Got To Thinking

[dogodog]

After browsing the forum today, I had to ask myself a question. Why do not more people post their finds here? We have a large community here, And one of my favorite things here on DP is to look at what people are digging up. I wonder if it is for fear of not finding so called good things, Or not wanting to reveal a location to avoid competition? I wonder if all of us put a little pressure on some of the lurkers or new members to have really great finds? I hope not!!! I also wonder why we sometimes let questions go unanswered? Does this make the starting detector think twice about joining this hobby? I just want to let all the members on the sidelines know that, I personally dig a boat load of junk in order to find a handful of OK finds. That's what all of us do. I want to let all the new starting members realize we all started in the same place, And that would be, Oh I haven't found anything good or all I find is iron and pull tabs, No gold no silver!! If you are finding iron and pull tabs, You are on your way to finding the good stuff!!! It just takes time. I wonder if we spend more time patting ourselves on the back than helping a new member wade through the confusion of starting in this hobby. Please all, post what you find and if you have a question that goes unanswered post it again and hopefully someone can take the time to help you in your quest for answers. Keep up the digging, I like pull tabs and iron. This hobby depends on you!!!!

[GB_Amateur]

2 hours ago, dogodog said:

Why do not more people post their finds here? 

....

I wonder if it is for fear of not finding so called good things, Or not wanting to reveal a location to avoid competition? I wonder if all of us put a little pressure on some of the lurkers or new members to have really great finds?

From my vantage point and personal experiences, all of the above, and then some.  When people talk about 100+ silver coins a year and others show hunts with multiple gold rings, it's a bit humbling to post a photo of one or two common date Wheat pennies.

A couple things I like to keep in mind: 

1) We don't all have access to the same sites/locations (although research -- the grunt work -- leads to some but not all of that difference).  I see West coast USA detectorists with -S and -CC mint coins.  Those aren't uniformly distributed.  (Flipside is that they see East coast detectorists finding early coins like large cents, half cents, and even Colonial coins.  Then again, I'll take any -CC over 99+% of large cents any day, although I haven't yet found either.)

2) The juiciest finds tend to be the tip of the iceberg.  For example, how many Mercury dime finds does it take to get one of the keys (1916-D, 1921 plain, 1921-D, or the 1942/41 overdates)?  On average, a lot!!  I've found about 20 Mercs and none is even a semi-key.  I need to keep plugging away.  When one person posts a great find, there are 10's or maybe even 100's who have never made such a great find.  But you don't notice them (especially if they remain silent, which as you note, many do).

As far as revealing locations, I'm sensitive to that but there aren't many detectorists in my area, and likely I could count on one hand those who read this forum.  Also, my public sites have been hunted in the past so if someone wants to come along and find a silver coin every 12 or so hours of detecting, have at it.  Best coin sites in the USA (with a few rare exceptions) are private property ('permissions') now that metal detectors have been around for 50+ years.

But I like your attitude.

2 hours ago, dogodog said:

I also wonder why we sometimes let questions go unanswered?

I haven't noticed that happening much, although it seems a small percentage end up answering a lot of the questions.  And when I do notice it I think it's because no one knows the answer.  For another thing, as far as finds goes this is really a gold nugget site from what I can tell.  Coins, relics, jewelry and some other topics (geology, meteorites, gravity recovery,...) don't get as many readers or posters.  And that's fine with me.  People spend their time on things they are interested in.  (I certainly do.)

While we're on the subject of making newbies feel welcome, one of my pet peaves is too many initialisms and too many people who try to use the minimum number of keystrokes to indicate a detector.  I remember when I first came back to detecting and joined here there were so many initialisms I didn't understand, or detector nicknames I had no idea of what they were or who made them.  Remember when you were new to this hobby and how you felt?  I bet you could if you stopped to think about it.  (In the interests of full disclosure I know I'm guilty of using nicknames for finds, like 'beavertails'.  Much better if I say "aluminum beavertail pulltab".  There has been talk about a glossary but no one wants to pile more work on Steve.  A cooperative one would be nice but I doubt that is easy to implement ==> even more work for Steve.)

[kac]

All forums have their clicky followers and many forums tend to snub newcomers or outsiders. When I first joined this forum I thought it was slanted more towards Minelabs than other brands and got the feeling if I didn't own a Minelab machine then I was sure to remain an outsider. Though that usually pushes me to use the underdog machines even more I understand it can chase many people away especially new people as they may feel what they have may not be good enough. This isn't to knock Minelab but to make a point how clicky things can be. I guess it is part of human nature and how people settle into their environments and comfort zones.

I'm not a social media follower, I don't have a twitter account, will never have a facebook account and have a handful of friends I will toss a text to once in a while. I happened on this forum, think I was looking to build a machine of my own at one time. Not for the reason I thought I could build a machine that is better than what is out there but more to see if I could and I just like making and using things that I like. Stumbling across links I came across this forum and found it had some incredibly knowledgeable people and a handful even welcomed me.

As I learned more on how the machines tick and discover their limitations I felt I could use average machines and still find the tough stuff even if it wasn't as easy as a top shelf loadout. I am not the greatest detectorists, often too impatient and even after doing research I tend to wander off track but despite that I increased my skills pushed myself and discovered various little tricks and tips I try to pass on to newcomers or just those willing to listen to try to up their game regardless what they swing. Many here on the forum have done similar and we all feed off of the info making the hobby that much less of a mystery and easier for each of us to improve our craft.

I like seeing the mix of finds from the incredibly rare that we aspire to find to the occasional oldies and odd relics. I think this forum has a nice mix and does a pretty good job at keeping it real.

I noticed many have gone silent over the past few years and every once in a while we see them pop back in but I also noticed that there is many more and many new faces posting all sorts of finds and seeing a much wider variety of machines. Much more inclusive now then when I first joined.

The world is in chaos, many are in hiding. I even poked around other forums and noticed their posts were diminished just as much if not more so I think the winter has settled in and people are just hunkering down.

I never did build that machine though, maybe someday....

[Joe D.]

GB and Kac,

Great responses! I cannot add to that! 👍👍

[GB_Amateur]

15 hours ago, kac said:

All forums have their clicky followers and many forums tend to snub newcomers or outsiders. When I first joined this forum I thought it was slanted more towards Minelabs than other brands and got the feeling if I didn't own a Minelab machine then I was sure to remain an outsider. Though that usually pushes me to use the underdog machines even more I understand it can chase many people away especially new people as they may feel what they have may not be good enough.

So, kac, you're saying you're a contrarian??  Never would have guessed that. 

'Cliques' and 'cliquish' are storng words, IMO.  They may apply to some here but I think there may be other similar but less intentional things happening.  For one, in general people want to belong.  And at the same time people look for and subsequently look up to the 'icons'.  If the icons are big on one brand (Minelab) and the majority also go in that direction, then to feel the part people tend towards that brand, both in their detector choices but also in their posts.  To add to the weight of all this, Minelab does make great detectors and when compared head-to-head with other brands their top-of-the-line products fare extremely well.  (Maybe even that is an understatement....)

But the results, whether intended or not, do lead to the occurrences you mention.  That's the part the proponents of the big brand names should be aware of and sensitive to.  Fortunately some already are.  👍

[Chase Goldman]

 

2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

And at the same time people look for and subsequently look up to the 'icons'.  If the icons are big on one brand (Minelab) and the majority also go in that direction, then to feel the part people tend towards that brand, both in their detector choices but also in their posts. 

I was first attracted to this forum because I was interested in the Equinox prior to release and Steve H. was providing the best information on that machine based on his pre-release testing and the forum layout was slick  and the site was rich additional information about detecting and detectors.  But I am far from being a Minelab-only fan.

I post a lot here, but I don't know if I am considered an "icon".  But I go out of my way to demonstrate in my contributions here, that I have no brand loyalty and basically obtain and use the machine that best fills a specific detecting gap. 

That is why I have at one time or another owned machines from First Texas (Bounty Hunter, Teknetics, and Fisher), Garrett, Minelab, Nokta, Tarsacci, Whites and XP.  About the only major manufacturer not represented was Tesoro (since  Alain Loubet at XP developed their machines partially based on his love for the Tesoro's, I feel my Deus is a distant cousin).

I was attracted to detecting because I have a technical degree and background, enjoy history and coin collecting, and, most of all, de-stressing.  And detecting has proved to be my greatest de-stressing hobby ever - the excitement of finding a top shelf find is supplemented by the friendships I have made, the places I have visited, and just embracing the solitude of the fresh air and scenery. 

I have tried a variety of machine types (PI and VLF), brands, and models within a brand, have detected with literally hundreds of different folks, do a lot of reading and research, done different types of detecting (except for meteorite hunting and gold prospecting), done archeological surveys, attended and taught detecting classes, and have written magazine articles, therefore, I have gained some knowledge of the hobby (especially in regards to the detectors themselves).  Because I am only an average, at best, and relatively inexperienced detectorist, I am keen to pass on what I have learned over the past 10 or so years of doing this to new detectorists so that they can get past the impediments that might exist due to the technical complexity and nuances of the tools and better enjoy the other aspects of the hobby itself, including the swinging for and recovering of finds (of course) but also the lesser known joys of researching history and discovering new and possibly untouched sites.  That is how I try to approach my posts here.  I hope this encourages people to ask questions and also post what they have found.   But I can agree that it can be intimidating when you see posts documenting the 1000th silver coin post, 18th century coins, multiple gold and silver rings on single beach or water run (with little mention of the potential life and limb jeopardy involved in some of the more extreme pursuits), bucket list of rare relic finds, and of course gold coins and nuggets posted about.  I also somewhat cringe when I hear hobbyists emphasizing and overly focusing on detectors "paying for themselves with finds" (I get it when the detector is how you actually earn a living).  It's all fine and nice if that happens, but to primarily focus on finds value above all the other benefits of the hobby I think just makes it more like the job I am trying to escape from via the hobby, but that's just me.  Some folks simply dump their pouches and show the good with the bad, and I think that shows a more realistic portrayal what actually goes on for most of us when we go on a detecting outing.  I am going to try to make an effort to post more of the junk along with the treasure.

Bottom line, I like that Steve is trying to encourage people to post their finds more - but the contest aspect of it may result in the same people posting their finds that do so today.  I hope that isn't the case, but I too hope and encourage more people get into the habit of posting what they've found and even ask questions on what they've found because IDing finds is part of the fun.

HH

[GB_Amateur]

24 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

I also somewhat chafe with the emphasis of detectors "paying for themselves with finds" for hobbyists (I get it when the detector is how you actually earn a living).  It's all fine and nice if that happens, but to primarily focus on finds value above all the other benefits of the hobby I think just makes it more like the job I am trying to escape from via the hobby, but that's just me.

Probably more than just you.  I may be an example of both.  I'm not out to pay for my equipment -- good thing since I've spent over $10k (maybe twice that but I don't want to know...) and found less than $1k -- more than half of that being a ring which will be returned to the person who lost it.

On the flipside I like to talk about the value of finds (mostly others' since mine haven't carried much value).  I want to find the valuable coins, simple as that, and I express my excitement when someone else does.  But as long as I get at least a Wheat penny on a hunt I figure I'm ahead, and when I find less I still feel good for the chance to find something rare.  It's more than a crap shoot, but detecting is a crap shoot, and the more you throw the dice the better chance you'll have to hit the jackpot.  I'm just realistic to know that for me the jackpot of a rare coin may never come.

Oh, and I also express excitement and gratitude for many posted finds which (as the saying goes) when combined with $4 would get you a coffee (at Starbucks).

Retrospective, as you (and now I) have exercised is a good thing.  I'll start showing more trash, too.  That's one area where I can compete with the best of you!