Forum Policies

Updated October 3rd, 2017 for clarity)

The forum is a cooperative endeavor. To maintain a community conducive to quality, members must agree to the following terms before using this system.

By using this messaging system, you agree to abide by the following simple common sense rules as well as Terms and Conditions of the Service (“TOS”):

1. You should be 13 years of age or over. This is in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 2000 (COPPA)
2. This is a diamond education site and we want to keep the focus as such.
   1. Discussions related to any diamond simulants, Cubic Zirconia (CZ), Moissanite, or any other man-made gemstones are not allowed on this boards except in the designated forums.
   2. Posts related to pearls are only to be discussed in designated sections on the forum.
   3. No promotional links, links to Facebook, blogs, personal accounts on other sites, items for sale, gofundme requests, contest entries,
3. For your privacy and security do not post any private information including emails, personal pages (i.e., facebook, twitter), or usernames on other sites or IM’s on the open forums. Diamond trade members contributing with educational information may post one link in their signature.
4. Signing up a user name that is a obvious domain name or product name will be removed. This is out of unfair promotion considerations as well as trademark implications.
5. Referrals and Recommendations:
   1. Recommendations given within the Pricescope community should be done in a good faith as genuine opinions based on personal knowledge and experience and not influenced by any commercial interests.
   2. Any renumeration , such as discounts or any other benefits, in exchange for posted testimony, referred products or services within the Pricescope community are strictly forbidden. Please report any vendor offering you any such benefits to the “Admin”.
6. Sharing your experience:
   1. Your posts should be your actual, firsthand experience as a consumer.
   2. Posts should be constructive in nature. If you write a complaint, indicate a desired outcome.
7. Moderator Action:
   1. Use the  button for any questions related to thread/post removal, policies clarification, etc.
   2. Please do not post assumptions about moderator actions, this creates confusion, use  button so that the moderator may clarify it appropriately. We are more than happy to do so.
   3. Some actions are subject to judgment calls for the integrity of the forum and should be respected as that.
   4. Cross posts of the same or similar threads in multiple forums will be removed.
   5. Out of respect for members/moderators and to avoid confusion any public discussions of moderator actions or policies will be removed.
   6. We reserve the rights to change policies at any time, therefore, please do not discuss policies publicly as they may change.
8. Discussing RELIGION or RACIAL/ETHNIC issues are not allowed. This includes prayer chains, religious debates, or threads that turn into antagonistic discussion on different religions. It also includes posting links/references to other sites/sources dedicated to religion or ethnic discussions. POLITICS are allowed in limited form, at the discretion of the moderator.
9. Post(s)/Link(s) with adult content, pages with links to adult content, near adult content (including model and swimsuit sites), or messages describing anything against the law will be removed as soon as possible.
10. You will not post any copyrighted material without appropriate acknowledgements.
11. You will not copy and retransmit any information out of these forums without first getting the permission of the original author of the message. The only exception can be using the materials for solely educational purposes with appropriate acknowledgement.
12. To reduce the number of broken links and keep the forum clean, photo hosting sites (Photobucket, Imageshack, Imgur, Flickr, etc.) and personal web pages are not allowed to be linked on Pricescope. To keep with Pricescope’s goal of being an unbiased educational environment, we will no longer allow any photos that contain company logos or names in “Show me the Bling” category or what seems to be promotional . Please only post photos on the forum that are clean of logos or names. This restriction is only on the photos themselves. Please feel free to give the photographer or vendor credit for the work in the text of your post.
13. To keep the integrity and credibility of the posts and reduce shilling and spamming the following guidelines must be followed:
    1. NO SPAM. We will immediately terminate any account, which we believe, in our sole discretion, is transmitting or is otherwise connected with any Spam or other unsolicited bulk e-mail.
    2. Creating multiple ID’s automatically indicates shilling and all associated accounts will be terminated.
    3. Posts of any special promotions/offers/surveys/coupons/quizzes/games and alike from other companies as well as affiliate based URLs are not allowed. Asking others to vote for you or friends in a contest is not allowed.
    4. Do not post links or references to any other jewelry information or affiliate websites, forums, videos, blogs, or podcasts.
    5. Do not use this forum to organize group meetings with any vendor or start vendors’ “fan clubs” or the like.
    6. No Solicitation of any kind or ‘for sale’ ads here, except in the Preloved forum only. You may not promote sales of your own items outside of the Preloved section of PS. If you have questions on how to sell your jewelry, check out this topic: Reselling Gems & Jewelry.

Trade Members ( Updated April 24th, 2012)

1. A trade member is anyone who is employed by or directly benefits from a business that is in the diamond, gem, or jewelry trade.

 

1. Members of trade at minimum must identify themselves to the Pricescope administration with thier personal name and business name. They must also take on the trade badge.
2. This forum is, above all, a place for consumer assistance and education, not advertisement. If you are a member of the trade, please follow the following post content rules:
   1. Post helpful advice. Here is an informative journal “A jeweler’s guide for how to get along with Pricescope” written by Neil Beaty.
   2. Do not make blatant commercial posts, requests to visit your website, or solicit any other contact.
   3. Do not use a promotional slogan in your signature. Trade signatures are limited to your name, educational credentials (i.e., GG), company name, and ONE link to your direct website. If you have more than one gem and jewelry trade related business, you may provide more than one link with the permission of the administration. No promotional links, links to Facebook, blogs, items for sale, etc. Only trade members as defined above are allowed trade status.
   4. Do not create fear-based doubts in consumers’ minds in order to scare them into using your services.
   5. Do not mention your products or services unless requested in the thread by a consumer.
   6. Trade members must not promote nor condemn other businesses (unless there are evidences of misconduct or illegal practices). This includes promoting your own business through posting of your own jewelry, except in specific moderator-approved threads.
   7. Please refrain from commenting on other vendor products unless there is obvious misinformation.
   8. No discounts, encouragements, or any other benefits to a consumer for their positive feedback are allowed for testimonials.
   9. It will be the sole discretion of Pricescope and its moderators as to what constitutes an abuse of these rules. If you are not certain about the content of your post, please send a message to the moderator prior to publishing it.

Legalese

1. If a court were to find that a forum member’s message constitutes libel or defamation, that person would be held legally responsible for damages to the reputation of that business. Under federal law (the Communications Decency Act), because Pricescope.com does not censor posted messages or investigate them for accuracy, Pricescope.com is not legally responsible for the complaints that are posted, even if those complaints contain remarks that are defamatory. However, this law does not protect the person who leaves the complaints from responsibility for those complaints. For more information on laws limiting the liability of companies like Pricescope.com from written remarks posted on its site by third parties, please visit these Web sites: Legal Information Institute & Findlaw.com
2. You acknowledge that you are familiar and agree with Pricescope Terms of Use.

Pricescope post etiquette guidelines

1. Be respectful of other users, the system, and the moderators. Please use the forum in good faith.
2. Be descriptive, specific, and succinct in your postings. This way your opinion and point is clearly understood and referenced.
3. Before posting in a forum, please read the charter for that forum. Your posting may be more pertinent to another ongoing discussion, or it might spawn its own thread, it may be moved as Pricescope sees fit. If you feel you have posted in the wrong forum, please use the ‘Report Concern’ button to send a message that you would like it moved.
4. Everyone who participates in this forum is “in it together”, Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Don’t start flaming or personal attacks. One way to guard against misunderstandings is to read over your response before you post it.
5. Nicknames or posts that we feel are inflammatory, vulgar, promotional, or rude will be removed.
6. Inflammatory, rude, arrogant and obnoxious behavior will not be tolerated from anyone. Should anyone use inappropriate language, start a personal attack, or engage in hate speech, they will be banned from all further discussions.
7. Do not use foul language; keep your language clean and decent.
8. This forum is mainly for diamond and gemstone issues, not a venue for the resolution of personal issues with members or companies. Please keep your personal business as just that – personal.
9. You are responsible for your own posts and agree not to hold Pricescope liable for any messages posted.
10. If you think that a posted message is objectionable please report it immediately by clicking
11. next to any forum message. Upon receipt of such notification, we will make every effort to take such action as we deem necessary within a reasonable period of time. Since this is a manual process, you are advised that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.

Pricescope reserves the right to remove any mention of a vendor banned for violation.Pricescope reserves the right to remove any thread(s)/post(s) to keep the forum in focus with the educational and positive aspects of the spirit of Pricescope.If there are any questions, concerns or comments at any time, please use the “Click here” to send your message and we will respond as soon as possible.