Reading the comments around here and /r/SilkRoad, in addition to the new usernames I see, I become very aware that the majority of the subscribers of both subreddits are somewhat new to the scene; very few were around during the time of the original SilkRoad.
I just wanted to try to illustrate the scene for you guys, along with some of my personal interjections.
The way I actually found SilkRoad was quite hilarious, to me at least. I live in a state where psychedelics are damn near impossible to find. I have decent connections but for the life of me, no one knew how to get a hold of real LSD. I tried and tried for months, to no avail. Then one day out of absolute frustration, I simply Googled "buy LSD online", not expecting anything at all but maybe just to get a laugh.
To my absolute surprise, I found a lone article that caught my eye. It was an article about this crazy site on this weird browser that was somehow supposed to keep its users anonymous. It was like the whole article was in another language. Bitcoin? TOR? Anonymity? What is all this bullshit? This was around the late fall of 2012.
After a great amount of diligent researching on my end, I finally got the picture all aligned. I understood Bitcoin. I understood TOR. I understood how the market worked. I even knew about the two other main markets that were trying (but generally failing) to run up against SilkRoad, the sites Black Market Reloaded and Atlantis. Everything was set.
The first step was downloading TOR and accessing the site. I remember very vividly my absolute shock and wonder as I access that very first homepage, where I am greeted by pictures and prices of heroin, meth, mushrooms, NBOMes, porn site rips; this place was absolute HEAVEN.
The second step was buying Bitcoins. The most popular option then was not Localbitcoins; you actually would've been hard-pressed to find anyone suggesting this site. The most popular option then was the now defunct Bitinstant, which was far and away the quickest and easiest way to get Bitcoins. Simply fill out a money order and BAM! an hour later you have your coins in your SilkRoad account.
The last step was ordering. I remember my first orders: two tabs of Nawlins' Hoffman LSD and some 25i-NBOMe because I had a little bit of money left over. Would this actually work? Or was it just a dream, a cruel trick? I almost fell over when I opened my mailbox one day to find two letters, seemingly just junk mail, that actually contained my drugs.
Those were the good old days. I feel like a nostalgic asshole mentioning this, as if I'm implying that the newer users are somehow of lesser quality than us old-timers; that's not the case at all. I appreciate anyone who does their research and knows what they are talking about when it comes to these markets.
The bottom line is that this isn't the olden days. Back then we had the false feeling of being invincible, like nothing would ever happen to destroy our perfect community. Today's DarkNet Market user knows better. Markets are seized often. Their funds are stolen, by either hackers or admin who get greedy. No one is safe. We encrypt, we use our common sense. This is how we stay safe.
But damn, I sure do miss the old days <3 <3 <3
First time I got my stuff I just sat down in my chair with the letter in my hand laughing at how simple it was.