Not really - I think those were meant more to inspire hope by humanity than to actually get results. Kind of the same deal with radio waves - we just assume that aliens will be able to receive them. Best analogy I heard was to imagine that we are ants and alien life forms are humans. There is very little in ant communication methods (pheromones, touch, vision, etc.) that would be perceptible by humans. We just have different technological bases.

That said, at the end of the day it's all we can do. Better to do something than nothing. There is a chance that since we're all subject to the same fundamental forces in the universe, maybe something will stick.