Detectorists fear a new detecting sitcom will “belittle” what they do and portray their hobby as “dysfunctional“. Heaven help Channel 4 if it does, for just look what detectorists have said about us in the last 2 weeks:
“Sad and lonely Luddites ….second-rate, down-market, repugnant, malicious, ignorant, hare-brained nutters and psychos…..wilfully ill-informed numpties….. ill-mannered specimens of the human race, guilty of gangrenous propogandist claptrap…. like predatory homosexuals….. loathsome, vocal, single-issue culture weirdo’s using cheap drugs….the kind of souls who pull wings off flies….”
So …. if you dig stuff up for your own benefit you expect (and generally get) kid glove treatment but if you simply advocate legal regulation of the activity for the public benefit you’ll be attacked in the crudest fashion imaginable!
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Bonkers Britain right now: heroic artefact collector smites wicked conservationists.
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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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The Heritage Journal 
3 comments
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20/09/2014 at 09:07
Edwin
Having engaged with detectorists on their own forums a bit back I can sympathise. Lots of them appear to be very unpleasant, at least from the safety of their online communication. It was remarkable their reaction to my crticising a telling phrase that they used, “getting the stuff out”. This for me summed up all that was bad about detectoring. Then there were those who spoke of emptying a field of coins and couldn’t or wouldn’t grasp the point that in total and in location those coins divorced from context became almost valuless in terms of the information they could give us.
21/09/2014 at 15:09
bluetooth
It is hardly surprising though when 2 opposing groups have views made visible via the internet. This has been going on for millenia so nothing new. Neither side should be surprised that they are attacked by the opposition. It is also pointless for either side to expect that they will change the views of the other. Life does not work like that. What DOES matter is to win the hearts and minds of those NOT engaged in the debate and to bring them ‘on side’. Only then can democratic process decide which side is the winner. Resentment is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.
22/09/2014 at 13:37
lanceleuven
“It is hardly surprising though when 2 opposing groups have views made visible via the internet. This has been going on for millenia so nothing new.”
Wow. I didn’t realise the internet had been around that long. 😉