Genieologists are so strict(well not all of them)?

Question:If you post a question on the geneaology section that most people think has to do with genieologists but does not(relatives,photos,names ect) Several people will post rude and mean comments like "This is the geneaology forum we reasearch dead ancestors ect..." This makes me so mad!!! I used to like geneaology but now Im not crazy about it. What also makes me mad is that they conspire against us "non-geneaologists" saying that we always ask stupid questions and they tried to come up with solutions. The worst part was that they did this on the geneaology forum and noone said anything to them. I am tired of the geneaology section being controlled by certain people. Yahoo Answers is a free question and answer forum and people should be allowed to ask and answer what we want to. All people who think geneaologists are mean unite!!!!!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If you post a question on the geneaology section that most people think has to do with genieologists but does not(relatives,photos,names ect) Several people will post rude and mean comments like "This is the geneaology forum we reasearch dead ancestors ect..." This makes me so mad!!! I used to like geneaology but now Im not crazy about it. What also makes me mad is that they conspire against us "non-geneaologists" saying that we always ask stupid questions and they tried to come up with solutions. The worst part was that they did this on the geneaology forum and noone said anything to them. I am tired of the geneaology section being controlled by certain people. Yahoo Answers is a free question and answer forum and people should be allowed to ask and answer what we want to. All people who think geneaologists are mean unite!!!!!

my 13 cents worth-
putting a question in the wrong category is an irritant..but not a violation, and MOST of the time, it is simply lack of attention. I don't see that as a biggie, and I am not fond of "your question does not belong here". I have seen people actually run off from being here, because of that, which I consider more of a violation than misplaced questions. It costs no one anything to answer a misplaced question.
I'd question that genealogy is 'controlled' by certain persons. There are regulars here, and without hostility.. most have valid experience to tell someone that a person is going about research in the wrong way.. in a way that will give them bad results. There are a few questions that are posted here, over and over.. that NEED to be "corrected", and yes.. that does get tiresome. I try to remember that I was a beginner once. I don't always succeed. I don't think anyone is conspiring against anyone.
As for asking what you want.. no, that is not accurate. Yahoo policy has rules. At the same time, yahoo decides where certain questions belong. Looking for live persons is one of these.. we cannot post info about a living person. That does not make the question "wrong".
When certain dumb questions are posted.. no, it isn't fair to call them 'dumb'... but sometimes, they really are. It is a challenge to answer, in a courteous way.. that it makes no sense, and often, people are so set on what they WANT that they won't think.
The people that hang out here regularly do so, because they really do enjoy helping others. I know nearly all of them.. me included, have picked questions that we spend hours to help solve.. off the board, for free. I doubt that people do that in other sections.
I have learned (the hard way) that trying to take shortcuts in research will give bad/ false results. I try to save people from making mistakes.. even if those are common mistakes.
Above anything else.. genealogy is like any other human things. We bump heads, we don't understand each other. Communicating can solve that. I hope you understand the "other side" a bit better.. and come back, keep playing.
Being human and kind is more important than anything.

In our defence, genealogists DO spend most of their time tracing dead people, not living ones. It is a lot easier to trace people living in the 19th century and earlier than it is to try and search for people in the 20th century, mainly due to data protection laws. Anyone who posts a question relating to anyone alive or recently living has to recognise that there is very little advice most of us can give as this is outside our area of expertise. Ask me to find details of someone from 1880 I could do it in seconds, but 1980, that's a different animal altogether. The online resources just aren't there.

Many people on Y/A simply also simply don't have the time or patience to do the hobby properly. 99% of people quickly discover that doing your tree is too much like hard work, takes too long or costs too much money and are never heard from again. Most people don't even bother to pick a best answer. Personally, I blame the BBCs "Who do you think you are?" show for presenting the hobby to be easier than it actually is. One thing I refuse to do is sugar-coat the truth for anyone who asks "Where do I begin?".

As I always say, genealogy is like scientology. You have to be prepared to pay and keep on paying. If you're not, then you won't get very far. It's harsh but true, and I won't apologise for warning people off starting in the first place or telling people that you won't get very far if you limit yourself to free websites only, though I'll be the first to help with advice once they do get going. It's all about trying to point people in the right direction.

A question is never stupid if you don't know the answer. There are recuring themes that crop up again and again almost every day, but that doesn't make them stupid. I hang around here a lot, and I've never seen any of the main posters type anything rude. Many go out of their way to be helpful.

I've been at this three years now. What I've learnt, I've picked up mostly from books, but I'll be the first to admit that there is a lot I don't know. If I did have a question I know there are at least a few good people in my location who will give me a good second opinion and try their best to help. This isn't the best genealogy board out there, but there are a few users (and I won't name names) who will do everything they can to try and help.

I do agree with most of what you say, and I did answer one of your questions a while back, I have to be honest I think that the reply from another top contributor was totally unnecessary, and I really felt awful because of it, I know that it wasn't me who replied, and I did apologise then for any thing I had said that might upset you, and again, if I have given you any reason to put me in the same brackets as the minority, then I am truly sorry.
I would just like to add that if there is any help that you need with a genealogy question please post it on the forum, or you can contact me through my yahoo profile, and if I can help I will.

It is not that we are mean, it is just that the study of genealogy refers to "successive generations of family"--not telling someone what nationality they are by looking at a picture of them; telling which high school football team is best; telling if we went to a certain middle school (in my day, the term didn't even exist-- it was simply known as 5th-6th grade) or if we knew someone from there; if we know someone's address and phone number; or even what we want on our tombstone. Fictional characters from books, movies or TV shows do NOT have ancestors, but the actors who play these characters DO.
Some questions are hard to read because of "text message slang"--u instead of you, c instead of see, der instead of there, etc. Did you not learn about contractions in school--you know what I mean--words followed by 'not' that can be shortened?? Sometimes I see "wont"--which means habit or practice--and I wonder if that is what's meant or if it is supposed to be "won't" for "will not". "Dont" is not a word either. If you mean "do not" spell it as "don't." That is what that apostrophe/quote key next to Enter is all about. It takes a mere 2 seconds at most to press it , too. I'd bet if some people put their mouse cursor under the "Check spelling" link above this answer box, it would go into a fit of anger. Believe it or not, not everybody sends 50 million text messages a day.
Asking about the origin of a last name is not so bad--that is part of genealogy in that it leads to one's ancestral homeland. But, asking why some dictator was so mean is not genealogy.
I, too, was upset the other day when one of my answers got no votes at all, even though I attempted to give the person what he asked for--how to write his daughter's name in a foreign language for a tattoo. Part of my answer was shown and the other part I emailed to him. What answer got 100% vote?? "This is genealogy. You posted in the wrong section..." But, I didn't throw a temper tantrum and give up on genealogy or answering questions to the best I can do. You can think what you want, but not all genealogists are mean and nasty.

Added later:

You are a troll - someonewho posts stupid questions to get attention. Here are your last two in this category, as proof:

Why do I need Pie?

Genie - ology? Why cant a genieologist grant me a wish like a real genie?

So, you won. You got attention. My original answer is below. It would be nice if we didn't have to look at a poster's history before we answered.

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> "people should be allowed to . . . answer what we want to"

You are right, sport. I want to answer you, and Y!A lets me.

You mis-spelled "Genealogist", to start with. Your grammar and syntax could use some work, too. "So" doesn't mean "very". The sentence "This makes me so mad" is incomplete. So mad that what? That your head explodes? That you kick the cat? That you rant?

If you clowns insist on cluttering up this board with questions about old flames from high school - who, if they WANTED to hear from you would have sent you a Christmas card every year since 1997 - be prepared for some tart, biting replies from men and women who are normally warm, witty, well-read, gracious and devilishly handsome.

Categories are an aid, just like the bins at the hardware store. If you want some 16-penny common nails, you don't want to have to dig through nuts, bolts, hex-headed lag screws, brads, 8-penny finishing nails and oval-headed wood screws to get it. You want to find a bin labeled "16-penny common" and grab a pound or two.

If you have a vast store of experience about Genealogy, which, out of the kindness of your heart, you are willing to share, you don't want to wade through questions about dogs and cats, movie stars or horoscopes to find questions you can answer.

Questions about dogs and cats go into one category, celebrities another, and questions about dead ancestors go here.

If you post questions in other sections, you will find similar replies as the ones you mention. I recently got voted "Best Answer" because I was "the only one who wasn't rude".
It is a shame that there are so many people who want to do such things; they should remember the Golden Rule!
Also, there is no way of telling what age or level of educational attainment the asking person has. While their question might seem too easy, if they are young, or a beginner in whatever, they will ask seemingly over-simple questions.
So, ALL OF US, let's treat people with respect and quit trying to cram OUR ideals down another's throats.

The problem is that Yahoo has rules and people don't want to follow them. Yahoo is free to use, but as with all other communities in society, there are rules for being in the community. For Yahoo, one of the rules is you must post your questions in the appropriate category. Another rule is you must ASK a question, which you did not do here. And, another rule they have is NO RANTING, which is exactly what you did here. You have been reported.

Ok so you added a question. You are still ranting.

EDIT: 2-thumbs up to Ted.

Adair, you go girl! I reported this too.