Every news article is free advertising. SR owes most its popularity to the media, since it has done zero advertising of its own. SR's unprecedented popularity means buyers can choose from hundreds of vendors, unlike any other drug site, and vendors have access to tens of thousands of customers, unlike any other drug site. We all win. If the infrastructure is really secure, as DPR says, then I welcome it. I especially like where Adrian Chen said that people were emailing him about how to get on SR. He acts all moralistic, but really he doesn't give a shit. He continued to write new articles about SR, knowing they would increase the site's popularity, because those articles get him tons of hits.