Andy Baines on the Andy's UK metal daitecting blog (' More censorship and post removal on the metal detecting forum' Saturday, 12 April 2014) discusses another egregious example of censorship of online metal detecting discussions, reported to me earlier by another reader. Apparently on the UK and European metal detecting forum there was a thread started by a newish member in the 'general chat' section (visible without registering) about "stolen sovereigns and bad detecting"
At the start of the thread was a link to no other than Nigel Swift's Heritage Action blog [...] the forum member then went on to say he thought it was wise as a forum to discuss how they can all become more responsible and ethical metal detectorists. That's right, some one on the metal detecting forum wanted an open discussion about cleaning up the hobby so in essence the hobby will be around for longer. A few other forum members commented on the thread saying it was a great idea and they were also up for the challenge.
Very soon after that, the thread, like many others on that forum was terminated by the moderator (like the one covering up members' initially solid support of "Nazi War Diggers") and was deleted/hidden. Mr Baines on his blog asks "who is the real danger to metal detecting?" Is it "Nigel Swift who raises concerns but in doing so gives us education to help us be more responsible?" Or is it the people like the UK and European metal detecting forum moderator who prevents its members from speaking "openly about their concerns and thoughts and denies and chance of people in this hobby from bettering themselves and becoming more responsible"?
Obviously, I think the greatest enemy of artefact hunting is precisely the lack of open discussion in and around it about what constitutes responsible, conservation- conscious and sustainable use of the archaeological heritage as well as a failure to recognize the changing context within which it functions.
Bournemouth is turning out to be a real hotspot of anti-responsibility in detecting, John Howland, Candice Jarman, Michael Rixon... who else? So, what's the FLO doing about this?
Vignette: "Out, out, vile responsibility!!!"