Dealing with irate, nosy complainers of detectorists. and new detectorists.

[BC1969]

I know some of you say you would tell a rude, nosy person to f off or other things. and its certainly none of my business how others talk to or treat others, but for the sake of what little is left of our hobby, please I ask if confronted, please try turn turn a blindside to it and try to be nice. If everybody lashed out at complainers then more if not all areas still open to our hobby or lifestyle ( for me ), would be closed to metal detecting. its bad now and more and more areas are being closed off everyday. so any little thing we can do to try and make people understand we are not just broke poor people looking for pennies, the better the exposure for the future.

Now with that I'd like to talk about the masses of new people entering our hobby. up until shows like diggers and the savage family.. have taken a hobby that for the most part was obscure and brought it front and center to the masses! which may be good for manufacturers and their dealers ( short term ) but for the rest of us, at least the ones that care, bunches of new people that don't know of say proper recovery techniques or some form of etiquette, this poses the biggest current threat to our hobby. I'm sure a lot of you have seen somebody taking full sized garden shovels into parks and such, not filling their holes, throwing the trash they find either back in the hole or over their shoulder..not saying a shovel of small size is a bad thing, if properly used it is fine.

So I'd like to ask all my fellow detectorists, if you come across somebody new doing things like this, and yes time is precious for many of us to be spending on schooling new folks. but for every new person if just a small amount of knowledge is imparted upon them ( provided they are willing to begin with ) in proper techniques or etiquette, them it will pay off for all of us in the long run.
I can speak on these matters from experience for being in this hobby since the mid 70's and have watched this hobby going down the tubes slowly ever since, the sad fact is yes there are people out there that couldn't care less about their actions, be it leaving holes everywhere, or sneaking into historical sites at night and leaving the obvious tales of a rogue detectorist, holes, recovered trash everywhere you name it, and each time this occurs it leaves a pissed bitter taste in those that see these results.

So please take the time to try and educate others, be it n00b detectorists, or just a curious bystander that's curious or even a misguided mad person that had the experience elsewhere of a uneducated/unskilled/or just bad apple detectorist and show them how a professional practices this hobby. for if we all just ignore this, eventually the only places we will be able to detect will be private property!
Okay ? good.
Have a great day and Happy Hunting.

Mike aka BigCountry

 

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[Coin Digger]

Just a thought but maybe the manufactures could help out by explaining responsible behavior when they have their TV commercials. It would not only benefit them but everyone who enjoys the hobby.
I see this hobby dying a slow death because of its gaining popularity. In this area it won't be long before the only ones doing it are the ones that knock on doors.
If you check Craig's List there's a ton of cheap Chinese metal detectors that people have bought off E-Bay. Then used at their local parks only to make matters worst for the rest of us.
The best thing we can do is be respectful to others while detecting and remember the code of ethics in every MD manual

 

[Keppy]

You know i just do not under stand not filling there holes …. I started detecting over 40 years ago no one ever told me about filling holes or did i read any thing about it… i just filled them back up and so did the other few the was detecting then ….. What happened with newer detectors more info . we are moving backwards …And yes you can thank all those stupid metal detecting shows for part of it.. And you are right BC1969 the manufacturers & dealers love those shows .

 

[Higgy]

And you are right BC1969 the manufacturers & dealers love those shows .

Honestly I believe the shows are horrible and cast us in a poor light. The reality shows are fairly unwatchable by anyone with a brain in the first place, but what they do is make people go crazy. Now, not only does everyone have to have a detector, and are all bangin' on doors and screwing things up for seasoned detectorists, but these shows change the way everyone thinks about their hobby or profession - no matter what it is!

These days, everyone thinks they are a barter king. Every piece of junk car is suddenly a gold mine. Everyone thinks they can wheel and deal and turn a profit from nothing. I wonder how many knuckleheads the good people of Nome, Alaska have to put up with now? I'll bet any storage unit auction in America is flooded with people with more money than brains.

I am of the opinion that too much knowledge - by the wrong people - is a bad thing.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Seems that a good education tool would be to also refer them to our site. I found this site by accident, and learned more about a hobby that I had already loved...in fact, looking back, I had no clue what I was doing before I joined last Nov....A lot to learn in the hobby, why not get it from the best treasure hunting site on the interweb?

 

[releventchair]

I had a suspicion in a park farther out than my usual grounds when finding a near manhole sized plug laying loose. A sure two feet across! Rolled the sod off its resting place above ground level to start reworking site and there lay rusted metal. Being a clean low trash park only several others needed repair. The young guy got the message indirectly after I ran in to his parents. I,m not for diming someone out ordinarily ,but for crazy plugs and sod unreworked and trash left in the hole....well.. Have not asked if he still detects but has not left such stuff anywhere else to my knowledge.

 

[Sandigger2]

I agree that reality TV doesn't help our cause, but if we all spend a little time on educating the curious and helping newbies it will only help our cause.
Hopefully the reality TV producers will move onto some other hobby to take the pressure off us. Local clubs can offer classes to newbies like my club does or offer training
if they aren't now. I prefer to think positive.

 

[madforclad]

Unfortunately it's not just newbies who are not following the rules/etiquette. I know of 2 individuals who have been in this hobby for over 40 years and now that they are older and ailing, feel they have paid their dues and no longer have to fill holes or remove trash. I have personally gone to sites after they have been there and it looked like a nuclear testing site.

 

[Auriemma]

I was hunting the beach with a number of other stick swingers, and the old guy is just digging and leaving the holes.... Deep ones. I shook my head and filled in the ones that crossed my path. I was SO tempted to go over and give him hell.

 

[wetfly]

Leaving a hole unfilled is akin to balling up your used monofilament and tossing in in the water after fishing as far as I'm concerned! It's a pretty crappy thing to do by all accounts!! However on the other subject, I will not back away from a nasty little busy body telling me where I can or can't metal detect if I know I'm allowed to be there !!! Same goes for fishing or any other of the few rights I have left in the state of Florida! I just absolutely refuse to be told what is right and wrong based on someone's opinion !! Would you walk up to a stranger and impose your beliefs on them?? It sucks you don't like why I'm doing, but I enjoy doing it more than I care about what you think, sorry have an awesome day!! Would you stop playing basketball if someone came up and said you aren't allowed to do that here? There will be bad examples in every hobby but if you aren't one of them , then I say carry on sir!!! HUA