Silk Road forums

Market => Rumor mill => Topic started by: hugosharp on July 23, 2012, 09:47 am

Title: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: hugosharp on July 23, 2012, 09:47 am
Dearest SR Vendors,

I wanted to take this brief moment of sobriety to introduce myself to the forums, as well as offer what will hopefully be perceived as plain ol' good business sense.
 
I am relatively new to SR, having made but a handful of transactions, and overall, my impression is a pretty good one.  Not only am I afforded access to what I believe is my inalienable right to fuck myself up however I please, but the narcotics are delivered right to my doorstep!  It's a Libertarian drug addict's dream come true!

And from my extensive research into the DEA's methods, as well as the protocols and laws that protect anyone using the U.S. Postal Service as afforded by The Constitution, I am completely confident no transaction of mine will ever end with imprisonment (hopefully that does not offend the black market gods and I will not soon be smited for saying it).

However, it seems my confidence is not always shared by the persons supplying these products.  Some of you insist that all messages be relayed through PGP, which is an enormous pain in the ass and especially difficult for new buyers to try to figure out.  It stands to reason that if some master hacking federal agent was able to track you down through your Tor Browser, BitCoin, and SR, he'll probably be able to crack your fucking encrypted messages.

The key to any good relationship, be it business-related or otherwise, is communication.

And not just any plain kind of communication, either.  Polite, well-written, non-defensive communication THAT ISN'T IN FUCKING CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN UP ALL NIGHT SHOVING YOUR OWN PRODUCT UP YOUR NOSE!

I understand that in many cases, the particular type of customer you're working with is backhanded and devious, or just downright stupid.  This does not excuse typing in all caps like an angry fifth grader playing WoW.  You have your rules, and you want customers to follow them, which is fine.  But you do yourself a disservice to sound threatening and paranoid.  A popular vendor who does this is vicodin.  He has a 100% rating, so apparently I'm the only one who cares that his product is overpriced and his advertisements abusive.  It's ironic, considering the product he's selling.  Take one, man, and relax.

Another vendor, CoolChick (with a 99% rating), cancelled my order without any explanation.  There were no instructions on her page or in her ad that I did not follow.  Her info page rambles on like a whimpering LiveJournal entry about how two customers treated her like dog shit, so she will no longer be responding to messages from anyone she doesn't know.  I would love to see that attitude from a legitimate businessperson.  You're apparently not that cool, again despite your product (valium).

Meanwhile, I have had very impressive and well-mannered interactions with new vendors like moxycotton and Pharmacare.  Their products and their prices are blowing the competition out of the water, they ship fast, they send you a message that your order has been received and processed, and they are always polite.

I sent moxycotton a message complaining about the ineffectiveness of the new OP medication (which, of course, is only the fault of our increasingly meddlesome government), and not only did he assure me that he and his "company" are working their hardest to offer Instant Release, he even included a method for taking the OPs -- by dissolving them in lemonade for 24 hours.  Now, I don't care if they ever get their hands on IRs or not, and I'm sure as fuck not going to dissolve my pills in lemonade...but the customer service is impeccable.
Maybe some of you don't give a shit about your customers, because you harbor feelings of self-loathing and project that as a hatred for junkies.  Maybe you've just been screwed over a lot by junkies.

All I know is where I'll be bringing my business.

Your Ever Grateful Consumer,
Hugo Sharp
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: ManaFromHeaven on July 23, 2012, 06:00 pm
wall of text -1
Stop reading comic strips. -1

+1 for you Mr. Hugo.
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: Sname on July 23, 2012, 06:21 pm
I suppose I agree with you to some extent. I admit I ignored PGP when I started too and am now trying to learn at the behest of paranoid vendors. That being said, it is the vendor who is taking the bulk of the risk in this transaction. I feel that your point about being communicative and professional works both ways. Imagine the harassment and relentless pointless messages from buyers which serve to only hinder a vendor's speed and business practice. While I applaud you for writing some respectful suggestions to vendors, I feel there is a lot of suggestions out there that some vendor's want to write to us buyers. Maybe there should be a collective effort to write up some general rules and guidelines to help make the process safer and easier on both sides of the transaction.

Since I can't really control others' actions, I usually just focus on myself here and try to be as nice as possible to vendors while minimizing my unnecessary messages. If they demand PGP, I guess I will have to learn and respect that despite the small inconvenience it imposes.
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: xollero on July 23, 2012, 06:24 pm
Some of you insist that all messages be relayed through PGP, which is an enormous pain in the ass and especially difficult for new buyers to try to figure out.  It stands to reason that if some master hacking federal agent was able to track you down through your Tor Browser, BitCoin, and SR, he'll probably be able to crack your fucking encrypted messages.
No, that doesn't stand to reason at all. It's just blithe, head-in-sand stupidity based on some really dodgy assumptions. 

They won't track you down through some uber haxor combo like you describe, that isn't the danger you face at all. If you think they are going to "crack your encrypted messages" then you simply don't have a clue what you're talking about. Effectively you are arguing that all this stuff you can't be bothered to learn is just not going to work anyways. Following your logic: security is hard, let's go back to clearnet. Magic feds are just going to crack everything anyways!

LE will track you down because they found one single thread that, when pulled, leads them back to you. Like, say, your address in fucking plaintext all over SR's database tables. Or on the hard drive of a sloppy, strung-out vendor.

Not using PGP is one thing, but being uppity about vendors looking out for *your* security by pressing for it, and characterizing that as "bad service" like you're at fucking Walmart? That is fucking classic. I think you'll find that prison is quite the libertarian dream too.
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: BanWork on July 23, 2012, 06:52 pm
Totally disagree with you about PGP, it should be mandatory IMO. It's really easy to use once you get used to it and there are plenty of helpful folk on the forums to advise you. Sure it introduces a slight inconvenience but it has the great benefit of making your address secure.

I agree that vendors should invest time into writing their profiles and general communication, a well written profile page that portrays some sanity inspires confidence, as does good communication. To be fair, a lot of vendors don't have English as their 1st language so its not fair to expect perfection. But some people do come across as slightly unhinged and that is off putting.

I always keep my communication with vendors; 1) To a minimum; they are busy. 2) To the point. 3) Polite and well written (as I am able), even if they are unprofessional or rude.
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: onefishtwofishredfishblue on July 23, 2012, 07:34 pm
i don't touch vendors without securities...its just dumb.  idk know people 1month+ roll still without pgp.  its a solution for failure.  how many big names/long time sellers roll without pgp NONE 
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: hugosharp on July 23, 2012, 09:05 pm
<---pwned.

I'm just too lazy to learn how to use it.  But I'll shut up now :)
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: crackerjackz on August 25, 2012, 05:10 pm
Friendly advice to all vendors is to stay away from customers like you. Whining troll
Title: Re: Some Friendly Advice to Vendors
Post by: Shroomeister on August 25, 2012, 07:18 pm
You, dearest Hugo as a buyer are not a primary target. You as a buyer could be a potentially easy target, but there isn't anyone interested in you. not as interested as they may be in the vendor who is sending out POUNDS (caps for dramatic effect) of any type of product a week.

It is an unfortunate state of affairs that most vendors must approach customers (especially news ones) with a bit of ummm contempt?

Not sure that is the word i am looking for. Vendors must remain "leary" at all times.

For you to be as articulate as you apparently are, and not have a PGP solution in place is just plain old lazy.

There is no excuse, and if you think that it is something that only tin-foil-hat-wearing-high-on-their-own-product-living-in-moms-basement-dope-dealing-vendors use or need, then you again sir are SADLY (dramatic effect caps again) mistaken.

Every vendor has their own products and own reason for them, with that said most of them are still willing to supply you with something illicit, and as far as that goes....its their rules that apply (with in reason of course)

So you stay safe in your home receiving packages, but try and respect the wild wild west dealings that a vendor of any decent size has to go through to allow you to be able to sit under a blanket and wait for your drugs to show up.

Can you even imagine what it would be like to try to mail 30 packages a day anonymously?   .......I can't!

One last point of discourse and then I am done. You said:
Quote
It stands to reason that if some master hacking federal agent was able to track you down through your Tor Browser, BitCoin, and SR, he'll probably be able to crack your fucking encrypted messages.

I just thought that it was also worth pointing out that this is untrue. While all those other things could really happen. PGP encryption can only be broken in theory. The time and computing power it would take are actually unrealistic for any one person or group to consider trying to "hack/crack".


I recall almost 10 years ago. I believe it was PGP (before they sold out to Symantec Corp.) had a contest for the public. They offered a brand new Lambo or Ferrari to anyone that could "Crack this PGP encrypted message".  While everyone tried; some even formed distributed groups like bitcoin miners or Seti@home guys. No one claimed the car.

PS - check my signature to learn PGP for Windows or Mac ;)