Template:Did you know nominations/Grouville Hoard

Grouville Hoard

 * ... that a huge hoard of Iron Age and Roman coins was found in Jersey in June 2012 after two metal detectorists spent a few hours a year for 30 years searching for a suspected hoard?
 * Reviewed: The Crown (hotel)

Created/expanded by BabelStone (talk). Self nom at 22:28, 1 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Symbol confirmed.svg size, date ok - hook sourced and interesting. good to go. Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:36, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Symbol question.svg QPQ is still pending; nomination approval withdrawn until it is completed. BlueMoonset (talk) 11:58, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * QPQ now completed. BabelStone (talk) 13:06, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg Reinstating Casliber's approval now that QPQ requirement is met. BlueMoonset (talk) 14:38, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: replacing the highly informal word "detectorists" with "detector users", which is more encyclopedic in tone. BlueMoonset (talk) 14:40, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I strongly disagree with this change, and have reverted "metal detector users" to "metal detectorists". "Metal detectorist" is not a "highly informal" or unencyclopedic term, but is the standard and by far the most widely used term for people who search for treasure with metal detectors.  Here on Wikipedia the term "metal detectorist" is used in dozens of articles, whereas the term "metal detector user" is only used in a single article.  WP:COMMONNAME should apply. BabelStone (talk) 21:14, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Then I strongly suggest you get some sort of definition link in there, as "metal detectorist" is not a term in common use in the population. Those online dictionaries I checked that had the term at all (Webster's did not) designated it as "informal". Even the metal detector article does not use the term in the section where the metal detectorist wikilink points (there are two uses in another section, not much help for the curious). I was trying not to add too many extra characters, but I'd frankly prefer "two people with metal detectors" over retaining "two metal detectorists", which adds nine characters for a new total of 187. There is no reason to use hobbyist or other specialist language when regular English is available. BlueMoonset (talk) 21:49, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Could it be an AmE/BrE variant? Personally, I prefer "users" — Crisco 1492 (talk) 05:49, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * To me "metal detector user" means someone using a metal detector for an unspecified purpose, whereas "metal detectorist" means someone using a metal detector specifically to search for treasure. I don't think it's a BrE/AmE thing, but maybe it's just that metal detectoring is a more popular hobby in the UK as there is lot more to find here.  I'm not particularly fond of the word myself, but my experience in writing a number of articles about hoards found by people using metal detectors is that "metal detectorist" is the term used to describe such people in the sources.  For example, this BBC article from yesterday says "The 50,000 coins, thought to be worth up to £200 each, were found by two metal detectorists last week".  If the term is good enough for the BBC then it should be acceptable on Wikipedia. BabelStone (talk) 07:30, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Valid point, although it would be preferable to keep variant-neutral language. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 07:55, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure why the term "metal detectorist" is proving to be so problematic. It certainly seems to be less common in US, but can be seen in US publications:
 * New York Times : "With evolving technology, metal-detector users said, their prospecting is precise and minimally intrusive ... With a small trowel or a digging knife, a detectorist can then find and carefully remove the object, they said, and then replace the soil and turf." (the term "metal-detector users" is prefered initially, but the previously introduced term "detectorist" is used where it would be awkward to repeat the longwinded "metal-detector user")
 * Washington Post : "While archaeologists in many countries, including the United States, disparage amateurs like Eveleigh, Britain embraces them. Last year alone, 4,300 metal detectorists reported tens of thousands of finds: Bronze Age axes, Roman brooches and hairpins, medieval candlesticks and swords, and thousands of other relics." (first occurence of "metal detectorists" in the article is in quotes, but the term is not avoided or replaced with an alternative American-friendly term). BabelStone (talk) 11:44, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Wow, I must admit I'd never seen the word before reviewing this article, but figured out what it meant straightaway. Given as it's a nice and succinct way of encapsulating what the two guys do, and more so than any existing term, and most importantly it is appearing in sources, I'm inclined to leave it as is (i.e. with "detectorists" in), though can see arguments both ways. Casliber (talk · contribs) 15:59, 6 July 2012 (UTC)