I have had my DNA tested through Ancestry.com and was a member for a little while. During that time I have made a family tree with the information I had and also learned from my eldest cousin. I had also bought my kids test kits and they did theirs. The wonderful thing about Ancestry is that even if you are not enrolled, you are still sent hints every time a new census or military records are released. You can check these records to see if they match your information or provide new information that would help build your tree.
Two weeks ago I was contacted by a member who through DNA is my 3rd/4th cousin. He has provided me with so much more information. We are related on my mothers side. He provided my great grandparents names and dates of birth and death, even where they were from! He sent me access to his tree where I can see the connection and learned of my grandmothers siblings. With all of this information my AHAD has my mind spinning. I wrote back to him the information my cousin sent me and he wrote back immediately. I have not opened the email because I am so overwhelmed.
This whole process is very time consuming. That is the reason I didn’t join again, you can spend hours and hours going through things. Lucky for me this man has the fortitude and patience to spend hours looking things up.