Answers to common questions about IRDI membership, member profiles, the Member Directory, property owner reviews, and managing your account.
IRDI stands for the International Responsible Detectorist Institute. It is an international membership organization dedicated to promoting ethical metal detecting, protecting our shared history, and encouraging responsible detecting through education, best practices, and respect for landowners.
IRDI encourages detectorists to protect history, respect private property, and lead by example within the metal detecting community.
IRDI membership is intended for metal detectorists who support responsible detecting, ethical stewardship, respect for landowners, and the protection of our shared history.
Yes. IRDI membership is free. Becoming a member is a commitment to follow IRDI's Code of Ethics and Best Practices and to represent the hobby responsibly.
No. IRDI membership shows that a member has agreed to support IRDI's Code of Ethics and Best Practices. Membership should not be considered a license, professional certification, background check, or guarantee of an individual's conduct.
Begin by creating an IRDI account. After registering, you will need to verify your email address.
You will then be asked to read and agree to the IRDI Code of Ethics and Best Practices. Once those steps are complete, your membership becomes active.
Email verification confirms that you have access to the email address used to create your account. It also helps IRDI protect member accounts and ensures important account messages can reach you.
IRDI membership is built around responsible metal detecting. Agreeing to the Code of Ethics and Best Practices confirms your commitment to protecting history, respecting property and landowners, following responsible detecting practices, and representing the hobby positively.
Your membership becomes active after you have registered your account, verified your email address, and agreed to both the IRDI Code of Ethics and Best Practices.
Your Member Since date records when your IRDI membership became active. It may be displayed on your account, public member profile, and IRDI Member Card.
Your Member Profile is your detectorist profile within IRDI. It allows you to provide information about yourself, including your profile name, location, biography, profile image, website, and other information you choose to make available.
Each IRDI member can create one detectorist Member Profile.
Your username uniquely identifies your Member Profile and becomes part of your public IRDI profile address.
Choose your username carefully. Once your Member Profile has been created, the username is permanent and cannot be changed.
Your account name is established when you register and cannot be changed through your account settings. Other profile information can be managed through your Member Profile.
Your profile can include a profile image, public location, biography, website, profile name, and other member information provided by IRDI. You can manage this information from your account.
Your public location helps other people understand the general area where you are located. IRDI uses fields such as city, state or province, and country rather than requiring a street address for your public profile.
IRDI may indicate whether your profile is complete based on important profile information such as your profile image, location, and biography. Completing your profile helps visitors learn more about you when viewing your public Member Profile.
The Member Directory is a public directory of active IRDI Members who have chosen to make their Member Profile visible. It allows visitors to find members and view their public IRDI profiles.
No. Directory participation is optional. You control whether your Member Profile is visible in the public Member Directory.
Edit your Member Profile from your account and enable directory visibility. You can return to your profile settings later if you want to hide it from the directory again.
A profile that is not publicly visible is not available to regular public visitors through the Member Directory. You can still manage and view your own profile while signed into your account.
If you have chosen to make your profile public, someone can search the IRDI Member Directory or visit your public Member Profile. Your IRDI Member Card and its QR code can also direct someone to your profile.
Use the Member Directory to search public IRDI Member Profiles. Directory search and location filters can help narrow the results.
Your IRDI Member Card is a digital card connected to your Member Profile. It displays identifying member information and provides another way to demonstrate your active IRDI membership.
The QR code links to your IRDI Member Profile. Someone can scan the code with a compatible phone or device to visit your profile and view your public member information.
Yes. IRDI provides an embeddable version of your Member Card that can be placed on a compatible website using the embed code provided with your card.
Property Owner Reviews allow a property owner to provide feedback about their experience with an IRDI Member after allowing that member to detect on their property.
From your IRDI account, you can create a Property Owner Review invitation for your Member Profile. The invitation provides the property owner with a unique link they can use to submit their review.
No. Property owners do not need to become IRDI Members or create an IRDI account in order to respond to a valid Property Owner Review invitation.
Property Owner Reviews focus on the member's respect for the property, communication and courtesy, care of the property, and whether the property owner would allow the detectorist to return. The property owner may also provide written comments.
No. Property Owner Reviews are submitted through unique review invitations associated with an IRDI Member Profile rather than through an unrestricted public review form.
A Property Owner Review invitation is available for a limited period. Invitations currently expire 30 days after they are created and are intended for a single review.
No. Review invitations are intended for one-time use. Once a review has been successfully submitted through an invitation, that invitation cannot be used to submit another review.
IRDI may summarize your visible Property Owner Reviews on your public Member Profile, including the number of reviews, an overall review rating, and information about whether property owners would allow you to return.
If you choose to allow contact through your Member Profile, visitors can use the Contact Me option on your public profile to send you a message.
No. Allowing contact through your public Member Profile is optional. If you do not allow contact, the Contact Me option will not be displayed on your profile.
The Contact Me feature allows visitors to send a message through IRDI without requiring your account email address to be displayed publicly on your Member Profile.
Your public Member Profile may display information such as your profile name, username, profile image, general location, biography, website, Member Since date, Member Card information, and available Property Owner Review information.
Yes. You can change your account email address through your account settings. You may be required to verify the new email address before it becomes fully active on your account.
Yes. You can change your password from your account settings while signed in.
Use the Forgot Password option on the sign-in page. IRDI will send password reset instructions to the email address associated with your account.
Yes. You can permanently delete your IRDI account through your account settings.
Deleting your account permanently removes your account and associated Member Profile. Because account deletion is permanent, make sure you want to remove your membership before completing the deletion process.
If you cannot find the answer you are looking for, contact IRDI and we will be happy to help.