As we have seen, British metal detecting groups, aware they have a lot to hide, don't like non artefact hunters looking over their shoulders, so they try and detect and block as many as they can. Most recently Fen Diggers Private Facebook Group.
So if you want to see what is happening to the British archaeological heritage by doing netnographic research for yourself, you might need professional help to get inside undetected (which has ethical issues attached too), but if that's not available you can just try to blend in. Here are some tips on how to become and stay a participant observing what goes on in a closed access UK metal detecting group (which of course from an academic point of view involves ethical issues if you intend to use the results in research).
1) If you are based in the EU, you'll stand out like a sore thumb, get a proxy server that shows as UK-based.
2) Since these forums do not use real names, you need not bother setting up a false identity like the more sophisticated bots. Have a look at the members list of some British forums to see the ways these online-names are chosen. DiggerBaz, Black Jack, Monkeybreath, Alanlad, DennysDad, SteeltoeJim are some good examples. DO NOT USE CAPITALS in the name.
3) You need an avatar picture. Some tekkies use a good coin they (wish they had) found, or a picture of their nine year old daughter for some reason. Others use the English flag. It seems group moderators increasingly want to see faces. So what I suggest doing is going to You Tube and looking up Polish off-roader films (or something equally environmentally destructive) and you'll find some suitable faces in outdoor gear. Crop a suitable screenshot. They can't be spotted through image search, and the actual person depicted is unlikely ever to get into a members only metal detecting forum to find out, but you can use simple image processing software to change them anyway.
4) If you are female, pretend to be a man. It'll be easier.
5) Then you need something ("finds") to write about. There is a problem here because you really should not be buying stuff on eBay to use in your posts. I suggest going to a tip or landfill and looking on the road (ask permission), where you'll find all sorts of dropped corroded metal bits lying around, pick some that look like "something really old", and voilà.
6) Then register.
7) You need to make some posts now. You might try the "new members introduce yourself" section, but be aware that you might be asked some questions, so inventiveness might be needed so as not to give yourself away.
8) You can make a post on "last weekend's finds" (showing the bits you picked up at the tip) asking what members think, is there anything here worth keeping (DO NOT ask if it is "worth recording with the PAS"). When members tell you it's a load of crap, thank them profusely and express gratitude that you have the opportunity to learn so much from them. End with a smiley (or applause) emoticon.
9) Bear in mind that on these forums, there is always a huge amount of content that consists of copying the entire previous post and answering underneath it "I agree with Baz" (or whoever). DO NOT say "I can't agree with Baz" as that will immediately alienate you. You can also get away with answering with just an emoticon [as above], or a string of two-to five different ones, if it is responding to anything about what a critical archaeologist says, use 'Mr Angry' emoticons, the redder the better. British metal detectorists tend to be spare with words.
10) Note that a dead giveaway is writing any content at all that is more than eight sentences long. Don't do it. From what you will see, it is easy to get the impression that the average metal detectorist seems unable to read /write more in one go. Sentences must be short and simple in structure, with a maximum of two clauses. Be sparing with words of more than three syllables.
11) To do this properly, you have to imagine that you spent most of your school years staring out of the window not listening; write as if you have limited grasp of the grammar of your native language. Try to use the word "of" instead of "have" frequently. Plurals are made with apostrophes. Write incomplete sentences in a stream-of-consciousness style. You should not betray knowledge of any punctuation marks apart from full stops, question and exclamation marks and commas. Be aware how they are used. Full stops are only used to end every fourth sentence, the rest are run-ons. Commas are used sparingly. Exclamation marks are used for emphasis and question marks can go at the end of statements instead of a full stop. Spelling is entirely optional and gut-feeling-phonetic. Do not use a spell checker.
12) Do not mention the PAS or reveal you know the FLO. The majority of metal detectorists avoid them. Forget promoting responsible behaviour in anything you write, they will not thank you for those comments and will delete your account very soon afterwards.
If you follow these tongue-in-cheek guidelines, you should be able to blend in and could very well survive the purging of the membership of these secretive organisations long enough to get a good idea of what actually goes on in the metal detecting community. If "metal detectorists" were actually what they all insist they are, they would operate open forums that support a variety of views on how the archaeological heritage should be treated, and there would be no need for an observer genuinely interested in learning the realities to go through this sort of charade .
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