Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: end_the_war_on_drugs on August 02, 2011, 08:57 pm

Title: business models
Post by: end_the_war_on_drugs on August 02, 2011, 08:57 pm
Hi there anon's.
Im new, so please forgive my ignorance on all matters.
However i see stars in my eye's here.. This is the future.
What i wish to ask/discuss is a matter of business. This will one day be seen as the place where anon's could purchase all drugs at a time of strict prohibition.. technolodgy has done us great, and given us our freedom back. When will it be so, that we can start to operate a professional business model here? Ie sales figures, trends, campaigns. I know some of you will role your eye's at such suggestion's (one trip to amsterdam will make any avid smoker reel at the commercialisation of cannabis), but we need to give the smoker/user their freedom to choose back. no more back street deals, instead clean fairly priced products.

Is it possible to publicize SR, without attracting unwanted attention? Like a "public" face to this organization without breaking the anoynimity of it? this would please all sellers im sure, and offer the users much greater choice and freedom to buy....

Take Lulzsec as an example of such a PR campaign....

Title: Re: business models
Post by: redtide on August 02, 2011, 09:07 pm
Hi there anon's.
Im new, so please forgive my ignorance on all matters.
However i see stars in my eye's here.. This is the future.
What i wish to ask/discuss is a matter of business. This will one day be seen as the place where anon's could purchase all drugs at a time of strict prohibition.. technolodgy has done us great, and given us our freedom back. When will it be so, that we can start to operate a professional business model here? Ie sales figures, trends, campaigns. I know some of you will role your eye's at such suggestion's (one trip to amsterdam will make any avid smoker reel at the commercialisation of cannabis), but we need to give the smoker/user their freedom to choose back. no more back street deals, instead clean fairly priced products.

Is it possible to publicize SR, without attracting unwanted attention? Like a "public" face to this organization without breaking the anoynimity of it? this would please all sellers im sure, and offer the users much greater choice and freedom to buy....

Take Lulzsec as an example of such a PR campaign....

I think we'd all be happy with the status quo.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: end_the_war_on_drugs on August 02, 2011, 09:29 pm
hiya redtide, thanks for reading. can u enlighten ?

as in, business is good? product is good?
or dont need the publicity?
Title: Re: business models
Post by: itmux on August 02, 2011, 10:19 pm
At least in the USA there has already been a lot of attention, several large media outlets have run stories on Silk Road, and a congressman has sent a formal letter to the DEA to put an end to it. It's not really like the Silk Road is a secret anymore.

Right now it isn't a lack of publicity that's the problem, it's the difficulty of buying bitcoins and accessing the site.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: vanilla on August 02, 2011, 10:41 pm
Don't need the publicity. The more underground SR stays the better. One can still conduct business and make use of a business plan, trending info etc but announcing SR to the larger world is begging to have it shut down. The articles on gawker etc have done enough to out SR to the world. The best way to create a backlash against us is to let this go mainstream. Senators and right wing religious nuts will be calling for the downfall of SR if they knew about it. I do trust the technology but even that may not be 100% bulletproof. I encourage anyone to be a good seller and thereby build up a significant reputation and business but we can't (shouldn't) really advertise.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: myolddutch on August 02, 2011, 11:18 pm
There's a Wikipedia page for goodness sake! SR is no secret.

Word will spread organically. No need to shout about the place. A Silk Road that actively markets itself is a Silk Road that gets investigated quicker and harder than one that sits tight and lets people find it themselves.

On the whole, lawmakers pass laws and investigate reactively. If the public and media at large don't notice it, they won't investigate too hard. If a moral panic begins with the media screaming about how drugs are openly available at the click of a mouse OMG THINK OF THE CHILDREN, you can bet the team who's currently investigating SR (and there will be teams currently investigating) will have their budget increased tenfold.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: Fakeare on August 02, 2011, 11:42 pm
There's a Wikipedia page for goodness sake! SR is no secret.

Just checked it, OMFG.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: anarcho47 on August 03, 2011, 05:15 am
There are already over 30,000 users registered on SR.  The numbers exploded over the past two months as the stories ran back in June.

And they are still climbing regularly.

I don't we need a PR campaign - the one article even quoted SR admin on his position on prohibition and state violence, which was pretty cool.  But it's a better process if this is organic, every time there is new publicity a wave of deadbeats seems to come along with the good members of the community and we have to burn away the chaff again.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: end_the_war_on_drugs on August 03, 2011, 03:45 pm
30,000 strong! Ok, i hadn't realised that many people we're accustomned to the tor network, let alone SR. showing my ignorance again.  Stupid question, but do we have a break down of customers vs sellers? can anyone let me know roughly wat there sales are per week? as in amount of sales not profit. 
Also, this bit about an explosion in the last 2 month's, is this down to reports in the US media? Here in europe, not much has been publicsised. However i wish i could pass a email on to a few friends and family with a simple tool to set them up, ie- mozilla tor bundle, with preset links like SR and bitcoin..  The dumber we make, the more available it will get.
Title: Re: business models
Post by: vanilla on August 04, 2011, 12:54 am
With all due respect, we don't want dumb people on here. Anyone who can't figure it out doesn't need to be here. We don't want this to get any bigger than it already has. Invariably it will but the bigger SR gets the more of a target it is. If we draw too much attention to ourselves it will lead to SR being shut down. How much profit will you be making then? Hmmm?