[CommunityDiscussion]Let's just take a moment to remember Ross (DPR)

Regardless of the outcome of the trial, whether he was careless or not, whether he got too big for his boots, he made something that was fucking brave, ambitious and unique.

What he started was Silk Road, the Led Zeppelin of all drug markets. (Shit anology, I know).

Silk road changed everything. Let's not forget the amount of good times that it had provided us and what it gave birth to.


Comments


[11 Points] __Grammar__Nazi__:

LoL He's in jail not dead.... Maybe the date he is sentenced should be an official DNM holiday. Everyone shall have a toke in rememberance at XX:XXPM ON XX/XX every year.


[11 Points] Oldwisewoman:

What if he publicly shouted, as he was being escorted out after the verdict, "$50 MILLION DOLLARS TO ANYONE WHO BREAKS ME OUT. I HAVE BRAIN WALLETS. $50 MILLION TO ANYONE WHO BREAKS ME FREE".

what would happen? u think anyone would try a bust? like maybe former blackwater guys? or some greedy cartel paramilitary types? or what would hapen? could he be held in contempt of court?


[3 Points] don_crackavelli:

God damn, RIP Ross. What he created was one of the best markets of all time.


[3 Points] entactoBob:

Moral of the story? "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."


[3 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

I bet every one of us has dreamed of a day when we could buy our drug of choice safely, in a shop.

A shop window with everything from all over the world, exotic plants to designer drugs direct from the producer. No getting shot or stabbed in the bad part of town.

Everyone knows how a shop works. If such a shop existed, it would still require a trip to the worst, police no-go part of town, and prices would be sky-high through a lack of competition. A physical shop would still get busted, and you would be photographed.

Drug use is like pornography - something you may not wish to share with your family, so the internet seems a better medium, and a marketplace where different sellers can have a stall addresses the competition problem.

Assuming it WAS run by this guy Ross, he thought about these problems and how to solve them about 5 years ago. Ross didn't invent anything new, but hes the man who had the brilliance to put 4 existing things together.

These are the 4 pillars of the "Silk Road Model", which have been followed by every darknet market since (except for post-Feb 04 Silk Road 2.0, ironically)

  1. TOR

  2. BITCOIN

  3. ESCROW

  4. RATINGS / FEEDBACK (by customers and vendors)

He took an electronic currency which was heading for dungeons & dragons payment obscurity, the US governments own encrypted segment of the internet, and escrow - the only way two anonymous parties can trade with confidence, when combined with ratings and feedback.

The postman is the unwitting drug mule.

ROSS IS AS IMPORTANT TO BITCOIN AS SATOSHI

There have been electronic currencies before bitcoin, which never gained traction. Bitcoin, too, was destined to be a toy currency like dogecoin, before Ross decided to use bitcoin as the blood carrying the oxygen of money where needed before reaching the lungs of MTGOX.

Its no surprise to hear the name of MTGOX's owner crop up, because the money laundering website was as important as Silk Road itself. Maybe its no coincidence that MTGOX and Silk Road 2.0 users all became victims of two robberies the same week. Maybe it was one exit scam by the same leaderless group who never expected the pair of websites to grow out of control.

A darknet marketplace getting busted is worse than it robbing us, but Ross is one of the few heroes. He doesn't seem to have lived a lavish lifestyle. Scammers were shown short shrift on DPR's Silk Road, and vendor fees were high (I had to sell my car to become a vendor, 6 weeks before it was busted)

There is one feature that Ross introduced which SHOULD be on ALL darknet marketplaces, and it SHOULD be the 5th pillar of the SR Model, because it proved that Ross never planned to steal from us:-

  1. Automated Vendor Withdrawals

in other words, when money is released from escrow, it goes to a wallet of your choice immediately, instead of sitting there tempting the site's owner.

You have to ask why other marketplaces dont just pay to a vendor's own wallet, instead of using a wallet THEY control as some kind of unnecessary second escrow.


[3 Points] AdrianBeatyoursons:

I'm naming my next dog or child Ross


[2 Points] None:

I'm not intentially making a joke at your expense, but the phrasing of your title made me giggle a little and think "have we been thinking about much of anything else, let alone have forgotten him long enough to need a reminder.

I appreciate the sentiment very much. Although I personally don't credit Ross himself with as much as many other do in terms of how much of the game-changing innovation is his doing, I certainly respect the "screw it; I'll take the consequences" attitude. It's an admirable quality in itself.


[2 Points] 1337WaylonJennings:

I like this attitude, however, the dude ordered hits on multiple people. He's the equivalent of an online cartel leader. Fuck him. It's alleged but in the court of Waylon Jennings seeing that fucking notebook with his handwriting saying he paid for the hit is fucking lunacy. The idea should be celebrated, not Ross.


[1 Points] why_u_molest_sheep:

You mean like Zep starting Heavy Metal? Hey, works for me.


[1 Points] Benthall:

May 15th, marking my calendar. Gonna drop some DNM acid and smoke some DNM dank in remembrance


[1 Points] None:

.


[-1 Points] None:

A lot of you guys are making him to be some sort of martyr. Stop.