This sense of "protecting the places"...

[Ojay]

I couldn't get the 747 out of Cranewank sadly, it would've otherwise made a decent garden feature

 

[Wastelandr]

I some times take things, but it's situtional, I don't explore homes often, feels strange to me routing through personal things, even if they are dead or moved on, just not my thing but if I do I'll 100% not take anything.
I enjoy underground stuff, military stuff and any old engineering like trains and such, in these places I never take anything that I would consider an artifact, but every mine/cave I do I always take some pretty rock back with me ( got a fucking house full of rocks and fossils )
On military sites or old egineering sites,if I happen upon an old bullet or interesting bit of iron/bolt/pin that is in some undergrowth or to the wayside, and it not bolted/fixed into place I don't feel bad taking it.

Old bullet casings are one of my few things. I do the 'one hand clutch' method where if I encounter anyone I can just drop it by my side 😂

 

[Ojay]

Old bullet casings are one of my few things. I do the 'one hand clutch' method where if I encounter anyone I can just drop it by my side 😂

Try doing that with a unicorn

 

[Wevsky]

Yoink!!!

 

[AlternativeAdventuring]

I personally wouldn't take anything as that to me, is wrong and classes as theft. I would also be concerned about being caught doing this.

I do really understand why people do take stuff though. What is the point in leaving something that is going to become rubble and forgotten, when if taken the item gets to live on. I think there is actually something quite beautiful in that, I just wouldn't do it myself.

My issue is that if you start creating arguments that it is okay sometimes, you blur the line more. And this concerns me as I feel it could give people who take things for the wrong reasons and personal gain, i.e. to sell on etc. an excuse to justify their actions.

I guess for me, I would never knock anyone for taking anything if they felt really strongly about preserving the history or the item. But I worry that if we normalise it being okay too much, it gives a platform for those who take for the "wrong" reasons to defend themselves for selling things on for self profit which I really don't agree with. Self profit is absolutely far more acceptable in dire situations of course especially in current times economically, but it's those who go with intent to cause disruption, mainly in places that actually are not abandoned, that I have the problem with.

It's a tricky debate to have in the community but I don't really see the harm on the whole. If you are happy to take something and accept that if caught there could be consequences and you are doing it for the right reasons then there is no harm in it I suppose?

 

[Squirrell 911]

If i can lift it, I will shift it. Yoinks ahoy.

 

[Speed]

I think half the problem is I cant even come up with a personal set of 'rules' to work by that make sense in all situations. It always comes down the weighing up the specifics of the specific situation.

Whether someone's selling stuff or not isn't the be all and end all for me. You can only have so much stuff in your life . Should you leave something important behind just because you personally don't need/want/have space for it?? No! save it and pass it on! An items value is just a measure of how much other people want it so if its valuable thats even more reason to save it for someone! Are people actually doing any harm saving shit other people have discarded from derps and then using it to pay for their exploring fuel money or whatever? Its not really an issue for me IF the item is discarded and not going to be missed. Alot of the time its the sale value of an item thats encouraging people to even bother picking stuff up and its probably the primary reason important stuff gets saved in the first place. Most people don't pick stuff up because they care about it, its because they think someone else will care enough to part with cash.. I don't want to be arguing against that because i don't want to argue against the primary reason for cool stuff being saved from destruction!

Its more about the situation the item is in than what's going to happen to it most of the time. I think the only thing i categorically don't agree with is taking things and then not looking after them/simply destroying things. Weighing in stuff thats too nice the weigh in just because you're a thick/greedy copper pikey for example. I've know a few explorers to take very nice stuff from derps only for me to enquire about it a few years later and be told it essentially went in the bin because they got bored of owning it.. I mean what happened to all the shit Rooks nicked over the years?? Probably all in landfill!

The more you think about it the more it just comes down the weighing up the unique set of circumstances each situation brings. I remember the girl getting caught with a book at that 'bull manor' a few years ago. Owner pressed charges, clearly wasnt happy with explorers being around let alone taking things but do i think the girl did wrong?? Hell no! The guy who owned the place had let the building and all its contents go to ruin. He deserved the hassle from the tourbus for that alone and all the stuff in there deserved to be saved rather then being left to rot. Couldn't give a shit about the guy tbh! In the same vein tho we all know people are having their still warm dead relatives houses looted on a regular basis, its a completely different situation.

Another one that comes to mind is the treasure room at Springfield.. The hospital has a collection of historic old stuff. Some quite valuable. Hospital closes and it all gets gathered together in a locked room (almost cirtainly for a reason!) Explorers break into locked room and loot it all anyway! Pretty cuntish if you ask me, but then again fairly inevitable so does pre-empting the inevitable make it ok? Its back to the padded cell argument. Its going to get nicked so is it better for you to be the one nicking it because then you know it will get treated properly..? Theres arguments to take stuff simply the save stuff from other 'explorers'!!!

 

[TheTimeChamber]

Take only a dump on the floor, leave only the paper you wiped your arse with is my only code.

Personally, I wouldn’t rinse a place for loads items as that’s just looting. Trinkets, maybe

 

[KPUrban_]

If it isn't bolted down to the ground, it's gone.

 

[CantClimbTom]

Wha??? Did you guys not have to hold your hand in the secret salute while reciting the promise, then take the solemn urbex oath?
You've got to be joking right? It almost sounds like some of you aren't union members.

 

[Shaun]

There's a few points to make.

1. Our government has been taking historical artifacts from around the world in far worse circumstances than most explorers ever would so it's rich that if you judge on someone taking an article from a derelict buildings surely you should show the same distaste for many of our national museums.

2. Most of the tat is left in an unsecured derelict building because the original owner doesn't give a shit about it, surely saving an article is better than letting it get smashed up?

3. Some might disagree but if you take an item for resale that is morally wrong because you clearly don't give a shit about it either.

4. If you take anything from a derelict residential property you're a cunt of the highest degree because chance are the tat will have sentimental value to someone. Shouldn't really be in there in the first place but that's a topic for another day and I'd be a hypocrite because we all start somewhere.

You've got to remember alot of the land owners would burn the derelict building to get rid of the listing as soon as legally possible is a prime example, st Joe's is a big example of that.

 

[Parky]

only took a few souvenirs from culverts amazing what shit u find down there

 

[Oxygen Thief]

2. Most of the tat is left in an unsecured derelict building because the original owner doesn't give a shit about it, surely saving an article is better than letting it get smashed up?

3. Some might disagree but if you take an item for resale that is morally wrong because you clearly don't give a shit about it either.

4. If you take anything from a derelict residential property you're a cunt of the highest degree because chance are the tat will have sentimental value to someone. Shouldn't really be in there in the first place but that's a topic for another day and I'd be a hypocrite because we all start somewhere.

yes mate well said.

 

[albino-jay]

If its gonna end up in the rubble or someone else is gonna take it. May aswel beat em to it.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

only took a few souvenirs from culverts amazing what shit u find down there

That literally is soneones shit!