Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: NoAddedSugar on May 19, 2013, 10:56 pm

Title: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: NoAddedSugar on May 19, 2013, 10:56 pm
I'd be interested to hear other opinions, it's certainly a good way to get customers to leave 5/5 feedback on every purchase, then the vendor can change listings and is able to abuse the system and scam customers. The lottery itself could also be a scam, who can prove or in fact disprove if a "draw" of some kind has actually happened.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: White 0ut on May 19, 2013, 11:15 pm
Most lotto's are based on the transaction # so it's impossible to scam, I personally never do the "draw" lotteries!

I like to know if I have won right away!
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: tree on May 19, 2013, 11:20 pm
I agree with white out, lottos based on transaction numbers are better, like for example, you win if the last character is a "7".
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: Gengar17 on May 19, 2013, 11:32 pm
I've played Optiman's lottery a few times and won over double what I've spent! Great for fun with leftover BTCs, as was earlier said no way to scam using the transaction ID#.

One thing I am a little puzzled about it the "1 in 16 chance to win 2BTC instantly" listing by SR Gaming Commission. Since the lucky number is 7 and the numbers only run 1-10, isn't that a 1 in 10 chance to win? Idk, maybe I'm just a little high.  8)
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: NoAddedSugar on May 19, 2013, 11:37 pm
Put to one side, for a moment, the part of my question solely about the lottery itself, but what about the fact that vendors can charge pittance for you to enter and you have to leave 5/5 to qualify for the lottery, then the vendor could switch his listings to then say 10g of 85% pure Cocaine  3BTC. Everyone checks the vendors feedback, sees rows upon rows of  5/5 feedback. Vendor then says everyone has to FE, and potentially takes thousands of BTC, it's not the lottery itself, which the main question of my thread was about, it's using those stats to build a fake reputation. I think it's entirely possible.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: streetelitist on May 20, 2013, 12:39 am
Put to one side, for a moment, the part of my question solely about the lottery itself, but what about the fact that vendors can charge pittance for you to enter and you have to leave 5/5 to qualify for the lottery, then the vendor could switch his listings to then say 10g of 85% pure Cocaine  3BTC. Everyone checks the vendors feedback, sees rows upon rows of  5/5 feedback. Vendor then says everyone has to FE, and potentially takes thousands of BTC, it's not the lottery itself, which the main question of my thread was about, it's using those stats to build a fake reputation. I think it's entirely possible.
It's kind of possible...but nobody would really do that. All of the major lotto vendors have been established for a while and it would be extremely obvious to see feedback that says "didn't win =[" or " i won!" (which is what most of them say)
Only ignorant buyers buy a product solely based off the "100% with over 300 transactions"
Smart buyers who deserve to use SR, research vendors thoroughly & make use of the forums.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: eddiethegun on May 20, 2013, 03:08 am
One thing I am a little puzzled about it the "1 in 16 chance to win 2BTC instantly" listing by SR Gaming Commission. Since the lucky number is 7 and the numbers only run 1-10, isn't that a 1 in 10 chance to win? Idk, maybe I'm just a little high.  8)

Base 16 (includes values A-F)
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: Hungry ghost on May 20, 2013, 07:15 am
I love hexadecimal. Its used by computers as it can be converted to / from binary very simply. A long binary number can be split into groups of four digits; and in binary the numbers 0-15 can be represented by four digits. So each group can be converted to its corresponding hex number:

1101 1011 0111 1001 0001 1111

1D      1B     07     09     01      1F

(I studied computers at school; before the internet was widely available, its never done me much good and I've fallen far behind current developments, but this is one elegant fact I remember!)

There is a remnant of base 12 in our counting system: the fact we have words for eleven and twelve, and twelve inches in a foot. You can count to twelve on one hand by counting finger sections with your thumb. Twelve is more useful for simple calculations than ten, it is divisible by 2,3,4 and 6. Ten is only divisible by 2 and 5. So you can halve quarter third and sixth numbers based on twelve.

      Apparently part of the reason Koreans exceed westerners at learning maths is their counting words . Their word for eleven is "ten one" for twenty five "two tens five" and fifty three "five tens three" (all in Korean obviously!)
This means that Korean children have a much easier time learning to add as sums like "twelve plus forty seven" are to them "ten two plus four tens seven"

Anyway.....there you go.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: leaf on May 20, 2013, 03:50 pm
Most lotto's are based on the transaction # so it's impossible to scam, I personally never do the "draw" lotteries!

I like to know if I have won right away!

I am a fairly new vendor this post got me interested in running a small lottery ( I am giving away free samples of hash anyways, might as well make a game of it).   Its stated above that most lotteries are based on the transaction number.  So they can be trusted as fair, can anyone explain to me how this would work(or point me to a example)? 
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: leaf on May 20, 2013, 07:35 pm
Ahh, I see.   Hexadecimal only allows for 16 different possibilities.  mmmm roulette.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: NoAddedSugar on May 20, 2013, 07:57 pm
I saw one that was asking for 3 of the same character together in the TX, or a total of 4 of the same character in the TX
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: Technician on May 20, 2013, 10:48 pm
I've won 2 different lotteries!

Thanks LaFuente and Priimo
I don't think Priimo is around anymore
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: DoctorFate on May 21, 2013, 02:28 pm
Thinking about it lotteries are a way for everyone to get their stats up, buyers and vendors.

If your worried about them changing their listings and scamming people then I would suggest always checking the item link next to feedback.  A vendor may have many products in stock and just because I see great feedback everywhere it may not be for the product I want so I make sure to find good feedback for what I'm looking for.

I have seen a vendor that had a listing just for feedback, literally a listing for $0 with a title of something like "For feedback only"  Is that even allowed?  There was only 1 person that used it and left feedback but the whole thing seemed off to me.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: NoAddedSugar on May 21, 2013, 03:00 pm
I've seen listings which are $0 for vendors to check buyer's stats, never a listing for feedback, that sounds dubious.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: motek on May 21, 2013, 03:21 pm
Very cool Sugar ... I must admit I had wondered why these lotteries were happening, and you have hit at least one nail on the head friend...nice one
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: DoctorFate on May 21, 2013, 05:14 pm
I've seen listings which are $0 for vendors to check buyer's stats, never a listing for feedback, that sounds dubious.

Yeah no one has used it for months and it seems to be a reputable vendor so I wouldn't even worry about it but if you search "feedback only" on SR you will see it.

update: Forgot quotes
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: Dingo Ate My Drugs on May 22, 2013, 08:29 am
I've seen listings which are $0 for vendors to check buyer's stats, never a listing for feedback, that sounds dubious.
I very rarely ask for FE (only if the buyer has a very high auto-finalise or refund rate), however a lot of buyers FE for no reason.
I have a listing for $0.01 so I can check their buyer stats if we need to go into resolution. Once a buyer finalises an order, vendors cannot see their stats.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: NoAddedSugar on May 22, 2013, 09:43 am
Once a buyer finalizes, the chance to take it to resolution is not available. The resolve button isn't there, the whole transaction has gone, finalize is final. What you're saying doesn't make sense.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: Dingo Ate My Drugs on May 22, 2013, 09:54 am
Once a buyer finalizes, the chance to take it to resolution is not available. The resolve button isn't there, the whole transaction has gone, finalize is final. What you're saying doesn't make sense.
But that doesn't mean I wouldn't offer a reship in the very rare case of a domestic non arrival. Also some buyers FE when they don't even need to. And then if they claim it doesn't arrive, we have a way to check their buyer stats by making a 1 cent listing. It is there purely for this reason only. Once I've seen buyer stats, the order gets cancelled and the 1 cent gets refunded. No feedback is given.
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: NoAddedSugar on May 22, 2013, 10:11 am
Very good of you to help your customers who FE'd. I hope if I ever have an order that doesn't arrive, I have support from a vendor. I choose to avoid vendors who require FE. Not suggesting you do. Is your User name on here the same as your vendor name? I'll check you out, you may find you have a new customer
Title: Re: Are Silk Road lotteries a scam to get vendors' stats up?
Post by: Dingo Ate My Drugs on May 22, 2013, 10:32 am
Very good of you to help your customers who FE'd. I hope if I ever have an order that doesn't arrive, I have support from a vendor. I choose to avoid vendors who require FE. Not suggesting you do. Is your User name on here the same as your vendor name? I'll check you out, you may find you have a new customer

My vendor is the same, yes. I'm from Australia thought bad I only ship domestic. So there is no customs for the orders I send, which is why I find it very difficult to believe people when it "doesn't arrive." Currently got 1 customer who FE'd and said it never showed up and wants a reship, but it's hard to decide if they are a scammer or not. They have good buyer stats, but I thin  they have done this to other people and gotten refunds send directly to them, not through escrow so it doesn't affect t heir buyer stats.

I am a buyer on the site too, so I know what it is like for buyers, but buyers don't know what it is like to be a vendor and have so many scam attempts.
I try to be fair.