hey gang, here's the scoop...

The site went mainstream way faster than we were hoping and we weren't prepared for the traffic.  Everyone on the site knows what a pain it is getting 502 errors all the time.  So, we are working on setting up an even more secure server that can handle all the traffic as well.  Once we get that set up, and make some more improvements here and there, we'll be opening back up, whether by invite, open registration, or whatever.

For everyone pissed at us, we just want to offer our sincere apologies.  We really didn't expect all of the media to catch on so quickly, and we should have been prepared with a semi-closed system.  We'll do our best to get out of the spotlight and hopefully the merits of Bitcoin will become the focus.

Also, if there is anyone out there locked out of their accounts with bitcoins in them, pm us here with "bitcoins in account" as the subject.  Please don't pm for any other reason.

This is fun, love you guys/gals

Hi everyone,

We did a big update of the site over the weekend and are happy to say that it's back up and running!  New features include:
- an integrated bitcoin tumbler
- an integrated bitcoin eWallet
- dynamic pricing to smooth out exchange rate fluctuations
- a much more transparent ordering process
- reorganized categories and improved item browsing

and more!

We hope you enjoy it.  Shoot us a message there if you have any questions, concerns, or just want to say hi

http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion

Hi everyone, glad to see this thread is remaining popular.  Just to address the quote above in case it concerns anyone, the portal page and tor site are completely separate and neither can be traced back to any physical persons at Silk Road in any conceivable way.  The portal page was an afterthought to get more traffic to the site, but did its job too well, over-exposing Silk Road.  We will reopen it when we feel like the site is ready for that kind of exposure.

On another note, I would like to bring this thread back to the "Feedback requested" part of the title.  I am especially interested in hearing from anyone with alot of experience in network security about how to improve the anonymity of the site beyond running it as a tor hidden service.  How would YOU do it?  What are some worse case scenarios?

Thanks everyone for your support

FYI, we blocked off the portal page bitcoinmarket.org, thought the .onion is still open.  The link was posted in a few high-profile places and traffic growth exceeded a healthy pace.

How cool!  Is there a recording online somewhere?  How big is your audience?

That depends on who you buy from, where they are located, and where you are located.  Vendors are required to ship within 72 hours and many will ship the same or next day.  If you live in the same country as the seller, turnaround can be as short as a 3-4 days.


Is anyone still having connection issues?  Traffic to the site died off by about 30% a couple of days ago, couldn't figure out why.  Did daylight savings time mess up tor?

So here's how it works currently:
1. buyer places and order
2. funds held in escrow
3a. seller confirms shipment
3b. seller never responds, buyer's funds are returned
4a. buyer confirms delivery and seller's funds are released
4b. buyer claims that the order never came.  Buyer and seller have a few days to come to a resolution.  If no resolution is made, a silk road admin will review the case and make a judgement, which is usually to split the funds in escrow 50/50 (to date, only one order has come to this and is currently in the resolution process)
4c. buyer never responds, funds are released to seller

The details of how long each phase takes will be different once the automated payment processor and shopping cart features are launched, so I won't publish them here to avoid confusion down the road.  For now, though, when you place an order, it is all spelled out.


In response to #1, I am reluctant to reveal any details about the server until I think through how it might be a security threat.  Please rest assured that security for silk road admin and all of the users is the top priority.

GPS GeoCaching is not currently supported, though I really like the idea.  I don't think the userbase is big enough to support it right now because buyer and seller would need to be near each other geographically.

The truth is, we don't know the identities of any user on Silk Road.  Sellers have very little chance of detection if a buyer is really a government agent, and the best defense for a buyer is to deny ordering anything (anyone can send anyone else anything through the mail).  We have a guide on the site and a forum topic dedicated to the best way to protect ones self when receiving an order.  Authorities typically won't investigate customers either, they are after the producers, brokers, and dealers. 

I'm very sorry your seller flaked 8668.  Hopefully you were pleased with our refund policy, though.  Your's was actually the first unfulfilled order so far, so I am confident if you placed another that it would be filled.

Has anyone else from here tried placing an order?

I thought this thread got killed!  Glad to see there is a place for it at bitcoin.org.


Don't worry 8668.  The next message you get will be to let you know that your order has shipped.  If you want to message me on Silk Road, we can talk in more detail.  I don't want to get into too many specifics on this forum.

I've read through the thread up to this point, and I really appreciate everyone's feedback.  I'm totally open to Silk Road evolving to include more than just drugs.  It's just an obvious place to start.  ronaldmaustin's post about banned items on eBay is a great place to start thinking about what else could be sold there.

I'm not entirely sure how to classify the following drugs, but they are listed as well under "prescription":
Viagra
Xanax
Alprazolam
Colnazepam
and Amphetamine salts

Have you accessed a tor hidden service before?  I think you can find a browser for PowerPC here: https://www.torproject.org/dist/vidalia-bundles/vidalia-bundle-0.2.1.30-0.2.10-ppc.dmg.  And here are some instructions: https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-osx.html.en

My hope is that eventually, more than just drugs will be listed there.  Drugs are an obvious direction to go in, however, because there isn't a good market for them currently.  I have a category for weapons as well because many people are restricted from purchasing these, but no one has listed in that category yet.  It would be great to hear if anyone has ideas for other kinds of products that would fit well at Silk Road.

The site has been in development for about four months, but was launched only three weeks ago.  I'll take it as a compliment that you thought it had been around longer

Hi everyone,

Silk Road is into it's third week after launch and I am very pleased with the results.  There are several sellers and buyers finding mutually agreeable prices, and as of today, 28 transactions have been made!

For those who don't know, Silk Road is an anonymous online market.

Of course, it is in its infant stages and I have many ideas about where to go with it.  But I am turning to you, the community, to give me your input and to have a say in what direction it takes.

What is missing?  What works?  What do you want to see created?  What obstacles do you see for the future of Silk Road?  What opportunities?

The general mood of this community is that we are up to something big, something that can really shake things up.  Bitcoin and Tor are revolutionary and sites like Silk Road are just the beginning.

I don't want to put anyone in a box with my ideas, so I will let you take it from here...

-Silk Road staff

(access the site using the links in my signature)

I registered an account on Operation Fabulous, but couldn't figure out how to bid on ads.  Do I need to design an ad first?  Fund my account first?