The trouble is, many buyers do not realize it's "just for fun". The Pet Rock is a terrible analogy. My nephew was killed in an automobile-bicycle accident a few years ago. Someone in the family gave his parents (my in-laws) one of those "name a star" certificates. They came to me and asked me to show them the star through my telescope. They genuinely thought that the star was officially named for their deceased son- that astronomers referred to it as "Ben's Star" and wondered if they could see it noted as such in an "official" catalog or star chart. I felt like the world's biggest ass trying to gently inform them that astronomers didn't use these "name a star" registers. It's someone making money off of the emotions of others. If there is an afterlife, the people behind these scams won't be taking up space there. On Dec 21, 2007 3:25 AM, Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:
On 20 Dec 2007, at 10:05, Chuck Hards wrote:
Schtick is a generous term. Scam is better.
To me this has always been a "Buyer beware" thing. As long as the purchaser knows it's just for fun and not real I don't see any harm.
Kind of like a pet rock (remember those?).