# GQ is for factual answers, not WAGs. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701 "2011-10-15T02:28:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/41 "2011-10-16T19:22:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I can’t believe how many times I open a GQ thread and the very first post is someone saying: “Just a wild guess, but…” > > WTF? If you don’t know the answer, don’t fucking lead off the the thread with a guess. And 9 times out of 10, it’s a really stupid guess. > > The worst part is that there are several posters who do this over and over again. A guess can be amusing, help clarify the question, or just a bump. But I actually agree with the OP that following clarification, guesses that run counter to facts established by the OP are a waste of time. But so is complaining about them. Just a wild guess, but I think you’re including me in that list. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/42 "2011-10-16T19:31:35Z")
From the forum rules: > [@](#): > > 1. **Guesses, WAGs, and speculation**. We permit some educated guessing. Truly wild guesses aren’t especially helpful. We have some experts who post here. If you don’t have much information, give an expert a chance to answer by waiting until a question is about to fall off the first page before making a guess. If you post a factual claim, be prepared to back it up with a citation. If someone asks for a citation, don’t take it personally, we’re trying to get to the facts here, and that’s how it’s done. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/43 "2011-10-17T01:24:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > From the forum rules: Ok, is that addressing my post somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/44 "2011-10-17T02:10:58Z")
I assume John Mace is agreeing with the OP. I was going to say how delightfully meta this thread was, but really this should be in ATMB if you are disagreeing with a moderator’s actions/have a complaint that people who don’t answer GQ questions factually aren’t being modded. Not least because people who hang around in GQ don’t necessarily check the Pit. However, this is actually addressed by the GQ ruleset: > [@](#): > > 1. \*\*Guesses, WAGs, and speculation. \*\* We permit some educated guessing. Truly wild guesses aren’t especially helpful. We have some experts who post here. If you don’t have much information, give an expert a chance to answer by waiting until a question is about to fall off the first page before making a guess. There really should be some mild mod action (verbal chiding, if nothing else) for people wasting space with guesses in GQ. If you don’t \*\*know \*\*the answer, don’t fucking threadshit with a stupid fucking guess. Otherwise it’s just like having two IMHO boards. If you can’t restrain yourself from guessing all the time in GQ, don’t fucking read posts there. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/45 "2011-10-17T02:27:52Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > As no further context or proof was provided, the correct answer to the **treis** ’s question in the first instance _was_ “You are being phished. Get help.” That wasn’t the correct answer, that was you assuming that you are all knowing and the OP must be a complete idiot. Which is very rude. If you were truly concerned that the OP was being phished, you could have asked him for some details and/or said something along the lines of “you are sure this is legit, right”. But no, you had to go prove how smart you are. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/46 "2011-10-17T02:30:30Z")
What’s a WAG? (given the context, I’d say something like, “ **W** ild **A** ss **G** uess”…but that’s just a WAG.) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/47 "2011-10-17T02:31:25Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > What’s a WAG? Wild ass guess ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/48 "2011-10-17T02:35:09Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Wild ass guess Ha! Nailed it. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/49 "2011-10-17T02:38:26Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Ha! Nailed it. 🆒 😃 Your edit wasn’t there when I answered, was it?! ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/50 "2011-10-17T02:45:26Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > 😃 > > Your edit wasn’t there when I answered, was it?! No. I’m still fairly slow with the bolding and italicizing, so it took me a min to edit it. I didn’t see your post until after I had done it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/51 "2011-10-17T02:46:59Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok, is that addressing my post somehow? Yes. Note that my complaint is towards people whose post is the very first response in a GQ thread, and then read the rule I quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/52 "2011-10-17T07:54:15Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Yes, they do, but only when the truck True. I once took a picture of ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/53 "2011-10-17T09:14:07Z")
I’m confused. What are you guys talking ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/54 "2011-10-17T13:34:57Z")
It should be ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/55 "2011-10-17T14:05:08Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > That reminds me of the time I wanted to know if armadilloes. > [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Yes, they do, but only when the truck I hate it when those sentences ========== There is a place for the WAG in GQ: when it is explicitly tagged as such, and provided by someone with related expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/56 "2011-10-17T16:02:28Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > That wasn’t the correct answer, that was you assuming that you are all knowing and the OP must be a complete idiot. Which is very rude. If you were truly concerned that the OP was being phished, you could have asked him for some details and/or said something along the lines of “you are sure this is legit, right”. But no, you had to go prove how smart you are. :smack: People who are being phished are sure it’s legit. That’s why phishing works. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/57 "2011-10-17T16:15:31Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > People who are being phished are sure it’s legit. That’s why phishing works. Most of those people don’t know about phishing. If you asked someone if they were sure it came from their bank and wasn’t a phishing expedition, you would be able to tell if they understood the concept. I’d also tend to believe that 99% of the people here know what phishing is. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/58 "2011-10-17T17:20:44Z")
It’s Greek for fishing, right? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/59 "2011-10-17T17:26:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s Greek for fishing, right? Everytime I think you suffer from terminal fuddy-duddyism you demonstrate that you don’t. Phascinating. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701/60 "2011-10-17T17:40:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Everytime I think you suffer from terminal fuddy-duddyism you demonstrate that you don’t. Phascinating. I can’t help it. I’m from Rhode Island. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gq-is-for-factual-answers-not-wags/599701.md?page=4)