Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: snailgod on July 19, 2013, 08:32 am

Title: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: snailgod on July 19, 2013, 08:32 am
I've been thinking about this. Let's say major news media start running articles about the site and people start flocking to it. What would the consequences be?

For one, the authorities would no doubt consider it a higher priority to try to find the site and shut it down. The question is can they really do any more than they're doing already? I'm sure shutting it down is already a high priority for them up there with busting drug lords and yet here we are...

Two, they'll likely increase their efforts to busting individual sellers and buyers, but since they'll be so many more to bust, it might actually make an individual's odds of getting busted lower as you'll more easily get lost in the crowd, much like how the music and movie industry started going after people sharing copyrighted stuff but as many people as there were doing it, they couldn't even put a dent in it.

Three, it's always great to have more options to choose from and more potential buyers. However, it could attract a less savory group of people and the quality of the place could go down.

These are a few thoughts I've had. I thought I'd get others' takes on it.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: larsson72 on July 19, 2013, 06:15 pm
it has already happened before mate !!!!!!! about 8 or 9 months ago if i remember correctly !!!!! and a lot of the points you made actually did happen once the word got out and more people came onto the site .
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: livestr0ng on July 19, 2013, 07:58 pm
it has already happened before mate !!!!!!! about 8 or 9 months ago if i remember correctly !!!!! and a lot of the points you made actually did happen once the word got out and more people came onto the site .
Mhm. If you don't know and want more info, it was when the Gawker article came out. Supposedly there was a huge spike in members and SR had to change things around to accommodate.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: jthev2005 on July 19, 2013, 08:28 pm
The main issue I see moving forward as the site gets more popular is scalability of SR and TOR hidden services in general. Just how many users can the TOR network handle? I've seen the average number of relays at any given time stuck at 3,000 or so for a long time now, and this number will no doubt have to increase (along with exit nodes, etc) for SR to continue to handle the influx of new users.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: snailgod on July 19, 2013, 08:47 pm
it has already happened before mate !!!!!!! about 8 or 9 months ago if i remember correctly !!!!! and a lot of the points you made actually did happen once the word got out and more people came onto the site .

To an extent and that's probably what led me to hear about this place. However, the vast majority of people still haven't heard of it. I'm talking about when you start hearing about it on the evening news, Yahoo, etc, and a large percentage of people know about it.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: larsson72 on July 19, 2013, 09:37 pm
i would say most people that are interested in drugs, wither that be taking them or whatever, have heard or know about SR .
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: jackofspades on July 19, 2013, 09:48 pm
and 80% of people who use SR pretend like they've never heard of it:)
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: larsson72 on July 19, 2013, 10:16 pm
LOL !!!!!!!!
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: bolorolo on July 19, 2013, 10:22 pm
i found out about SR through Forbes only about a month or two ago

i feel like most people arent comfortable with computers/technology to follow all of the instructions and may give up before they even make it on the site. there are also a lot of paranoid people out there who may be interested in trying the site but dont have the balls.

i think the site inherently has failsafes to avoid things like this. its very hard to pinpoint a vendors exact location, especially if they use multiple addresses(which happen to be fake)

the limitations of the TOR network, however might play a different role

cool thread, interested in others opinions
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: druff1138 on July 19, 2013, 10:27 pm
I find it odd everyone talks like Silkroad is some secret place that only the elite are aware of. The cat was out of the bag a long time ago, sorry you are not a Silkroad Hipster...

Source: I am a normal old guy.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: Yousaf on July 19, 2013, 10:31 pm
I've been on SR for over two years. I remember being able to get envelopes of ketamine from Pakistan way before SR was even here.  The cat has been out of the bag for the longest time.  It's not a secret.  I will always miss the good old days, but this place has really grown into something spectacular. 
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: Sero Tonin on July 19, 2013, 10:33 pm
and 80% of people who use SR pretend like they've never heard of it:)

friend asked me if i had anymore dmt a week or so ago and i said my guy was out.
then he went on to tell me about if i have ever heard of SR...i was like no. sounds like something the fbi would watch.
i aint fucking with it lol.

:) secrets.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: The-Truth on July 19, 2013, 11:28 pm
I've always adhered to the "fight club" motto, you just do not speak about it

Good points were made prior. My thought is let Atlantis get the publicity - last fall was a shitshow on SR due too increased "newbies" and the DDOS fiasco
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: Cimicon-Rep on July 20, 2013, 12:04 am
The main issue I see moving forward as the site gets more popular is scalability of SR and TOR hidden services in general. Just how many users can the TOR network handle? I've seen the average number of relays at any given time stuck at 3,000 or so for a long time now, and this number will no doubt have to increase (along with exit nodes, etc) for SR to continue to handle the influx of new users.

True, but it may also mean more relays added by people because of SR inspires them to take it upon themselves to further the movement that SR represents. TOR will become more and more important in the future. Imagine if the bandwidth became good enough to TORrent? Mmmm...
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: ShApEsHiFtInGsHaPeS on July 20, 2013, 09:42 am
when it hits the mass media the forum will be flooded with underage kiddies, trolls and even more people asking the same questions over and over again instead of using the search function.
the number of scammers will go up, the quality of drugs will go down.
there will probably be one or 2 self proclaimed internet sherrifs who will forward customer addresses to LE or spread personal info.

hate to be so negative, but that's what i see coming
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: livestr0ng on July 20, 2013, 10:24 am
when it hits the mass media the forum will be flooded with underage kiddies, trolls and even more people asking the same questions over and over again instead of using the search function.
the number of scammers will go up, the quality of drugs will go down.
there will probably be one or 2 self proclaimed internet sherrifs who will forward customer addresses to LE or spread personal info.

hate to be so negative, but that's what i see coming
I almost want to cry after reading that  :'(
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: lamonteyoung on July 20, 2013, 10:35 am
Popularity is inevitable, which will induce challenges as a result of market and member saturation, but those challenges are worthy byproduct for social-progression.

Call me Utopian, but I still believe this is the start of a united collected consciousness to subvert from mainstream sociopolitical control.


We can shape the increased attention by demonstrating integrity, solidarity and consciousnesses, and ostracizing those who wish to disrupt this.

I am both very grateful and inspired by SR..   
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: lamonteyoung on July 20, 2013, 10:40 am
Right...Where did I put that line of Ketamine...
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: StExo on July 20, 2013, 10:58 am
Under a different username, I've been here almost since the start and there were very few before me. Heck, I'm one of the only ones left who still remember the old "forum" if that even gives the old style any credit at all for how crude it was (but it worked most of the time).

As we've expanded, look at what has happened. Spam increases, scams have increased, we have a growing set of vendor only a few of which stay around for any long period of time, most flare up then burn out quite quickly. We've had infrastructure changes to handle the new demands and threats. SilkRoad survives because it adapts and although not much happens on the surface, below that surface is a very well oiled machine of hundreds of vendors spendings hours every day packing and managing orders, processing money, admins sorting disputes, DPR fixing bugs and checking for the latest threats, drugs being couriered in bulk and resold across the world. As long as we continue to evolve then we will be fine. The only problem with this however is SR tends to evolve responsively or when something goes wrong as opposed to a pro-active approach.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: d33pblu3 on July 20, 2013, 01:00 pm
and 80% of people who use SR pretend like they've never heard of it:)

+1 hahahaha


honestly prefer that people not know about this site

are a lot of money in the streets with SR: D
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: killerglass on July 20, 2013, 02:36 pm
Under a different username, I've been here almost since the start and there were very few before me. Heck, I'm one of the only ones left who still remember the old "forum" if that even gives the old style any credit at all for how crude it was (but it worked most of the time).

As we've expanded, look at what has happened. Spam increases, scams have increased, we have a growing set of vendor only a few of which stay around for any long period of time, most flare up then burn out quite quickly. We've had infrastructure changes to handle the new demands and threats. SilkRoad survives because it adapts and although not much happens on the surface, below that surface is a very well oiled machine of hundreds of vendors spendings hours every day packing and managing orders, processing money, admins sorting disputes, DPR fixing bugs and checking for the latest threats, drugs being couriered in bulk and resold across the world. As long as we continue to evolve then we will be fine. The only problem with this however is SR tends to evolve responsively or when something goes wrong as opposed to a pro-active approach.

This...so much this.  I came in on the Gawker wave over 2 years ago. My original member number was in the low 1000's, for those that remember.  This happened when the Gawker article came out too.  People panicked. Chuck Schumer threatened to shut us down. But SR has evolved and has survived.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: BTC King on July 23, 2013, 02:20 am
the site has to grow. lots of people here are opposed to growth for purely selfish reasons (as in 'i was here first and want to keep it all to myself!'). sr has already had lots of media exposure so i don't see what difference would more exposure make
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: weather420 on July 23, 2013, 04:17 am
I think most people are too technologically illiterate to attempt the road or are scared. Not everyone has what it takes to travel along the road.
Title: Re: What would be the effect of increased popularity of this site?
Post by: meta on July 23, 2013, 06:04 am
when it hits the mass media the forum will be flooded with underage kiddies, trolls and even more people asking the same questions over and over again instead of using the search function.
the number of scammers will go up, the quality of drugs will go down.
there will probably be one or 2 self proclaimed internet sherrifs who will forward customer addresses to LE or spread personal info.

hate to be so negative, but that's what i see coming

Sometimes I wish I was still naive enough to believe in all the utopian nonsense that gets spat around on these forums, but after experiencing the real world and the kind of element typically involved in the drug trade (especially harder substances), I'd say this would be the more probable result...

But there are other sites out there, thankfully. Sites with less exposure to the masses and (hopefully) less intrusion by LE.