Dave G, I know you say 1 club now charges to its observing session, but its the first since AI. And, if I may say so, its the cock and bull with regards to HOW AI/A&S do their observing session that gets everybodys noses out of joint! To charge to an event, and (well, up to very recently anyway) STILL CHARGE TO LOOK THROUGH A SCOPE is not right. Then to look for donations... Come on! He's got volunteers around Ireland collecting for HIM, not the club or company!
I cant understand why people dont seem to appreciate this point but events on this scale cost money to run, most often the cost of the event, insurance, crash barriers, publicity and other expenses outweigh the revenues. They just cant be run for free. It shouldnt be forgotten that AI's weekly telescope nights have always been and continue to be free as associated costs such as insurance are paid for by the other 'pay-per-view' events.
Where do IFAS clubs get the money to pay for things like insurance? Membership fees i guess? Theres nothing wrong with that. The money has to come from somewhere.
Its the mans PRINCIPAL! You don't charge people amission to the cinema, THEN charge them again to look at the movie! Thats what Moore used to always do, at his Expos, Starbeques, SkyWatches - you name it, its happened there. I'm sick and tired of hearing how many people manage to get conned into parting with too much money at his events. I wonder what % of the A&S membership is on concurrent members. I ask, because TAS, GAC, CAC, IAA, DAS, BLAS, KAS, and then some, all have members who were in A&S for 1 lousy year. Some of them are members here, and will back up the bad things they experienced with A&S with those mentioned here by e.g. David McDonna, Leo Daly, Albert White to name but a few (I'll edit this post if said people wish to have their names removed, but they have all spoke about A&S in the way described before in previous threads).
I have NEVER been to an A&S event, and I don't want to, based on the 1st hand accounts of those I have talked to. Then, when I read about it on their site how great it was (for Moore), it boils my blood even more.
The exagerrations (ISS BLAZES across the sky [its only a tiny dot], Saturn BLAZING in the evening sky on such a date [when that date is a Saturn Watch - the planet has been there for months before and will be so for more to come, not looking any different], closest you'll ever see Mars in 60,000 years [it still looked the exact SAME 1 month prior and 2 months after that August 2003 event], thousands visit Expo [yeah, right], largest club in the world [based on a head count since 1992, NOT in the last 12 months], call a premium €1/minute phoneline to hear when the ISS passes overhead [he gets his information from the same web-based sources we get ours - for free], and so on, I've got a long healthy list here....)
Now, you keep mentioning where do other clubs get their revenue from. Well, yes memberships. Without memberships, there is no insurance, no facilities to share lectures, no equipment to use, no newsletters etc etc. But us
lesser clubs dont make a business out of folk that (for the most part) don't know any better (because they are not properly informed). We just help! We don't
strive to make as much profit as possible, or grossly mislead the public for our benefit - it doesn't sound right, and does not bode well for publicity for the club in question. Can't you see how the practices of Moore have led a lot of us here to speak ill of him? Its because of what he does. He also has a lot of people thinking
Astronomy Ireland caters for the amateur Irish astronomer. Yes, there are other clubs in the country, but many cater for experts and fall out of the league of the average amateur. The sort of white-coat astronomer[end quote].
Don't even get me started on those daft prices he charges on inferior Celestron equipment. Not everyone in Ireland buys Celestron, or from him.
Its stupid what he has done to the hobby in my opinion.
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