Version 1.0, last updated 5 Nov 2026
The Bench house rules (member page)
The Bench is a free place for people in the UK jewellery trade to ask, answer, find work and share files. It is run by Hamed Arab Academy. You must be 16 or over to join.
What is welcome
- Questions and answers about the bench, CAD and 3D, casting and printing, stones, business, careers and AI tools.
- Your own work and your own files, with credit to anyone who helped.
- Job ads from businesses we have checked. Every ad shows the pay.
- Saying "I am not sure", and correcting yourself when you were wrong.
- Disagreeing kindly. Argue with the idea, not the person.
What is not allowed, for everyone, whatever your age
- Anything illegal in the UK. That includes scams and fraud, fake businesses and fake jobs, threats, stalking, hate, terrorism, anything that sexualises children, selling drugs or weapons, and stolen or laundered goods.
- Pornography and sexual content.
- Content that encourages or helps suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.
- Hate, bullying, harassment, and violent or shocking material.
- Asking anyone for money to get a job, a place, a file or an answer. You never pay to apply. We do not allow unpaid roles from businesses.
- Pretending to be someone else, or to be a business that is not yours. Fake endorsements of any kind.
- Spam. No repeated promotion, affiliate links or copy-and-paste posts. A business can promote itself on its business page, not inside questions and answers.
- Other people's private details. No addresses, phone numbers or pictures of people without their say-so.
- Getting round a rule or a suspension, including with a second account.
Members aged 16 and 17
You are welcome. Your profile is private and is kept out of search engines. It shows no location and employers cannot see it. You can read, ask, answer and apply for jobs. If you apply for a job, you decide what you send.
Jobs
Every ad shows the pay and the employer's real name. Nobody should ask you for money, a passport, bank or National Insurance details before you have an offer. If an ad does, press Report.
How we look after The Bench
Software and AI agents read new posts, ads and reports first. An agent can hide an item at once while a person looks, for example obvious spam, a suspected scam or anything that may be illegal. A person decides whether it stays down. A person decides every suspension.
If a rule is broken
- We hide or remove the item and tell you which rule it broke.
- For a first, small breach we send a warning.
- For a repeat, a short suspension.
- For serious or repeated breaches, we remove the account.
Scams, threats and anything that may be illegal are hidden at once when a signed-in member reports them. If a member with some standing on The Bench, or two different members, report one, the account is also paused while a person looks. One report from a new member hides the post but does not pause the account. A report from a visitor who is not signed in does not hide a post by itself: a person reads it, and one about a child's safety or anything illegal goes to the admin straight away. We may report them to the police, Report Fraud or JobsAware.
Reporting
Press Report on any post, ad, file or profile. You can also use the report form without an account. We read reports about illegal content the same day. We answer every other report within 48 hours. We tell you what we did. If someone is in danger now, call 999.
Appeals
If we removed something of yours, or suspended you, and you think we got it wrong, use the appeal link in our message or email us. A person who did not make the first decision, where we have one, looks again and answers within 7 days.
Who to contact
Hamed Arab is the person responsible for these rules. Email hi@hamedarab.academy.
Who provides The Bench
The Bench, by Hamed Arab Academy, is provided by Studio Saina Ltd, company number 12770445, Victoria Mansions, 32-35 Hall Street, Birmingham B18 6BS. You can write to us at hi@hamedarab.academy.