Detectorists Label Conservation a 'Fascist' ideology

Detectorists getting confused

Detectorist John Howland apparently hates the notion of conservation which is apparently beyond his understanding ('Japanese Whalers on the march… Ecological Fascism – Stamp it out NOW! ' Detecting and Collecting.wordpress.com Posted on December 23, 2018). He starts off by referring to the PACHI blog:

It’s not often you’ll see a vote of thanks on here from me to an undistinguished anti-metal detecting heritologist, but, over on a certain pisspoor blog, its perpetrator details a petition Japanese whalers are formulating – much to the outrage of the usual suspects – is now gaining glorious momentum by the hour. To find out why some heritage halfwits are frothing at the gob, pop over to:-

https://www.change.org/p/scrap-anti-whaling-conventions-for-Japan/sign

and add your name in support of our Japanese colleagues trying to bring about an end to restrictions on their decimation of the marine mammal population and in improving conditions for their industry in a world where it is illegal for ship owners to go out and bloodily slaughter whales and calves metal in their marine backyard, with risk of a prison sentence if they do. This is an astonishing breech (sic) of freedom and Human Rights. If this kind of repression was aimed at the gay community, ethnic minorities, or say the disabled, there would rightly be uproar. It must stop…NOW!

Having just used the 'playing the victim' card to bolster the position of the exploiters, he continues with a group ad hom aimed at conservationists opposed to reckless and damaging exploitation:

This tyranny is ‘ecological narcissism’ incarnate and survives in conservation’s darker niches [...] 'Ecological Narcissism’  enjoys a hand-in-blouse relationship with ‘Ecological Elitism’– a form of Ecological Fascism. [...] A victory for our Japanese friends will not only advance civil freedoms but will also help further expose the cerebral dweorgs’ banal ersatz data that is… Ecological Fascism.

Remember, Conservation-averse artefact hunters  often  talk like idiots and cannot stop themselves from behaving like idiots. 

a few nasty individuals that can often ruin it for the rest.

From Facebook: (here)

Rodney Cook Memorial Charity Detecting Weekender4 października 2018
Before we move onto the finale of this years event, namely the presentation of the cheque, there is one outstanding issue that I would like to put to bed.....
There are some fantastic people in this hobby, and sadly, there are a few nasty individuals that can often ruin it for the rest....
Since the announcement of this charity rally, we have been constantly harassed by comments from a guy called Steve Taylor, some of you would have read his comments and indeed, I know that some of you didn’t attend because of them, so I’d just like to clarify a few of his comments with the facts....

In brief....
Steve Taylor initially claimed that he was pissed of because Gary had used their friendship to find permissions in his area....he initially stated that he had permission near Sisters Farm, which he later changed to having the permission next door, which ultimately became it was his farm and Gary stole it from him. - he also claimed that him and his friends had detected it a number of times but had found nothing but a few buttons...clearly designed to put people off.
Claims were also made that Gary used his sob story to get permissions and that most of the charity money would be pocketed by us. There were also a whole load of nasty and malicious comments made, some of the screenshots are below for those that want to read them.... but the bottom line is this.
Our club had the permission before Gary even met Steve Taylor. And none of the four landowners had ever heard of him, nor did they recognise his photo.
Interestingly, there were many, many hundreds of finds made across the whole site...hundreds of Roman coins and brooches...numerous Roman artefacts...3 x silver staters, 2 x bronze staters...Saxon button brooch, Viking stirrup mount...and a whole collection of medieval coins and artefacts....but very few buttons! So, make of that what you will...

Gary has personal permissions amounting to many thousands of acres, he doesn’t need to use Steve Taylor, nor ‘sob stories’ to gain any more....
Gary was subjected to a tirade of abuse and insults from Steve Taylor and his cronies, which were totally uncalled for, especially given that he had recently lost his dad.
Gary and his lovely wife Lisa worked tirelessly to organise this event, supported by our club, the Trowbridge & District MDC of whom I am proud to be Chairman.
We WILL be making this an annual event, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Oh, and the cheque for the Cancer Care Unit will be for £27,000!! All accounts are available for anyone that wants to see them.
And from us all, our huge and sincere thanks to all of you for your amazing support and for making it such a huge and successful event.
See you next year.....

The Full Facts
1. A few years ago, the Trowbridge & District MDC was introduced to the landowner of Sisters Farm via a mutual friend of one of our members. The farmers wife was raising money for charity, so with their permission, we held a club day on three of the fields which raised £800 for their charity. As a result, we were invited to go back any time we liked.
2. Shortly after, Gary Cook was at Detectival and met Steve Taylor for the first time. As a result, they did some detecting on each other’s permissions.
3. The TDMC held two more club days for charity in Wiltshire, Gary invited Steve Taylor along and he attended both.
4. Sadly, around that time Gary’s dad developed cancer and he tragically passed away sometime after.
5. Gary wanted to raise funds for the Bath Royal United Hospital Cancer Care Unit, who took care of his dad throughout.
6. We decided to hold the memorial rally, we explored a few options but because of the facilities, we decided to make sisters farm our plan A. Fortunately, the landowner was happy to support us.
7. Not only did he support us, he also approached his neighbours and in all, we had over 30 fields to detect on, owned by four separate landowners.
8. When Steve Taylor complained, we checked with all four landowners and three stated that no one had permission to detect on their land, the fourth had an ‘old chap’ that had done a bit of detecting in the past, but it wasn’t Steve Taylor. None of them recognised his photo either.
9. Steve Taylor’s claims were initially that he had permissions in the area, and that he didn’t want 350 ‘knuckle dragging morons’ descending onto his area...mainly because 50% of detectorists are night hawks that would use the rally as a cover to visit the surrounding area at night....yep, he really said that....
10. That swiftly changed to it being his farm and as proof he posted a handwritten agreement, with sister farm mention, but the agreement wasn’t signed nor dated! Seriously!
Unfortunately, this nasty and vindictive individual tried to ruin what was a noble cause. He failed. He has stated that he will be taking us and the landowner to court. I hope he has very deep pockets.
Our huge and sincere thanks to you all for your amazing support and for making it such a huge and successful event.
See you next year....

UK Metal Detecting Blogs

With some 27000 of them in England and wales alone, according to Sam Hardy, it is interesting to note how few metal detector using artefact hunters ('passionately interested in history') are actually blogging about that passion. Seeing as their discussions on forums demonstrate that few of them can  cope with texts longer than seven sentences anyway, perhaps that is not surprising. If anyone would like me to add any they know of, please comment.

Addicted to Bleeps (discontinued?) Kris Rodgers

Andy's treasure hunting cafe and metal detecting blog Andy Baines

Aurelia's Metal Detecting, One Woman and her Deus

Detecting and Collecting John Howland

Digging History/Detecting Blackpool (Discontinued)

Janner53`s Metal Detecting Blog (invited readers only)

John Brassey Notes from Retirement

John Winter John Winter

The Daily Detectorist (discontinued)

The Detectorist Metal Detector Reviews Site

The Ogley Dirt Farmer wozelbeak, 

 

Discussing Erosion of Archaeological Information by Artefact Hunting

Responsible detectorists apparently want to help preserve historical sites, not this one though, he just wants to protect the hobby, does not care a tinkers about the scale of the erosion it is causing:

Kismet, Hardy, et al.  Posted on July 12, 2018 by John Howland

Oh, how I’m loving this. It’s truly gratifying, heart-warming even, for an old sceptic like me, watching the anti-detecting brigade’s  turd polishers in full panic mode. Here they are rushing about  like headless chickens  trying to burnish both the heavily tarnished ersatz data that is Heritage Action’s widely censured ‘Artefact Erosion Counter,’ and Dr Sam Hardy’s laughable, academically slammed, anti-metal detecting research Paper.  The  fox of truth is running wild in the  henhouse of bullshit.
Their collective eleventh-hour, face-saving attempts to pump any semblance of accuracy – or life even –  into the corpse of their aggressive, cock-and-bull, detecting-averse narrative is NOT of Lazarus proportions.  Their long-overdue humiliation is utterly enjoyable to watch. Their smears, propaganda, false data, and fake news, have all been spectacularly exposed.
Samples of their  turd polishing twaddle is freely available. A trip to the undistinguished Paul Barford’s  blog for example, or to the fatuous Heritage Journal’s is illuminating.  Both are pedestrian at best;  relying on  teenage angst [“it’s  soooo unfair”] in reply to critics; heavy on evangelism; and disingenuous in content. Their stab at fumigating  their matinée idol’s flawed research Paper – following its critical mauling at the hands of an internationally renowned team of distinguished heritage professionals – ain’t making it.
Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. Large ones all round.

Hedge Fodder Among Artefact Collectors

The childlike John Winter is complaining because not all of the comments on his "metal detecting glossary" are pats on the back.

John 20th May 2018 at 7:31 PM

I’m been (sic) inundated with comments from Barford … must investigate ways to delete him as a subscriber …

"Inundated", TWO posts? That's a little bit of an exaggeration innit, M8? So, how do you stop people who do not agree with all you say reading your blog John? Make it invited visitors only, that's how. Like most metal detecting forums, which are rigged that way so the stakeholders (public) cannot see what  members are up to and saying.

Really John, you can keep your readers in the dark by deleting substantive comments and playing the victim, but one day the bright ones will find you out.