Editorial Policy | ICHA Crystal Guide
Editorial scope
How we prepare and revise crystal buying guidance
ICHA Crystal Guide is an independent editorial guide for beginners comparing common crystals and assessing retail listings. Luo Wei Su, Site Editor, reviews product descriptions, photographs, disclosure wording, dimensions, apparent weight, and return terms as separate sources of evidence.
Pages are written to support a purchasing decision, not to provide remote authentication, appraisal, medical advice, financial advice, or laboratory conclusions.
Editorial method
Four evidence positions
Observed
Details directly visible in the available photographs or stated measurements, such as color distribution, surface texture, fractures, inclusions, dimensions, and apparent luster.
Seller states
Names, origin claims, treatment descriptions, material labels, and other assertions supplied by the seller. These remain seller claims unless supported by appropriate documentation or testing.
May suggest
A plausible interpretation that fits a visible clue but is not exclusive. Alternative materials, treatments, image conditions, and manufacturing methods are kept in view.
Confirmed
A conclusion supported by an appropriate test or reliable documentation. We do not turn a resemblance, retail label, or confident description into a confirmed result.
Preparation
What each review checks
Listing language
We check whether material names, treatments, dimensions, photographs, and return conditions are stated clearly and consistently.
Observable features
Comparisons begin with what can be seen or measured, while accounting for lighting, editing, scale, angle, and missing views.
Treatment possibilities
Dyed, coated, reconstructed, synthetic, and look-alike materials are discussed when they are relevant possibilities, without presenting suspicion as fact.
Decision consequences
When uncertainty remains material to a purchase, the guidance emphasizes seller questions, additional views, measurements, return terms, or suitable gemological testing.
Corrections
Revision practice
Published pages are revisited when a comparison example becomes materially clearer, common retail terminology changes, treatment disclosure needs clarification, or wording exceeds what the evidence supports. Corrections are incorporated into the relevant page so the explanation and its boundary remain together.
A revision may narrow a claim, distinguish an observation from a seller statement, add a plausible alternative, or state more directly that testing is required. Ambiguous cases are left unresolved when the available evidence does not support a firmer conclusion.