I just read a really interesting article about the problems that face people who are interested in genealogy. The author of the article says that a lot of genealogists blame technology for the issues that they face in this field. For example, they say that there are a lot of bad online consumer mailing lists and online forums for people who are interested in genealogy. Their complaint is that these lists don’t focus on the topic at hand. The people who are making this complaint say that the technology is the problem. They whine that the people who sell and buy mailing lists are using technology to spam them. They say that the existence of forums is generating a wealth of bad information about geneology. The author of the article points out that the problem isn’t the technology; it’s the people who are using technology.

Whenever you have any type of problem that involves humans the errors are usually due to the choices that the humans make and not the technology that is being used by those humans. In this case, the problem isn’t the existence of a forum. The forum can be a great place for people who are interested in genealogy to discuss this topic. The problem is that the people using the forums aren’t staying on track. Another problem may be that the forum isn’t being moderated appropriately. Either way the error is human. Let’s not blame the technology for our own mistakes.

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