28 Days Later Survival Guide for Newbies.

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28 Days Later Survival Guide for Newbies.


Congratulations! You have stumbled across the wonderful hobby of Urban Exploring and have found yourself standing at the gates of the biggest UK Exploring Forum wondering how to procede.
This is quite long but if you are serious about this and want to get on in the community then it is well worth the read.

This guide will be split into two parts, the first part is a fairly simple list of do's and don't the second part will explain in a bit more detail.

Part I

When you first join.

Do.​

• The first/best thing to do is spend a few hours reading the site and getting a handle on how the place runs and what sort of quality level is expected from a report if you intend to post one straight away.
• Post an introduction thread in the new members area, stating what your level of expertise is, what sort of sites you are interested in and the rough area that you live and ANY relevant sites you may have already visited.
• If you already have enough pictures for a report or two then go ahead and post these once you know what a report should consist of eg Name/Location/Date/History/Photos etc.
• Use the search facility. There are thousands of reports up already and these will give you a good idea of what is in a specific area of the country.
• Attend the many public 'meets' we hold throughout the year, this is much less nerve wracking that agreeing to meet with someone you have never met before to go and do something potentially dangerous/illegal.

Don't.​

• Ask for locations.
• PM people asking for locations.
• Throw your toys out the pram if someone points out there's something missing from a report like a name/location/date or your photos are out of focus/duplicated etc.
• Ask to meet up with people unless you really intend to do it.
• Get into a pissing contest with a Regular User; it will end badly.
• Don't talk about paranormal stuff. This is an exploring site, there are plenty of places devoted to discussing paranormal phenomena, this is not one of them.
• Post reports of derelict houses, farmhouses, other residential sites, museums, and ruins.

Note; These are not rules but they will save you a lot of trouble/mickey taking if you follow them.

Posting a Report.​

• You MUST give a proper name for your explore. Codenames are not acceptable (see part II for an explanation) date (month and year is standard) and location are also mandatory. This is NOT NEGOTIABLE if you are not comfortable naming a site then DO NOT post it.​
• Include a history of the site, we are all just as interested in the history as the pictures and it shows that you have bothered to do a little research. History is also a mandatory requirement.​
• Do NOT discuss access or post pics which show access.​
• Talk about the explore, who you were with, what you did, how much fun it was etc.​
• Constructive criticism is encouraged here so don't take everything personally.​
• 5 - 15 pics is usually adequate unless the site is absolutely massive.​
• Make sure pics are technically sound. Out of focus, badly lit, over/under exposed or horrible HDR shots will be picked up and commented on. If you require help all you need to do is ask, A lot of members are closet photography geeks.​
• You can upload your photos directly to the forum or use a third party image host.*​
• Don't use huge watermarks they detract from the photo.​
• It is also encouraged to point out reports that do not adhere to the above rules in Part I, There are only so many mods and they have a life too.​

*If you are directly uploading to the forum; remember to click the 'Insert All (Full Size)' button AFTER UPLOAD to add the photos to the report.

Part II

Why won't anyone help me out with some locations?​

Because, if you're new, the bottom line is no one knows who you are. If you are going to engage in a hobby that involves potentially breaking the law you generally need to know the person you are talking to is trustworthy. 28DL is a public forum which means anyone who has the web address can see the content; this includes the police/security firms/site owners etc. etc. and the nice person you are trading messages back and forth with could well be someone trying to get information from you about a site to get it sealed up. Therefore we expect people to actually make an effort and go and explore a few places before other explorers will be prepared to give away locations or have you along on a trip. If you can prove you're trustworthy, keep your mouth shut and get on with people then you will get along very well. If all you want is to grab a list of places to visit and never bother giving anything back to the forum then you will find out very quickly no one will talk to you.

Why must I name a site? Seems a bit counterproductive if you're trying to keep things on the downlow.​

Fair question, The problem is twofold.

1 Nearly everything out there is already known and has almost certainly been explored before, usually many years before.

2 People are lazy and will copy/paste history and descriptions from other web sites.

This makes it rather easy for anyone who is prepared to spend five minutes using google and some common sense to track down the real name and/or location. Codenames have been proven not to work and therefore we do not use them on 28 unless it is an international site as the rules are a little different when it comes to those.

Since the advent of social media it has become even easier to find out where places are, when someone posts a site and within five minutes 20 people have posted the correct name and location it all becomes a bit pointless.

Why are people being horrible to me?​

Not an easy question to answer specifically but its almost certainly because you said or did something that the community at large does not agree with and ignored people pointing this out to you. We all make mistakes or say something dumb from time to time but doubling down when you've been corrected is not going to win you any friends. Banter/discussion/constructive criticism are all encouraged but being flat out rude to someone particularly when they are trying to help will not work. It is worth pointing out that any username in yellow has been here a while, is trusted and does know what they are talking about (mostly). Try not to antagonise these people as you will get very short shrift. If they are singling you out it is probably for a very good reason.

if you are given (generally helpful) advice or suggestions on how to improve either a) the quality of your threads or b) the quality of your work don't throw all your toys out the pram and start swearing, ranting and threatening established members who, for the most part, usually try and offer sensible advice where necessary. It doesn't do much to help ease you into the wider community.

Why has my post vanished / why wasn't my derelict house/farm/ruin or other report approved?​

Your first few posts will need to be approved by a moderator, and certain sections of the forum require approval of all threads before they will become publicly visible. This process can take anything from a few minutes to a few hours or more, so your first posts may not appear straight away. Our moderators are looking out for anything listed under the "don't" section above, and your post will likely be removed without warning or notification if anything from that list is present.

As a general rule we will not approve posts featuring residential sites, however there are a few exceptions. Derelict houses will not be accepted, and neither will houses that wouldn't look out of place on RightMove, farmhouses, your nans flat, etc. You might find it interesting looking around those kind of places, but please consider that most of them will still have ties to the owners, or the families thereof, and it can be very distressing for them to see their loved ones possessions being rummaged through and posted on the internet. Unless it's particularly significant in some way, it will be binned.

If you wish to post a video, we have a dedicated section, however again this section is moderated and only videos of a high standard or of particular interest will be accepted. This is not the place to promote your YouTube channel and links directly to YouTube videos will not be accepted.

If your post hasn't been approved and you are not sure why please feel free ask and we'll provide feedback.

How do I get on in this hobby?​

If you're starting from scratch, use the search facility to find stuff in your local area. That way if the place is no longer accessible or simply not there anymore you haven't wasted too much time/petrol. You can also ask in any relevant thread if a place is still standing.

Once you have found somewhere, go and take photos, do a little research about the place and get a report up.

When you have a few under your belt you will find things open up a lot more and you may even get invites from other local explorers. If you do get an invite do your best to meet up, this is by far the best way to get known in the community. If you don't fancy meeting a stranger off the internet then you can always attend a public meet, there are two advantages to doing this; you get to meet a lot more explorers and you will almost certainly get to explore somewhere. Once you have met a few people you get on with and worked out what it is you like exploring then simply get out there!

The more you do and the more people you meet, the more places and opportunity will open up for you.

The emphasis is on the word exploring. If you are just looking for locations and don't intend to join in then you will find it hard to make friends here The more initiative you show, the quicker you will get noticed and become trusted. There is no harm in failing, in fact it is a big part of the hobby and catches all of us out from time to time. If you go somewhere and do not manage to get in then post your experience. This shows that, at least, you got out from behind your computer and made an effort. You may also get some advice about where you went wrong.

Why do you guys hate YouTube so much?​

This is a tricky one, its not YouTube so much but the sort of content that they encourage and the people that choose to go after that. Most explorers do not want publicity or fame as it makes our hobby a lot harder.

But that's what you guys do on the forum isn't it?​

Essentially yes but there's a few important differences. The audience is considerably lower for one. Members don't actively promote the site or glorify the hobby by using clickbait titling. No one is trying to earn a living from exploring or become famous, its something we do because we love it. We insist on proper history compared to just blatantly making it up.

Video and still images are two very different mediums, each having their own pros and cons, most explorers feel that images get across the nature of what we're trying to do better than video and that is what is preferred here.

Unfortunately most YouTube exploring videos are 20-40 minutes of someone walking around spewing fake history and trying to make the place sound better or more dangerous than it actually is. All the while asking people to like/share/subscribe and donate to them. There is good exploring video out there, just not much of it.

What gear should I buy/use

We have an entire section dedicated to camera/exploring gear with some excellent FAQ's.
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