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Diamonds Suck (2006)

diamondssuck.com

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Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#91

Post by ziszis »

joshkaufman wrote: post #66

I'm the OP - surprised to see this at the top of HN today, but happy to post a quick update: My wife and I have been happily married for ten years now. She loves her ring, and it has held up extremely well. (She just had the band resized, absolutely no issues with the stones.) No one has ever thought it was anything other than a diamond ring, which includes several years of daily scrutiny from crazy New York City bri…

We came to a similar conclusion. Although we had already bought a diamond ring.

After researching, we figured out that we could sell our diamond (we only got about 60% of the original price back from a diamond broker) and buy a twice as large synthetic diamond and still save several thousand $.

There is only upside as far I can tell: it looks better (clarity), is bigger (no can tell the difference between a real and "fake" diamond), has fewer environmental and ethical externalities, and is cheaper.

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#92

Post by enraged_camel »

brandur wrote: post #67

I like to believe that there's a lot of savvy and affluent couples out there who are buying either moissanites instead of diamonds and choosing not to tell their friends or family about it to avoid the social stigma. They then take the $5k to $20k they just saved (what's the rule of thumb, one month's gross salary?) and put it towards bootstrapping their new life. You can even post close-up pictures of the stone on F…

I think the "rule of thumb" is three months of salary.

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#93

Post by dom0 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #82
emodendroket wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody has ever been the least bit bothered by my non-diamond choice of an engagement ring for my wife.

For every such anecdote, there is seventeen opposing anecdotes where the wife insisted on a diamond ring and/or her friends/family thought the husband was "cheap" for not buying her one. edit: Looks like I said something unpopular. Whoops!

wtf

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#96

Post by ftrflyr »

I told my girlfriend (5 years) how I feel about diamonds and that I reject the very notion of buying a diamond engagement / wedding ring early on in our relationship.

Several months ago, we landed on the marriage conversation, again. I reiterated that I am against diamond engagement bands. She then said: "What about a wedding ring then?" I told her it applies to wedding rings as well. We got into a heated argument and she eventually said: "Let's just not talk about it anymore." What? Let's not talk about marriage anymore because I am against diamond engagement wedding rings and wedding bands?

Umm...Okay!

TL;DR GF said she doesn't want to get married unless I show her how much I love her by getting a diamond wedding ring or engagement ring.

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#97

Post by vpayette »

We were engaged in 2006 and I forwarded that article to my soon to be wife. Her answer was: I don't think this is funny. I ended up buying a 10k diamond ring. We're still happily married with 1 beautiful 8 y.o. daughter. Ask any married guy and they'll all say the same: pick your battles!

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#98

Post by jdimov10 »

brandur wrote: post #59
emodendroket wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit of a stretch to say that only diamond rings are acceptable, but also to say that they're unknown outside the United States.

> It's a bit of a stretch to say that only diamond rings are acceptable "only" is a pretty exclusive word, but I don't think it's a stretch saying that only diamond rings are acceptable in the general case. Especially amongst the reasonably affluent class that you'll find a lot of on HN, not getting a diamond for a spouse would be unusual enough that friends would whisper behind your backs about it. (And to be clear,…

So it's kindda like cows in Nigeria?

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#99

Post by TeMPOraL »

onion2k wrote: post #49
maaaats wrote: post #18

> Isn't it amazing (and scary) how brainwashed people are about the "value" of diamonds, even though they're not actually worth that much? I've never understood this argument. Aren't they worth what people are willing to pay?

Aren't they worth what people are willing to pay? Yes, but only as a function of their scarcity. Diamonds aren't actually rare. They're only made rare by diamond companies hoarding them and releasing tiny numbers of stones in order to maintain a high price. You certainly wouldn't buy diamonds as an investment, just in case a diamond company dumped their stockpile on to the market and the price collapsed.

Not just that. If you also count diamonds manufactured in the laboratory, then diamonds are pretty common and cheap items. That's why diamond companies put a lot of effort into convincing people that only "natural" diamonds count as proofs of love.

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#100

Post by ftrflyr »

digitaltrees wrote: post #36
thebiglebrewski wrote: post #14

Can anyone give me advice on how to convince my girlfriend of this though without her thinking I love her any less :)?

Use the difference in price on a down payment on a home/apartment or open a college savings account for your kids. Tell the truth, you want to build a life together and are thinking about the long term financial and personal consequences of this decision. I bought a ruby for my wife for this exact reason. I also wanted to show our community that we rejected diamonds as a tradition. I think the more we discuss this is…

This doesn't work. I have tried it. She (my GF) just argues with me about any purchase I try to make that is around the ballpark of what she is expecting me to pay for a ring.

e.g.

Her: So you want a new MacBook Pro, but you can't afford a $3000 engagement ring?

Me: No, I need a MacBook Pro for work.

This has been going on for quite some time now.

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