A Simple Summary, and thoughts on the marketplaces.

Allow me to begin that most of what I am writing is opinion, and very subjective.

ABOUT ME I never bought anything on SilkRoad. When I heard about it, I had to check it out. I found out about Tor. I had no idea how it, worked, other than it made me anon. Silk was ASTONISHING. Then I didn't come back to the deepweb post fall of sheep.

I have learned a lot recently. A. Lot. Tor. PGP. I2P. I am chosing to write this becuase I am a beginner, and believe I have a slighly different insight into these markets. My goal is not to rip or promote any marketplace, but to state my opinions, and discuss them with others.

And thus in the order they currently appear on the sidebar:

Marketplace and Silk 2.0: Most seem to know these well, so nothing really to say.

BLUESKY: Honestly, I don't like Blue Sky. From boucing around vendor profiles and listings, it appears many of the users are petty and clueless, asking way too many questions, and gennerally being arrogant and annoying to the vendors. The userbase as a whole gives me an odd feeling. Also, the design of the site looks so 2005ish... Not a fan. And 1 final thing: Blue Sky gives users the option to download a vendors public key. ONE OF THE EXPLICIT RULES OF TOR IS NO DOWNLOADING DOCUMENTS OVER TOR! There is a reason this rule exists, and it's for your protection.

AGORA: :) Home! To me, Agora is everything a market should be. Fast. Secure. Active Admins. Good Selection. Continued Development. It's all here/happening. Agora, b asicly sponsored by BitcoinFog, is currently the best market. With no major issues, past or present, and 2 months running, Agora looks to be a safe bet for the future. There is one thing that gets me: The resemblance to Google Calender/Docs/+ is mildly hard to deny. The slightly rounded buttons, the same sized logo in the top left of the screen (look at google docs, while editing a doc), the similar fonts and color scheme. As a whole, the website appears very google-ish. I would honestly not be supprised if the admin(s) are current or past employees of google. But to summarize, as of now, I put many of my eggs in agora.

PANDORA: I keep hearing scam. Therefore I avoid.

WHITE RABBIT: Feels secure. Interface is good. Not enough product.

LITEBAY: Feels secure. Interface is good. Not enough product.

I am very open to any critisims and additional commentary on the above, and will respond back in the comments

Thats all for now :)


Comments


[5 Points] gwern:

And 1 final thing: Blue Sky gives users the option to download a vendors public key. ONE OF THE EXPLICIT RULES OF TOR IS NO DOWNLOADING DOCUMENTS OVER TOR! There is a reason this rule exists, and it's for your protection.

What's wrong with that?


[3 Points] tomhuck:

Why does Agora require those stupid invite links which people post all over the place? I mean why not just open invitation? Its sketchy if you ask me like they are over doing it.


[2 Points] None:

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