So we know that at least one person who spends their time classifying galaxies, engaging in (merger) wars, identifying supernova candidates (and more) is real, and not a robot.
But what about the other >quarter million who've also done some classifying, identifying, and warring? Are they real people too?
Well, here's proof: every now and then zooites arrange to meet, drink, and be merry. Most meetings happen in the UK, but there's been at least one in the US. At the most recent Hanny herself joined, and posted some snaps; here, then, are real zooites, taken from Hanny's Galaxy Zoo forum Object of the Day, stardate 2nd August 2010:
By the way, I recently learned, by reading the book about the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ("A Grand and Bold Thing", by Ann Finkbeiner, Free Press (2010)) that those who were active participants in the design, planning, building, integrating, and testing the telescope, camera, spectroscope, site, software analysis, pipelines, data storage, and public interface were called Sloanites ... so now you know the (likely) etymological origin of zooites!
Oh, and the name Galaxy Zoo also likely originated from Sloanites; the book mentions that Jim Gunn - the astronomer hero behind the whole survey - used this term very early on.