... and these destructive teenagers discovered the abandonment through an Urban Exploration Photography website, right? Oh, wait, maybe they read about it in a magazine. Oh shit, maybe some kids that lived in the area all of their lives heard about it. Maybe it shut down and made the local newspaper. Maybe people used to work there, go to school there, get treated for sickness there, grew old and died there. Maybe a school bus went past it twice per day with kids from a school with a couple thousand students going to it. Maybe their parents drove past it or perhaps went there for one reason or another. Maybe it made the news for preservation. Maybe there was a fire there. Maybe you're being a little to psychotic about stuff someone else owns that used to serve an entire community and that's been around for half a century or more.

Posted by SubLunar I believe it is irresponsible to post tantalizing photos of a location online, complete with the location's real name and especially, in the case of some sites I've seen, maps and co-ordinates to the place. The degree of (ir)responsibility, I think, is what's up for debate. That depends on the degree of local visibility, historical integrity and condition at the time it was photographed. All of these factors should be considered, on a case-by-case basis, when writing up a location for public viewing-IMO. If you just found an unlocked window to an untouched building of architectural or historical significance in a low traffic part of town then it should be obvious that it's not a good idea to post it publicly. At the very least then I say give it a generic name and obfuscate the historical information (if any) you include with it. Unless you're trying to draw google searches on that location to your photos, then I just don't see the need to use real names very often, especially for sensitive locations. I don't think it's ever a good idea to include maps or co-ordinates to the location. At that point, you're practically encouraging viewers to go have a look themselves. There should be some degree of responsibility for the hopeful viewer to do their own research into the matter anyway. Having a flippant attitude about sharing everything publicly because someone else will fuck it up is irresponsible (You think taggers don't want free advertising in your highly publicized photos of those locations?). And to just assume that local vandals don't use sites like ours for research is incorrect. They definitely do, I've seen it happen. The following is but one example: I recently went to a certain location that had a lot of exposure on this site. Well, it eventually made its way into a popular online publication and the writers included the location's coordinates. Well, when I was there, we were supposed to meet up with some other explorers. The people I was supposed to meet ran into unforeseen circumstances. But we encountered other people there who we thought was our group. Nope, they were just some loud, dumbass teenagers causing a scene. They told us they saw the article on that publication. They had no concept of the idea of urban exploration (by this I mean that for the most part, explorers tend to have a basic understanding including things like not drawing attention to our illegal activities by being loud/visible and other things you learn over time), they were just there to hang out, make noise and be teenagers. This particular location is also extremely dangerous: Lots of different ways to fall to your death there. I fear that some kid is going to die there, which would be sad, and then they'll really crack down. This is what happens when the general public finds out about a place that shouldn't be public. TLDR Share freely with your friends, your trusted comrades and the like. But be careful of what you share publicly. That's my two cents anyway.

I don't see the major issues sharing locations. It is the sharing of cool spots that has made this such a fun hobby. If everyone kept what they knew to themselves than it would have never gotten the respect it has. I have been doing this since i was a child and I am almost 40 now. I have always shared with cool people and as far as I am concerned most on here are alright in my book.

I explore for myself. If I find a place and successfully explore it on my own, why should I be obligated to give everyone info on it. I don't have to tell anyone shit.

Maybe I'm an elitist? or maybe I'm just not a follower.

Posted by Adv.Pack I explore for myself. If I find a place and successfully explore it on my own, why should I be obligated to give everyone info on it. I don't have to tell anyone shit. Maybe I'm an elitist? or maybe I'm just not a follower.

Nothing wrong with that, if that is your preference go for what ya know.

Posted by Radical_Ed If someone here found out about it, rest assured, someone else already knows about it too.

^^^ THAT.

I'm referring to locations that aren't your everyday locations.

I'm probably responsible for more locations in Australia being known than just about anyone. I also have shown & arranged to show dozens of people from overseas or interstate around.

Nowadays I'll usually tell fellow explorers about locations before I've even checked them out myself.

The idea of hoarding a location to inflate my ego or rub it in someone's face has never entered my head. It doesn't make sense to me.

Posted by Radical_Ed

"If someone here found out about it, rest assured, someone else already knows about it too."

Above ground yes.

I've found tunnels and even buildings that hardly anyone in the exploring, graffiti, scrapper, squatter, etc... communities knew about.

I almost enjoy the finding more than the exploring.

I have seen places go to shit in a year after decaying beautifully for as much as a hundred years. As someone who does this hobby mostly for the aesthetics of decay it makes me very sad.

And I can reassure you that these places are fucked up because of the attention, the pictures online, the photographers who think they need to set up every shot and the explorers who don't mind to take some souvenirs home. Every disturbance seems to attract more disturbance. Most of the really forgotten buildings would never be found by scrappers on their own. Here in Holland/Belgium/Germany buildings become 'the place to be' for a while and get visited daily by multiple groups of explorers. Needless to say the building is trashed in a year, and everyone moves on to ruin the next one.

I'm not a pessimist but after all I've seen there's no point in denying it. I think it's not that big of a deal for the regular adventurist but -and this sounds weird- stepping back in time and seeing only natural decay excites me more than anything in this world. Often I just walk around in awe and don't even feel like taking my camera out of the bag, but I push myself so I can still enjoy the decay when I'm home again. It really brings joy to my life. I bet you understand how I feel when the joy of my life gets ruined by a huge group of careless dickheads.

Conclusion: hobby became a rage, too many explorers, careless sharing, too much publicity. But then again, what can you do about it?

Posted by Radical_Ed If someone here found out about it, rest assured, someone else already knows about it too.

That's where you are wrong. I can probably show a few interiors on here that nobody would have any idea where they are. And I agree with adv pack. If I went out of my way to find a place and to get inside, why should I share it with random people? I've shared a few spots I was the first one in with people and they have become ruined. The places I didn't share or locked up after are still sitting there untouched. Funny how that works right?

I for one, am loving the ongoing conversation on this thread. Very well-mannered and written guys haha.

But to throw in my two cents, it's just a judgement call on who you tell locations to.

Posted by Radical Fred Posted by Radical_Ed If someone here found out about it, rest assured, someone else already knows about it too. ] That's where you are wrong. I can probably show a few interiors on here that nobody would have any idea where they are. And I agree with adv pack. If I went out of my way to find a place and to get inside, why should I share it with random people? I've shared a few spots I was the first one in with people and they have become ruined. The places I didn't share or locked up after are still sitting there untouched. Funny how that works right?

Exactly. The assumption that other people must know about the place, or someone else is just going to fuck it up anyway, because one of us made it in is just wrong. In the more difficult, long time sealed up locations, there's bound to be a first explore. I've seen locations that we kept on the downlow (which managed to stay in the same shape as we found em) get trashed or sealed up once they got "found out". Once you see this happen a few times, I think it changes your perspective on what information should be public and what should only be shared offline. There are people who use the information provided publicly on forums like this to find places to party in and tag up. I've met them, they're not a figment of a psychotic imagination. I can positively confirm this from first hand experiences.

I don't think anyone is saying we should hoard locations to ourselves. People are getting butthurt, thinking people are being elitist and taking this conversation the wrong way if that's the assumption. If you ask me, sharing awesome locations amongst ourselves is part of the fun. I like taking people to some of my favorite places and I like visiting other cities where the locals do the same for me. Correct me if I'm wrong, the whole point of the OP was that giving away locations to the general public is not a good idea. Maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but I say share freely amongst yourselves via private messages and personal communication. If people then still hoard locations, then it's fair to call them names and bitch about them not sharing if that's how you feel. But if you're local to the location, there's no excuse not to find your own way in without having to ask anyway, right? Better yet, why weren't you already inside?

If someone's determined enough, they can probably find a given location with enough research now matter how hard someone tries to hide it. That's how we find these places after all, I have no special privilege which gets me into the places I go, I just try really hard. And the beautiful thing about research is that you're bound to come across other interesting things along the way. Encouraging individual research is one side effect of not blasting location coordinates all over the public internet. Expediting the destruction and security upgrades is one side effect of blasting coordinates all over the public internet. I'll take the former of these options.