For instance, if we just include a note saying that we obtained information from the 1890 U.S. Census for Wallowa County, Ore., no one else knows what information actually came from the census. Citing this information enables any future genealogist to quickly evaluate the decisions we have made based on various documents. The technology is challenging us in many ways. But it is obvious to anyone who has done very much genealogy that I have accepted many of these relationships on faith that the work of others has been correct. Unfortunately, that is a naive faith.
Some genealogists are outrageously careless.
Some are downright dishonest. But mistakes are made by even the most careful genealogists. And there are honest disagreements about what constitutes adequate documentation to declare a relationship, as well as differences of opinion about how to interpret some information. Genealogy is never done. We may be done with it, but the job is eternal.