I said nothing about fairness. If I thought it were practical and would help, I'd advocate outing every single one of them. I have less than zero sympathy for t

I said nothing about fairness. If I thought it were practical and would help, I'd advocate outing every single one of them. I have less than zero sympathy for them. And I totally agree that it is really screwing up science. But to use an analogy, if you have a few weeds in your field/garden, you can pull them. If you have a lot, you need a systemic solution like pesticide. Remember also that the most senior people are close to retirement and if eliminated will in many cases just be replaced by other sociopaths. The worst case scenario for this guy if the whistle were blown would be that he takes early retirement, goes home to enjoy his pension, and probably comes back as part-time/emeritus. People would say, well, it's bad that he fabricated this one time, but his contributions to the field as a whole outweigh this one minor lapse. That's a big difference between when senior and junior people are caught in these situations. He would still maintain a lot of respect and connections -- more than enough to make good on his threat to totally screw GP's career.