Back when I was an editor at Sky & Telescope I became very familiar with the astro-products “industry.” One of my jobs was to help select stuff to sell in the S&T catalog and through the online store from among all the astronomy- and space science-related products out there. Of course I expected to see books and posters and telescope-related products (and there are a LOT of them). It was always tough to choose from among the “best” and “most useful” or “most woweeeeee!!” from the wide selection of materials that would make their way to my desk. We had some selection criteria that were specific to our shop, and the merchandisers would try to meet those requirements in order to get their stuff in our catalog. It was often interesting and sometimes downright puzzling what companies would send us that they thought our readers might like.

We had to draw the line somewhere, and so while some products were a natural fit, others never made it into the mix. One of our rules (out of many) was that a product had to appeal to our reader base. And that, of course, meant we had to KNOW our readers and anticipate what they wanted.

I find myself in much the same situation with this website and blog. I’m in the great position of being able to use this space to write about my interests in astronomy, space science, exploration, science fiction, and all the related sciences and political topics. Readers seem to like it (judging from the e-mails I get (and the occasional brave soul who leaves comments)) and so that’s where this site continues to head.

I know that a great many students read my site, as do other astronomers and writers. It’s important to me that this site be a safe and honest forum through which we can explore the sciences of astronomy and space exploration AS SCIENCES with their own unique requirements and culture. I offer astronomy to everybody, but I also know that there’s a huge Web of Astro-Stuff out there that I may not ever get a chance to write about. However, I CAN and DO point you to stuff I think you’d like.

Some of your e-mail feedback messages ask about products, with time-honored questions like, “I want to get something for my honey, and she’s into astronomy” or “My husband just bought a telescope and I want to get him an astronomy book or some software” or “My child is working on a school project in astronomy and what should I get to help him/her learn more about the stars?”

Sure, I’ve written about some products, and will continue to do so. Think of this place as a portal to material and products that are complementary with what I’m writing about here. As you read my pages, you’ll see direct links to other Web pages, organizations, companies, and institutes.

While many of those links are free (meaning not sponsored by an advertiser), some are paid. Lately, I’ve also opened some of my pages (including this blog) to Google Ads and Google search bars, as well as links to products at Amazon.com. Not only does this widen the portal I’ve opened, it also provides support for the upkeep of the site (since I pay for my web space out of my own pocket). If you click on one of the Google ads or search buttons, Google diverts a few cents my way. If you buy any of the products I’ve linked to on Amazon.com, they, too will send a little share my way. If you click on a paid link, you go that site for a more directed message. It doesn’t cost YOU anything, except a little eyeball time with an advertiser who wants to sell you something.

I monitor these ads and links daily to make sure that they’re appropriate for my readers and true to the mission of this site. Fortunately, about 90 percent of the ads are fine. The other 10 percent are not, and so I filter them out.

As usual, with any site, however, things can change. And an advertiser or site which I’ve linked to as “on message” or “safe” today, could be “off target” or “not so safe” in the future. As we all know, there’s a lot of useful information out there in the Information Superstructure. But there’s also the non-useful stuff, and we all have to be discerning and read these things with a critical eye.

(NOTE: This post is part of the archive from my old blog site. As of 2007, GoogleAds are not appearing on this blog. If they do appear in the future, the same critical criteria from above will apply.)