[Mike P]

Patrick---if you persist in making an ass of yourself publicly, people are going to persist in laughing at you. It's really all that simple.

I know DaveS. He's a tough, dedicated fisherman who's been tonging big bass since before you were born. You have any idea of how tough he is physically, how hard on the body it is to jig up big bass from a place like the Highlands Bridge? Or what a beating a guy takes on a REAL jetty in rough conditions? When you post crap---and that's what it is---about Knowing "instinctively" based on "all your years of fishing" (yer 19 years old, fer godsakes, how much "experience" do you honestly think you have???) when it's a waste of time to go---you're fair game for guys with 30 years or more under their belts to tell you you're as full of it as all of us here are trying to tell you in a nice way.

There's a lot of crossover between this site and SOL. Lots of guys are cross registered, and there's even more who read this board and don't bother registering. The whole internet is an open book. You have to know that when you make a public fool of yourself, there's gonna be a backlash at other sites. How long is it going to take you to learn that one, simple fact?

For most of the two or so years you've been an internet "presence" you've basically regurgitated things that you've read as representing your personal experince, and throw out half-cocked ideas that John, in his infinite patience, lets you eat gracefully. You still do the same things on WMI because most of the people there are clueless. I still lurk there, too, and you always seem to avoid adding the disclaimer "so I've read" or "I've been told" whne you pass along tips to guys in Texas or Florida on fishing you know nothing about. Whether you realize it or not, you're a legend around the 'net, Patrick the Wannabe "Expert". Whenever I take a position supporting your reinstatement at SOL, I get a flood of e-mails and PM asking me whether I've lost my mind. Your history precedes you, and IMO it's a case of reaping what you've sowed in the last two years. You don't act the same way here, and I hope it's out of a respect for John and his efforts in trying to keep this board an open, honest forum--but I also wonder if it's partly because you know you can't snow anyone here with blarney.