Metal Detecting Etiquette 'Or Lack Of'

If You Don't Fill Your Holes Or Take Your Rubbish Targets Home With You - Then You're A Selfish Idiot

We're living in very strange times, nowadays many people seem to be completely self obsessed and despite what they might project, don't really give a shit about those around them. Living in London this point is magnified because there's so many people living in close proximity to each other. There were two very important points my parents taught me when I was younger. Firstly, never spit, it's disgusting and totally unacceptable, secondly, never drop litter, either put it in the bin or keep it in your pocket until you can put it into a bin. If you spit and drop litter then you're basically a scum head that clearly doesn't care about anyone other than themselves, not only that but you're probably a little bit backward and slow in your brain. I understand that some people just can't help this and they've evolved more into an amoeba than an actual human but thoughtfulness should really be a natural behavioural trait as opposed to a rarity.

It appears on social media that many like to project this loving and caring image because it makes them look good and they get more likes and followers, I think the term that sums it up best is 'virtue signalling'. A lot of it went on during the Covid era. "Look At Me Everyone, I'm Wearing A Mask For Others", "Look At Me Everyone I'm Getting The Vaccine To Protect Others" even though it didn't. Firstly they were doing none of this for others, they were doing it for themselves because they were worried about their own personal safety and welfare. Why Do I Think This? because many who went panic buying when food stocks were 'engineered' to run low, emptying the shelves of everything and buying 100 rolls of toilet paper, were pretty much the same people insisting they were doing everything for others. It was these same people who thought the 'unvaccinated' shouldn't be allowed to participate in society .... this coming from people who all cared so much for other people.

Surely if they were thinking of other people, they might of just shopped as normal, in doing this there would've been plenty of food to go around. The same can be said when the government 'engineered' a fuel shortage to get back all the money they lost while everyone was sitting at home on furlough under house arrest. The same people that insisted they were doing everything for others were not only filling their cars up to the brim, they were also filling about 20 canisters to go with it. I actually saw people physically fighting at the fuel pumps, it was at this point I realised my long lasting suspicion was correct, there is literally no hope for the human race. All these people are the ones to shout the loudest at those who don't want to live by the universal narrative of the 'perfect, non-thinking citizen. I also have no doubt that these people are the ones shouting the loudest about climate change whilst they're filling their large 4x4 SUVs up with diesel or petrol.

Society In 2023

I get a very similar feeling about the whole Ukraine & Russian situation, how does putting a Ukrainian flag on your social media profile help anyone? simple, it doesn't, but it makes that person look good, projecting the image of someone that cares. I can tell you now, most of these people couldn't give a fuck about what's going on in those countries, they're too wrapped up in updating their Instagram and Facebook profiles with pictures of their expensive 'brunch' or their current holiday destination. Social media really has shown a vast majority up for being narcissistic self-involved pricks. I truly believe it's a digital cancer that's infecting human behaviour in a way never witnessed before. It was created for many reasons, first and foremost to harvest data for the creation of artificial intelligence. That makes sense to me because so many lack basic intelligence that it's now having to be made artificially otherwise the whole concept of intelligence itself would become instinct. 

Where Am I Going With This?

The behaviour displayed within any hobby is simply a reflection of the society we're now living in, I saw the same selfishness consume Carp Angling and I see the same in Metal Detecting. If you've got someone that's willing to drop litter, spit on the floor and not pick up their dogs poo, and not see any of it as a problem, do you expect people like this to carefully cut their plugs, remove the find and then carefully fill their holes back in? and if the target is trash, actually take it home with them? ...... Nah .... me neither. How many of these amazing Youtube metal detecting enigmas and experts actually respect the land they're hunting on? I think you'll find digging a silver coin on camera is more important than digging a tidy plug.

How many are projecting the message that they're a responsible detectorist but couldn't give a shit about digging a hole correctly and being tidy. I'm willing to bet there's more people out there that are part of the problem as opposed to the solution. Here's an idea to the selfish idiots that like to metal detect, instead of making videos, begging for subscribers and arguing about which detector 'smokes' the other, maybe you should be respectful and learn to dig a plug correctly, fill your holes in and take all the rubbish you find home with you. If you can't do these simple things then you have no place in this hobby. 

Now with various television programs and social media, more people than ever before are getting into metal detecting, some for the right reasons, many I sense for the wrong reasons. This has a knock on effect because more people are digging holes and knocking on farmers doors. If a farmer decides to give permission to someone that doesn't care about the land and filling their holes in, that relationship will not last for long. Second to that if a responsible detectorist then knocks on the same farmers door, they're going to be told to piss off due to the previous detectorists inability to hunt correctly and respect both the land owner and their land. 

This now adds one more farmer to the list that doesn't want anything to do with metal detectorists, now multiply the suggested scenario by 100 and then you can start to see the enormity of this potential problem. Putting it simply, those who don't care about leaving a mess are ruining it for those out there who do everything correctly, they give the wider metal detecting community a really bad name. Now add to that, rallies and these 'two bit' organisations that pay farmers for a load of strangers to turn up on their land and rape it dry of anything of value, leaving carnage in their wake. Where exactly does this leave the future of the hobby? I'll tell you exactly where it leaves it and that's in the gutter.