But at the same time, there is a saying in user experience design: don't blame the user.
At least at the time of the article, there was no way to disable the auto-conversion of certain strings (like "SEPT2") into dates. A setting to disable this would have stopped many errors amplified by researchers working late at night or rushing to meet a deadline.
It's true that there has to be some point where the users of the tool need to put in the effort to learn how to best use it. But effort poured in from the other end by the developers, too, can go a long way to prevent common errors and save users time.
At least at the time of the article, there was no way to disable the auto-conversion of certain strings (like "SEPT2") into dates. A setting to disable this would have stopped many errors amplified by researchers working late at night or rushing to meet a deadline.
It's true that there has to be some point where the users of the tool need to put in the effort to learn how to best use it. But effort poured in from the other end by the developers, too, can go a long way to prevent common errors and save users time.