Anybody else have a SO who doesn't care about any of this? We talked about rings for 10 minutes before she and I got married. We wear white gold bands. No one has ever asked us about our rings. I'm feeling like I'm missing something here. Do rings appreciate in value?
Diamonds Suck (2006)
251–260 of 618 posts
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
If you can afford a $3k MBP, you can afford a diamond ring. And her diamond ring will be worn forever, your shiny new laptop will be on Craigslist in 5 years.
>> her diamond ring will be worn forever
The divorce statistics say something else.
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Until now, it's been non-negotiable. I really hate to be a random person on the internet giving personal advice but... diamonds being "non-negotiable" seems like a huge, glowing, neon warning sign. Don't be surprised to find out a bunch of other things are non-negotiable if you divorce.
Wow. It's very difficult to respond to you civically. We've been together for a long long time. It is amazing what people you don't know on the internet will assume about you. There was no alternative before this article. Cubic is cheap and tacky. Diamonds are overpriced and awful. Lab diamonds not much better. This article has a real alternative. That's a huge contribution to all diamond haters everywhere.
> Cubic is cheap and tacky
Why the fact it's cheap makes it tacky? There's plenty of good CZ jewelry and 99% of people won't know the difference with diamonds or moissanite if you don't tell them. Moassanite is good, but still way too much expensive than it should be. It would be fun if we chose homes same way - "Oh, that big house with large lot, fireplace, etc is perfect in every way for us, but it's 30 times cheaper than that another almost-the-same house that was built by the company which enslaves people and makes them die while building those houses. We will only have to be in mortgage for it for 1 year, so we won't buy it." Why don't use left over money to buy some trip or something like that? I don't understand why regular working people want to wear half a car on a finger...
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#254I go out to collect gemstones as a hobby on the weekends. And it only took a half day class to learn how to shape them for jewelry. So while some people still like diamonds, I prefer to give hand-collected and crafted stones. They might not be worth as much, but I made them myself and can guarantee nobody was harmed or screwed over in the process.
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
a 3k MBP provides a lot more value than a 3k diamond ring if used correctly, a 3k MBP is a netgain
And a wife is a net loss monetarily. I guess you shouldn't get married then
you can get married without a diamond ring or a expensive marriage. its only a netloss if you make it one
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#256> 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?
> I've never understood this argument. Aren't they worth what people are willing to pay? I think the parent's argument is that not many people know about their price being inflated by a combination of artificial scarcity and hype.
But effectively all modern products have their prices inflated by hype (i.e. marketing) and many by artificial scarcity.
Not many people think about this for any product, why should we expect them to think about it for diamonds?
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
And a wife is a net loss monetarily. I guess you shouldn't get married then
you can get married without a diamond ring or a expensive marriage. its only a netloss if you make it one
Ok, fine then...a kid is a net loss, a particularly large one at that. Should you not have kids then?
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I sent this to my SO and she now wants one instead of a diamond. Until now, it's been non-negotiable. Thanks for writing. I did not want to buy a diamond :)
> Until now, it's been non-negotiable. I really hate to be a random person on the internet giving personal advice but... diamonds being "non-negotiable" seems like a huge, glowing, neon warning sign. Don't be surprised to find out a bunch of other things are non-negotiable if you divorce.
> diamonds being "non-negotiable" seems like a huge, glowing, neon warning sign
It's deeply ingrained in Western culture. Think about it like eating dogs. There's no rational reason not to use dogs for meat, but most Westerners would throw a hissy fit rather than eat dog meat.
So don't assume the prospective bride is unreasonable. In fact, assume the opposite, as she was able to read a rational explanation of the issues with diamonds, and change her mind.
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#259>Sorry about Trump, BTW. Why on earth do you think that sort of random political non-sequitur is appropriate?
...Because if you're in USNE, you probably felt genuinely ill after hearing the nomination. Missouri, as well as the rest of the US Midwest, is famously comically red.
So if you're in a discussion about cultural differences between USNE and USMW, that's an entirely valid point.
Also, if you're in a red state, you might feel the need to tell people you didn't vote for Trump, because you want to make sure that you'll get flamed by the right people. If you feel this way, it's okay.
Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're mostly made for industrial purposes, but just google synthetic diamonds.
Be careful googling synthetic diamonds. There are a lot of scammy companies out there using slippery language to fool you into thinking their cubic zirconias are sythetic diamonds. AFAIK there are only a few companies making real jewelry grade synthetic diamonds and they are just barely cheaper than mined diamonds, so if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Yeah. The real advantage of synthetics over naturally occurring is they don't come with human exploitation baggage or contribute to climate change.