underscore rather than a space.

Answer 2

Two plus years ago when I jumped head first into genealogy I realized I was going to belong to a lot of online resources and sites. So as I signed up, wherever I could I used the same User ID and password. The password is known only to me of course so everything is secure. Now, with a few exceptions, whenever I visit a site to do research I never struggle to remember how to log in.

Comments

I change passwords frequently--everywhere--and they are all different.  I also use a different user ID everywhere.  It's much healthier that way, and even though I know it isn't at all secure, it gives me an illusion of security.

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Hi Bart, you are not alone.

I only use a couple of passwords.  One is for almost everything and the other is for just a couple primary logins.  The former could easily be passed to a proxy while the later will never.