I don't know RT. From the posts here, he seems like a reasonable enough guy. I, for one, instantly figured out that the paint thing was a joke, and I don't know anyone here. Even if I did not realize the joke, I have enough common sense to not pour paint in the water, and I would hope that anyone who has the brains to pound sand would feel the same. I suggest that it is really the responsibility of any citizen to figure these things out, even if someone does make a stupid/illegal/immoral suggestion.

To try to claim that RT has a higher responsibility because he is a professional writer seems a little extreme. If he was a noted columnist for a widely read, highly influential publication such as Time, Newsweek, or maybe even Outdoor Life, maybe one would have a case.

But as near as I can tell, RT's contributions are occasional, to a publication with narrow readership, whose journalistic standards are, in my opinion, low to non-existant. (no offense intended to you, RT, I am referring to a set of observations regarding poor editing, and some worthless, self serving articles in the past, not yours).

As such, I don't think it is fair to try to hold him up to be some figure worthy of hero worship, who therefore can't have a brain f_a_rt in public without getting skewered.

And even if the post was a bad idea, jeepers, was it worth this much high blood pressure? For crying out loud, people, we are in the middle of the best salmon and potentially steelhead fishing any of us can remember, and we're arguing about a bad joke? As Ron Weasley said of Hermione, "(You've) got to sort out your priorities!"

I'll be thinking about y'all on the river tomorrow.