Bitcoin Forum

I think that silk road is one of the main things that back bitcoin. With these improvements and the influx of new users. I can see a rally soon.

Here's the announcement post:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Greetings everyone!  It has been some time since I have made an official announcement, and I am very pleased to be making this one today:  The look and feel of our beloved market will be transformed in just a few days time!

We have been working tirelessly to deploy many "behind the scenes" upgrades over the past few months that have vastly improved our security, flexibility and availability.  These advances aren't sexy, and don't get much fan fair, but hopefully you've noticed the site running smoothly even as our community grows.  This kind of work rarely get's acknowledged, so I would just like to applaud everyone on the Silk Road team that has put in the effort to make this possible.

But now, in just a few days, I will have the honor of rolling out a sleek new look that will be impossible to miss and I am sure you all will love.  I feel it matches the integrity and professionalism of our community and the robust technology that empowers it.  New comers will now have the confidence they need to take that leap of faith and make their first purchase.  My hope is that this day will be looked back on as one where we really came into our own and started a new chapter in our quest to stand up for our freedom and declare ownership of ourselves and our bodies.

So you aren't too surprised when the change comes next week, here's a little sneak peak at the new login screen:
http://xfq5l5p4g3eyrct7.onion/view.php?image=ec5bd763f500d3c9d19f9e8ba2bf6107.png

When you see this, NO you are not being phished!

Much love to you all,
Dread Pirate Roberts

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJQC1q7AAoJEAIiQjtnt/olHmEH/iPZMRe6aCtihSHuLLYc3oty
9qamU2sCh3Q1oEIzBTUhMVH/KgstcnsnlKUg8r5gRv2WB9uMAPAY7X/kn9R34G60
PLExdAFhBUVMUQ7HMbLLkACniajjAzXfDEbReTfpk1iAr+FgxHfCYZpPGX8CjA+i
y9MqjeTariBAcDEbymj7MBIl61lelmTHXVtdmZ5h6f+nsVAaZEVeKJOaV9l7LyC5
B2AFRDFt5hj5FWoNNUkW9ydvrJmmOVAw99dKrlpApheTVlG2LbmVbCDWh5h+5nHm
iWpVBt+fjefYzi9bVFwxQ1XM92Owx6gB39cZp9zz7iElrLf9rHXNVaBV9vw1QIU=
=C72t
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
« Last Edit: Today at 01:46 AM by Dread Pirate Roberts »

Translation: "I believe that bitcoin needs more drug users to buy into bitcoin in order for the market price to go up. Let's promote illegal activity in bitcoin guys!"

I believe bitcoin has a bright future ,and will be around long after silkroad is gone

Where you see "illegal activity", I see people making voluntary transactions, harming nobody.

silk road offers plenty of legitimate products too.

Not all illegal activity involves harming another person.

That's a bad translation. This forum is for speculation, and kentrolla speculates that much of the bitcoin economy is in drug trade, and that the SR redesign will attract more users to them and thus to bitcoin. It's not an endorsement of anything, it's a statement of belief in how things work. I don't think I agree with it, but then I don't agree with most things in this crazy subforum. No need to jerk your knees.

Translation: Doing good things makes the things I do that are illegal or bad to be okay to do.

"Victimless crimes" aren't crimes.

Translation: "I don't know how to spot sarcasm nor a troll post very well."

Translation: "My opinion matters and no one else's does."

Crime is defined by what's in the law books.

So you changed your mind after posting and want to blame it on being "sarcastic", fine with me. I'm glad we agree now.

Translation: "I can't decipher Smoothie's thoughts that are genuine and those that are sarcastic. Poor me."

smoothie,  how did you get off my ignore list? oh well,  fixed.

Lots of "pirates" in bitcoin world  :)

ty for this post. smoothie seems like he's out to get me or something.

@smoothie: where did i suggest promoting illegal activity? This is a speculation sub forum. Also, the black market is a ~10 trillion dollar market and bitcoin is perfect for it.  Like it or not, I speculate that bitcoin will be used more by criminals than by law abiding citizens.

The whole "bad press" argument doesn't make sense to me. ANY press is good press. I know i got into bitcoin because of an article about Silk Road. I thought to myself, "if criminals are accepting bitcoins for drugs then they must be worth something,"  so this influenced me to do some more research on bitcoin and i decided that it is a great idea and could be an awesome technology as long as people become aware of its benefits. So any press is good press because it spreads awareness.

And it's important to remember that not all criminals are violent.

In one place, this woman is a patient in a medical program.
In another, she is a criminal:
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/CheriSicardDetail.jpg

I think that SR is a great website and is for the good of humanity. IMO, the war on drugs is a lost cause. There should be no such thing as a "controlled substance."  But, after all, this is the speculation forum so I don't want to get in a debate about morals.
The main reason I think this upgrade to SR will spark a rally is because it might get some news coverage. Also, more people joining SR = more people discovering Bitcoin.

Yup.. no publicity is bad publicity. Even without joining SR, more people should discover BTC because you can't discuss SR without at least mentioning BTC. And "if criminals trust it..."

The war on the users and sellers of certain politically-unpopular drugs is the real crime. The Silk Road helps people engage in voluntary exchanges without becoming victims of state violence. I call that a good thing.

I hope they make the URL more user friendly too with the upcoming facelift, so that even my grandma can find and use it.  >:(

Onion addresses are derived from the service's public key, so like bitcoin addresses, it's not easy to make a very readable address. SR already has a pretty long vanity address, and making an even longer one would be extremely time consuming (probably years or decades). Teach your grandmother about browser bookmarks instead.

Not only is the 'war on drugs' an outdated concept and horribly inefficient, I'd say the same about politics and government as well. I believe we are on a longer-term cycle of change that will redefine how we participate in our society. The internet was built to route around damage, and with several technologies overlapping and mutating, the way we live is going to radically change as well.

Those fucked up quote lines really bugged me. Fixed:

Following rules blindly without questioning their purpose and usefulness to the general public, is not a good idea IMO.
What if SEX would be declared illegal? Would you consider yourself a criminal for having it?

You probably already are... ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy_law

Hehehe! Good point! ;)

+1  If my grandma could get her smack on the street without having to worry about getting mugged, shot, arrested and treated like some scum piece of shit I'm happy with it.





And the 'war' on drugs is as much a component of pure profiteering as most of the others wars we are currently engaged in.  I'd much rather see even a fraction of the billions spent on the war on drugs used to ACTUALLY stop the cartels from shipping drugs, many of which are only able to get them in here with the help of our own fucking goverment. instead spent on programs that actually help people who need help to get off of drugs...

Of course I would, because I could be criminally punished for it. That's what crime means. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, and everything to do with what laws say you can't do. Some laws are unjust and it's understandable if people break them and don't feel bad about it, but that doesn't mean breaking them does not constitute a crime.

Don't you think that if the definitions of "wrong" and "criminal" don't coincide, those definitions should be changed?

you might find this interesting. the definition of the word "Justice" https://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=QkytIlgCkfcx-qxYbDkQ-g&cp=11&gs_id=9a&xhr=t&q=justice+definition&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=justice+def&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=aa499a16869e0be5&biw=1920&bih=955

It says nothing about laws or crime. It talks about being "just." and "the quality of being fair and reasonable."   Putting people in jail for voluntarily putting drugs in their own bodies is "unjust."  The Whole goal Judicial system is the pursuit of Justice.  So, "crimes" are something that is considered "unjust." Therefore if you think voluntarily ingesting substances is "unjust" then it is a "crime." IMO, voluntarily doing anything to yourself is not "unjust" as long as it is victimless.

This. Also, I like to use dictionary.com... it uses makes shorter links, at least. ;)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/justice

yea, i just thought i would use the google link so people can't claim that I looked for a definition that fit my argument.

I stand by my tripod statement.

Bitcoin needs 3 legs to stand on, Drugs, Sex and Gambling.

SR covers the 1st nicely but I wish it was not the only one that did so (all your eggs in one basket etc).
Sex is getting there, seeing more and more cam girls etc. I really hope this takes off - my current speel: Tired of your partner seeing (foot/gay/bi/ladyboy/scat)-fetish on your CC bill - USE BITCOINS !!!.
Gambling - while still small Id call what we currently have a success for the community size we have.


VHS won over BETA mainly because of porn, bitcoin will win its place as a currency because of Drugs, Sex and Gambling.

this

the pay 4  porn industry is being killed now because there is so much free porn ,i wouldnt rely on people paying for porn to sustain ANY business or currency  as long as

google and bittorrent can find you all the porn in the world .......

true, but you would be surprised at how many people still do it. Granted that most people that use bitcoin are savvy enough to not pay for porn. Still, Gambling with bitcoins has a lot of room to grow.

The criminal code should be a general reflection of how most people in a society perceives right and wrong. Yes. And sometimes those perceptions change faster than the laws, and in those cases laws need to be changed. But until that happens, you're still a criminal if you break those laws. So break them, and wear your criminal title like a badge of honour. It's called civil disobedience, but you're still a criminal. You don't get to personally decide who's a criminal and who's not. And that's my point.

in the late 1990's Porn stars were making more money than they could spend ,literally women were getting several thousand  dollars and the men upwards of 500 for a day

I saw a program about it  which said the industry is basically dead in the water now for a lot of reasons but mainly because anything new  is "shared" rapidly and this generation have more or less figured out how to download and stream everything and nobody has fiqured out a way to stop new content being shared for free
so i wouldnt like to invest in the online  porn industry expecting it to get better

future generations will be more internet savvy and competent  than us so i also think gambling is a safer bet than porn going forward

This is a fine point, but here's the law I live by, and the only one I expect those around me to live by: The Non-Aggression Principle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle). Locke said it most completely and succinctly, I think: "Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."

To stay on topic,


Bitcoin is very well suited to live performance porn... streaming shows performed to a live audience, and not recorded. It's a premium service, and one I think people will pay for.

I think catering to fetishes and also web cam girls&guys are the way forward for the porn industry.  
This could mean less big players and many more individuals representing themselves.

Hollywood cries the same losses as the porn industry and they seem to be doing fine.

There is the obvious issue though that the current bitcoin demographic is extremely tech savy and therefore are quite adept at finding what they want.

edit:

agreed, and to completely stay off topic for the moment.
my suggestion for all cam sites right now:

Have a pot for the client and tip slider.
The tip slider determines how many satoshi's per second to tip the dancer from the pot.
Like the show ?, ramp it up to 100 - about to blow set it to over 9000!!! satoshi etc etc.

As myrkul said, its ideal for live shows ;)

Not all activity harmful to another person is illegal.

ahh yes, damn fine idea, thank you Hex

Before using the word "illegal", ask yourself first who makes the law.

http://www.e-ducat.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/libc3a9banksters-e1343233461811.jpg

I don't think a redesign of the site will mean increased influx of new users.

I'm all for improvement, but this won't tap any new userbase. It's not like you happen to see this awesomely designed silkroad page by some accident and then do business on it because it's so pretty. It's also not like you want to order some drugs and are then driven off by a crappy design.

You statist. No it shouldn't. It should be a general reflection of how most people in a society perceive infringement upon the rights of others.

this is true. i was hoping it would draw some media attention. usually gawker does an anti-SR article about anything that goes on on SR. i guess they couldn't find a way to put a negative spin on this.

Anyways, the fact that SR upped their security and did this remake because of the influx of new users tells you that SR is growing stronger and more secure.

I think when something looks professional the feeling while ordering there changes(less criminal) and this will increase user amounts, not very quickly at first, but gradually the userbase will grow and people will tell friends more quickly about the site.

Check for example http://www.aromaticpowder.com/
The site doesn't really look shady, but it's still offering chemicals for ingestion(although they are legal in some countries and they state their products are not for human consumption). This changes user experience.

Wow, the 4-MEC crystals cost negative -6.05 per gram. SR should sell things for negative bitcoins imo.

But yeah, people are going to be more willing to show friends the better it looks, and that's got to be a prime driver of sales.

If the arrest of a Melbourne Silk Road user claimed here (http://www.afp.gov.au/media-centre/news/afp/2012/july/afp-and-Customs-warn-users-of-silk-road.aspx) is true, then it looks like some of those 'new users' are from Law Enforcement.

I wonder how they took this guy down..   I would have thought police would try to operate a merchant account, although it's not clear to me how they would maintain a good rep  for any length of time, without either shipping lots of drugs - or following up on every shipment to catch all buyers and force them to put in a positive report.

Not necessarily.  This package was caught by the customs / border people.  They probably just caught it with normal scanners/drug dogs and then the guy fessed up to ordering it online.  This is why you BUY DOMESTIC!!

I really don't see how somebody can get caught ordering from SR.  Worst case scenario you lose your package... but they can't jail you just because some drugs got mailed to you.  It's pretty hard for them to prove that you ordered it yourself.

Wow it is different

Can someone please paste the teaser screenshot png so that not everyone needs to visit the .onion site?

Edit: Pictures below

Not hugely different. Image previews are a nice touch, though.
https://i.imgur.com/CGQRC.png

Not like I use the site of course.

Why did you censor it? Last time I checked pictures of drugs were not illegal so long as you are not providing a link to them

Well, I don't have any issues with seeing pictures of dope. But it seems kinda atleast NSF.... Holy look at that tasty ass Grandaddy Purple!!  8)

Didn't want to offend anyone in the slightest by accident. Its just not something I come to this website to see lol

most notably: it's much faster.

It is faster.......... neat

most notably: more secure   
imo

Can't complain.... will take some getting used to :)

FTFY

is your opinion based on hearsay or some facts? How is it more secure?

Silkroad is as secure as any hidden service, no more no less.

Which is, not entirely secure, but just enough to make it able to operate.

from the OP "We have been working tirelessly to deploy many "behind the scenes" upgrades over the past few months that have vastly improved our security, flexibility and availability."

So hearsay it is ;).

i guess, those words are straight from DPR himself though. He constantly has people doing pentests and security isn't something that you can't upgrade. You have to be constantly looking for vulnerabilities and fix them. what i gathered from the forums from trusted members is that his pentesters found a lot of vulnerabilities that were fixed in this upgrade. That is why they couldn't say anything about when it was going to go down and couldn't post why SR went down for 10 hours. After they fixed the vulnerabilities then they announced the remake. This all seems pretty plausible to me. I can't see why anyone would think they would lie about upgrading security, because upgrading security is a standard thing that websites must do regularly (even .onion sites).

I guess its fair to call it hearsay, because they aren't going to release any proof of what was fixed for security reasons obviously.

I had no idea it went down. I don't go there very often... Once a month the wife and I will get something fun :)