Nice rant! :-) You deserve some govt. contract tax dollars for that pro-big-govt. endorsement. Hopefully when you pass your posting along to some procurement official next time, they'll actually bother to answer your e-mail for a change. Until then, keep on ad homineming pro-entrepreneurial foes of stagnating socialism. It's for a noble cause, right?

>>>The first thing one notices about your web presence is that you initially attempted to gain some visibility by choosing the name “NASAWATCH”, a name already in use for years by Keith Cowing. It matters not that you chose to use the new TLD .INFO on your site, you chose to “sound-a-like” name because Cowings site is quite respected in the Space Community.<<<<

Gee, I wasn't aware that Mr. Cowing had monopolized the concept of a watch regarding NASA. Might you be able to explain why his trademark application (more like $325+ donation) was abandoned?

http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

>>>Your site is filled with personal attacks on Keith's website and work. To be frank Mr. Robbins, you're not even in Cowling's league.<<<<<

Was that intended to be as much of a compliment as I take it as being?

>>> His site is full of good information.<<<<

Socialists, statists, tax-leeching bureaucrats and their pet govt. contractors sure would agree with you there, so you MUST be right. Right?

>>>Cowling's site provides REAL Space Science articles<<<<

Most fitting for a purported "watchdog" website, presumably?

>>>>, and Mr. Cowings has even broke some stories<<<<

Almost as rapidly as you've broken English grammar?

>>>> prior to other media outlets (most notably, he was the 1st to break the story on MGS's evidence of liquid water on the Martian surface).<<<<

Those of us who didn't see that story broken at Space.com first might agree with you.

>>> He also is well equipped to write original articles about Space Policy, ie. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=894 something way beyond your limited abilities.<<<<<

I'm certainly unable to advocate government pork, and you have every right to point out how my abilities in that respect are limited. I appreciate your pointing that out, in fact.

>>>In contrast, your site has not (and has never) provided one piece of information for the Space Community. <<<<

Given your use of capital letters there, I presume that by "Space Community" you mean:

Socialists, statists, tax-leeching bureaucrats and their pet govt. contractors.

I agree that we've not provided any information for that clique. They've not provided much for us in exchange for our involuntarily extracted $15 billion tax dollars each year, either, so it's a wash.

>>>>From your spams here and other places, it appears that your technical knowledge of Space Science is quite limited, sometimes you embarrassingly fail to understand even the most rudimentary elements of Space Exploration. Of course, you would never ask for help from the folks here who have a much better understanding (and I'm sure would be glad to teach you something)<<<<

Actually, I come here to learn...just not from the ignorant.

>>> – No, you prefer to see yourself as an “educator”, a “watchdog” who is always more than happy to rant on about things that you have absolutely no knowledge of.<<<<

And your knowledge of my knowledge is... ?

>>>>Next, the layout of your site looks like it was constructed by a 9 year old who has been learning HTML for about 3 days. It's pretty pathetic.<<<<

Agreed. That's part of its charm. No bells and whistles, or corrupting sponsors. It's a shame that NASA wouldn't streamline its own flashy operations and return some of our tax dollars, or at least fund competitive prizes for a change.

>>>Your constant rants about “Space Prizes” aren't even original. Zurbin wrote about them extensively in TCFM. And while there may be some merit in a prize system down the road, I can't see it as feasible that this time (I bet the $10 million X Prize won't even begin to cover Allen's Investment, that is, if he wins it).<<<<

Congratulations on having proven that competitive prizes are a bad idea. Why didn't we think of it sooner. I'm feeling particularly enlightened at the moment. Thanks!

>>>>Lastly Mr. Robbins, I question whether any of your rants belong in “Space” type discussions at all. Let's face it Mr. Robbins, you don't know a damned thing about Space, NASA, Engineering, or Science in General.<<<<

And you don't know a thing about me, evidently. Or much of anything else, for that matter :-)

>>>>It is painfully obvious that most high school students understand the science of Space Exploration much more than you do, and while you may believe that you are doing something of value, the only accomplishment of yours that is obvious is that you continue to make a Complete Jackass out of yourself in the world's largest public arena, namely, The Internet.<<<<

I should be ashamed of myself. There, I said it for you. And I believe it as much as you do. Who are you fooling? LOL.

>>>I suggest that your posts are much more suited to political discussions where topics like “government spending”, “Pork”, and “conspiracies” are the norm because they have little to do with Space Science, again, a topic which you obviously have little understanding of.<<<

If space has nothing to do with politics, why must taxpayers finance politically administered space programs? Duh.

>>>He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not is a fool - Shun Him!<<<

I will. Good riddance and Happy New Year! :-)