Guild Affiliation? You have to be kidding....

So an editor requests my 'guild affiliation'. He checked with the guild with and asked me if I was about to join. When I naively said I had no interest there was no interest in my story. When did writing and the creation of literature become high school? When did it become more important to be part of a union than to the merits of the work. Yeah I am naive but it certainly explains the glut of crap on the market.