It's frustrating that people just name locations in highly visible spaces. I used to post one-shot photos on the Urban Exploration subreddit, which has a rule against revealing locations. However, it's never enforced, and pics will often have the location blatantly in the title, or answered in the comments when someone inevitably asks.

It sucks to see a location covered head to toe in graffiti, knowing that a lot of interesting features that would have been present are certainly gone or destroyed. It hurts even more now that half of that graffiti is instagram links.

I had to stop posting stuff on Reddit for the same reason. Most of the people there were so toxic and entitled. Exploring getting popular there is definitely partially responsible for the downfall of the hobby for sure. It brought so much negative attention to the entire community. At this point in my life I feel like exploring was meant to be shared among explorers, not the general public. I regret so many of my actions that have contributed to the wrong kind of people finding the hobby.

I don't know why it is, but some of the most degenerate shit I've ever seen comes from Reddit and Twitter, I steer clear.

great thread. i think exploring for the purpose of exploring is dropping. Going into buildings to wreak havoc is inclining. Everytime i’ve seen another person in an abandonment they were breaking shit and drinking alcohol. Every single time we’ve been like “yup people are here” is to the smashing of windows or the speeding around in the parking lot. I’ve yet to see anybody else exploring in person. Perhaps as time goes on and the global economy gets worse we will see more places going abandoned and more people exploring to explore what the world was like before. When doomsday comes urban exploration will be life lol

Posted by JBUrbex great thread. i think exploring for the purpose of exploring is dropping. Going into buildings to wreak havoc is inclining. Everytime i’ve seen another person in an abandonment they were breaking shit and drinking alcohol....

Aye, one of the first explores I ever went on there were a group of teenagers doing the same thing. The only thing we can do is keep our ethics and hope they stick with the people we come across.

I'm still hoping doomsday is very, very, far away, lol

Increased for selfish gains/malicious reasons. Shame really.

Posted by JBUrbex great thread. i think exploring for the purpose of exploring is dropping. Going into buildings to wreak havoc is inclining. Everytime i’ve seen another person in an abandonment they were breaking shit and drinking alcohol. Every single time we’ve been like “yup people are here” is to the smashing of windows or the speeding around in the parking lot. I’ve yet to see anybody else exploring in person. Perhaps as time goes on and the global economy gets worse we will see more places going abandoned and more people exploring to explore what the world was like before. When doomsday comes urban exploration will be life lol

It's pretty obnoxious really, Wish more people jived with the idea of preservation. Makes the area a lot cooler overall. Not to mention that group of people tend to be the teens that get killed by falling in buildings or lighting fires in caves bringing a ton of attention to the area. It sucks. Also lol, doomsday urbex.

Posted by JBUrbex Perhaps as time goes on and the global economy gets worse we will see more places going abandoned and more people exploring to explore what the world was like before. When doomsday comes urban exploration will be life lol

That's one of the main reasons I like urbex--it gives us a preview of the post-collapse world of the future. The best urbex locations are places where civilization has recently fallen -- e.g. post-Soviet eastern Europe. I expect the USA and other parts of the West to be next.

Posted by JBUrbex great thread. i think exploring for the purpose of exploring is dropping. Going into buildings to wreak havoc is inclining. Everytime i’ve seen another person in an abandonment they were breaking shit and drinking alcohol. Every single time we’ve been like “yup people are here” is to the smashing of windows or the speeding around in the parking lot. I’ve yet to see anybody else exploring in person. Perhaps as time goes on and the global economy gets worse we will see more places going abandoned and more people exploring to explore what the world was like before. When doomsday comes urban exploration will be life lol

Before PARC really got rolling in Plattsburgh in the late 1990's, early 2000's, the old air base there was a wee little midnight club. The locals even had an informal race course laid out... everyone knew what was going on, but no one cared because everyone figured that the old base would sit there moldering until the end of time. Who knew?

Posted by Samurai Before PARC really got rolling in Plattsburgh in the late 1990's, early 2000's, the old air base there was a wee little midnight club. The locals even had an informal race course laid out... everyone knew what was going on, but no one cared because everyone figured that the old base would sit there moldering until the end of time. Who knew?

I am super sad I missed the PAFB buildings, I should have been born a decade earlier lol. There are still a few of them, I think. The popularity of urban exploration mixed with the popularity of destruction cause for these places to be demolished. Most of the time an empty lot remains, especially in a rural area where there is already nothing to do. The butterfly effect

Posted by MrBungle It's pretty obnoxious really, Wish more people jived with the idea of preservation. Makes the area a lot cooler overall. Not to mention that group of people tend to be the teens that get killed by falling in buildings or lighting fires in caves bringing a ton of attention to the area. It sucks. Also lol, doomsday urbex.

To add onto this I think some areas with graffiti can look cool, especially with excessive decay and foliage. But just in general I think preserved areas are very fun to explore

With all of the content on social about urban exploration that's been increasing recently, I feel like the hobby is definitely increasing in numbers. That being said, it's way more mainstream nowadays, and I think that's actually a bit of a problem, because there's also been a huge increase in vandals and security and the like. And unfortunately for me, while my interest in UE has grown over the past few years, the amount of abandoned buildings in my area has drastically decreased.

Posted by MrBungle To add onto this I think some areas with graffiti can look cool, especially with excessive decay and foliage. But just in general I think preserved areas are very fun to explore

IMO the graffitti should be saved for like under bridges, in sewers, not on buildings. Unless the owner approves. I see cases where if a place is all tagged the hell up okay sure go off but still I think any exploration would be better without it. I like the "up and left" vibe. Nothing is perfect though and everyone thinks differently

My first 20 years or so of exploring, it didn't have a name.

Somewhere in the late-1990s people were calling this vadding. I never really used the term.


I've personally known people who were out exploring abandoned buildings, tunnels and climbing bridges when the likes of John Law were toddlers.

People have been exploring places less traveled and/or forbidden since antiquity. Some for the fun, others for science (as in archaeology) and some to plunder.

Graffiti has also existed since antiquity. We know the names of Roman Gladiators because some ancient graffiti writers scratched the names of their favorite gladiators into the walls of the Coliseum.

Times change. Places change. It's all what you make of it.

I used to post alot until I started to see more than a fair share of the places going up in flames Many more were destroyed by graffiti or just plain smashing the shit out of everything !!
It did and still does piss me off that some asshats cannot simply enjoy what they are seeing without all the senseless destruction.

Now, most people are very leary of anyone inquiring about any locations. There is basically zero trust that uer ethics will be honored. As a result people have been accused of being elite snot faces but in reality they just trying to protect places from being whored out on social media.

So, my two cents worth is that yeah, was better back in the 2000 before so much social media sites and I feel there was more of a brotherhood that had common respect that appears to be very lacking nowadays.

I feel like it's more popular than ever right now, but that's not a good thing. Most people who get into urbex now don't understand the ethics of it and either tag, destroy or expose spots online and sensationalize them in hopes pf internet fame. There are a few people who still respect the hobby but most don't even know what they're doing as urbex.

There has been a lot of change in the last 20 years for sure. Once upon a time this forum was basically the only public one available and the DB was locked down unless someone well-known vouched for you. You had to either do your own footwork to find the locations or you had to know someone willing to hang out.

Many of the private forums where locations were shared were made up of small groups of people who actually knew and explored with each other. It was common to hop on a plane to a new city, meet up with other explorers you knew/trusted through these forums, and just go check out what there was to see. Location info stayed private because of the close relationships made doing so and the want to not ruin it for others.

The forum game is gone for the most part today and has been taken over by social media. And nothing stays private on social media...

Ive noticed Tiktok is full of new explorers sharing location info and many of these places are getting tore up in record time. What used to take years now takes a few weeks. And some of them brag about giving out the details and the results of that practice!

As it has in the past, the fad will pass and things will die down eventually. There may not be anywhere good anymore but itll die down...

click to view

as a young person (22) who saw the surge of urban exploration on social media in the 2010's as a teenager, i feel like i have the exact perspective most people in this thread are talking about

firstly, i can relate to the bittersweetness of watching something you love become more and more popular, like urbexing. youre happy to see people enjoying it the way you did at first, but it slowly starts to lose its sparkle and quickly falls into the hands of those who you feel arent really treasuring this special thing like you know you do

in highschool i ate urban exploring content on youtube up. i couldnt get enough of it and lived vicariously through these youtubers traveling halfway across the US to run and scream through empty buildings and evade security guards, creating 10 minute clickbait videos for children. i had no way of doing it myself so instead i sat in my bed and watched for hours on end, dreaming of the day i could find the time and resources for myself

now as a young adult who has been to several local spots over the past few years, i try to get better after each experience. without saying much i broke some things my first time, and was absolutely not as sneaky as a should have been. but im less stupid now lol

as for the social media posting dilemma, i kind of get both sides. wanting to show people what you did and prove youre cool is part of human nature. the longest standing form of graffiti has always been '___ was here', a sentiment which obviously has transitioned to social media. as for location sharing however, i completely agree with the no poe rule. it takes away from getting out there yourself and also weeds out some vandals and those just looking to exploit the place. ive blocked people online for asking me for locations and being rude about it. ive posted pictures to my instagram of some photography ive done at abandoned places but ive never shared exact locations.

anyways, ive been following this thread since it started and saw multiple people bring up basically my exact experience but havent seen anyone from that perspective comment about it so i thought id add my two cents

Posted by cavemonkey Many of the private forums where locations were shared were made up of small groups of people who actually knew and explored with each other. It was common to hop on a plane to a new city, meet up with other explorers you knew/trusted through these forums, and just go check out what there was to see. Location info stayed private because of the close relationships made doing so and the want to not ruin it for others. click to view

Seems like a really cool time to explore

Posted by MrBungle Seems like a really cool time to explore

It definitely was, have a ton of stories and saw a ton of stuff in the US and abroad. Still have a lot of friendships that continue from those days.