Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: roughbeast on June 19, 2013, 06:15 pm
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Hi Silk Roaders,
I,d appreciate your advice on two points if you would be so kind.
1. Do I have to use PGP? I will eventually but to make my first order i,m honestly not that concerned about it. If i order a bit of weed i don,t feel to worried.. If i,m caught i,ll take my lumps, won,t be the first time i,ve been arrested. But do vendors care about this?
2. After lurking and educating myself somewhat it seems that buyers are really focused on the possibility of getting scammed or ripped off. But if we always buy from vendors that have shown themselves over and over to be honest, what is the issue? I understand that even the most trusted person can one day disappoint, but generally speaking, i would think that sellers with an good and established record can be relied on. Am i way off base here?
Oh, and by the way, I,ve learned from my lurking that FE is a no-no and therefore is a non-negotiable Fuh-geta-bout-it for me. Out of the question so i feel i,ll be protected there,
Please let me know what you think. I,m itching to make my order.
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I'm pretty sure majority of people are going to recommend ALWAYS using PGP.
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1. Do I have to use PGP? I will eventually but to make my first order i,m honestly not that concerned about it. If i order a bit of weed i don,t feel to worried.. If i,m caught i,ll take my lumps, won,t be the first time i,ve been arrested. But do vendors care about this?
AFAIK, most see it purely as an option for your added protection. It does slightly protect them, as if SR was compromised by LE and they identified that an order had been placed with a particular vendor for delivery to a particular address, they might be able to more easily spot its entry into the postal system and therefore help locate the vendor - but in the grand scheme of things, that's all very remote. So I don't *think* they'll mind, but if in doubt you should message them first to check.
2. After lurking and educating myself somewhat it seems that buyers are really focused on the possibility of getting scammed or ripped off. But if we always buy from vendors that have shown themselves over and over to be honest, what is the issue? I understand that even the most trusted person can one day disappoint, but generally speaking, i would think that sellers with an good and established record can be relied on. Am i way off base here?
There are numerous stories of "vendors that have shown themselves over and over to be honest" suddenly turning massively dishonest and disappearing with significant customer funds. I think the largest single such scam was in the order of US$250k; and that vendor is probably back on SR, building up good rep under a new pseudonym intending to do exactly the same thing again. CAVEAT EMPTOR.
Oh, and by the way, I,ve learned from my lurking that FE is a no-no and therefore is a non-negotiable Fuh-geta-bout-it for me. Out of the question so i feel i,ll be protected there,
Sure, it provides some protection... but if it comes to a dispute, it'll be the word of a first timer with no reputation against that of a long established vendor with good reputation. I don't know how the dispute resolution team (whoever they might be) will look upon that, but if I had to guess I'd imagine you'll end up worse off than the vendor. Still, you'll probably get SOMETHING back.
It all sucks, but what can one do?