14th December 2005, 04:00 PM
Agree to everything said so far. Delegates on the NCMD are raising issues to promote change within the organisation. As Steve pointed out earlier, the NCMD represents detectorists who are members of the NCMD only, NOT the hobby as a whole.
The codes were brought out at a time when there was a need to show MD'ing was a hobby to be taken seriously. The NCMD code was revised in light of the changes to the Treasure Act, and is now under revision again. This time, the revision has been put together by the CBA, and if/when the whole document is accepted by the NCMD, it will become policy. Until then, we can only refer to what we have now.
One of the problems with codes like these is that they are merely guidlines. If they are to be enforced, then there must be some form of leverage which one can use to 'encourage' members to adhere to them. We (Metal Detecting) have no such leverage. As I have mentioned previously, being a hobby, there is no way that a hobby detectorist can be 'forced' to comply with a set of rules which have nothing to do with him/her.
How does the archaeological community enforce the Codes upon archaeologists? Indeed, can it 'enforce' these codes? If the power exists to 'force' these issues, then why, for example, can't this power be brought to bear upon those who would flout the HSE, as has been raised on another thread?
Many people in the detecting community would love to see a body that would speak for ALL detectorists. Steve-B has mentioned this also, but until there is some form of cohesion within detecting, that will be a long way off.
The codes were brought out at a time when there was a need to show MD'ing was a hobby to be taken seriously. The NCMD code was revised in light of the changes to the Treasure Act, and is now under revision again. This time, the revision has been put together by the CBA, and if/when the whole document is accepted by the NCMD, it will become policy. Until then, we can only refer to what we have now.
One of the problems with codes like these is that they are merely guidlines. If they are to be enforced, then there must be some form of leverage which one can use to 'encourage' members to adhere to them. We (Metal Detecting) have no such leverage. As I have mentioned previously, being a hobby, there is no way that a hobby detectorist can be 'forced' to comply with a set of rules which have nothing to do with him/her.
How does the archaeological community enforce the Codes upon archaeologists? Indeed, can it 'enforce' these codes? If the power exists to 'force' these issues, then why, for example, can't this power be brought to bear upon those who would flout the HSE, as has been raised on another thread?
Many people in the detecting community would love to see a body that would speak for ALL detectorists. Steve-B has mentioned this also, but until there is some form of cohesion within detecting, that will be a long way off.