Thank you! Someone finally put it into words: http://www.whoisredjohn.com/See-a-theory-Red-John/6198#disqus_thread 

How can Patrick Jane include people on the list who obviously DO NOT fit he criteria and clues we have received regarding Red John?  Bertram too tall and no hair, Stiles too old and short, Reede too fat, etc.So who or what do we trust?  Do we trust our so-called clues?  Do we assume that Patrick Jane knows something we do not? Can we assume that Jane forgot about some of the clues - I don't think so!  Not forgetting those facts is requisite's for 'Smarts 101' and he is doing his doctorate in smarts - that is what this show is all about and why we watch it.

I tell you, if there isn't some seriously good explanation why these people can be on the list without disregard for each and every one of those 'clues', I will feel shortchanged and will chuck my TV out of the window - for ever.  Because then they could as well say that the pigeon who spooked McAllister is Red John.  Like Waldo always in the background. That pigeon featured at Partridge's murder and he is one of 'many' pigeons (you obviously need some help, being a pigeon).  And in 'Madagascar' you see that penguins can be quite handy and threatening, so why not pigeons?  This evil pigeon just knows how to hypnotize people.  I mean, why would a murder victim of Red John mutter "Tyger Tyger", unless he wasn't hypnotized by a pigeon?  What other explanation could there be?

But I digress. Let's assume that the show, the writers, are not trying to pull a quick one on us.  That means that the list is accurate.  It therefore has to mean that that the clues which contradict some of the suspects, must be explainable as being fake.  For instance Rosalind Harker must have been lying because she is still in love with Red John aka Roy Tagliaferro.  That I would believe.

While it is after 'the fact' ('the fact' = 'compiling the list'), one example of a misleading clue could be 'Red John is afraid of heights'.  That is not a solid clue!  It is a clue because, wait for it, Red John created it!  He was the one who told Sophie Miller. And how could he not know that Jane would think of looking for Sophie Miller because of the 'happy memory'?  Of course he knew!  He knew that Jane would 'discover' that clue.  It's cat and mouse. - will Jane know that I planted this clue?  Let's make it look real by stealing her notes - except the recording...

So we have to list each 'clue' - especially based on 2nd hand reporting- and seriously, slowly evaluate each as being reliable or not.  We have to look at the motives behind the existence of those clues.