If all hams want to do is talk to each other, that's fine. They don't claim to be doing some kind of ASETI. But when you've got a guy saying he'll send messages into space for a fee, and people believe their words are going to "the stars" (and please don't tell me they are thinking otherwise - that's why ISR is raking in the cash), when in truth they will just get quickly lost in nearby interstellar space, where even a really advanced ETI could not pick up the signals, that is another matter.

Yes, he says he is doing it just "for fun". Whose fun? These people might as well yell out through a paper towel tube at the sky for free - it's about the same effect.