I take it you consider yourself one of the 'clever', and certainly not one of the 'foolish'. Hot damn, you
are good.
Don't see you post anything though. too smart for that, someone might track your site from the patina. HH.
Yes, my post was in poor form and I won't conduct myself similarly if a future opportunity presents itself. At the time I was reeling from a loss somewhere along the shipping-service chain of a 3K+ out-of-pocket shipment of very lucrative material from an overseas supplier, and had a few too many brews to drink in response. Already in a disgruntled state to begin with (seeing how the supplier was being eminently uncooperative), plus the disinhibition due to drunkenness, I reacted rather uncharitably when presented with: "Here's X, Y, and Z info (items required to triangulate the location of my site), but I'm not telling a soul about it!"
No, I don't post my finds here, but that is because my overwhelmingly preferred quarry is antique bottles and stoneware residing within old dumps on city/state land, and by showing the finds the truly clever old diggers out there could determine more-or-less where I'm digging rather accurately; down to the neighborhood in many cases. The different soil conditions or chemicals present can significantly alter the glass just as they do metal (albeit in different ways), and with a few key noted observations regarding the finds alone the experienced oldtimers can narrow down the possible sources significantly. With a few slips of the tongue or casual references to cardinal directions, hills, trees, railroad grades or other illustrative descriptors meaningless to the uninitiated, one might as well have given the sharks GPS coordinates to the precise spot. In some instances; such as digging in smaller towns, all a lurker needs to know is the fact that someone found an accessible spot there which is producing good stuff and they'll be motivated to comb through the trademark locations for old rubbish deposits and likely find the spot in no time. It's one thing to detect public parks or other areas which anyone else can conduct the same research on, and entirely another to expend the blood and sweat actively hoofing it in search of goldmine virgin dumpsites for which no surviving records exist. Likewise; it's one thing for someone to snake your juicy public park, and entirely another for someone to snake the secret dump you worked so hard to locate. Detecting has only distant secondary appeal when I can go to a tried-and-true spot which consistently produces 3 and even the occasional lower 4-figure finds. In Illinois, where early 19th century sites are a rare treat and anything earlier practically unheard-of, "bottle digging" is overwhelmingly more productive for those seeking good finds than it is for detectorists seeking cobs or Massachusetts silver, and arguably more cutthroat and devastating in terms of snakeage. A spot may never be truly "hunted out" in the context of detecting, and the snakes are necessarily limited by the capabilities of their machines so they won't ever totally clean out someone's site, but a bottle dump is an extremely concentrated deposit of finds with distinct boundaries and can most certainly get torn to shreds and cleaned-out rather quickly by motivated diggers.
Anyway, if a person values their detecting spots they should be very hush-hush about the details. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for someone to "stalk" a detectorist who talks/boasts too openly about their cornucopia of finds by following them the old fashioned way, or by hiding a GPS tracking unit under their car or something. If you have an amazing spot, keep quiet until you're satisfied you've tapped it out, or if you must share the finds, be sure not to share anything else. There are so many lurkers here just waiting to jump a claim that it isn't funny. As an exercise I've located peoples' bottle digging spots based entirely on the finds alone, and when they offer a few descriptors it becomes that much easier. Same with a few detecting spots, but as stated I'm geared more towards glass. That said, I have never ever even touched these spots; the most I've done is contact them and suggest that they be more careful regarding presentation of finds and information disclosure. I find my own spots the hard way and have no patience for those lacking suitable ethics. I've been mighty tempted in the past (one fellow was digging a town dump loaded with stenciled jugs, rare sodas/beers, and emerald and cobalt druggists and I was able to pinpoint it precisely) but in order to maintain personal dignity and self respect I stick to my code. Many are similar in this respect, but there are plenty of cretins out there who are morally stunted and generally detestable greedy little thieves who actively prey upon the hard work of others and relish the opportunity to hijack their honeyholes. Be careful and your spots will be safe.
Sending the advice via PM would have been proper. Too many people act before they think.
(and many more think they are really smart) Best wishes TK
Yes, a PM would've been ideal, but didn't consider it due to my frustration with the business transaction. I was angry in general and lashed out needlessly, which was wrong and directed towards the utterly innocent. I apologize for my indiscretion. Your insinuation regarding my self-perceived intellect, however, is absolutely inane when juxtaposed with the facts: On every single academic aptitude test administered, up to and including the ACT, my ranking was invariably 99th percentile, and with all of them combined the total time spent studying or preparing was 0 seconds. I've always taken pride in my own and others'
innate abilities, and thus considered the mere idea of preparation tantamount to cheating because the results would be skewed by rote-memorized information irrelevant to the measurement of raw native intelligence and ability. The ACT score received for the extemporaneous performance on the morning of my 17th birthday (I was decidedly displeased with this scheduling) was superior to that of the valedictorian of my private high-school class, and he had studied hard for 6 weeks straight, lol. In 7th grade, my parents made me take the ACT (had no idea what was going on) and I still scored several points higher than the average scores of incoming freshmen at UIUC, where I later attended. If we are talking IQ, you'll need a group far larger than 100 and I'd still rank at the very top. It's not a matter of "thinking" I'm very smart; the fact is that
I am. Your petty attempt at public shaming might work on most people here, but not this guy. Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are plenty of intelligent people out there besides yourself, and some of them leave the likes of you eating their intellectual dust.
