Why Name a Star when You Can Name a Galaxy?
A free name a galaxy web site appeared several years ago as a direct competitor to our fundraising feature at Windowpane Observatory, in which a person can adopt a galaxy in someone’s name, similar to the name a star service. Our competitor offered, for free, a computer-generated certificate that must be published at one’s private cost. Our “fee” that he criticized is a donation towards the operation of our scientific facility and the cost of astronomical inquiry that we demonstrate there. The no-charge name a galaxy web site imparts a person nothing but an automatic program that publishes the data that the galaxy registrant enters into a web page form. But, as with anything that’s free, there’s a catch. The free name a galaxy website demands that a person provide their name and e-mail address, regardless of the fact that all that is ever sent to the registrant is a code that is unnecessary to the sign up. Why is this? You could wonder that the free name a galaxy web site is the work of a a spammer who is gathering up e-mail addresses and then reselling them to a third party.
The operator of this free name a galaxy internet site submits that he has no intention to sell email addresses. But what is his purpose, then? What is his ground for stealing our name a galaxy concept and make a free galaxy naming web site? If he’s not amassing email addresses for spammers, then perchance he’s just a mean guy. Our customer service telephone number is proudly issued on our website, but his is not. So it is impracticable to call him to ask him what he’s up to.
