Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: crazyburnout on November 30, 2012, 11:19 pm
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okay i was reading through a thread here around a week or so ago and along in the conversation someone suggested doing a secret santa. i thought this was an absolutely beautiful idea and a great way to just show some friendliness and appreciation on the road here but i have not seen anybody mention it since. im not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed so i dont really know of a great way we could do that safely but there are lots of smart people on here with great ideas. i would love to see some mods or members get involved in this and come up with a way for us all to do a secret santa this year safely. i would be more than happy to put up like 10 coins or something for this. but yeah i just wanted to bring it up since nobody has said anything since the thread someone randomly mentioned it in.
::::::::::okay since its too late to have a secret santa lets make it a secret valentines::::::::::
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Nice idea but an obvious flaw is sending your address to a random person.
Also most of the users of the forums are buyers not vendors so quality of shipping might be highly variable.
I won't take part.
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No mames guey, no mames!
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thats a pretty good idea, how do you organize it safely?
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I think it was my idea you saw, and the reason I didn't make a thread was because I didn't have the logistics down.
I'd love if someone much smarter than myself lent a hand, I'd be happy to help coordinate in whatever way is needed. :) I just don't see a totally safe way to go about it.
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I think it was my idea you saw, and the reason I didn't make a thread was because I didn't have the logistics down.
I'd love if someone much smarter than myself lent a hand, I'd be happy to help coordinate in whatever way is needed. :) I just don't see a totally safe way to go about it.
well shitwassocash.......+1 for being a cool thoughtful and friendly person
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I love this Idea!! Guys count me in if we can get it going. I will be here to assist anyway at all possible. I love it. Send small little treats to people of things they like. Of course nothing expensive but just a Gift for us from our SR family. Those of us who have been here and participate . Hell i started early just the other day i put up a thread so everyone could see i had a few bucks left over and the 1st person who msg me and truly needed it cause they were short could have it, but had to in return help someone else out in the future.
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12/09/12 REVISION This is the latest plan, from member Typtap
Sign-Up Form:
Santa (or Valentine) ID# :: 19fv5o153n
Wish List :: Cannabis, LSD, NBOMe, Ketamine, DMT
International Orders? :: Yes/No
(If no) Country :: Canada
(If yes) Country Black List (don't want to receive from these countries) :: Netherlands
Instead of pairing people, the coordinator could organize by wish list and then country, under the assumption that people with similar wishes know best how to fulfill each others' wishes and people who receive from the same countries will more likely know the best vendors for each other, then set the list next to itself and shift by one. This accounts for odd-man-out.
Upon receiving a pm with your assigned recipient and their wish list / country info, you would go out and look for the best things to get them from 3 or so vendors. Multiple vendors keeps the gift more of a surprise. Message the recipient with -every vendor you're considering- and wait for them to let you know which ones are okay and give you their address encrypted to -each one that is okay-. Then you go out and order from just one of them with the appropriate address block.
If you are the recipient, I suggest putting a note in the encrypted block that says it's for a secret santa gift and should not exceed certain parameters, that way nobody orders some crazy large amount for someone that would make them uncomfortable.
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12/03/12 REVISION I'll keep making revisions as the bugs are worked out
What do you all think about this:
- Somebody (shitwassocash?) volunteers to post a thread announcing Secret Santa rules, spending limits & deadlines. Thread becomes the master list.
- Everyone who wants to participate sends a PM to the coordinator to get put on the list
- Coordinator makes master list of member names but keeps the list a secret - it will not be posted yet
- At the deadline, coordinator numbers the secret list and gives each participant a Santa #
- Coordinator sends each Santa their assigned Santa # by PM
- Each Santa makes a new user account w/ their assigned Santa #
- Coordinator holds random drawing and makes pairs of santas identified by number (coordinator draws our secret santa partner for us, essentially)
- Coordinator posts master list of Santa Pairs matching Santa 5 with Santa 14 or whatever. This way, only the coordinator knows who is who.
- Santa pairings can communicate on the thread or by PM using their new Santa # user accounts
- Pairs will confirm w/ coordinator that they have made contact & are good to go. Deadline is needed so coordinator can re-match any members left without a response / partner
- Each member of the pair then shops for the other
The address exchange & vendor bit was sorted by typtap, I tweeked it a bit:
- Each participant makes of list of three vendors where they would like their partner to shop
- Each participant encrypts their address block for each of the 3 vendors on their list. You will send three separate address blocks to your santa partner, your partner will not be able to see your addy, only the vendor will see your addy)
- Pairs exchanges lists of vendors & include encrypted address blocks
- Pairs then shop, adding their partner's encrypted address information at check-out
- Pairs notify each other when packages arrive so each buyers can finalize
Does this work?? Is there enough time?
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Also most of the users of the forums are buyers not vendors so quality of shipping might be highly variable.
Didn't read that closely enough the first time.
Since when did secret santa require making shit yourself? No, you buy for other people.
From the recipient perspective:
1. Receive message from anonymous santa account, message says "Hey, please encrypt your address to vendors A, B, and C."
2. Go look up vendors and get their keys.
3. Reply, "I don't like B's packaging, but here's my address to A and here it is to C."
4. Receive surprise bought from A or C.
From the secret santa perspective:
1. Send message requesting address.
2. Receive message saying not to use B, purchase listing from A or C.
3. Include the recipient's address block instead of your own.
Just need a set up for matching people.
I love this! It's safe, simple, and receivers still get a say which provides relief. I am totally in for Secret Santa.
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Great ideas!! I think I can pull part of this together ... maybe. What do you all think about this:
- Somebody (shitwassocash?) volunteers to post a thread announcing Secret Santa rules, spending limits and deadline. Thread becomes the master list.
- Everyone who wants to participate sends a PM to the coordinator to get put on the list
- Coordinator adds/posts names to the master list
- At the deadline, coordinator holds random drawing and matches members up in pairings
- Coordinator posts the santa pairings. Each member of the pair then shops for the other
The address exchange & vendor bit was sorted by typtap...
- Santa pairs exchange gift ideas on the thread or by PM
- Santa pairs then shop for each other & compile a list of three vendors, exchanging list of 3 vendors
- Pairs then research the list of 3 vendors sent to them and pick one
- Send your vendor choice and your address block, encrypted that vendor's key, to your santa partner (your santa partner will not be able to decrypt your addy but the vendor of your choice will)
- Pairs then go to the vendor sites, select a gift and copy the encrypted address of partner at check-out
The above is simple but not anonymous. To make it anonymous:
- Somebody (shitwassocash?) volunteers to post a thread announcing Secret Santa rules, spending limits and deadline. Thread becomes the master list.
- Everyone who wants to participate sends a PM to the coordinator to get put on the list
- Coordinator makes master list of member names but keeps the list a secret - it will not be posted yet
- At the deadline, coordinator numbers the secret list and gives each participant a Santa #
- Coordinator sends each Santa their assigned Santa # by PM
- Each Santa makes a user account w/ their assigned Santa #
- Coordinator holds random drawing and makes pairs of santas identified by number (coordinator draws our secret santa partner for us, essentially)
- Coordinator posts master list of Santa Pairs matching Santa 5 with Santa 14 or whatever. This way, only the coordinator knows who is who.
- Santa pairings can communicate on the thread or by PM using their new Santa # user accounts
- Pairs will confirm w/ coordinator that they have made contact & are good to go. Deadline is needed so coordinator can re-match any members left without a response / partner
- Each member of the pair then shops for the other
Clear as mud? Bound to be flaws ...
:-*
Sounds fantastic!! Thanks typtap and WinterMoon for these ideas, this sounds foolproof and amazing and I would not have come up with it on my own.
I would LOVE lovelove to be the coordinator and put time into keeping matching people and keeping track of things!
Who are we going to allow to participate? Is the better idea only to involve those with a decent forum presence? To ensure they are for real. Let me know what you think about this. I'm thinking of some rules for this, let me know what you think should be a rule.
Feel free to PM me with anything. Just gimmie the word when we're agreed on the exact process and I'll put together a little official thread :D
Is there anything anyone can see potentially wrong with the plan laid out? PLEASE let me know, really want this to happen! excited!
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Sorry, I'm not much for the logistics of it, but I'm all for the idea. If this comes to fruition I'm definitely in.
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Sorry, I'm not much for the logistics of it, but I'm all for the idea. If this comes to fruition I'm definitely in.
What troubles you about the logistics? Please speak up :) Thank you
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This is such a fun idea.
Some things to think about, also, that people have mentioned:
What would the cut off/weeding out system be? Someone mentioned who would be able to participate? Would it be only highly regarded members on the forum? That would definitely exclude me haha :-\
Is there any way to show buyer stats and prove its your account? I don't know.. I am trying to think... Because I do not believe the number of forum posts makes a person trusting necessarily, but I'm not sure of another way.
Someone mentioned worldwide secret santa/whatever which could be fun, but maybe people could be split up into countries cause I know Australia is a little crazy with their customs. Actually, I guess you could order for them domestically now that I think about it but this would require knowing their country, which I guess isn't such a personal detail. I have come across some Australian vendors while perusing The Road so that would be okay, the ones that might be tricky would be some countries in Europe because there aren't many/any domestic for Poland, Czech, Belarus, etc.... But maybe customs isn't as strict for those borders because they're one big happy family? wishful thinking maybe
Also knowing their DOCs, or what "genres" of drugs they like (opiates, uppers, hallucinogens, weed, E, RC, etc.) would be good so you would know you are getting something they would use and be happy with. Like, ordering a hit of acid for someone in a bad place with horrible anxiety that's never tripped before might not be the best idea kind of thing.
As for the odd man out, maybe someone would be willing to participate if there were an odd number of people, or in case someone dropped out? Like have some back up people just incase, if anyone isn't sure if they want to participate? Not sure if anyone would be into that position but just an idea.
And a limit would be good, like my family does a secret santa thing and we have a $75 dollar limit, which takes some pressure off. Some of them spend over $75 which is fine cause they really can't help themselves, but they aren't "supposed" to.
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Also knowing their DOCs, or what "genres" of drugs they like (opiates, uppers, hallucinogens, weed, E, RC, etc.)...
...As for the odd man out..etc
I set up the secret santa for my group every year and it can be soooo stressful with people coming in/out last minute, so as a rule of thumb I always buy 2 random universally enjoyable gifts for the last minute. That way no one cries ;)
And about DOC's.. I think that is super important for more than one reason. Say Santa 1 only really smokes a bit of herb and rolls for special occasions, and is matched with Santa 7 who is a strict cocaine user. 120-170 is quite a lot for a secret santa gift (shit I only buy my family 50$ gifts hahaha) and 20-30 for some herb or M is kinda low, so we'd have to find a happy medium and few vendors who would be willing to custom order a few packages for specific amounts. Cause it's going to be bloody difficult to find a bag of grass and a note of C for 100.00 even.
I like this, but I would only be in if it was a reasonable limit. Christmas is stressful as hell money wise already hahaha
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I like this, but I would only be in if it was a reasonable limit. Christmas is stressful as hell money wise already hahaha
Here's another reason to wait and have a Secret Valentine instead. If we wait, we have more time to plan & implement and maybe we can recruit some vendors to list some Valentine specials that match our spending limits ...
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So, I'm clearly both a little slow on the uptake and also getting used to this brave new world of accessible illicit substances, because it did not immediately occur to me that this version of "secret santa" would involve said illicit substances. This sounds dangerous and a little crazy. I think I love it.
Seconding, however, national boundaries (as sad as that makes me) - or maybe as an option by participant choice - because otherwise this thing seems like a good way to send legal troubles to the nicest people on the Road.
Genre of drug is also probably a wise thing to match or at least disclose, though that takes some of the crazy randomness out of it. (Seriously, do you guys realize this is the kind of thing that gets invented for newspaper scare stories? If people hear of it, it's going to seriously bake some noodles. It's "gateway drug" theory with a Spin The Bottle twist)
Valentine's might work better given that we're into December and specifically because of the Christmas postal glut. I don't know where people stand on the glut's relation to risk (impossible to carry out inspections vs. more time spent in depots) but it seems doubtful that anyone's going to get prezzies before the big day unless this were to happen, like, now.
This sounds like crazy fun times, though, so add me to the list of "if you can figure out a safe way to do it, I may want in".
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Don't get me wrong. Clearly the focus would be on sending things to people that they've tried and liked before, and "surprise me" entries should probably be rejected. I'm just visualizing the headline, "Johnny Got Smack for Christmas", telling how little J liked a toke now and again and never imagined using Hard Drugs till Santa sent him a syringe.
Though, seriously, how cool would holiday themed blotter paper be? I want (machine) elves. :D
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Don't get me wrong. Clearly the focus would be on sending things to people that they've tried and liked before, and "surprise me" entries should probably be rejected. I'm just visualizing the headline, "Johnny Got Smack for Christmas", telling how little J liked a toke now and again and never imagined using Hard Drugs till Santa sent him a syringe.
Though, seriously, how cool would holiday themed blotter paper be? I want (machine) elves. :D
There aren't going to be any pot smokers who receive syringes (and even if they did - let's get real). There aren't going to be any 'surprise me' gifts. There aren't going to be any members who receive and then ingest any unknown substances for god's sake.
Each participant will be in contact with their Secret Santa partner. Therefore, each Secret Santa will know the drug of choice (DOC) of their Santa partner.
Each participant will make their own list of 3 vendors and share that List with their santa partner.
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Sorry for being MIA, I have a bunch of input for this :D I'm thinking you're right about waiting, sadly.... As much as I'd hate it not to be for xmas (I think about members without big family units and people who don't get gifts in their usual holiday, this would be be so great for them)
I want us to have everything down to a tee, with a concrete, wholly safe plan in place before we move forward.
Will write more in just a bit :)
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Sorry for being MIA, I have a bunch of input for this :D I'm thinking you're right about waiting, sadly.... As much as I'd hate it not to be for xmas (I think about members without big family units and people who don't get gifts in their usual holiday, this would be be so great for them)
I want us to have everything down to a tee, with a concrete, wholly safe plan in place before we move forward.
Will write more in just a bit :)
I think we missed the window by 2 or 3 weeks, people are so busy this time of year and lots of folks are headed out of town for the holidays I would imagine.
Typtap came up with yet another excellent idea - the valentine thing ~ I like that alot! Especially if we could get some vendors to list some Valentine specials priced at whatever spending limit you end up setting. I'll be around, will help you if you want!
/wm :-*
P.S. You probably have time to organize an informal secret santa for you & a few of your best SR mates ... maybe you could set up something by PM (shrug)?
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If we can pull it together in time im for the secret santa..As others have said maybe we should just use this idea to plane ahead and work everything out to a T and get everything down on how were gonna do it..My left over school funds are late so its thrown a monkey wrench in my order's i had planned..I found a great new vendor with the Original stop sign 15mg Opana 2pack for a GREAT price, and i had intentions of getting those, ordering a couple 40mg OC original formula and a couple 10 packs of Xanax.. I had to go to the doc today and i get 300 10mg mehadone, 60 1mg xanax and 30 k2 dalaids and im on disablity due to a gunshot wound from years ago and i get to the counter to pay which i only pay 3 bucks a scrip they tell me my insurence is now out til the 1st of the year so i had to fork up my planned sr money t,o get my meds...SOOOO pissed,but at least i got my goodies..lol... If anyone is interested in methadone im thinking about started to sell them on the road but it would only be a couple times a mnth, i also get other goodies that would go up..Would 7bucks a done sound resonable?
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If you can figure out a way to do it then its a great idea!
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Ideas:
Sign-Up Form:
Santa (or Valentine) ID# :: 19fv5o153n
Wish List :: Cannabis, LSD, NBOMe, Ketamine, DMT
International Orders? :: Yes/No
(If no) Country :: Canada
(If yes) Country Black List (don't want to receive from these countries) :: Netherlands
Instead of pairing people, the coordinator could organize by wish list and then country, under the assumption that people with similar wishes know best how to fulfill each others' wishes and people who receive from the same countries will more likely know the best vendors for each other, then set the list next to itself and shift by one. This accounts for odd-man-out.
Upon receiving a pm with your assigned recipient and their wish list / country info, you would go out and look for the best things to get them from 3 or so vendors. Multiple vendors keeps the gift more of a surprise. Message the recipient with -every vendor you're considering- and wait for them to let you know which ones are okay and give you their address encrypted to -each one that is okay-. Then you go out and order from just one of them with the appropriate address block.
If you are the recipient, I suggest putting a note in the encrypted block that says it's for a secret santa gift and should not exceed certain parameters, that way nobody orders some crazy large amount for someone that would make them uncomfortable.
Typtap? Can I just say that I love you too?? Excellent work whether it's for Christmas or Valentine's Day, well done! Thanks for taking the time to do this, your efforts are appreciated :-*
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To anyone still interested in doing something for Christmas: Does this idea have any merit?
- What if everyone who wants to play a modified Secret Santa game signs up on a thread started by shitwassocash.
- Players post a Secret Santa wallet address in their signature line so their mates can send coin anonymously.
- Maybe players come back & post a little about the goodies they bought.
Any good? Am I too high??
Hugs,
/wm
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I'm still down for any type of Secret Santa. I do agree with the idea that it may be best to wait for Valentine's Day, but I still think it'd be cool to put some type of SS together.
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Wouldn't this be worse than getting normal Christmas gifts you don't like? I mean nice concept but some people don't use certain drugs that you like. Send me a big bag of MDMA and I'll have to figure out where to get rid of it. I send you a bag of H and maybe you're a noob and die. Also how many people would be willing to randomize their shipping information to random people.
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ok sounds interesting, What about Receiving unknown packages in mail? Basically you'd be unaware of contents, that may not really be an issue. Feedback and Refunds could be a problem though Since the Giftee would have to tell the Santa that the Gift had/hadn't arrived. As most of us know, the word Quality is subjective to individual experience. Unless some type of new feedbacking system were involved I see this as a problem before launch. Or the contract to "Buy In" to this may have to remove your rights to Refunds.
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As most of us know, the word Quality is subjective to individual experience. Unless some type of new feedbacking system were involved I see this as a problem before launch. Or the contract to "Buy In" to this may have to remove your rights to Refunds.
I'm missing something here, aren't I? The giftee could just message their santa "Hey, my gift arrived, thank you so much! Here's the feedback - 5/5 blah blah blah so good blah"
Secret santa gifts may experience a slight finalization delay, depending on how the participants are at checking every day to see if their recipient messaged them. Any vendors not wanting to deal with that wouldn't have to participate.
The problem wouldn't arise if there we're no problems to report obviously. But come up with a way to solve "Buyer has No Contact with Vendor" and how to solve Resolutions with SR and you may be on to a great thing.
I am not bashing your idea my friend.
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To anyone still interested in doing something for Christmas: Does this idea have any merit?
- What if everyone who wants to play a modified Secret Santa game signs up on a thread started by shitwassocash.
- Players post a Secret Santa wallet address in their signature line so their mates can send coin anonymously.
- Maybe players come back & post a little about the goodies they bought.
Any good? Am I too high??
Hugs,
/wm
Am I too not high that I don't even understand some of that? haha
What if we don't have any mates on here? Might be a little unfair for some, eh? ....Is this a separate idea from the buying drugs for people anonymously? Maybe that's where I'm confused.
You think they need a separate wallet for Secret Santa business?
What would they post exactly, about the goodies?
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\But come up with a way to solve "Buyer has No Contact with Vendor" and how to solve Resolutions with SR and you may be on to a great thing.
I am not bashing your idea my friend.
I understand, I had thought through getting across it hadn't arrived but not the actual resolution process.
More thought is required. =)
This is the risk people take sending things in the post, it happens with non-illegal packages too.. If you send something to your aunt (or some else) and it dissapears in the mail then it's just gone, unless you purchased insurance then you get some cash but it's not the same. I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but it' the real world, things happen....
Probably if someone comes up with a solution and not my "things happen" that would be awesome, but it's tricky resolving something that you don't even know if it actually made it. You can't get a tracking number for proof and settling inside SR Resolution would mess up your stats for you purchasing something that didn't even go to you. I hate to think that there are dishonest people out there that might try to scam this system, but I'm the kind of person that would finalize even if there was no proof something got here and I could get away with saying I got nothing. This is the real world, like I said.
Maybe the seller could send the number to the giftee (assuming they all have SR accounts), if they agree, to prove that it was indeed sent to the right address or arrived. Hopefully neither the seller nor the giftee would lie about any of that. And they could settle something if the seller is willing to work with this, and then inform the Santa of what is going on. This sounds like it could be a little complicated though, and not sure how many sellers are nice enough to be involved in something like this? Not that they aren't nice but some maybe aren't as community driven as others..
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Maybe it's time we got the vendors involved and ask them for some help?? Maybe they'll bandy this about on their forum?
If we're not careful, we're going to run out of time for Valentine's Day, eh? We probably need to have the bugs worked out and be ready to go by Jan 15th. Christmas will be here before we know it. After that, only two weeks left until Jan 15th so we really don't have much time.
I'll volunteer to PM a bunch of cannabis vendors ... somebody else will need to do the other DOCs ... or should that be DsOC
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I was thinkin maybe those SR coupons like that they can use it on whatever it be...
to get in they pay like 3 bitcoins and get put in a pool of thier choice depening on the product...
from there each can pick a number depening on the vendor and use that code
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Secret Santa is a great idea when trust isn't an issue.
Here, trust is both an issue and a major concern. There is no trust and we all wish for total anonymity if possible. SS is a bad idea in the traditional sense.
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I would do secret santa
Santa owes me for stealing my reindeer and making him pull his sled.
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I'm always down for Secret Santa. If I can help in anyway, I'd be more than happy to. Hope this thing really kicks off.
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Having read the thread, we'd be willing to try to work with the program provided it doesn't become too convoluted!
NCK
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Maybe the seller could send the number to the giftee (assuming they all have SR accounts), if they agree, to prove that it was indeed sent to the right address or arrived. Hopefully neither the seller nor the giftee would lie about any of that. And they could settle something if the seller is willing to work with this, and then inform the Santa of what is going on. This sounds like it could be a little complicated though, and not sure how many sellers are nice enough to be involved in something like this? Not that they aren't nice but some maybe aren't as community driven as others..
Hm, what if after non-arrival the secret santa just told the giftee who the vendor was?
If the giftee put some code in their encrypted address block they could then message the vendor with the code (so they don't have to send their address again). Then it's between the intended recipient and the vendor.
That is much simpler! The vendor would have to agree though, I'm not sure if that would really be extra work though?
If we get vendors to sign on to the idea do you think we'd only be dealing with them, if we have enough? Or also dealing with all vendors.
I see we already have one (awesome).
I will maybe try to contact some opioid/pill vendors, I'll let you know. I have to figure out what to say first, and there are only a couple I've dealt with more than once...
Maybe we should get the word out more? Post in some major forums like the review megathreads. I know there is one for H so I would assume there are ones for other things as well.
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If we get vendors to sign on to the idea do you think we'd only be dealing with them, if we have enough? Or also dealing with all vendors.
I see we already have one (awesome).
I will maybe try to contact some opioid/pill vendors, I'll let you know. I have to figure out what to say first, and there are only a couple I've dealt with more than once...
Maybe we should get the word out more? Post in some major forums like the review megathreads. I know there is one for H so I would assume there are ones for other things as well.
All vendors will be included - none excluded. However, recipients will have the final say in which vendors are used by their partner.
I sent messages to some vendors this morning. Heard back from three, all said yes, they are probably interested. NorCalKing has already stopped by to say hello!
We do need to get the word out. If we do a Secret Valentine, we probably need to be ready to go on Jan 15.
Everyone, please tell your vendors ... maybe send them a short note with a link to this thread. Would be nice if the vendors were chatting about this on their forum, eh?
Cheers :-*
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Can you or anyone give us a list in here of the vendors you contacted that have replied and what they have said? Obviously we need trusted vendors. We need vendors like NCK. Then there will be no issues of trust. We all can trust vendors such as NCK. This only works if we get the right vendors and the vendors are trusted and have been here a while. If we can get the vendors on bored then this works and will be a lot of fun. The vendors make this. If we can't get great vendors on board this does not go.
Thanks to those who have get this going and continue to do so. Great idea. And obviously a lot of work. THANK YOU :D
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Can you or anyone give us a list in here of the vendors you contacted that have replied and what they have said? Obviously we need trusted vendors. We need vendors like NCK. Then there will be no issues of trust. We all can trust vendors such as NCK. This only works if we get the right vendors and the vendors are trusted and have been here a while. If we can get the vendors on bored then this works and will be a lot of fun. The vendors make this. If we can't get great vendors on board this does not go.
Thanks to those who have get this going and continue to do so. Great idea. And obviously a lot of work. THANK YOU :D
Hi aaa123321 - I'm not sure it would be appropriate to list the vendors I contacted - my concern would be for those who declined. Anyway, it doesn't matter who I contacted because we'll be buying from all SR vendors, not from any sort of list.
The reason I wanted to involve vendors was to see if any would list some 'specials' priced around our spending limit (whatever that ends up being) and because of their experience - they might be able to spot some fatal flaw in the plan that we are overlooking.
Make sense?? If not, please just ask, this has gotten a little bit confusing
:-*
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I thought trusted vendor cooperation was the topic, ones willing to work with us and/or check out the thread and see if they can contribute anything.
Most vendors are pretty trusted, aren't they? Except maybe the brand new ones and ones where their feedback says "package never arrived" over and over.
Personally, I was confused about the idea of getting vendors, then the resoultion idea came about and having the vendor make a number and keep track specially for this, so if something comes up they know who the heck they are talking to if someone out of the blue contacts them about an order they never placed. This would require a little extra effort on the vendor's side. This is why I asked about what vendors we'd be working with, so if we are working with all vendors and some of them don't know or don't agree then how will this resolution issue be cleared?
I'm a little foggy-headed at the moment so I may have missed something, I'm sorry if I did.
I think it's such a great thing this has turned into Secret Valentine because I am not getting any of my packages in normal time frames. USPS is backed up like nobody's business. At least near Valentine's Day the post companies wont be overloaded with mail.
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I think we can make all of the confusion about vendors go away. What if we go back to this:
Each participant makes a list of their three favorite vendors, or vendors they have researched and want to try.
Partners exchange lists
Partners shop and select a gift from one of the vendors on their partner's list, entering their partner's encrypted address at checkout
Yes? No? Maybe?
:-*
/w
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It would be nice to have a list of participant vendors, so that we know they won't reply "Sorry, cancelled your gift order since I don't feel like dealing with secret valentine shit."
But trust isn't really an issue any more than it is normally, and that's already been covered by the option for recipients to not encrypt to vendors they don't like.
Nobody said the vendor would make a number. The recipient would put a code in their address block so they can verify with the vendor they are the intended recipient (if they need to).
It could be like, "Hey, if this doesn't arrive I'll message you with the subject line 'GK67UIN WAZZUP?!' ", then the address, then encrypt the whole thing to every vendor you might be receiving from. Then if it doesn't arrive the vendor can have copied that non-incriminating info so they can recognize you as the recipient.
I don't know if the trust thing is directed at me but... okay. I already know? I''ve read all the posts. Sorry I put "trusted vendors" instead of just plain "vendors" I was reading the other persons post and it must have rubbed off, like when you're talking on the phone and reading at the same time and say something you are reading.
And I just assumed that code would have numbers, but I understand that it could include letters., which I sometimes call numbers when I'm not thinking. Code, letters, numbers, whatever.
You are taking things very literally. Chill out (that is a sugestion by the way so please don't get mad at me, I'm not telling you what to do)
Heyy WinterMoon, back to the basics. I like it.
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Heyy WinterMoon, back to the basics. I like it.
Woo hoo - some momentum.
Simplicity is key because our communications are limited to the forum and with so many time zones, etc. My vote goes for simplicity: Each participant makes their own list of three vendors & gives that list to their partner ... we'll see what happens 8)
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@WinterMoon I definitely like what you got there. There are all sorts of ways to complicate and fuck this thing up. Nice and simple is where it's at. Three top vendors to choose from, no guesswork. They pass on an encrypted address using that seller's key. As long as nobody botches the PGP it should be all good. Assuming that most would have previously placed and encrypted successful orders with chosen sellers that rate should be low. This has already proven to be tricky to get off. The more complicated it gets the harder it will be. As this is the first time there will be lessons to be learned, but trying to over analyze this is bound to end up in a clusterfuck.
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@WinterMoon I definitely like what you got there. There are all sorts of ways to complicate and fuck this thing up. Nice and simple is where it's at. Three top vendors to choose from, no guesswork. They pass on an encrypted address using that seller's key. As long as nobody botches the PGP it should be all good. Assuming that most would have previously placed and encrypted successful orders with chosen sellers that rate should be low. This has already proven to be tricky to get off. The more complicated it gets the harder it will be. As this is the first time there will be lessons to be learned, but trying to over analyze this is bound to end up in a clusterfuck.
Okay - We have three votes for keeping it simple:
-Each participant makes a list of their three favorite vendors, or vendors they have researched and want to try.
-Partners exchange lists
-Partners shop and select a gift from one of the vendors on their partner's list, entering their partner's encrypted address at checkout
Yes? No? Maybe?
Reminder: If we're going to do this, we need to start the game sometime around Jan 15th ...
[peace sign]
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Let's go ahead then with a simple version of the game:
GETTING STARTED
> We start a thread with rules, deadlines & spending limits which also becomes the Master List
> Everyone who wants to participate sends a PM to the game coordinator to get put on the List - Send your Forum Screen Name & Primary Drug of Choice (DOC)
> Coordinator makes Master List of member names organized by DOC. List is kept secret - it will not be posted yet
> At the deadline, coordinator numbers the secret list and gives each participant a Valentine #
> Coordinator sends each Valentine their assigned V# by PM
> Each Valentine makes a New Forum User Account using their assigned Valentine #
> Coordinator makes pairs of Valentines - by DOC where possible
> Coordinator posts master list of Valentine Pairs matching V5 with V14 or whatever.Only coordinator knows screen names
> Participants PM coordinator when they have made contact. Coordinator makes new pairs of those w/ no contact w/ partner
PLAYING THE GAME
> Each participant makes a list of their 3 favorite vendors or vendors they've researched & want to try. List will include encrypted address block for each vendor
> Partners exchange lists
> Partners shop & select a gift from one of the vendors on their partner's list, entering their partner's encrypted addy at checkout
> Partners PM coordinator to advise that gift has been purchased. Coordinator repairs again if needed so everyone gets a gift
> Partners can communicate on the thread or by PM using their new Valentine User Accounts
> Partners will confirm safe arrival of packages to each other so transactions can be finalized & exchange feedback
If this is okay, let's start talking about spending limits.
Checked on shitwascash, last seen 12/7 - hope she comes back soon :)
EDITED for clarity on 12/16
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Hey, that is a great wasy to work it out! I was worried about the whole "give your address to a potential LEO, but the PGP encryption for 3 different vendors of your choice is a brilliant workaround!
Now the only issue I can foresee would be people taking advantage of this system by signing up to do Secret Santa/Secret Valentines and not following through with buying a gift for the person they were given.
It would be sad if someone participated and they never got a surprise.
Also how would we know when to finalize the order and what type of feedback to leave for the vendor? If the order never arrives how do we go about messaging the vendor for resolution when we don't have all of the details, like the address?
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Hello kitkat82!
Now the only issue I can foresee would be people taking advantage of this system by signing up to do Secret Santa/Secret Valentines and not following through with buying a gift for the person they were given.
I have no idea what to do about this -
Also how would we know when to finalize the order and what type of feedback to leave for the vendor?
Partners will need to contact each other to report safe arrival of packages. At that time, feedback can also be shared and then posted.
If the order never arrives how do we go about messaging the vendor for resolution when we don't have all of the details, like the address?
We've talked /typed about this a little. Most likely, at check-out, buyers will include a SHORT message to the vendor after entering the encrypted address of their partner. The message can be something simple like: This is a gift for member SallyJaneJones.
Also, each participant is making their own list of vendors. I am assuming that most folks will include vendors from whom they have purchased in the past. Speaking for myself, I can recognize packages from my vendors - I will probably know which vendor just by looking at the packaging. Yes vendors change packaging, but I haven't seen a radical overhaul yet ... does this make sense??
You can always PM your partner with any questions. This means that partners will need to check their Valentine User Accounts after the game - for a week or two....
We can work out these details and post solutions along with the other rules. We can also post reminders during and after the game.
This is NOT directed at any one individual, I am saying this to everyone: This game may not suit everyone. For some of you, it may be too much: Too much worry, too much anxiety, too many unanswered questions & too many what-ifs. If you are going to experience anxiety you should probably just forget about this game and not play, it's not worth it, okay? :)
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Simple is more SR Valentines than Secret Valentines. NOT against that in any way, don't misunderstand! If we want to focus on spreading the love before we get complicated, it's great!
But Secret Santa/Valentines is all about surprise. Takes a more complicated system to get surprised, no way around that.
So I vote for a nice and simple SR Valentines and we have a whole year to come up with the best way to fill Secret Santa 2013 with a heavy dose of surprise.
You have a very valid point and completely grasp the situation. That's actually the best I've heard it put yet.
When it comes to people not getting their gift, hmmm, that's going to be tricky. I would hate to have a requirement or screening process put on this. That's a lot of work and I'm not sure it would matter anyways. It might just have to run off trust for this first attempt. Possibly pair up people with 10 or less transaction with each other, and 10-25 together, and 25+ as the last bracket. You could trust that established members will follow through and hopefully keep any issues contained to the lower bracket. Maybe even put a minimum number of transactions on it. Like I said though, it seems like a shit ton of work to verify stats and what not. I agree the 15th of Jan is the target date so we still don't have much time.
As a final thought, I'd be willing to contribute to a fund that would make sure everyone gets a gift. Possibly set up a new SR account that others can send coin to on SR. That should make for easy record keeping. If it's not needed refunds would be easy to give. It might not be on time, or a surprise. But it would ensure no one is scammed on this.
Just some quick thoughts, obviously not refined. But that's what everyone is here for :)
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Simple is more SR Valentines than Secret Valentines. NOT against that in any way, don't misunderstand! If we want to focus on spreading the love before we get complicated, it's great!
But Secret Santa/Valentines is all about surprise. Takes a more complicated system to get surprised, no way around that.
So I vote for a nice and simple SR Valentines and we have a whole year to come up with the best way to fill Secret Santa 2013 with a heavy dose of surprise.
You have a very valid point and completely grasp the situation. That's actually the best I've heard it put yet.
When it comes to people not getting their gift, hmmm, that's going to be tricky. I would hate to have a requirement or screening process put on this. That's a lot of work and I'm not sure it would matter anyways. It might just have to run off trust for this first attempt. Possibly pair up people with 10 or less transaction with each other, and 10-25 together, and 25+ as the last bracket. You could trust that established members will follow through and hopefully keep any issues contained to the lower bracket. Maybe even put a minimum number of transactions on it. Like I said though, it seems like a shit ton of work to verify stats and what not. I agree the 15th of Jan is the target date so we still don't have much time.
As a final thought, I'd be willing to contribute to a fund that would make sure everyone gets a gift. Possibly set up a new SR account that others can send coin to on SR. That should make for easy record keeping. If it's not needed refunds would be easy to give. It might not be on time, or a surprise. But it would ensure no one is scammed on this.
Just some quick thoughts, obviously not refined. But that's what everyone is here for :)
robotrippin! welcome aboard this barely floating ship! you have some excellent ideas, especially about contributing for screw-ups. The person who administers the game is going to have to deal with some unknown issues.
I have added a step - that participants check-in with the coordinator to say that they have put in an order for a gift. The coordinator can re-pair people or buy for those who don't report in & cannot be contacted
[peace sign]