Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:00 am Posts: 344 Location: Finland
OMG, Richard
This Amazon review is just plain evil. What did you change in your book since this review?
Quote:
“I have to tell you all that this is a story of the gemstone industry that is unlike anything I have ever read. I feared it would be another textbook...which I have little time for right now. But this book is the complete story of gemstones, from someone who knows gemstones and the gemstone markets better than anyone I have read. It is the most complete story of gemstones I have read, and should be required reading for every student of gemology.” ROBERT JAMES, FGA, GG, President, International School of Gemology
there have been absolutely no changes to the book since publication. The cover is the exact same cover and the contents are also exactly the same. The subject, as most know, is connoisseurship which is not datable. there are many more qualified than I to write on the subject of treatments, etc.
Posting the original review will be amusing. If you have read the book and feel comfortable with it, a comment on Amazon would be most appreciated. Remember you can comment on the review and report abuse at the same time.
A short story that reminds me of a person that has lost his feet on the ground...
I once knew a miner digging a hole so deep - he just had the urge to get to the bedrock in mind - and suddenly the hole was so deep so he couldn't get up... and yes, no gold to find. He hadn't done his home work... what should he do? A handy solution; a piece of rock, some spray can and some artistic creativity and voila; a massive nugget! All presented in a news flash! Extra extra read all about it...
I know it's easy for me to brush it away so casually, given the fact that I've never been targeted myself by Mr. James, but honestly you shouldn't even bother about that Mr. Wise. This is just laughable and paltry.
I find the comments left on Amazon with 1 star very unprofessional. In a business that is often viewed similarly to dealing with used car salesmen, this whole fiasco is a very unprofessional all the way around and certainly doesn't do much to promote consumer confidence. This type of thing does bring the industry down. Looks just like the guy you see on 47th street in a trench coat asking to buy your gold or a watch, then trying to direct you into the store.
Richard, I didn't think I was implying you were behind the "yourgemoligi$t.con" website. I did suspect someone else. At this point I have no idea who is behind this, but I thinks it's petty and unprofessional. Certainly nothing of the sort I would picture any of the people I associate with professionally in the engineering world doing. Nor would I picture any head of a real university making the above mentioned posts etc. Makes the gem & jewelry business look bush league. But maybe it is.
Are there any real colleges or universities teaching gemology as a degreed program?
Yes, the University of Luleå in northern Sweden does as a branch of their geology education IIRC that is in cooperation with Gem-A via Kristallen in Lannavaara. Also the Gem-A course nowadays is equivalent to a undergraduate or bachelor degree level.
Addendum: I actually find the way mr James is acting both "gemologically" and in replies to critiscism to be much more destructive to the industry than the site set up to reveal the plain truths.
I hope as many as possible in the industry go read it HERE. Both the parts with thongue in cheek and the more serious parts which are there. I understand there are reasons to why many people does not like to critiscise mr James in public. I have felt the wind blowing from his side on several occasions but when he threathened me to buy ConnyForsberg.com if I did not take my critiscism away from Linked In it actually made me even more convinced that he has to be exposed. That is regardless of the fact that I feel sorry for him. I will continue to do so in public whenever BS turns up from that side of our industry. I'm not afraid of him and his tries to intimidate me has failed.
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:04 pm Posts: 1642 Location: Walnut Creek, CA
This web domain bullying would be funny, if it wasn't sad. It brings me back to retaliations at the elementary school... in a more modern version.
I fear what maialetto.com could be used for. Either pork cooking recipes or something really perverted... I guess. Gene, couldn't you imagine an engineer would buy precisiongem.us to start a (fake) sale of puppies to pharmaceutical industries for experimentation because you criticized him? But I think this kind of childish retaliation has nothing to share with the profession, but a lot with psychiatry. (btw, what is the formal education of R. James?)
I don't think the blog we discuss about here will obtain any practical result, unfortunately, but for sure I enjoy reading it for fun. It's well made and entertaining. I can easily foresee what the future of that "school" will be: it will simply fade slowly with time. But it will not disappear easily: more and more it will become more similar, as a framework, to a "religious" sect and the head of the "school" will have his small herd to fleece of its $. This development is relatively frequent nowadays, for some internet groups, binding around a figure of (presumed) authority. The web gives a lot of opportunities, but it has its dangers as well.
(...Marco now goes to register GemologyOffline.com to promote to the masses the use of the Chelsea filter for precise identification of all mineral species)
I did not take your remarks personally at all. My criticisms of Mr. James have been very public. Ideally you are correct this sort of thing would not be acceptable in any academic or professional discipline. Anyone acting in this way would be ejected from any professional organization or association for conduct unbecoming. Which raises the question, where are GIA, GemA, AGA, AGTA, ICA? Where are the trade magazines, the journals?
Ideally, anonymity should not be allowed on the internet---it is responsible for much that is wrong with the web. People make statements that they would never make if they had to sign their names. That said, when you come up against the sort of behavior we have seen James demonstrate again and again, verbal and physical threats, slander, libel, attempts at identity theft and to disrupt people's livelihood you can understand why members of The Gobsmacked Gang choose to remain anonymous.
Do the ends justify the means? As my major professor once said; "if the ends don't justify the means, I don't know what does justify the means." In the real world, the question is, do these particular ends justify these particular means. In our own American Revolution, there were many anonymous pamphleteers. They spoke out, the most famous; Thomas Paine who wrote Common Sense and was rewarded when the British put a price on his head. These publications often used ridicule and adopted an angry or insulting tone.
Ignore the tone an consider the content of the articles on http://www.badgemology.com To my certain knowledge they criticisms are both comprehensive and correct and really one of the few places where the real truth is being told.
(...Marco now goes to register GemologyOffline.com to promote to the masses the use of the Chelsea filter for precise identification of all mineral species)
I could never understand GemologyOnline's dismissal of the Chelsea filter. I take one with me every time I buy rough. Many times I have been able to quickly pull out the non chrome green tourmalines from a parcel with it.
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:04 pm Posts: 1642 Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Precision Gem wrote:
maialetto wrote:
(...Marco now goes to register GemologyOffline.com to promote to the masses the use of the Chelsea filter for [i]precise identification of all mineral species) [/i]
I could never understand GemologyOnline's dismissal of the Chelsea filter. I take one with me every time I buy rough. Many times I have been able to quickly pull out the non chrome green tourmalines from a parcel with it.
And anyway it was just an excuse to find a recurrent "controversial" topic.
At this point I have no idea who is behind this, but I thinks it's petty and unprofessional.
I have to disagree with this, at least in part. I believe generally that it is important that misconduct in any field be exposed. And sometimes it is, perhaps, appropriate that ridiculous public statements be publicly ridiculed--and it is worse, I think, when people are too worried to expose things to the public.
maialetto wrote:
I don't think the blog we discuss about here will obtain any practical result, unfortunately, but for sure I enjoy reading it for fun.
I am not a gemologist, or honestly a serious gem professional by most people's metric, so I haven't had the background and context to always know who to trust and who not to. As such, I have definitely found the site to be very helpful. By bringing my attention to the fluorescence thread on Mindat, it let me see him talk about a subject I did have some understanding of, and thus gave me a better understanding of what was up. I consider that a practical result.
Richard W. Wise wrote:
Ideally, anonymity should not be allowed on the internet---it is responsible for much that is wrong with the web. People make statements that they would never make if they had to sign their names.
I do have to disagree with this. In cases of abuse, for instance, it's important that people be able to share their honest feelings without fearing how people will think of them or of reprisal from their abuser. The internet has allowed people to connect in ways that they never could before. There's no question that there are downsides to anonymity (Just look at 4chan [DO NOT LOOK AT 4CHAN]) but overall I believe the results have been a net(hehe) positive.
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:12 am Posts: 484 Location: Chiang Rai Thailand
I agree with Gene on all his points. All this negativity is actually harmful to the industry, regardless of which side it comes from. The unprofessionalism has and is continuing to snowball, not a good thing. Petty or significant, it is largely negative. Honesty is always the best policy. Anonymity is a form of being sneaky and is not a way to be perfectly honest. Hiding behind the internet does not protect one from negativity naturally coming back at the one that projects other negativity. And finally, the chelsea filter is a tool that is clearly useful. Best regards, Lee
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