"DON'T BE A FAKER,
KEEP IT REAL"

I know everyone watches YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels or Facebook live videos. Or everyone sees all the amazing finds that people in our hobby post they have dug up. From coins, relics, to bottles and even native artifacts like arrowheads. I know you may get caught up in the excitement as you see people's reactions, see the comments, the likes, praise and being glorified for digging up/finding something so amazing, awesome, rare or unique!

You might have some of these thoughts even cross your mind!......

"MAN, I WISH I COULD DIG SOMETHING LIKE THAT" or

"MAN, I WISH I WAS THAT PERSON!" or

"MAN, I BET I CAN BUY SOMETHING, BURY IT AND THEN PRETEND TO DIG IT UP SO I TOO CAN GET ALL THIS FAME AND ATTENTION!" 

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If you have, there is NOTHING wrong with having a brief bad thought and thinking of something like these examples. The problem comes when your thought becomes an action that you did not have the self-discipline to overcome the desire to be noticed only to get attention. When your mind is thinking about chasing "fame and glory" outweighs your integrity, honesty and character so much to feel the need to purchase something to plant so you can video it being found, then you have a serious mental problem. This includes "natural digging events" that buy items to be planted and they advertise it as a natural hunt/virgin site etc... 

You have a lot of veterans in metal detecting, bottle hunting and native American hunting. It doesn't take much to spot a faker. It doesn't take a lot to find an item on the internet that was for sale, bought and resurfaced as a find. Each item is like a fingerprint. Each has their own identifying lines, marks, scraps and can be matched up with a fake find. We have a lot of good detectives out there that will call you out in a heartbeat if they can prove you to be a faker. Word travels fast too, especially when you post on many pages acting like you just found (BOUGHT) the find of a lifetime. 

 

Bottom line is, your 5 seconds of fame will be short lived, and you will be shunned, banned, blocked from most honest people and respected pages that will take action of a fake find poster. They will delete the find and block/ban you. They will also go as far as to post it on other pages to warn them of your deceitfulness. You will have some supporters. They will be those that do not know the difference between a NON-DUG or DUG item. 

As in ANYTHING in your life. It is always wise to educate yourself. If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is in fact "TO GOOD TO BE TRUE"  

It is NOT worth the "BLACK BALL" title in an amazing hobby.