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Diamonds Suck (2006)

diamondssuck.com

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Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#121

Post by silencio »

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…

From a fellow moissanite fangirl, thank you for writing this up! I always enjoy telling people my ring isn't a diamond, but the essay is more compelling to share with folks that can't see moissanite in person.

I have a 1ct moissanite and 2 3mm white sapphires in my ring, and the bonus was that custom designing my own ring was still _drastically_ cheaper than getting a diamond: http://i.imgur.com/H3jDulz.jpg

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#122

Post by klodolph »

Confusion wrote: post #70
klodolph wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're old enough to be thinking about marrying your girlfriend, your girlfriend has probably decided already what she thinks about diamonds and spending money on pretty but useless things. And if you've been dating her long enough to think about marrying her, then you should probably have a pretty good guess about how she thinks about it. First and foremost, it's a proof of social status between her and her peers…

There's a catch-22 here: you can't raise the topic of diamonds without her understanding you are thinking about marriage. And even if you've been together for years, it may just not have come up. And people are unpredictable: she may just have an irrational dream of a diamond ring. So I think the worry is justified and not necessarily a sign of insufficient marriage-maturity. But that doesn't change the advice: the o…

It's only a catch-22 if you can't let her know you are thinking about marriage before you propose. Just saying that out loud it sounds like such a ridiculous idea: I might want to marry her, but I can't let her know that I'm thinking about it.

You say it's not a sign of a lack of maturity, but it sounds exactly like a lack of maturity to me (an inability to communicate honestly with someone who you want to spend the rest of your life with about really basic stuff).

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#123

Post by pessimizer »

emodendroket wrote: post #71
brandur wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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,…

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

What part of "behind your backs..."

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#124

Post by pessimizer »

jdimov10 wrote: post #98
brandur wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Yes.

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#125

Post by pessimizer »

Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #34

So people do this to signal (both to their spouse and their friends) they are both financially capable and care enough about their spouse to burn a large amount of money on a pyre. It's also a very useful signal that you are serious about the commitment and unlikely to back off of the marriage. I would prefer to replace it with a certificate that proves you have spent X thousand dollars on said certificate from Moche…

How would she wear the certificate? Across her chest like a sash?

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#126

Post by dllthomas »

vaveh wrote: post #117
diamond1 wrote: post #48

"The big difference between moissanite and diamond is that moissanite can be manufactured reliably and efficiently in a laboratory." Thats not true, diamonds can be manufactured reliably and efficiently in a laboratory as well. And its nearly impossible to tell the difference between natural and artificial ones. Only a very complicated lab test with a machine can tell the difference.

I thought fabricated diamonds were yellow-ish and easy to tell apart from real ones?

This depends on the method of fabrication - there are several. From my recollection of a Wired article from a decade ago, there was a then-new technique that produced diamonds that were indistinguishable from natural diamonds but for being maybe a little too perfect.

Article seems to be here, method in question was "Chemical Vapor Deposition": https://www.wired.com/2003/09/diamond/

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#127

Post by NegatioN »

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…

Seems like the link to the article about de beers is 404. Hopefully it still exists somewhere :)

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#128

Post by gravypod »

So this is Silicon Carbide? I'd love to see someone grow one of these crystals. The raw materials and the processes needed are, from what people have told me, simple but no one has ever gone past "don't worry about it".

Re: Diamonds Suck (2006)

#130

Post by [deleted] »

ajkjk wrote: post #74
Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #34

So people do this to signal (both to their spouse and their friends) they are both financially capable and care enough about their spouse to burn a large amount of money on a pyre. It's also a very useful signal that you are serious about the commitment and unlikely to back off of the marriage. I would prefer to replace it with a certificate that proves you have spent X thousand dollars on said certificate from Moche…

It's definitely not just that, because placing huge import on diamonds, and gushing over their (much agreed upon) beauty, and having preferences for stones and cuts etc., and showing them off at the office, and talking about their size and how much they must have cost, and equating some of those things with the size of someone's affection and worth as a person, are still ubiquitous in (at least) American society. As…

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