Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: SuperDimitri on February 28, 2012, 03:55 pm
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I was lucky enough not to be too high to find a couple of my vendors through my feedback, otherwise, I would have gone into a rage.
But there were a few that I was interested in ordering from in the near future, and now I can't. Pretty fucked. I did find one just because someone posted their user link. I don't copy them....guess I should have been..............
I understand that the vendors are taking the risk, I know the game, and I read the thread, but seriously, if you don't want your listings to show, don't list them. If you only want to deal with previous customers, just say so. I have 2 vendors who changed after the GawkerBS, and now only deal with customers prior to that...and thank fuck I was one of them!
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Yeah, I also do not like this but it comes with the territory I guess. Vendors need to limit risk as much as possible. As the market grows, this should matter less and less over time.
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After figuring out what the hell you're talking about, I have to agree. I haven't even had a chance to get around to ordering from everybody I want to. Hopefully they don't cut me off.
And with the amount of vendors no longer listing products, it makes me worry that if my preferred vendor disappears, I'm going to be stuck with a new, untrusted vendor, or just be shit out of luck.
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It does suck, but it's good for the vendors. They're not going to be in stealth mode all of the time, just when they need to be. Or at least that's what I got out of reading the thread.
Sometimes people just need a break, I would imagine that some vendors get an insane amount of orders to fill.
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If you can't find a vendor, ask around, do a bit of searching on the forum, or use warweed's SR user search script to find the vendor page:
http://warweedoeg6lfyoz.onion/search/
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I don't think I'm ever going to actually use stealth. What I would like to see is DPR implement a fans-only listing option so I can put up sweet deals for fans that nobody else has access to. I've also been messaging back and forth about implementing a repeat-buyer program that would allow you to track successful transactions and have an option to add a discount to the list price for anybody who has had X number of successful transactions with you.
It would be awesome. I'm a big fan of new business, but the 80/20 rule is the lifeblood of a business.
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It's complete bullshit. My case in point. I've never tried LSD before and have talked to people on the forums who have finally got me feel comfortable enough to give it a shot. I go to look for LSD on SR and there's 1 domestic vendor. My assumption is every vendor in the US either has sold out of product (I doubt) or they've gone stealth.
Stealth is cool if you have vendors you've dealt with in the past and you can see their listings but if you want to try a new product or vendor there's a good chance you're not gonna find what you're looking for or the really good (legit) vendors are going to be invisible.
Stealth needs to be rethought. Its fucking up the system. Maybe a way for admin to add stealth for new buyers with little or no feedback or buyers who have issues. Why are buyers who have been supporting SR and have been good customers be penalized?
Fuck a Stealth mode.
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yes, i have to agree, stealth mode is not achieving any real purpose except a bunch of hype and confusion. And if anyone wants to find a vendor they can... its as simple as that stealth or not. And Fan club makes stealth mode irrelevant so wtf?
I vote that the real drug dealers that have been selling hand to hand and face to face for more than five years and still survived the game as their sole income be the new idea committee, damn.
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It just keeps a bunch of lazy teenagers from finding some of the listings. Use warweed's bot and favorite who you want. Problem solved. I guess I just don't see the issue. But then I only ever buy weed and LSD and very few of them have even stealth so no biggie. Also PaperChsing, it was Pharmville who suggested it, so big vendor DID ask for it. All good though, sucks not everything can make everyone happy.
~Digi
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lol digitalalch, I would have thought you would know better than outing who's saying what behind closed doors, damn bro.. sheesh. Besides, I dont think their idea has been implemented as Alex suggested, making a fan club that has access anyways to hidden listings is not what the idea was at all the way I understood it... What you think that the top vendors are not talking about this quietly? Think again bro.
Its the kids thats fucking this game up here... we need to develop a way to screen kids or its going to be a major fucking problem. I been in this game for a very long time and you can get away with murder practically if you just dont deal to kids.
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lol digitalalch, I would have thought you would know better than outing who's saying what behind closed doors, damn bro.. sheesh.
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=13811.0
-> Posted by Pharmville
"2. Stealth mode-does everyone know the old saying about “great minds think alike”? Well, just last Saturday I had proposed to DPR that he institute a third mode in addition to “active” and “on vacation” where customers who had bought from us before could still see our listings and make purchases but no new buyers could so that when we were overwhelmed with orders we could go into this mode and instead of shutting down completely, just service our regular (and I should say highly valued!) buyers. And then suddenly on Monday night, VIOLA!, I see that “stealth mode” has been added to the settings page and there's an explanation on the Forum for it. Well, I don't know if he was already working on it or he just took my idea and chugged Red Bull for 48 hours and coded it but Ben and I think it's a great idea and this will allow us to look at the orders in hand at night before we close shop and decide if there's so many that we better cut it off to new buyers so we can provide the 24 hour turnaround that we believe is so important to our regular buyers or that we still have plenty of capacity to handle more orders so we can leave it open overnight and service new buyers as well. It is our intention to stay in “active” mode as much as possible as we welcome new buyers and always want to service as many as we can. We've recently had an opportunity to possibly get some more help too so if that happens then we'll have more capacity to ship as well."
They all ready posted about it man..
Next up I agree, Kids are the problem here. What's your idea to get rid of them?
~Digi
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it's gotta happen. many vendors are clearly stating they simply cannot keep up with orders and thats why they are using stealth. of course the vendors should only handle as much business as they feel they safely can. for the safety of everyone involved. unfotuately that does affect buyers. but that's innevitable as the size of the community grows. it has however opened up various markets somewhat for any other already established vendors, or any potential new one's. who i'm sure will be popping up sooner rather than later.
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Well, I see that post now, and as stated it looks as if stealth mode is right along the lines they speak of in that post... I stand corrected on that matter as far as what they posted here with that regard Digi.
For the record I still think the way stealth mode has been implemented sucks.
The kid thing: best idea ive had so far is to have a buyer status account only activated after a the potential buyer has to have a brief conversation with a screener that is skilled at determining the maturity level of the respondent.
Something must be done about this matter. Soon.
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Interesting concept. It would be interesting to find out what questions one could could ask the verify age, I would guess gauging there skill in writing, etc.. but doing it for people who do not speak English might be difficult. Well, this gives me something to think about.
~Digi
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I suspect people may be confusing stealth mode with a general drop in vendors in some markets, such as the Coke and LSD markets.
I have all my favorites bookmarked, but when I browse by category, everybody I think may possibly want to be in stealth mode is there for the world to see.
Is it somehow possible that if a vendor is in stealth mode, but you have 'favorited' them, there stuff still shows up in the standard listings as well? I didn't think that was the case, but maybe that's why I can't find any evidence of any impact of stealth mode.
Regarding the kid issue: Nothing can be done, not should anything be done. If kids can get money into bitcoins and receive drugs in the mail without their parents somehow finding out about it, then those kids are probably mature enough to do drugs. End of story.
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things only experience will grant such as: what is a TIN number? (IRS taxpayer identification number) Explain the Iran/Contra affair? (lol, adults know but it dont get talked about at all nowadays at all so kids have no clue what the fuck it is) etc etc etc...
it would have to be tailored for other countries individually but it appears that the US kids are the ones that are raiding our ranks right now for the most part.
Hell I took heroin off my listings because one of my IRL partners asked me what the fuck silk road was because his 14 year old daughter told him a boy at her middle school brought some heroin to school to sell to his friends and told everyone he got it from SR and even named the vendor, whom is well known here for quality H. We need to find a workable solution to vet the kids cause its completely unacceptable for them to be buyers here.
Next gawker article: "13 year old kid buys Heroin from SR and OD's classmates during recess" We have to stop this shit before it gets out of control.
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things only experience will grant such as: what is a TIN number? (IRS taxpayer identification number) Explain the Iran/Contra affair? (lol, adults know but it dont get talked about at all nowadays at all so kids have no clue what the fuck it is) etc etc etc...
Well, I know plenty of adults who wouldn't know the answer to either of those questions, and plenty of kids who would kind the answer on google so quick you'd not even know they looked it up.
it would have to be tailored for other countries individually but it appears that the US kids are the ones that are raiding our ranks right now for the most part.
Hell I took heroin off my listings because one of my IRL partners asked me what the fuck silk road was because his 14 year old daughter told him a boy at her middle school brought some heroin to school to sell to his friends and told everyone he got it from SR and even named the vendor, whom is well known here for quality H. We need to find a workable solution to vet the kids cause its completely unacceptable for them to be buyers here.
Next gawker article: "13 year old kid buys Heroin from SR and OD's classmates during recess" We have to stop this shit before it gets out of control.
That's pretty wild. Not sure I buy it though...how does a middle schooler get the money (first off), then get the bitcoins (remember they can't drive!), then receive mail at home without their parents finding out? It sounds like your IRL partner knows a little more than he is letting on and perhaps wants you to stop vending on SR.
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I have to agree. I'm not a fan of stealth mode. It cuts down the amount of listings considerably. I cant find much for weed anymore. I'm new to this forum but not SR. Made about 7 purchases. If vendors are concerned about the amount of sales. They should only list what they have available for purchases.
Regards,
MagikLair
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I have to agree. I'm not a fan of stealth mode. It cuts down the amount of listings considerably. I cant find much for weed anymore. I'm new to this forum but not SR. Made about 7 purchases. If vendors are concerned about the amount of sales. They should only list what they have available for purchases.
Regards,
MagikLair
You can't be serious. I can't find one weed vendor in stealth mode.
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Maybe I'm confused, how do you enable/disable stealth mode? But for LSD there is 6 listings..
Regards,
MagikLair
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You don't, the vendor does.
The reason LSD has 6 vendors is because nobody has LSD for sale, aside from those 6 people. Seriously.
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ok thanks for clarifying that. Seriously, chill new to the forum and stealth mode. Just was disappointed at the lack of listings. Maybe some sellers have repeat customers and now are in stealth mode.
Regards,
MagikLair
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Finally got my coins and pharmville is stealth. Fml.
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I fully concur with the need to screen kids. A while back I proposed a knowledge test (http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=11288) for buyers that would have the results posted in buyer stats, which would hopefully help with this (and let you decide if you wanted to deal with a dumb buyer). There's no perfect way to do it but anything is better than the status quo. And to the above poster who doesn't think kids in middle school could figure this out, think again. It's not hard at all. I'm pretty sure I could have had an account and been getting orders all the time from here when I was that age. The one upside here is that prices are high enough to deter kids, but that's only selectively true. It doesn't seem like admin really gives a shit about it either, moonbear was outed as a 16-17yr old and his vendor account is still active.
As for stealth mode I never really saw the point. What will end up happening is that someone will post links to all the popular 'stealth' vendors on the forums anyway. Or an enterprising vendor will act as a proxy buyer for newbs who can't find what they're after.
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Yeah, it's just that unfortunately we're going through an LSD drought.
If you're looking to get quality LSD, buy from envious or tony76, depending on location/shipping requirements.
They both have had it up recently, but sold out ridiculously quick. I verified they aren't in stealth, they just don't have any listings up.
If you're willing to pay, mike.murphy should work fine for you.
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Finally got my coins and pharmville is stealth. Fml.
Are you certain?
Because I see all of his listings right now:
http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/category/51
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I can definitely see both sides of this, and the way I read pharmvilles idea was such that what 'allowed' you to view a particular vendor's listings is if they had conducted business with them before and essentially del-ist to customers they hadn't done business with previously.
How it's working is if the vendor hits stealth mode the only way to see their listings is to go to their vendor profile which is fine to some extent (and for some of us) but I believe what was being suggested is more transparent and what was implemented is more 'manual' in nature. I am wondering if this is possibly v1 and eventually it will not be a 'favorites' list that has to be created. As and example I had to go and become a 'fan' of several vendors that I have done business with in the past in order to see what they had for listings, and they didn't show up in the normal categories even though I had become a 'fan' so while it works if you already can get to their profile page, if you don't already have it and you've done business with them before they 'disappear', I think the intent was more to only display listings to prior customers, but not necessarily based on a bookmark style method.
Perhaps this is a stop-gap or initial version of this feature and SR is working on making it more transparent as described in the suggestion, any idea if this is the case DigitalAlch?
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If you've done business with them before, you can find the direct link to their vendor page in your past feedback page in your account settings. Visit them and become fan, done deal.
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I'm glad stealth mode has been implemented. I had links to my favorite vendors before stealth mode anyway so it didn't really affect me. For some of the larger vendors, like PV for example, I think it's great. Since they do such a large volume, i'm sure if anybody attracted the attention of LE, it would be them. I think we can all agree that seeing PV gone would be a devastating hit to Silk Road.
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It's not "kids" that are the problem. Age is really just a number. What really needs to be screened for is maturity and intelligence. I don't mean intelligence as in whether or not someone knows how to calculate the area of a limacon revolved around an axis, but more of, I suppose, technologically and "street" savvy. How that can be done, I cannot say. Maturity level and intelligence are two traits that are just far too difficult to test for and accurately gauge.
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lol... your a kid to me if your immature, it don't really matter if your 23 or 14 - if your immature this is no place for you to be. It is easy to tell if someone is immature from having a brief discussion with them whilst discussing matters that mature people would have a different view of than immature people... thats why it has to be a live discussion.. googling would be obvious to the screener if its a complex matter such as Oliver North due to the time it would take to digest the information and have an opinion in that regard.
Q: Do you think Oliver North was a Hero?
<3-5 minutes go by and you know their googling haha>
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If you can't find a vendor, ask around, do a bit of searching on the forum, or use warweed's SR user search script to find the vendor page:
http://warweedoeg6lfyoz.onion/search/
Thanks for the tip Ben:) what would we do without warweed?....peace
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If you've done business with them before, you can find the direct link to their vendor page in your past feedback page in your account settings. Visit them and become fan, done deal.
ok thanks for the feedback. I'll just add all the sellers with good weed to my fan list.
Regards,
MagikLair
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lol... your a kid to me if your immature, it don't really matter if your 23 or 14 - if your immature this is no place for you to be. It is easy to tell if someone is immature from having a brief discussion with them whilst discussing matters that mature people would have a different view of than immature people... thats why it has to be a live discussion.. googling would be obvious to the screener if its a complex matter such as Oliver North due to the time it would take to digest the information and have an opinion in that regard.
Q: Do you think Oliver North was a Hero?
<3-5 minutes go by and you know their googling haha>
I think Oliver North is a fucking asshole! and did you realize Reagan already was in full Alzheimer's before his second term? How scary is that a shadow government for a whole second term.....ummmm the whole drug war shit, arms to the Contra rebels, school of the Americas, CIA crack shit ect ect ect...... fun times! oh yeah training Osama Bin Laden there's that too
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If you can't find a vendor, ask around, do a bit of searching on the forum, or use warweed's SR user search script to find the vendor page:
http://warweedoeg6lfyoz.onion/search/
Are you fucking kidding me? This only helps if you know the vendors name. If I knew the vendors name I wouldn't need to look it up.
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things only experience will grant such as: what is a TIN number? (IRS taxpayer identification number) Explain the Iran/Contra affair? (lol, adults know but it dont get talked about at all nowadays at all so kids have no clue what the fuck it is) etc etc etc...
Well, I know plenty of adults who wouldn't know the answer to either of those questions, and plenty of kids who would kind the answer on google so quick you'd not even know they looked it up.
it would have to be tailored for other countries individually but it appears that the US kids are the ones that are raiding our ranks right now for the most part.
Hell I took heroin off my listings because one of my IRL partners asked me what the fuck silk road was because his 14 year old daughter told him a boy at her middle school brought some heroin to school to sell to his friends and told everyone he got it from SR and even named the vendor, whom is well known here for quality H. We need to find a workable solution to vet the kids cause its completely unacceptable for them to be buyers here.
Next gawker article: "13 year old kid buys Heroin from SR and OD's classmates during recess" We have to stop this shit before it gets out of control.
That's pretty wild. Not sure I buy it though...how does a middle schooler get the money (first off), then get the bitcoins (remember they can't drive!), then receive mail at home without their parents finding out? It sounds like your IRL partner knows a little more than he is letting on and perhaps wants you to stop vending on SR.
I don't know the solution, but I agree with PC.
If I was 14-16, I think I could do the BTC transfer, or convince my parents to help somewhere clueless in the middle.
"I'm using this neat new electronic money to buy a toy"
Now that I think of it, what step in the process needs you to be 18?
I really do appreciate you vendors trying to be responsible.
Being the anonymous nature, it going to be very hard to stop.
I'd bring up paying for membership, to be used as well for filtering, but I pay enough in buyer taxes already.
Just remember there are some pretty rich smart kids, and clueless adults, so it is very possible.
I know I would be checking it out if I was a teenager.
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I've been here for several months and I just found out about this. Is there anyway that as a Buyer you can get a heads up on what Vendors are using Stealth?
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The only ways I know are check your feedback for links, and then use the reviews on the forum and warweeds search function to figure out which ones have listings but dont show up, and make sure you fan them
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Interesting concept. It would be interesting to find out what questions one could could ask the verify age, I would guess gauging there skill in writing, etc.. but doing it for people who do not speak English might be difficult. Well, this gives me something to think about.
~Digi
The Lycaeum use to ask for a paragraph about why they should be able to join, this was like 15 years ago before erowid existed and the lycaeum was private.
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I'm gonna be honest, this whole idea has it's ups and downs. It leaves people like me fucked. I still haven't been able to make my first purchase due to issues getting bitcoins, and now I can't find any vendors. But it does have its good points too. It helps protect the vendor and such. But seriously, this only turns me off more to making my first purchase when I do get some bitcoins, because now I won't even be able to purchase any quality products from any of the vendors I was interested in (all the good vendors went stealth). Sooooooo.... Idk. I guess I need bitcoins first, then maybe figure out a way to get access to some of this shit. lol.
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There are still lots of great vendors not operating in stealth mode right now! It all depends on what you're looking for (:
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I'm not going stealth, and I consider myself to be a good vendor...
I might put certain items into stealth mode from time to time and it will be contact-only to purchase, but I will not go into stealth.
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Wasn't too concerned about stealth mode but now warweed's search utility's is not working...shit!
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Wasn't too concerned about stealth mode but now warweed's search utility's is not working...shit!
yeah they have been converting users over to hash instead of chronological numbers. Working their way up and up...
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I can see both sides and really im a bit torn on it. I buy as well as sell but if it just takes a little forum work and some searching I dont really see the problem. There are certain conveniences that we do not need here.
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I struggle to see the purpose of stealth mode. If it's to decrease the prevalence of scam buyers, an early finalise-no refund policy for new customers would be equally if not more effective. If it's to reduce LE exposure, it simply fails.
All stealth mode does is place a limitation on demand. This doesn't benefit sellers who without stealth mode can still happily continue selling at their current volume and sell out frequently. Not using stealth mode also gives vendors the option of either increasing prices to stabilise demand, or preferably increasing supply to meet rising demand resulting in lower prices for customers/more profit for vendors. It makes more sense for established vendors who wish to use stealth mode, especially those who require their customers to finalise early, to move off SR and operate through email using PGP to authenticate themselves and buyers. SR essentially offers no service to sellers who request early finalisation and who aren't advertised on the website, so why pay/pass on the costs of its commission?
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Here's a pragmatic explanation of the purpose of Stealth Mode;
You're a trusted vendor with a one man or several man operation. You have been getting a lot of volume recently. Keeps rising everyday until you become a bit overwhelmed. You don't want the quality of your service to suffer as that leads to a lower rating. so what to do? Raise prices because of demand? Sure. But that likely wouldn't deter buyers since if you are a reliable seller, they would be reluctant to try another vendor. So best bet is to go stealth which would prevent many new buyers (especially new to SR) from readily being able to order from you*. You won't show up in search or category listings. Now you can manage your regular clients' volume of orders without worry of noobs who tend to order small and send a lot of PMs. When volume drops to more manageable levels, you can deactivate stealth in order to take on new clients.
*New clients that are savvy may be able to find your listing by searching the forum and seeing the URL in the vendor's sig or by asking other members for seller's URL. But of course, a vendor can ask the admins to take down a thread or posts made for the purpose of circumventing Stealth Mode.
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also, a member can have a listing or some listings that they don't mind selling to the wide open public, but only wants other products to be available to screened members. Also, clears up sections filled with custom listings.
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I struggle to see the purpose of stealth mode. If it's to decrease the prevalence of scam buyers, an early finalise-no refund policy for new customers would be equally if not more effective. If it's to reduce LE exposure, it simply fails.
it's seems the majority of the time it's because the vendor doesn't feel they can safely and securely handle more business. a very legitimate reason imo...?
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It seems likely that as SR evolves it must become more private or die. I haven't bought anything here but I am interested in becoming a vendor. Once I had a few reliable customers why would I want to deal with unknown people, much safer working with as few people as possible, especially if I wanted to sell in quantity. Stealth seems like a good idea with so so implementation.
As for the issue with minors, I agree that we/you need to limit access by minors, nothing could be worse than the hypothetical OD of a child getting blamed on SR. I think all new users should have to post a paragraph as suggested and then respond to a few questions. Knowledge tests are more culture specific than even English language ability.
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it doesnt seem to matter too much. the death of a teenager, or death of an adult. that factor 'seems' kinda irrelevant since the death of adults are what caused the emergency scheduling of 5-meo-dipt, AMT, T-7, ect. and the subsequent investigations, webtryp, ect, and the arrests, and convictions, of a quite a few brave vendors... :(
i used both american and omega few times. but there were many other vendors around at the time that survived the cut. simply cuz they were smart. and/or got a little bit lucky even. since some of those vendors were specifically fingered for being openly traceable online, and accused of selling the actual drug to various "od" victums, alive or dead. but no one 'really' saw it coming. kinda like 9/11. but we learned from our mistakes.
the smart one's at the time didn't pubilize themselves too much, and were smart about who they sold to, just like now... ;)
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Of course Stealth helps sellers, but what about the buyers? And how does it help the Silk Road marketplace in general? Stealth as implemented now is akin to a store becoming a member's only club. And you the buyer don't get to be a member unless asked! So yes, for the seller and his select list of preferred buyers, stealth is a wonderful thing. It's a way for sellers to collect up a list of preferred buyers quickly, then leave the community and use SR as nothing more than a shopping cart to run their private store.
I can see stealth as becoming THE PREFERRED way to go, with more and more of the best sellers leaving. As the top seller gets too much business and eventually goes stealth (taking with him maybe 30% of his best buyers), his other 70% migrate to the #2 seller and the cycle begins again. Before long, the #2 seller is overwhelmed and goes stealth. And then #3 and #4 and so on.
The losers here are the buyers. Both new SR buyers and established buyers (whose only fault might be that they didn't buy enough product often enough to qualify for some arbitrary preferred buyer's list). Good sellers disappear and buyers lose choice in the marketplace.
The obvious question that arises is, what does a buyer have to do to qualify for a seller's preferred buyers list? Obviously a seller will want to make the maximum profit with the least amount of work and risk, which to me means he seeks out large quantity and/or frequent buyers, so as to minimize the number of orders. So the ordinary legit buyer who isn't a dealer himself doesn't make the seller's preferred list.
In reading seller profiles, the complaint I see voiced most often is that sellers can't handle the endless barrage of needless messages. It seems logical to me then that, rather than giving sellers a way to become ghosts, SR needs to develop more robust seller account management tools that enhance efficiency and productivity in managing buyers. I am not a seller, so I don't know what is currently available, but I am a professional web developer and could probably make a few suggestions. I guess that another question that SR Staff needs to ask themselves is "what type of philosophies do we want to promote here?"
With that said, I completely sympathize with an overwhelmed sellers needing some measure of control, lacking full featured account management tools.
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@ Solstice,
You're right in many regards. Especially the need for more robust seller management tools/scripts. One significant obstacle is the slowness of Tor. That's why sellers need better tools that can be automated.
For instance, a TOR PM client that can download all PM and the seller can answer all PMs then hit "SEND ALL."
The software would then send all the responses to the various clients. Considering the slowness of TOR, I could see a gain productivity of 50% with just this alone.
Additionally, an auto decrypt of PGP messages to the seller with auto encryption of the reply (provided that the buyer included their public key at the end of the message.
Various other ideas I'm sure someone can come up with that would make a seller's life easier.
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Of course Stealth helps sellers, but what about the buyers? And how does it help the Silk Road marketplace in general? Stealth as implemented now is akin to a store becoming a member's only club. And you the buyer don't get to be a member unless asked! So yes, for the seller and his select list of preferred buyers, stealth is a wonderful thing. It's a way for sellers to collect up a list of preferred buyers quickly, then leave the community and use SR as nothing more than a shopping cart to run their private store.
I can see stealth as becoming THE PREFERRED way to go, with more and more of the best sellers leaving. As the top seller gets too much business and eventually goes stealth (taking with him maybe 30% of his best buyers), his other 70% migrate to the #2 seller and the cycle begins again. Before long, the #2 seller is overwhelmed and goes stealth. And then #3 and #4 and so on.
The losers here are the buyers. Both new SR buyers and established buyers (whose only fault might be that they didn't buy enough product often enough to qualify for some arbitrary preferred buyer's list). Good sellers disappear and buyers lose choice in the marketplace.
The obvious question that arises is, what does a buyer have to do to qualify for a seller's preferred buyers list? Obviously a seller will want to make the maximum profit with the least amount of work and risk, which to me means he seeks out large quantity and/or frequent buyers, so as to minimize the number of orders. So the ordinary legit buyer who isn't a dealer himself doesn't make the seller's preferred list.
In reading seller profiles, the complaint I see voiced most often is that sellers can't handle the endless barrage of needless messages. It seems logical to me then that, rather than giving sellers a way to become ghosts, SR needs to develop more robust seller account management tools that enhance efficiency and productivity in managing buyers. I am not a seller, so I don't know what is currently available, but I am a professional web developer and could probably make a few suggestions. I guess that another question that SR Staff needs to ask themselves is "what type of philosophies do we want to promote here?"
With that said, I completely sympathize with an overwhelmed sellers needing some measure of control, lacking full featured account management tools.
For me, even though I don't ever plan on taking my account into stealth (just the occasional really sweet fucking deal for my best buyers), the biggest thing that would drive me to it is the messaging system. If there were more management tools, bulk messaging and contact selects (for my special offers, which are FE-only, I have to manually click on each username, open a new window with messaging, and manually copy and paste my "ready to go" message in there - and this is just one example of many), it would at least help my sanity...
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The answer is to keep selling drugs to kids until their Mothers stop lobbying against proper regulation of the drug trade.
The answer is to skip the kids and start selling straight to the moms. Besides, there might be some sweet MILF action out of the deal...
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what good vendors have started using stealth?
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Stealth just strikes me as a way for a seller to set up shop, grab some good buyers real quick, then disappear – with no “giving back” to the community that made them successful. It’s a “hooray for me – got what I need – see you all later!” type of deal.
When I think of how many advantages that this marketplace offers a seller compared to dealing in the real world, with all of the negatives (speaking from experience) that that entails, why implement a feature that enables sellers to bail so easily? It seems counterproductive to building a community.
It took me about 30 seconds to come up with 10 great advantages in dealing on Silk Road versus dealing in the real world:
1. unlimited prospective buyers
2. greater profit potential
3. worldwide reach
4. take orders 24 x 7
5. complete anonymity
6. reduced real world risk
7. gas & vehicle savings
8. travel time savings
9. no face-to-face risk w/buyers
10. buyers can’t call or visit you
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Stealth mode fucking sucks bro. I thought that because I had some awesome vendors bookmarked I could become a fan later on. But nope they have literally all disappeared within a matter of a day or so. 42 years my ass!!!!!! This basically made silk road that invite/vip only type of bullshit, which isn't fair to us buyers who just want to try new things from reliable vendors that we haven't purchased from before. I know some of you guys have gotten scammed, and a shitload of orders at a time but gotdamn. Half the fucking market has disappeared... :'(
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Stealth mode is the anti-thesis of what Silk Road was purported to be all about when I started vending here. There was many discussions about making SR a private invite only site... many discussions indeed... even making a second invite only SR that was separate from the regular SR... ultimately it was agreed that SR was born free and should remain that way.
All this vendors need stealth mode is bullshit, when i get backed up i just handle it or i cancel them or they cancel them and that's fuckiing that. Thats all that I ever needed to get thru high volume times really... simple.
I feel you on that PM make you wanna hide sometimes anarcho47.. lol.. now thats some true ass shit there playa.
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stealth modes for pussiez.....
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i added all my fsavorite sellers to my fan list but i still cant see some of their listings when they are in stealth mode.
Whats going on?
Help!?!?!?!?!?!??!
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i added all my fsavorite sellers to my fan list but i still cant see some of their listings when they are in stealth mode.
Whats going on?
Help!?!?!?!?!?!??!
They should appear on your SR homepage. Wat good vendors you got?
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their name apears on the homepage but when i click on the name i do not see their feedback or listing on their profile page
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With sellers I've used that are now stealth, on their profile page I see: "This user has no active listings" followed below with lots of recent feedback by their select customers.
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I don't see any problem with stealth mode. Most vendors will not stay in stealth mode in perpetuity.
This IS a private market, vendors can, and will cancel orders to people they feel are suspicious or are just plain asshole buyers. They are taking the majority of the risk here, so I think they have the prerogative to vend as they like within the rules of SR.
If you're a new buyer, participate on the forums, buy from other vendors until you gain enough rep to be considered a safe buyer.
When the stealth-moded vendors come out of stealth mode, then buy from them and you will add them as a fan.
The only folks I think that should have any problems with this are noobs and LE.
+1 To PC for suggesting age screening. Easy enough to do individually as vendors, but time consuming.
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Help? What are the 2 letters following the 6 in warweeds search link? I'm using android and can't enlarge using orweb browser. Thanks
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You can search for vendors right on the SR homepage now
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i don't know if it's due to stealth mode or something else: i logged on yesterday and the number in the weed section has dropped down to 44 and it was something about 200 before. also there are listings not appearing but when i search for the vendor they are existent there? o_O
wtf is going on here?
another question: is it true, that if your account has low stats/a small number of transactions, that you get to see less listings than with a "better" ranked account? i have two acc's, one has 3 transactions and the other one 31, and the 31 sees way more listings.
~kev
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I don't see any problem with stealth mode. Most vendors will not stay in stealth mode in perpetuity.
This IS a private market, vendors can, and will cancel orders to people they feel are suspicious or are just plain asshole buyers. They are taking the majority of the risk here, so I think they have the prerogative to vend as they like within the rules of SR.
If you're a new buyer, participate on the forums, buy from other vendors until you gain enough rep to be considered a safe buyer.
When the stealth-moded vendors come out of stealth mode, then buy from them and you will add them as a fan.
The only folks I think that should have any problems with this are noobs and LE.
+1 To PC for suggesting age screening. Easy enough to do individually as vendors, but time consuming.
I disagree that sellers/vendors are taking the majority of the risk here and should be able to do whatever they want. Their risk is much, much lower dealing on SR then they had in the real, physical world and they gain numerous advantages by selling on SR (listed on my earlier stealth posts). And buyers are getting products shipped to their doorstep or PO Box while the sellers use a fake, untraceable address. Stealth is win, win for sellers and takes choice away from buyers. The reason that sellers go stealth IMO is because the crude account management tools and overwhelming number of messages make it too hard to keep up.
The real risk that is yet to develop is the financial risk to buyers when a stealth seller has all of his clients finalizing early when buying much larger quantities, perhaps thousands per day for the seller, with a 5 day buffer until the buyers expect the product. This could hypothetically allow a stealth seller to rake in say $10,000 in a week, then disappear completely! And even return as a new seller! I hope that buyers purchasing from stealth sellers are absolutely refusing to finalize early!
Another scenario would be where a seller takes $10,000 in large quantity orders in a week, marks them in transit and never sends them. Some buyers will wait it out and the orders will 'auto finalize' sticking SR with a huge amount to reimburse buyers and allowing the stealth seller to disappear with big bucks!
I am very much against stealth, but at the very least, SR staff should proactively monitor all stealth accounts by absolutely forbidding early finalizing by stealth buyers or suspending the stealth sellers account if even one auto finalize transaction results in SR reimbursement to a buyer.
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- what is supposed to happen when clicking "become a fan"?
???
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- what is supposed to happen when clicking "become a fan"?
???
As far as I know, all it does is add a link(s) on your SR home page to the seller(s) "profile" page where they describe themself - so you can find them quicker. As far as I can tell, you still can't see their listings if they're stealth, unless you're one of their selected stealth buyers. But I do see feedback from those who are ...
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becoming a fan makes it easier for you to organize and access vendor profile pages.
Stealth mode makes a listen hidden to the general item category as well as a search query. Only customers who have the direct URL for the listing can access it (also accessible if you have "favorited" the item, which provides the direct link)
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Stealth mode makes a listen hidden to the general item category as well as a search query.
- "listen" .....a search you mean?!
Only customers who have the direct URL for the listing can access it (also accessible if you have "favorited" the item, which provides the direct link)
- so if i have the link i can see the listings?! -i'm sure thats not enough...also from what buyers are saying the listings are blank and soltice's comment is it
not something the vendor needs to do or if you're a previous buyer seems listings are visible.....(dunno)?!
thanks anarcho47 & soltice
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Stealth mode makes a listen hidden to the general item category as well as a search query.
- "listen" .....a search you mean?!
Only customers who have the direct URL for the listing can access it (also accessible if you have "favorited" the item, which provides the direct link)
- so if i have the link i can see the listings?! -i'm sure thats not enough...also from what buyers are saying the listings are blank and soltice's comment is it
not something the vendor needs to do or if you're a previous buyer seems listings are visible.....(dunno)?!
thanks anarcho47 & soltice
rofl. Sorry, I was damned TIRED. My life is always very busy at this time of year.
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So from what I now understand . . .
If a vendor goes "stealth" you will not see their listings on the various category pages unless you are a fan of that particular vendor.
&
In addition, a vendor has the ability to "hide" some of their listing from viewers even those viewers are "fans" of that particular vendor.
DAMN! I have "become a fan" of many of my favorite vendors, but I haven't "bookmarked" any particular individual products?
I suppose that this means I may not be seeing everything a vendor has available?!?
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I dont see what the problem with a "stealth mode" would be.
The laws of supply and demand dictate that if if someone isn't meeting a demand. surely someone else will pop up that is more then willing to meet that demand. If anything this will encourage more people to become vendors to meet this increased demand. I seriously doubt that buyers will have issues with no one wanting their money for any length of time.
And on the seller's side, if a vendor has taken on enough "demand" that puts them in their comfort zone, and allows them to go stealth. then why the fuck not? whats wrong with being comfortable with the demand that you have? Being able to stay in your comfort level seems like a no brainer.
I dont see the problem.
Btw. im not a seller.
And a first time buyer.
But im only buying some MDMA not weed. so i just need 1 good source. not a variety like some weed buyers might want.
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Stealth mode is the anti-thesis of what Silk Road was purported to be all about when I started vending here. There was many discussions about making SR a private invite only site... many discussions indeed... even making a second invite only SR that was separate from the regular SR... ultimately it was agreed that SR was born free and should remain that way.
All this vendors need stealth mode is bullshit, when i get backed up i just handle it or i cancel them or they cancel them and that's fuckiing that. Thats all that I ever needed to get thru high volume times really... simple.
I feel you on that PM make you wanna hide sometimes anarcho47.. lol.. now thats some true ass shit there playa.
- i thought the original idea was so that certain vendors could stick with a set list of buyers and away from the prying eyes of LE etc!?
???
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So from what I now understand . . .
If a vendor goes "stealth" you will not see their listings on the various category pages unless you are a fan of that particular vendor.
&
In addition, a vendor has the ability to "hide" some of their listing from viewers even those viewers are "fans" of that particular vendor.
DAMN! I have "become a fan" of many of my favorite vendors, but I haven't "bookmarked" any particular individual products?
I suppose that this means I may not be seeing everything a vendor has available?!?
answers i think:-
becoming a fan makes it easier for you to organize and access vendor profile pages.
Stealth mode makes a listen hidden to the general item category as well as a search query. Only customers who have the direct URL for the listing can access it (also accessible if you have "favorited" the item, which provides the direct link)