Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: LesbianRobot on December 02, 2011, 10:23 pm

Title: SR as Invite only?
Post by: LesbianRobot on December 02, 2011, 10:23 pm
I was just thinking, in an attempt to slow down all of the traffic that has been surrounding "The Road", does anyone else agree that he should privatize it and make it an invite only site from now on? I mean, I think it would thwart some scammers and all of the heavy and bad press that has been infecting SR lately...what is everyone else's opinion on this idea?
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: TravellingWithoutMoving on December 02, 2011, 10:37 pm
...thats means you'd have to know someone who is probably trying their upmost to remain anonymous. how does that help the individual?

there has to be a better way to weed out the scammers.
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: MagicMan on December 02, 2011, 11:11 pm
I'm personally awaiting the technology that delivers a 10,000 volt shock to the nipples to people who try to scam others online. I'd invest mucho dinero in that technology
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: TravellingWithoutMoving on December 02, 2011, 11:25 pm
the end solution lies in unfortunately complicating but expanding on the whole buy/sell SR model.
...trust or proof of uniqueness of the user in an anonymous network.

Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: hoffa on December 02, 2011, 11:51 pm
I'm personally awaiting the technology that delivers a 10,000 volt shock to the nipples to people who try to scam others online. I'd invest mucho dinero in that technology

Haha +1 for this mate, I'll invest also!
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: oppyate on December 03, 2011, 06:36 pm
We've all been to a Rock'n Hot Night Club or exclusive Hang Out. Once the Riff-Raff and Thugs start to over take the place, it soon dies out. I think it would be best to have a Tiered System of Membership. Silver, Gold and Platinum. If you have Zero Sales, a Plat Membership would be Costly, but you would get full access and perks. If you have over X Sales, Plat would not be so expensive. Silver would only allow you to Purchase a set BC amount..

I dont know..SR has the final sale..one thing is getting excited about lots of Numbers, but as you Increase Numbers, you Increase the Odds of Letting in a Scammer, a Con, or an LEO.
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: deniedwings on December 03, 2011, 08:31 pm
The expression, "A fool and his money are soon parted" is quite accurate on SR.   

I am convinced that there exists no fool proof AND easy way to prevent scammers in an anonymous environment.  There will always be scammers.  We just have to make it more difficult for scammers and that is what these forums are for.  If a person refuses to read these forums in spite of repeated encouragement to do so and then they get scammed than I frankly dont have much pity for them.  As a new buyer you might be understandably asked to finalize early - if you are buying from one of the long standing, reputable vendors then you have nothing to worry about.  If you are a new seller you must go through escrow and if you dont want to sell to a buyer with no history, then I dont blame you.  Eventually you will build the rep to demand out of escrow purchases from unestablished buyers. 

If both buyers and sellers are established there is no reason to go out of escrow.
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: 46&2 on December 03, 2011, 10:24 pm
Re: SR as Invite only?

it is. and you are all invited ;D
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: TravellingWithoutMoving on December 03, 2011, 10:40 pm
theoretically the more buyers and sellers the more competitive ....and the costs work themselves out just like currency does...blah blah
cause SR to be too difficult to find or "trade" doesnt really grow...or grow exponentially out of control and comes crashing down.

i just think it ends up being the quick fix quick solution ...throw some money at it....or government creating yet another tax...and who pays for it....we do..
because what usually happens is margin gets smaller and smaller, the constant taxes and people to pay as it changes hands hikes up the price, and the result is quality suffers as the real ingredient is cut or substituted with shit.
as long as it doesnt hamper up and coming decent sellers trading. the rich aren't rich for nothing you know..

whatever is worked out the burden on the seller and buyer should not be forgotten.
some sellers are supplementing their income
others it is their income

and buyers costs just escalate as we all know as we're all ultimately in the same boat.

has anyone thought what it costs to run a proper PC or run an internet service like SR or any web service.
and we thought computers and internet were supposed to do reduce the cost to produce something.

Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: sillyme131 on December 04, 2011, 07:39 am

I am pretty new to SR, but I immediately fell in love with its anonymous nature and its openness to all people.  I don't know that limiting either of these things would be beneficial to SR.  Even if restricting members would lead to less new scammers, it would also limit the number of new legitimate buyers.  As deniedwings already mentioned, using information on the forums goes a long way toward identifying scammers and making safe purchases.
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: sensa on December 04, 2011, 01:43 pm
^ +1.  Think back to when you first came across a site such as this.  How would you feel if you had to be invited to join?  Like the lady or gentleman stated above me, as long as we have a community forum such as this it's really not all that hard to avoid scammers.  If you are skeptical of someone, discuss it privately through encrypted channels with the person.  If they are legitimate, they shouldn't have a problem having a civilized conversation with you to clear up any doubts you may have.  If you are unable to resolve through those means, there's a great Rumor Mill sub forum where you can let your opinions be heard and get feedback from more seasoned members.

Also try to avoid becoming cynical of new people asking technical questions, everyone has to start somewhere.  A little common courtesy and common sense goes a long way towards protecting yourself and keeping services like this going.
Title: Re: SR as Invite only?
Post by: MagicMan on December 05, 2011, 12:25 am
Also try to avoid becoming cynical of new people asking technical questions, everyone has to start somewhere.  A little common courtesy and common sense goes a long way towards protecting yourself and keeping services like this going.

While I'm all for common courtesy and sense, I think that a little cynism is healthy, especially in a situation where our freedom's could be severely limited if we were caught. The way I see it, and this is not the most humanistic way for sure, is that my personal safety comes first, everything else is secondary to that.