The terrorist's escape pod bounced off the Enterprise's shields like a ping pong ball in TNG. Also, shuttles can't land when shields are up. They were also used by data to stop security in the hallways.

Traditionally, shields ands force fields stop all forms of matter and energy. Just sayin".

Because (from a game play pov) if melee wpns didnt out dmg ranged wpns, melee wpns would be completely useless.

Also klingon bat'leths and other melee wpns would like to have a word with you....

We are wearing armor, because "it is ignoring the shields." LOL!!! Armor =/= shields

And if you want a lore/canon reason why ship shields can deflect physicals but personal shields can't...

- maybe certain TYPES of rare/expensive and/or difficult/impossible to replicate metals can ignore engery shields. Making this metal excellent for melee wpns, but not so much for escape pods or torp casings.
- maybe some melee wpns are fitted with dampening fields or made from metals that produce a kind of dampening field, again making that metal not very useful for vechiles/devices requiring their own electronics.
- maybe shields require larger emitters and/or power supplies to deflect physicals. Emitters and/or power supplies too large for personal use. (Explains why One's (29th century drone) shield was more comparable to "todays" starship shields then personal borg shields).
- maybe physical deflection is an affect of the deflector dish (the primary function of the deflector dish is to deflect micro asteroids and other debris), and not the shield arrays.

Shields that can be created by ships have emitters that are much larger than personal shields being carried by Star Fleet personnel. It's much easier to prevent all energy/matter with a shield when it's powered by a ship's warp core as opposed to 24th Century 9 volts.. Just sayin'

Ship's shields are tuned to keep the air in and the torpedoes out. Ground shields need to let air through them or you die.

That said, I want an Uzi. :-)

Yeah, personal shields are not even canon in Star Trek. Except for the Borg. And their shields were pretty varied, they made them totally invulnerable in some episodes, and could be bypassed easily by changing phaser frequencies in others.

Personally, I think it makes sense that shields don't protect against melee weapons, because the graphic makes it clear that it is just a layer of energy laid over the skin, there's no space between it and the body. So if you were to be hit by a melee weapon while inside a shield, it would be like being hit with a baseball bat while wearing a scuba suit. The suit might be tough enough not to be ripped or torn, but you'll still be beaten to a pulp inside of it, because the impact is transferred right to your body. (And if it didn't give, you wouldn't be able to move inside it, a personal shield would turn you into a force field statue)

Besides, that's why you have armor. Armor does protect against energy weapons some, but it's not as effective as a shield. (You take NO damage from an energy weapon as long as the shield holds) So if you've got foes coming at you with melee weapons, you make sure you have good Polyalloy Weave armor.

I suppose I could add, in regards to starship shields, that they are able to let energy OUT, as otherwise you wouldn't be able to fire weapons through your shields, much less use impulse engines to move, or even use sensors to see. Apparently personal shields let light rays through, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see, but even with that they can't possibly be as complex as starship shields, as they are much smaller.