Question: What are we supposed to do when a question we ask receives an answer that doesn't help answer the question?

There are multiple ideas on the proper response, which end up summing together to the rule that if someone doesn't understand your question, then you're straight out of luck and aren't allowed to clarify the question in any way.

Is this the intention? Or is there supposed to be some way to do this that actually lets you get your questions answered?

Answer: 
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> What are we supposed to do when a question we ask receives an answer that doesn't help answer the question?
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A good question! The very first thing you should always try is writing your questions in such a way that they are clear as to what you want and have sufficient background to encourage a knowledgeable person to work out an answer for you!

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> There are multiple ideas on the proper response, which end up summing together to the rule that if someone doesn't understand your question, then you're straight out of luck and aren't allowed to clarify the question in any way
> 
> 
> 

This is false. You are not only allowed to clarify your question, you are encouraged to do so! You might be referring to your most recent query: that got reverted to its original state because there was already an answer that your clarifying edit would invalidate. That's not good. You'll notice, though, that the respondent altered the answer to suit your edit, so your revision got restored. All's swell that ends well.

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> Is this the intention? Or is there supposed to be some way to do this that actually lets you get your questions answered?
> 
> 
> 

The ideal intention, really, is to encourage you to write high quality questions in the first place, so we don't have to go through all this nonsense asking for clarification, editing, reverting and rolling back. That gets old.

I can tell you this plain and simple: I love weird anatomy questions; and I get anatomy. I'd ***absolutely love to work on all your weird anatomy questions!*** But as I said in comments elsewhere, until you get your question writing skills on par with your creativity, I'm not going to bother!

The reason for that is simple: I don't want to waste time working on an assumption about what you really mean but didn't or couldn't express only to have you complain that my hard work doesn't even answer the question. Well? Ask the right question then!
There are 2 chief reasons for not getting the answers you want/expect:

1. Your writing is not clear enough.
2. Your target audience is not familiar with the topic and unable to provide an answer.

The first reason is something that you can work on. For example:

* Take a look at thematically similar questions and see how they are asked.
* Read the answers and see what words, reasoning, and assumptions they use (assumptions are rarely stated openly but they can be inferred).
* Try to use vocabulary and delivery formats familiar to your audience so they can focus on your question rather than words and post's form.
* It also might be helpful to ask people directly what causes them to misunderstand your question (please be warned that not everyone will be open to this kind of discussion and some people may even get offended at the suggestion that they misunderstood you or your intentions).

The second reason (people are not familiar with the topic) is something that you cannot control. If this is the case it might be better to ask your question elsewhere. Each community has its area of expertise and the WB.SE is no exception.

There is also another, albeit not so common, reason for misunderstandings: Failure of imagination. Sometimes people are so used to the way things are that they cannot imagine anything else. It is often the case with cultural beliefs and attitudes (e.g. something that is common in one's native culture is perceived as the only possible and natural way to do things). You may attempt to talk to people but it is never certain that you will get any positive outcome. Biases are not easy to overcome. It might be better to look for another community to ask your question.