Hey Dave, I am glad that you took the time to post this..........a couple of years ago there was a young man on here posting that was new to fly fishing and was looking for a rod......for his Dad .............and some gear..........well...........I bit............I not only sent him a rod, reel and some gear............in exchange he was going to "tie me up a load of flies"........well the flies never came and I never received any more replies to my emails. He just dropped off of the face of the earth. I learned a good lesson with that experience and it probably won't hinder me from helping someone else in the future.........which I have, but I certainly will do more checking before I take the leap.
I did not take the time to post as you did, but in retrospect, I should have as now I wonder if anyone else ponied up some free gear for the hmm...ficticious "Dad".