- Joined
- Aug 14, 2009
- Messages
- 27,477
Posting this in RT as I think this is probably where most diamond newcomers start.
A PS member's post history is always publicly accessible by
- Other PS members who are logged-in
- Viewers without PS accounts
- Viewers with PS accounts who are not logged in
This is true whether or not a PS member has enabled public, limited, or private-only viewing of his or her full profile.
Option #1: Hover over a user's name from one of the main forum landing pages. Don't actually click into the user, as this attempts to take you to that user's full profile - if you're not logged in this will yield a login screen, if you're logged in but that user has disabled viewing off full profile this will yield a "This member limits who may view their full profile" message. A mouseover will show a popup that contains direct links to that PS member's prior posts and prior threads.
Option #2: From within a thread, mouse over the user's name in the left panel. Again, don't actually click into the user, just hover over, and you'll see the popup with links to prior posts and threads.
Some things that a quick look through a user's post history can divulge, and why you, as a newcomer to PS, should care:
The primary "techy", "learning" fora - just the fora proper, I'm excluding articles and educational tools here - are
- Rocky Talky (specializes in mined diamonds)
- Colored-Stones (specializes in types of mined coloured stones)
- Pearls (self-explanatory)
- Lab Grown Diamonds (specializes in MMD diamonds)
- Antique & Vintage Jewelry (go here for specialist help with antique and vintage pieces of all sorts)
- Fabulous Fashion Jewellery (go here for help with simulants of any sort)
Show Me The Bling is all about photos of finished jewellery and the various other fora are largely conversational; the above reflect where newcomers looking to buy a gemstone should start.
PS has over a hundred thousand registered members. A newcomer who starts a thread may receive a vast number of varying opinions on a topic. Here are a few tips to help sort through those opinions.
1. Some PS contributors are tradepeople and some are consumers. Consumers are not in the jewellery trade in any capacity. A consumer doesn't work for a jeweller. A consumer doesn't receive any sort of kickback for recommendations (for or against) made on PS. We consumers are lucky to have a number of expert tradepeople in our ranks - tradepeople will have badges like the following - "PS Staff", "Trade".
I'll make a blanket statement: A tradeperson's opinion on a topic - if that tradeperson has more than twenty or so posts - should be weighted higher than any participating consumers'. I add the lower limit of "twenty or so posts" only to eliminate the (very!) occasional trade troll encounter
2. It is tempting to weight post count and tenure. As someone who's been around a long time and has a fairly high post count, I advise more caution: A user with a large number of posts in the conversational fora may not be a reliable resource in a techy conversation. A user with a large number of posts in Rocky Talky might not be a reliable resource in a Coloured Stones conversation. Etc. And conversely - a poster with a relatively small number of posts that all pertain to your area of questioning is likely an excellent resource in that particular conversation!
3. Following on #2, many PSers tend to favour certain fora. I, for example, am personally most active in Rocky Talky and Pearls, and a quick look through my post history reflects this. Other users have different interests and areas of expertise. When you've got a number of differing opinions in your thread, technical or otherwise, take a gander through the various participants' post history and see where those members normally participate! This is also helpful if you want to start a thread to get a particular poster's attention (and you can always @_ a specific poster as well).
4. Anyone who creates an account on PS is welcome to start participating in the fora right away - PS demands no minimum wait time, post count, thread count, or any other prerequisite to begin contributing in a consuming or advisory capacity in any forum. That's part of what makes PS so welcoming, but we realize that it can also lead to confusing landscapes for newcomers! My recommendation here is to read a handful of a particular user's recent posts (in different threads) in each of these fora: Diamond Hangout, Show Me The Bling, Preloved (only accessible if logged in), and one or more of Rocky Talky/Colored-Stones/Pearls/Lab Grown/Antique & Vintage/Fashion. The cross-section of subjects will give you a good idea of what that poster's contributions generally look like. What's that person's normal tone? Do his or her posts tend to be long and involved? Are they often one-liners? Are they explanatory, or otherwise helpful? Are there any red flags? Are they well-received? By whom are they well (or poorly) received? Does this poster normally cite his or her sources? Does this poster seem to take care to distinguish fact from opinion? You'll likely quickly see some usernames come up again and again on certain topics - back to #3 above.
5. Remember that we PSers are all people! Many of us long-timers know each other outside of PS, and we have personal relationships, and this may manifest as similarity of opinion in a number of topics - that's because we're friends off-forum and friends naturally tend to share perspectives! There's never any underlying agenda, simply a shared hobby and shared sense of community. We all try to keep our opinions our own here on PS.
My biggest recommendation: Stick around for a bit!! Get to know us, and get to know the topic you're interested in, and we'll happily learn from you too
A PS member's post history is always publicly accessible by
- Other PS members who are logged-in
- Viewers without PS accounts
- Viewers with PS accounts who are not logged in
This is true whether or not a PS member has enabled public, limited, or private-only viewing of his or her full profile.
Option #1: Hover over a user's name from one of the main forum landing pages. Don't actually click into the user, as this attempts to take you to that user's full profile - if you're not logged in this will yield a login screen, if you're logged in but that user has disabled viewing off full profile this will yield a "This member limits who may view their full profile" message. A mouseover will show a popup that contains direct links to that PS member's prior posts and prior threads.
Option #2: From within a thread, mouse over the user's name in the left panel. Again, don't actually click into the user, just hover over, and you'll see the popup with links to prior posts and threads.
Some things that a quick look through a user's post history can divulge, and why you, as a newcomer to PS, should care:
The primary "techy", "learning" fora - just the fora proper, I'm excluding articles and educational tools here - are
- Rocky Talky (specializes in mined diamonds)
- Colored-Stones (specializes in types of mined coloured stones)
- Pearls (self-explanatory)
- Lab Grown Diamonds (specializes in MMD diamonds)
- Antique & Vintage Jewelry (go here for specialist help with antique and vintage pieces of all sorts)
- Fabulous Fashion Jewellery (go here for help with simulants of any sort)
Show Me The Bling is all about photos of finished jewellery and the various other fora are largely conversational; the above reflect where newcomers looking to buy a gemstone should start.
PS has over a hundred thousand registered members. A newcomer who starts a thread may receive a vast number of varying opinions on a topic. Here are a few tips to help sort through those opinions.
1. Some PS contributors are tradepeople and some are consumers. Consumers are not in the jewellery trade in any capacity. A consumer doesn't work for a jeweller. A consumer doesn't receive any sort of kickback for recommendations (for or against) made on PS. We consumers are lucky to have a number of expert tradepeople in our ranks - tradepeople will have badges like the following - "PS Staff", "Trade".
I'll make a blanket statement: A tradeperson's opinion on a topic - if that tradeperson has more than twenty or so posts - should be weighted higher than any participating consumers'. I add the lower limit of "twenty or so posts" only to eliminate the (very!) occasional trade troll encounter
2. It is tempting to weight post count and tenure. As someone who's been around a long time and has a fairly high post count, I advise more caution: A user with a large number of posts in the conversational fora may not be a reliable resource in a techy conversation. A user with a large number of posts in Rocky Talky might not be a reliable resource in a Coloured Stones conversation. Etc. And conversely - a poster with a relatively small number of posts that all pertain to your area of questioning is likely an excellent resource in that particular conversation!
3. Following on #2, many PSers tend to favour certain fora. I, for example, am personally most active in Rocky Talky and Pearls, and a quick look through my post history reflects this. Other users have different interests and areas of expertise. When you've got a number of differing opinions in your thread, technical or otherwise, take a gander through the various participants' post history and see where those members normally participate! This is also helpful if you want to start a thread to get a particular poster's attention (and you can always @_ a specific poster as well).
4. Anyone who creates an account on PS is welcome to start participating in the fora right away - PS demands no minimum wait time, post count, thread count, or any other prerequisite to begin contributing in a consuming or advisory capacity in any forum. That's part of what makes PS so welcoming, but we realize that it can also lead to confusing landscapes for newcomers! My recommendation here is to read a handful of a particular user's recent posts (in different threads) in each of these fora: Diamond Hangout, Show Me The Bling, Preloved (only accessible if logged in), and one or more of Rocky Talky/Colored-Stones/Pearls/Lab Grown/Antique & Vintage/Fashion. The cross-section of subjects will give you a good idea of what that poster's contributions generally look like. What's that person's normal tone? Do his or her posts tend to be long and involved? Are they often one-liners? Are they explanatory, or otherwise helpful? Are there any red flags? Are they well-received? By whom are they well (or poorly) received? Does this poster normally cite his or her sources? Does this poster seem to take care to distinguish fact from opinion? You'll likely quickly see some usernames come up again and again on certain topics - back to #3 above.
5. Remember that we PSers are all people! Many of us long-timers know each other outside of PS, and we have personal relationships, and this may manifest as similarity of opinion in a number of topics - that's because we're friends off-forum and friends naturally tend to share perspectives! There's never any underlying agenda, simply a shared hobby and shared sense of community. We all try to keep our opinions our own here on PS.
My biggest recommendation: Stick around for a bit!! Get to know us, and get to know the topic you're interested in, and we'll happily learn from you too
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Bravo! Great write up as always! Kudos! Thanks for taking the time to show others what they might be missing!
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