An Apology

[Edward Bristol]

Hello PS,

I, herewith, officially apologize.

Chrono, LD, Vapid, Arkteia, TL, Minou, Pregcur, MovieZ, Freke, Kismet, Sono and all the others:

I do not think that you are ‘undercover psychopaths’.

Really, I don’t, never did.

At the time I was mad at only one person (not you Chrono) and I think this was sorted out later. Even if we had heated words, Chrono, I always appreciated your knowhow and marveled at your stamina.

Forgive my bad choice of words, considering:
- I wrote that line in a foul mood in the early morning, no breakfast, bad night. It was sent in a “private” one-line email without brain.
- I do take my gems, my work, very serious and felt personally attacked in the weeks before.

Sorry. I never intended to insult the many people here on PS, whose know-how and conduct, in most cases, I totally respect.

Over the years, I have gotten many suggestions and criticism from you and it helped us improve our business.

So, thank you all for the input, even if I balked at it sometimes.

I will continue to read PS but I will refrain from posting. I am too passionate about this business to keep my wording under control, at least on a daily basis.

Sometimes Lena will introduce herself here. She is with us for a year, she has a great eye for colors and she is an avid reader here. One year in the gemstone world is not long and I will help Lena with tricky questions if they arise. Amongst others, Lena will be working on hand-shots and videos and I know that is a frequent topic.

On photos: With 1000 stones online, each with 4-5 photos, made over 10 years (in various climates, offices, seasons, hardware etc.) there will always be some that are not as good as others but we do our best to find a balance between, often conflicting, issues.

Frankly, I also dislike some of my old photos and want to remake them but it takes time and it is never getting perfect. Good gems do look different most of the times and in most lights.

To our new images I stand firm, but may-be next year, Lena has a new idea how to improve them and then we have to remake them all and that takes time, again.

So, that is never ending business.

Again, I wish you all the best.

Edward Bristol

 

[LD]

Ed - thank you for your thoughtful post. I think most of us were surprised to be labelled as psychopaths without an official diagnosis but we are now on medication so things are sorted out! I hope it wasn't me that tipped you over the edge (I don't think it was) but if everything is sorted out between you/the person then that's good.

I'm glad to hear that you're looking at videos and handshots. May I please make a suggestion? Often we see videos that are flooded with light and therefore inaccurate. The best photos/videos are those in different light sources i.e. outside in daylight, inside under electric light etc. For videos this may not be possible but do you think for handshots you could provide that? Unfortunately in this day and age it's a huge selling tool and I'm sure you want to accurately reflect your lovely gemstones. It's all we have on this forum in order to help people. As you know, it's not an exact science because photos can be deceptive but we try our best and help fellow consumers. If we get it wrong with any of your stones (and I'm sure that's happened - on the law of averages it will have) then I hope that makes up for the number of times we get it right!

It's a shame you've decided not to post again. However, if you suffer from type first engage brain later (and I definitely do) then I understand! Welcome to Lena - I'm not sure if I've seen any of her posts yet but look forward to "seeing" her on here.

Please pop in every now again when you've had your breakfast to tell us more of your stories - I know we all enjoyed hearing them as it demonstrated life at the coal face (so to speak)!

 

[chrono]

Hello Ed.

You definitely caught me by surprise this morning as I scrolled through my daily PS perusal. It's been many years since that incident and I've tucked that away into some deep, dark and forgotten brain space to the point I had to stop and think hard to bring it forth. I am not one to keep grudges so I have not held it as a black mark against you, knowing your passionate temperament. Still, it is good to know you weren't mad at me specifically. Many of us take our gems seriously, including you, so it comes as no surprise that things can get heated occasionally as that is normal and to be expected. As long as we remain civil in our exchange of ideas, perception and opinions, everyone benefits. I, for one, appreciate different views.

I understand that it is very easy to take the comments posted on PS personally, even though it was not intended as such. We do it not out of spite but with good intention to assist both vendors and consumers. I applaud your attempt to improve your business model as that can only increase the satisfaction for both the customer and you. I look forward to seeing Lena's work and presense on PS.

Understandably, with a large inventory, photographing and taking videos of each stone will take time. I feel that as long as the colour is as accurate as possible, a single hand shot picture could be all that is required. This will save you time. Then if the customer wants additional pictures, it will be by request only. The key is no fancy reflective or dark background, lighting that is realistic so the gem isn't flooded with light and so forth. Gene and Kenny started a very informative thread on how to take accurate pictures inexpensively without too much hassle.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/best-point-and-shoot-camera-options-for-colored-stones.184896/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/best-point-and-shoot-camera-options-for-colored-stones.184896/[/URL]

 

[FrekeChild]

Hugs Ed! No hard feelings, and I really hope you aren't gone for good, as dissenting opinions are always welcome here, even if they aren't popular! It's still an amazing thing when people who are passionate can share their passion with others, even when they don't agree!

So please, pop back in when/if you're comfortable!

Welcome to Lena!

 

[JewelFreak]

Ed, I hope you won't stop writing -- your posts are valuable & interesting. The incident you mention may have been before my time; at least it doesn't ring a bell in my sometiimes foggy brain, but I've rarely seen a more graceful apology, whether or not it's needed. This forum benefits from people who are knowledgeable & passionate about gems, so it would lose something without your input. Not to mention your always interesting stories.

Welcome to Lena & hope she brings you with her!

--- Laurie

 

[minousbijoux]

Thanks, Ed. Welcome, Lena! Lena, are you already here? Do you have a screen name and avatar?

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Handshots!!!!????? I am a conservative spender when it comes to gems.....but if handshots were provided I could see myself working a little overtime and spending a bit more. I am excited about this turn of events.

 

[Leena]

Dear PS folks,

Thanks Ed for introducing me and even bigger thanks to LD, Chrono, FrekeChild, JewelFreak, minousbijoux and LisaRN for your welcoming words. I did need some friendly pressure to lift my head up here

So here I am. Still fairly new at Wild Fish and totally rough here in PS.

I certainly won’t be able to fill the gap Ed leaves behind if he really does stop posting. Luckily you are so many other knowledgeable people here and I’ll do my very best to contribute to this vast store of precious information.

Hand shots. Yes, that’s on the top of my list of priorities at the moment. I’ve been cursing behind the camera for a while now, and I am improving -- but as a perfectionist not happy with the results yet. So I’ll keep on doing my best, guided by your valued opinions on this matter too.

Best,

Lena

 

[LD]

Hi Lena and a big, warm welcome!

Don't worry, we don't bite on a weekday as our valium intake typically kicks in!

I've just thought of something and it might be worth you/Ed checking with the moderators BECAUSE I'm pretty certain that if you work for a vendor you can't comment on the vendor's stones (no matter how much you'd like to), post up a gem that is for sale and you also can't comment on other vendor's stones. I know this seems restrictive but this is a consumer rather than selling forum and from what I've read it's easy to wander outside the rules especially if you have trade status. Forewarned is forearmed as they say!

Looking forward to speaking with you and discussing our passion! Yeah!

 

[chrono]

A big welcome to Lena. Yes, I agree with LD that PS' policies for trade members are more restrictive but with good reason. A first step will be to make sure you fully understand them in order to avoid any hand slapping or worse yet, time outs.

 

[Leena]

Thanks for the warning LD and Chrono. I did read the Forum Policy carefully and I’ll try to behave. I come from Finland and we Finns are quite law-abiding by nature. Nevertheless extra reminders from PS members are always good. It emphasizes to all us with Trade status, that the rules are to be followed, not just read.

Better keep my posts on weekdays until my skin grows thicker. And most definitely never before my first coffee in the morning.

 

[canuk-gal]

Dear PS folks,

Thanks Ed for introducing me and even bigger thanks to LD, Chrono, FrekeChild, JewelFreak, minousbijoux and LisaRN for your welcoming words. I did need some friendly pressure to lift my head up here

So here I am. Still fairly new at Wild Fish and totally rough here in PS.

I certainly won’t be able to fill the gap Ed leaves behind if he really does stop posting. Luckily you are so many other knowledgeable people here and I’ll do my very best to contribute to this vast store of precious information.

Hand shots. Yes, that’s on the top of my list of priorities at the moment. I’ve been cursing behind the camera for a while now, and I am improving -- but as a perfectionist not happy with the results yet. So I’ll keep on doing my best, guided by your valued opinions on this matter too.

Best,

Lena

HI:

Welcome! Yes, it can be totally rough in here..... Haha My joke of the day.

Look forward to your input, as I did Ed's.

cheers--Sharon

 

[minousbijoux]

Dear PS folks,

Thanks Ed for introducing me and even bigger thanks to LD, Chrono, FrekeChild, JewelFreak, minousbijoux and LisaRN for your welcoming words. I did need some friendly pressure to lift my head up here

So here I am. Still fairly new at Wild Fish and totally rough here in PS.

I certainly won’t be able to fill the gap Ed leaves behind if he really does stop posting. Luckily you are so many other knowledgeable people here and I’ll do my very best to contribute to this vast store of precious information.

Hand shots. Yes, that’s on the top of my list of priorities at the moment. I’ve been cursing behind the camera for a while now, and I am improving -- but as a perfectionist not happy with the results yet. So I’ll keep on doing my best, guided by your valued opinions on this matter too.

Best,

Lena

Hi Lena! Welcome again! So nice to have you posting. As for your photography, if you feel its appropriate, please come ask questions here. I'm sure you are already better than most of us at gem photography, but I find that discussions on how to take good pics, or what are good cameras, or how lighting affects stones are all really good discussions here and I learn each and every time someone starts a related thread. Or, even if you don't have questions, but you've figured something out, feel free to share that here too - we all have a huge common interest, which is accurately portraying these little devils we love so much. There are certain trade and non trade members here who seem quite comfortable taking photos and if you do a search for Kenny's threads on photography, you may learn a lot right off the bat.

Anyway, so glad you're here! Some day, if you'd like to, please tell us how you came to be in the gem trade.