Detecting ,the Internet and the new Minelab Explorer

Being a very keen detectorist and also very keen on surfing the Internet I decided two years ago to link the two together and start a metal detecting forum for like minded people. I had visited several different sites previously but found them all a bit lacking in content and visitors who were as keen as I was.
Having just recently purchased one of the new Minelab Explorers when they were first introduced early in 2000 I decided to aim the forum at all Minelab owners and potential owners of these fine machines. Having previously been a member of a free to anyone forum run by Fid on a community zero hosted site I decided to go the same way and started my new forum and based it on communities also. These are free to anyone web sites, aimed primarily at groups and individuals to use as a meeting place.
The response to this was nothing short of phenomenal. The Minelab Explorer was gaining in popularity as each month went by and new owners were coming to the site in ever increasing numbers looking for information from other users on the best way to use and set up their new machine. Others were visiting the site because they were thinking of purchasing this new machine and wanted other owners views on how it performed before they decided to purchase also. We were gaining members at the rate of dozens every week to start with. Not only were they coming from all over the UK but we started getting visits from detectorists overseas, America, Canada, France, Germany even as far afield as Russia and Australia. People were coming to the site and posting pictures of their finds. Some were using our image gallery to request information on what they had found, newcomers to the hobby obviously wanting information again from the more experienced detectorists who regularly visit most nights and leave their comments and suggestions. All this activity spurred more people into visiting the site, we became a place where all detectorists could come and visit for help and advice, not only Minelab owners. Over the last two years a lot of these people have decided also to splash out on an Explorer after reading of some of the terrific finds our members had been making. We decided amongst ourselves that during 2001 we would spread our activities further than the Net and organised our first ever Rally. I was lucky enough to acquire the use of some 400 acres of grassland on a Dairy farm in Wiltshire. 50 members subsequently attended on a wet summer's weekend and had a whale of a time. Finds proved to be few and far between as it happened. We learnt later that a rally had already been held on some of the land a few years earlier. We camped and hastily gathered wood for a bonfire to sit round on the Saturday night. After the Barbi the beer flowed and a good time was had by all. These were people from as far a field as Scotland and the north of England joining up with others from Wales and England, most of us had never met personally before other than chatting most nights online. New friendships were made that weekend by many.

It is now two years since that online community was started by just a few keen individuals. Today our membership has hit seven hundred. Not all of these visit regularly. We have come to the point now where by the third week in every month we use up our allotted 30,000 free page views and 5mb of Images storage space and communities shuts us down until the first of the next month. This was clearly unacceptable so a couple of us Gary Brun from Norway and myself decided we had to start again and make our own website. Gluttons for punishment as we are, and still very keen Minelab Explorer owners we decided to buy the domain name ourselves www.minelabowners.com Several hundred pounds lighter out of our own pockets (mostly Gary's) and a lot of hard work later we have up and running an amazing new site that is loaded with Tips and ideas on all manner of detecting topics. Not only Minelab related but of interest to everybody. We have now organised what is going to be the first ever Metal detecting rally ever held in Norway. This is going to take place on four farms owned by friends of Gary near his home south of Oslo. We are planning a trip also while there to the Viking museum and other historical sites. One of our first firm bookings came in from a North Carolina based ex pat called Dave. Members are currently trawling the net for cheap flights from the likes of Ryanair. We all intend to muck in and camp and Barbi again to keep the costs down in what can be a very expensive country. Any body interested in this trip its taking place from the 1st of August this year.
One of our biggest problems now is how to keep the new site funded as we gain popularity. During the first two weeks we were live on the net we had according to our site statistics over 5000 visitors to the site. Clearly we can't keep digging in to our own pockets to provide this new meeting place for all and sundry to visit for free. Initially we thought that regular visitors might like to contribute a small amount each to help us pay to put up new features for everybody to use. This has not been as forthcoming as we had intended, I suppose for obvious reasons, why pay for my fun when some other idiot will. The other alternative is to seek advertising sponsorship from dealers and others related to the hobby. We are trying to make this site as Interactive as possible. This was the one thing that made the earlier site so successful and popular with everyone. The last thing we haven't wanted to do was to go cap in hand to Minelab themselves as we wish this new venture to remain a club for members and their views, likes and dislikes and somewhere to praise or find fault with their machine whatever model or make.
We have lots of new ideas to come such as streaming video, better chat room, a who's online feature so that members actually know who is available in the forum to chat and message. As I write this I have just heard that detecnicks my local store in the south has purchased for us a huge new Image gallery where members can store their own photo albums of finds and show to others. Our very first sponsor, many thanks to the two Nicks for that. On top of all this we are planning a number of small rallies around the country so that our members wherever they live can get together and meet up, many for the first time after communicating on the net nightly in some cases for several months.
Other ideas we have and would like to implement very soon are groups of members in other countries linked to us, such as in the USA and Norway for Instance where one or two members could organise and send out a monthly or quarterly news letter about activities going on in their part of the world that their fellow countrymen might be interested in. We are also having made a cloth Minelabowners club badge made for fellow members to identify each other by at rallies and meets.

So after all this, what power the Internet? I feel personally that the Internet has contributed in a very large way to the popularity of Minelabs new Explorer. This model was introduced at a time when the Internet was gaining more and more popularity with people around the world. There are metal detectings forums in all western countries as well as places such as Russia and Australia to name a few.
The Internet has I feel contributed a great deal to our hobby and to lasting friendships amongst other like minded people around the world. If you would like to join us and become addicted to this new branch of the hobby come visit at www.minelabowners.com