Silk Road: anonymous marketplace. Feedback requested :)

[elewton]

The easiest thing to do is to download the Tor Browser Bundle.

[42kang]

doh, thanks bud.

[evilpothead]

hey guise:) 

feedback for idea: *****
feedback for community: *****

now, I haven't bought anything yet. Cause i would like to discuss some issues 1st. So, say i order something, what details would i give..I would need to give a valid phone number for the courier service to contact me. Tell me what you did

I am a bit worried that at some point the package will be scanned or somehow checked. So the cops/courier service will know whats inside.

whats your thoughts on all this

[BitterTea]

Most sellers ship via postal service I believe. At least in the US I believe they need a warrant to open mail. Don't use your real name if you can avoid it, and if you know of a place other than your home that you can securely/anonymously receive a package, use that address. Don't include a phone number.

[protagonist]

Can anyone actually access Silk Road since last weekend?

[BCEmporium]

From TorDir:

Last check unix timestamp: 1305832581
Last status: On
Delay: 80 seconds
Successful checks: 85
Failure checks: 109

[Ϛ]

Can anyone actually access Silk Road since last weekend?

I've been on it everyday since last weekend.

[Wdave]

Seems like The Silk Road is down at the moment. 

[Ϛ]

Seems like The Silk Road is down at the moment. 

Up for me.

[pasqal]

I'm new to Silk Road, the anonymous newsletter pointed me here. SR sounds like a great idea, but its website says it's closed to new visitors...? I'd really like access, is there anything I can do to arrange it?

[cuddlefish]

I'm new to Silk Road, the anonymous newsletter pointed me here. SR sounds like a great idea, but its website says it's closed to new visitors...? I'd really like access, is there anything I can do to arrange it?

You need to come through Tor.

[anisoptera]

Hi there I'm working on a project somehow similar to "Silk Road" called:

http://bitcoinaction.com/

We want to collect 1000 email in 30days of people interested to get Bitcoin deals similar to Groupon. If you like the idea please leave your mail, if you don't please tell me why

I think having a critical mass (aka lobbying) could be critical when it comes to convince business to accept BTCs.

How is this in any way like Silk Road? Have you even been there?

[anisoptera]

Silk Road is building a market place via tor, on an eBay kind of model.

Yes. Though it's only like eBay in that sellers receive feedback.

Apart from "marketplace", what's similar about your service? Again, have you been to Silk Road? The types of things that are sold there aren't exactly conducive to a Groupon type thing. I doubt "much higher exposure" is on the list of goals for SR sellers.

And on top of that, you want to convince businesses to accept BTC with it, so you can't be similar to SR. I'm sure a business would love to run a "deal" on such a site. 

I'm not saying that "Groupon with bitcoins" is necessarily a terrible idea. I'm saying it's completely unrelated to SR and advertising it here is basically spam.

Also I'm not sure what "a lot of bitcoin owners but very few bitcoin sellers" means. People selling bitcoins? People selling things for bitcoins? There aren't as many people taking BTC as payment as we'd like, but the way to change that isn't "Hey, offer a discount for paying in this currency that you don't even know exists."

[BitterTea]

He's spamming his site all over the forum.

In other news...

Has anyone considered that Silk Road (and other similar sites) actually makes the drug trade less, in spite of prohibition? Consider the combination anonymity, escrow/arbitration, and a reputation system.

Reputation allows buyers to make informed decisions, escrow gives both buyer and seller added protection against fraud, arbitration gives both parties a non-violent recourse to disputes, and anonymity protects against any violent recourse outside the system. Notably, anonymity not only protects from violent recourse from other traders, but also from law enforcement.

Just something I was thinking about...

[FatherMcGruder]

Has anyone considered that Silk Road (and other similar sites) actually makes the drug trade less, in spite of prohibition? Consider the combination anonymity, escrow/arbitration, and a reputation system.

Reputation allows buyers to make informed decisions, escrow gives both buyer and seller added protection against fraud, arbitration gives both parties a non-violent recourse to disputes, and anonymity protects against any violent recourse outside the system. Notably, anonymity not only protects from violent recourse from other traders, but also from law enforcement.

Just something I was thinking about...

I think Silk Road is still a little too esoteric to make much of a difference, but, yes, I agree. It means less business for the dealers at the ends of distribution chains who do nasty things and/or try too hard to make friends with customers.

[chops666]

iv followed all the steps. ive downloaded tor, its running. i close and reopen fire fox and then click on the link again to go to it and it says its down till july 1st. i have a MacBook Pro. is there anything else i need to do?

[FatherMcGruder]

If you're too retarded to figure it out we don't want you there. There's already been a bunch of articles about it published which will probably ruin the site.

FFS don't be such a bogart.

iv followed all the steps. ive downloaded tor, its running. i close and reopen fire fox and then click on the link again to go to it and it says its down till july 1st. i have a MacBook Pro. is there anything else i need to do?

If that's what Silk Road's Tor Hidden Service (the .onion site) says, then you'll just have to wait.

[chops666]

thanks mcgruder. i just want to share my hobby with people. the other dude didnt need to be a dick.

[BitterTea]

thanks mcgruder. i just want to share my hobby with people. the other dude didnt need to be a dick.

I think you might be visiting the landing page on the regular internet, not the Silk Road itself. Try this link instead.

Also, I would highly recommend downloading the Tor browser bundle in order to use Tor in the most secure way possible.

[FatherMcGruder]

thanks mcgruder. i just want to share my hobby with people. the other dude didnt need to be a dick.

Hey man, an injury to one is an injury to all.

I just checked and the site is up. I forgot how much I hate the use of the Thai bhat symbol for bitcoin. Why, Silk Road, why? But I digress. Try this link if BitterTea's doesn't work. Tor can be finicky, so be patient.