"Metal Detecting is the Worst Hobby Ever"

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
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Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I've seen this article before. Hopefully it discourages some of the would be competition.
luvsdux
 

worldtalker

Gold Member
May 11, 2011
21,047
29,122
Western Mass.
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Well.........looks like that will leave more for you now doesn't it!:laughing7:

GOD Bless

Chris
 

BryanM362

Hero Member
Mar 22, 2013
870
426
Cincinnati, OH
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-Trac with Sun Ray probe, Garrett AT Pro, White's Classic SL, Garret Pro-pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It's like she took the worst aspects of the hobby and exagerated them for sake of a story. It also sounds like she wasn't smart enough to figure out how to use a Bounty Hunter!
 

thumper

Full Member
Nov 25, 2005
158
64
clifton forge virginia
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radioshack discovery 2000
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All Treasure Hunting
Maybe she could tag along with the diggers crew..then she could find a lot and do cartwheels for her daughter and make her proud.
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
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Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
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She just doesn't get it. Probably never felt good at finding a four leaf clover either.
 

PullTabPete

Hero Member
Jun 14, 2012
785
778
Michigan
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1
Detector(s) used
Excal II E-trac EQ 800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Good riddance lady. You won't be missed.
 

mitchellf

Jr. Member
Apr 11, 2014
41
3
PA
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT-Pro
Garrett Pro-pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Worse than the moms in the show"Dance Moms" (my sisters force that to be what the family watches when we eat dinner)


Woman is a loser. She is a horrible journalist, and might be a loser purely because she hates her job or knows she should have picked something that she was good at. Wouldn't be surprised.
 

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worldtalker

Gold Member
May 11, 2011
21,047
29,122
Western Mass.
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Worse than the moms in the show"Dance Moms" (my sisters force that to be what the family watches when we eat dinner)


Woman is a loser. She is a horrible journalist, and might be a loser purely because she hates her job or knows she should have picked something that she was good at. Wouldn't be surprised.

Her nose???:laughing7:
 

BamaBill

Hero Member
Nov 8, 2006
686
16
N. Alabama
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Minelab X-terra 70, AT Pro, Tesoro Tejon, ML X-terra 50
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Re: Worst Hobby

Most people just don't get it. The dealers sell so many metal detectors because of the idea that you're going to get rich doing this. We all know that's why there are so many closet queen detectors out there. Those of us that stay with it, got into it for other reasons and apparently this journalist never stopped to ask any insightful questions that would reveal what the real rewards are from this hobby. As you guys pointed out, it just helps to cut down on the competition.
 

BryanM362

Hero Member
Mar 22, 2013
870
426
Cincinnati, OH
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1
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E-Trac with Sun Ray probe, Garrett AT Pro, White's Classic SL, Garret Pro-pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Maybe she could tag along with the diggers crew..then she could find a lot and do cartwheels for her daughter and make her proud.

I think you meant, "find very little and do cartwheels!" :)
 

Dr_Dig

Greenie
May 8, 2014
12
6
Maryland
Detector(s) used
Garrett ACE 350
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Pretty basic information to me. Maybe someone should share with her a bit of common sense. It is not likely that you are going to get rich, or find some ultra unique piece of metal/jewelry by metal detecting.....particularly on the first few times that you go out.......especially when you don't know not a darn thing about detecting; it that were the case then everyone and their mother would do it....the world would be comprised of nothing but rich people and the metal detector manufactures would charge through the nose for the device.

Most people, I suspect, at least I, do it because it is fun....its the thrill of the hunt..... and are unlike the characterization made of your typical "detectorist" by this nincompoop; I'm in my 40', I am a former college athlete, I am in excellent shape, and I do not expect my body - let alone my legs - to atrophy for another 40 years at the earliest.

Oh, and by the way, my kid asked for a iPhone when he was 7 because he saw a kid on TV with one.......did I buy him one? HELL NO, it is called parenting lady........maybe you should have known that there aren't many 7 year old detectorist out there or better yet maybe you should have planted some goodies in the back yard to let your little girl discover them and get a thrill of a lifetime......after all the is what childhood is supposed to be about:icon_scratch::icon_scratch:?
 

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Deedeemacaw

Tenderfoot
May 16, 2014
5
15
West Virginia
Detector(s) used
AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I read this article and I just want to put in my 2 cents worth. I have only been detecting for 3 weeks. I have the AT Pro and I bought my husband the Ace 350. I am 66 yrs old and retired in March. My husband in 74. She is wrong in the article, it is great exercise. I haven't found much yet , but oh what fun looking. I was so excited this weekend when I found my first penny. I also found a hotwheel truck. Its not what you find. Its the fun and excitement of the hunt. I will continue every chance I get. Love at first dig... By the way I am accurate on my "2 cents worth" because that is the amount of coins I have found so far. On to the next hole, more treasure awaits.LOL
 

Msbeepbeep

Gold Member
Jun 24, 2012
15,787
24,131
MA
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M-6, pro pointer, pistol probe
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Pretty basic information to me. Maybe someone should share with her a bit of common sense. It is not likely that you are going to get rich, or find some ultra unique piece of metal/jewelry by metal detecting.....particularly on the first few times that you go out.......especially when you don't know not a darn thing about detecting; it that were the case then everyone and their mother would do it....the world would be comprised of nothing but rich people and the metal detector manufactures would charge through the nose for the device.

Most people, I suspect, at least I, do it because it is fun....its the thrill of the hunt..... and are unlike the characterization made of your typical "detectorist" by this nincompoop; I'm in my 40', I am a former college athlete, I am in excellent shape, and I do not expect my body - let alone my legs - to atrophy for another 40 years at the earliest.

Oh, and by the way, my kid asked for a iPhone when he was 7 because he saw a kid on TV with one.......did I buy him one? HELL NO, it is called parenting lady........maybe you should have known that there aren't many 7 year old detectorist out there or better yet maybe you should have planted some goodies in the back yard to let your little girl discover them and get a thrill of a lifetime......after all the is what childhood is supposed to be about:icon_scratch::icon_scratch:?

You could give her all the common sense you wanted to, but there's nothing up there to hold it in! The term arrogant prude comes to mind.
I have never seen a person so hell bent on trying to verbally annihilate something she obliviously doesn't understand.
It seemed to scare the bee gee's out of her that she actually thought she had a longing to explore and discover the hidden , to have a passion about it. Additive personality disorder perhaps.

It just blows me away that a person with so much negativity writes for a living, scary! Over kill on the loathing and maligning!!!
Wonder what she did with the poor bounty hunter?
 

Another.hole

Greenie
Aug 28, 2012
12
10
Miami, FL
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, E-Trac, Nautilus, Quatro
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
WOW what a read. Emily Yoffe's article begins with her sophisticated self and husband running up the East Coast HWY to Maine and then just causes you to nod off. She has a sentence at the beginning, "It's true that I had come to think of metal detecting as the world's worst hobby—frustrating, solipsistic, potentially felonious". How long was she waiting to find a use for the word SOLIPSISTIC? LOL Truth is it isn't for everybody. So please mail me your detector Emily. I will try to get some kids active at church with it and if one of them actually shows an interest I will pass it on and tell him to write you a thank you letter.

So after reading Emily's article I now realize I will have to push my plans to retire back. I wasted my 401k on this old metal detector just waiting for it to payoff. LOL! I'm kidding. I don't think many if any Diggers have ideas of grandeur about finding that big cache, and if you do then hang on to the dream. Its always nice to have dreams. I think most of use do it in hopes of retrieving something from the past but reality is we dig much more junk than we ever find that's good. So why do we do it, because none of use know how to sit still and relax, we find our relaxation digging holes and hanging out with other diggers. Meeting up for breakfast, going to competitions to see who can dig the most holes and pull out the best finds and best of all, showing off whatever crap we pull out of the ground that day. Once in a while each of us finds something that we think is pretty cool and we push on to the next beep.

So keep digging.

Em, if you ever find this article, What you wrote was pretty humorous in some places. Metal detecting is the world's worst hobby.
 

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Meadow

Full Member
May 27, 2014
214
250
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Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm still trying to figure out what that solipsistic (a metaphysical theory in philosophy that states that nothing exists or is known outside of one's own mind) is doing in there. Perhaps it has some sort of ironic meaning, given that the hilarity of her writing exists only in her own mind.

Yeah, okeydokey, metal detecting is boring but it's a funny coincidence that she should bring this up because I find badly written articles that lack any research and which take a smarmy, sneering tone of superiority and belittlement, all under the guise of humor, to be boring.

She found it the worst hobby ever, and thus pronounced it to be so, without bothering to ask why there are many people out there who enjoy it and have done so for decades, or what they might be getting from it. In short, she has the temperament of a self-absorbed, spoiled brat.
 

OP
OP
BuckleBoy

BuckleBoy

Gold Member
Jun 12, 2006
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I'm still trying to figure out what that solipsistic (a metaphysical theory in philosophy that states that nothing exists or is known outside of one's own mind) is doing in there. Perhaps it has some sort of ironic meaning, given that the hilarity of her writing exists only in her own mind.

Yeah, okeydokey, metal detecting is boring but it's a funny coincidence that she should bring this up because I find badly written articles that lack any research and which take a smarmy, sneering tone of superiority and belittlement, all under the guise of humor, to be boring.

She found it the worst hobby ever, and thus pronounced it to be so, without bothering to ask why there are many people out there who enjoy it and have done so for decades, or what they might be getting from it. In short, she has the temperament of a self-absorbed, spoiled brat.

You absolutely hit this on the head. I didn't have the words to describe what I was thinking as I read this horrid excuse for journalism, but you found the words!

Cheers,

Buck
 

VERDE

Bronze Member
Jun 6, 2013
1,293
712
Louisiana
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AT Pro
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All Treasure Hunting
Hey Buck!! Sounds as if she has been Married too long!! He He!! GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!
 

Msbeepbeep

Gold Member
Jun 24, 2012
15,787
24,131
MA
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M-6, pro pointer, pistol probe
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She probably has! I just loved the part where she called us "monkey pox infected prairie dogs"! She'll be getting a letter from the animal rights activists! :laughing7:
 

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