Silk Road forums
Support => Feature requests => Topic started by: softserve on July 13, 2011, 12:54 am
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We all know there are some major problems with seller feedback in its current form, and with buyer feedback that has been suggested...
I propose SR adopt the EigenTrust system that was developed at Stanford for P2P file-sharing networks. The number of positive/negative transactions a user has with another user will help to generate a trustedness value. You can read the following wikipedia article and simply replace all references to downloads/uploads with purchases/sales. You will also find a link to the original paper.
Most importantly, this system is resilient to bad users making many accounts and giving themselves high ratings.
It does all this without keeping the details of any transaction. This would be an excellent supplement to the anonymous seller feedback.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EigenTrust
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+1
I think this is the best solution to the buyer/seller rating problem that I've heard yet!
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Nah..this works: I just lift escrow on trusted sellers as soon as transaction is 'being processed', and that works for them, and lets other buyers know I trust them...
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Yay. Please keep a public record of all my drug buying transactions. I want every LEO in the world to know what I've been up to.
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I still think a completed/disputed number value for a buyer is almost as good as a feedback rating. Simply show how many transactions a buyer has had in the last 90 days and how many disputes have been originated by the buyer in that time frame. If someone has 5 transactions and 3 disputes, a seller can check that out and choose not to do business, or make an offer for out-of-escrow.
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I still think a completed/disputed number value for a buyer is almost as good as a feedback rating. Simply show how many transactions a buyer has had in the last 90 days and how many disputes have been originated by the buyer in that time frame. If someone has 5 transactions and 3 disputes, a seller can check that out and choose not to do business, or make an offer for out-of-escrow.
Anything that would keep a buyer from complaining about a shipment that doesn't arrive is coercive. A buyer who does lots of business, or is in a volatile product--think heroin--might have several complaints. Again: buyer feedback would be coercive, and make buyers afraid to complain. The system in place works. Once buyer pays, he's out of equation. Seller delivers, and it's a done deal. Any kind of feedback on buyers could be coercive, and would make it too easy for bad sellers to take advantage. Good sellers and buyers have no problems. I've seen newer sellers improve, because of the complaints and feedback.
I agree on cutting the time lag, and making sure finalize doesn't take so long, and I've been a strong supporter of finding a way for trusted sellers to bypass proxy--which is now in place. But I still am opposed to any kind of buyer feedback. They either pay or they don't: any other feedback on buyer will could be abused. This system works. All the good sellers are doing fine, and get plenty of good feedback. Starting a list of buyers who have disputes is subject to abuse. Good sellers don't have problems with this. I don't see real threads saying that all of a sudden there are buyers who dispute too much. Why bother with this?
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It's a means of avoiding even a few problem buyers. There are no restrictions on buyer accounts currently. Including if LE's tactic in the near future (because they can't actually bust sellers if they are shipping right and not leaving prints everywhere) is to simply start buying the hell out of the product inventory to screw sellers out of their float and make them edgier to sell.
Transactions Disputed/Total Transactions is all that is needed. A seller can refuse to sell to anyone and the more information sellers have regarding probable transaction success the better. If a buyer has a bout of bad luck they can take it to the forums, easy as pie. It would be a lot easier to track than a hundred posts about bad buyers.
Remember, LE is going to be methodically working out strategies to take this market down. Every transaction that successfully goes through is a spit in the face of legislative personal morality and pisses legalistic idiots off to the point of shitting themselves. The sellers on here are heroes because they are taking violent crime out of the equation. Cut them some slack - no transaction details are being divulged here, just the ability to nip problem buyers in the bud (or discourage them entirely).
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I would have to see threads describing buyers who have done false disputes. If the disputes are legitimate, then it shouldn't matter how many they have.
LE couold very well be working on a different strategy, which we have been seeing, of putting a popular product up for sale, getting buyer info, and then constantly not delivering such product? We have two sellers who have been doing this that we've been discussing, (maybe 3.) Escrow has saved us. But why are these sellers doing it? They get buyer's addresses for one thing. You don't think that could be LE? Cut sellers slack? Why not cut buyers slack? Nobody on here is a hero.
Anything that hampers a buyer from his legitimate rights on here is wrong. Any listing of buyers would just make bad buyers switch identities, and intimidate good buyers. This is a divisive issue, and I don't find most sellers calling for it. I've been around a while, and I've never disputed anything, and most of the buyers I know, post here, and pm seller, and do all kinds of things before going into disputes.
I"m opposed.
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With the new direct-buy option it isn't as big of a deal anyway, since I have second-order customers who have direct-bought from me in exchange for a bit of a discount.
It's not a problem now so I don't see it as a huge deal either way, but it is something to keep in mind in case LE switches tactics or we just have a ream of shitty wanna-be-scammer assholes decide to show their faces.
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I agree. I've changed much of my habits just by reading seller's threads. I'm willing and now often do drop escrow on sellers I know are reliable, or--which sometimes seller prefers--just 'finalize' as soon as it order is shipped, that way seller gets the good feedback, plus other buyers see I'm willing to close out escrow early, because I trust seller. These forums are invaluable, and I think newbies should be sent over here for a few days before buying so they'll learn how to be good buyers, not jump to conclusions if a package is late, and they can see how things work.
The setup always needs tweaking, and I've seen SR respond to the threads by changing things, so it's good that people on here voice their opinions, see what the problems are, and we do our best to eliminate them. And I too am wary of LE, and always looking for commonalities that make no sense...unless it's to get info for LE. That's the reason we've been leery of sellers with escrow who have cancled orders repeatedly. I think site is getting better though. After shutdown we all were a little jumpy, but hopefully we've faded from the 'newsworthy' scene...
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I know, it's depressing to me that only 10% of the SR userbase (at most) is registered on these forums. This is the lifeblood of SR here, the nitty-gritty is hashed out and the truth is put out there, unedited.
yeah I'm hoping the news forgets about us and keeps concentrating on ironically-named congressmen....