Can we take a moment to remember the awesomeness that was Agora?

In the Tor world of exit scams (because why not? Business is risky and exiting with millions is almost risk-free and sure it'll piss people off but you profit more that way than day to day), Agora handled everything in such a classy manner. I have tons of respect for them. They didn't need to do that, but they did because they had integrity. If I were in their shoes I would've had such a hard time deciding the moral/harder/low reward thing and the dickish/easy/high reward thing. I probably would've chosen the exit scam option tbh.

I just hope people see why their decision to not scam is admirable. Businesses don't scam because they want repeat customers. Agora knew that it may never come back and that there will be people who won't appreciate or see what they gave up all for integrity, but they did it anyway. Because they're awesome, and there's no other market that can compare. I miss them.


Comments


[49 Points] None:

[deleted]


[32 Points] Multisig121456765432:

Black Market Reloaded was equally as beautiful in how they chose to leave.


[12 Points] AnEvilKangaroo:

exiting with millions is almost risk-free

yeah tell that the ex sheep admin :-)

but I agree totally with you, agora was the best market I ever used (although they were down sometimes and the the search engine wasn't the hit).


[13 Points] honestlyimeanreally:

I haven't stopped taking a moment.

RIP


[7 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

I used to talk to Agora's owner a lot in the early days, and we discussed what makes a successful marketplace. If they don't exit scam, they carry on until they get busted.

The first time we ever communicated was when I gave bitcoinfog a piece of my mind about some details of their tumbling the stolen sheepmarketplace funds (Sheep's owner had pre-paid for the tumbler, he hated fractions of bitcoins. 96,000 went in, 96,000 came out, with no commission subtracted).

The support admin who went on to found agora wrote a very long explanation about how bitcoinfog don't make moral judgements, most people who tumble bitcoin are doing something naughty.

We discussed marketplaces pre-announcing their retirement - initially via bitcoinfog support messaging (I got the impression agora and bitcoinfog were based in the same room initially, then agora got their own workspace), then later we used to chat using agora support tickets before it got busy.

The best way to retire successfully was the subject we discussed the most.

http://anonimage.net/image/uWzpph37g Everything I say around here is questioned, which is why I provide more proof to back up what I say than anybody else. A hell of a lot of shit must have occurred in the intervening 18 months, but agora's owner kept his word and closed down exactly the way we had discussed.

I was confident that agora would go out that way, and I'm confident that bitcoinfog will too. That's why our moderators involving themselves in the fud campaign against bitcoinfog pissed me off so much - good guys are few and far-between on the darknet. The "warning" in red writing against btcfog in the superlist could have come straight from the pen of Grams, with the way it reads.

There isn't a shred of evidence, no screenshots, no wallet addresses - nothing. I'm gthe only person who has ever put my bitcoin through it, let reddit watch, and provided support screenshots.

I feel a cover-up occuring. The big-money battle on the darknet is the battle to be the money-launderer of choice for the takings of vendors and marketplace owners. If you read a complaint from a new accoiunt about somebody, every Friday for a year, you start to believe it.

The fight betyween Grams and bitcoinfog is behind the strange things that happened a year ago, when this sub changed hands, and I became persona non grata to the mods here. A former mod called "Jay" is my bet, but Economist was complicit by allowing a jobless heroin addict to flare ME with "NO PROOF", just because I care about this sub's integrity.

In my opinion. bitcoinfog / agora are the good guys. Anybody who sneaks around trying to harm them is, by default, an internet bad guy with an agenda. I endured a hell of a lot of shit a year ago, but I'm still here and bitcoinfog is still quietly doing its job. Whoever was paying to blacken its good name gave up when lobali stepped down, and now we have the uncomfortable situation with the warning still being in place, and me having to rub shoulders with the same moderators still here. They're not legally-obliged to declare their financial interests in any DNM or bitcoin-related businesses, but waging a failed campaign against a tumbler, and another one against me, personally, isn't something that I can let slide when they seem happy to allow us to think that they are impartial, unpaid volunteers. If I was a scammer, and bitcoinfog was a scammer, fair enough. But it turns out that I'm not, and they're not, so what are they gonna do?

Moderators should adhere to the same standards they insist on from me. I didn't ask for them to do all this shit and get themselves tangled up in this mess. When somebody calls somebody else out, only one of them can remain unless an apology is forthcoming. Several of them did their absolute worst against me, so I'm not just going to say "no hard feelings" and forgive them.

Not unless they ask, anyway.


[3 Points] Ringadingding11:

I shed a tear for this site. They gave our money back multiple times and we're always stra0ight saith us about what was going on behind the scenes. I remember tons of people trying to claim they would scam but they never did. Not to mention the number of listings on Agora, you could find almost anything. Wasn't as good as the original sr1 selection but it was a clear second. Right now alphabay is what I use, sucks to know your using a site run by carders. Much more of a roll of the dice.


[3 Points] buddders:

Is it ever coming back? Last I heard I thought they were just taking a break.


[3 Points] LostSomewhereInSpace:

I missed that boat :(


[3 Points] MXEinMYbutthole:

What about Evo? Sure they exit-scammed, but that was the best UI I've seen on a DNM by a longshot.


[2 Points] illegal_junkie:

I feel like everyone is looking through rose colored glasses here. Agora was OK as a market, but the only thing that made them notable was its size and that they gave people a heads up that they were leaving.

Uptime was OK at best, the search wasn't that good, no multisig, and the support was kinda slow. Thankfully it wasn't 2013 and there were plenty of other (arguably better) markets to migrate to.


[1 Points] i-hate-gays:

:_(


[1 Points] trickricksick:

bruh but so was sr they had hella fuckin people on there...never did they exit scam


[1 Points] dnmadvocate:

What makes you guys think the crew that ran Agora is gone and has not open another market. The Acropolis is a greek name. As was The Agora(an open market is what Agora means... i think)

Wanna find out where agora is, find out who bitcoinfog supports. I learned of Agora from Bitcoinfog way back in the day.

The crew at bitcoinfog are seemingly legit. I have not used them in years, as coin tumbling is a complete waste of money, but i do recall having them work with me a few times and they were legit. I lost a password once to bitcoinfog and they helped me get it back through a legitmate process. Are they still the same, idk, i havent used them from long before the scam and missingbitcoin accusations began appearing.


[1 Points] Thoughtsofamaniac:

Of all the markets I've seen and used, Agora was always my favorite. Even more than SR1. The interface was smooth, the support was active and the forum community was healthy. The downtimes that occurred on an almost weekly to daily basis were annoying, yes, but look at what we got in return. They had multiple chances to take the money and run and to make even more in a scam than Evo, but instead they bowed out gracefully and made sure people got their money back. I hope one day they will return, but I kinda doubt it. Johnny is probably sipping mojitos on a beach somewhere, shaking his head at the current state of the markets.

Abraxas and Nucleus gave me hope after Agora, but look how that turned out :/


[1 Points] OzFreelancer:

I'd love to reach out to them, but they'd be crazy to do that. :)

Last of the Old School I reckon. I miss the SR1 days.


[1 Points] Life_Is_Repetitive:

I'll be holding this torch for a while, Agora. Come back whenever you feel like it <3


[1 Points] xanaxmanthevendor:

i wish agora would come back too but i dunno what the point would be, the person in charge most certainly has more money then they know how to spend most likely. SR1 was a special place as well, and so was agora i miss them both.

I also miss sr1 forums really bad, that is the only dnm forum i actually used to check daily. all the other forums kinda suck no offense to them but they don't have that same enviroment. Thats why /r/darknetmarkets has become my new place to read up on DNM news and such. but sr1 forums was a great place tons of good guides and posts, all kinds of good shit, i really miss it.


[1 Points] None:

I hope the owner/s of the site see this, i really do, and thanks for those wonderful times


[1 Points] Dr-Robalob:

I did love Agora, but those days are gone, and forward we must go. Although I still have contact with some of the incredible vendors I met on Agora who I still use to this day.


[-3 Points] None:

[deleted]


[-3 Points] you-are-a-cop:

I'm amazed some of you guys still don't get it.

Agora didn't exit scam because it was a LE honeypot.

Surely some of you see this?