[Modpost] Sourcing & Advertising Rule Changes

Background


/r/DarkNetMarkets strives to be a harm reduction resource which helps people make safe decisions on the DNMs. Given the nature of the activity which is discussed here, we have to be careful to stay within the guidelines of Reddit's allowable content policy, or we risk losing this invaluable platform.

We want to allow you guys the freedom to get the information you need, but we also have to adhere to certain guidelines when it comes to how we allow people to advertise and ask sourcing questions. Finding the right balance is necessary, and we hope the new rules being introduced today strikes that balance.

If we were just things like vendor reviews, news, stories, and trip reports, there would be no issue. The issues begin to arise when vendors use Reddit as a platform to do business, or when people come to Reddit to source drugs, rather than a darknet marketplace. That last distinction is very key, and also very subtle.

So for instance, if someone was to come here and ask "Where can I get the best weed?", it opens up the possibility for someone on Reddit to say "hey dude, I've got weed! Send me a PM!" - and this would absolutely not be okay, which is honestly for your own safety, and for the longevity of this subreddit. So instead you would need to ask about specific vendors on external marketplaces - "Which vendor sells the best X? ExDude or Xman?" - and this is okay because it is referencing vendors who do business on a place that is not Reddit.


Sourcing Rules


The following is what we propose for our new sourcing rules. We believe it gives you guys more options than you had prior to this, and it also allows us to ensure that the subreddit does not get overrun by posts which are against Reddit ToS or are in general low quality and repetitive posts (e.g. "who has the best weed?").

Allowed? Type of Question Example Title
✓ Yes A comparison between specific vendors. "Does vendor X or vendor Y have the best Z?"
✓ Yes Asking if a product ships to an uncommon* area. "Do any vendors ship Z to Antarctica?"
✓ Yes Availability of an uncommon* product. "Any vendors that sell uranium?"
✓ Yes Specific vendor experiences. "Has anyone tried vendor X? How was your experience?"
NOPE! Opinionated questions on commonly* available items. "Who has the best Z?"
NOPE! General questions on commonly* available items. "Where can I get Z?"

*Moderator discretion

Important Note: In the example area you can see what a properly titled sourcing post should look like. Sourcing posts whose titles do not resemble one of the example titles will be removed and instructed to resubmit with a better title. You should aim to simply replace the variables provided in the example titles in order to form your sourcing question.


Advertising Rules


We're getting rid of Sell Your Shit Sunday (SYSS) and What to Buy Wednesday (WTBW) and instead we are going to replace it with a week long DarkNet Deals sticky which will be dedicated to advertising. The sticky will renew every week and will have the same format (contest mode) as the current SYSS/WTBW threads.

Vendors who advertise in these threads must include a link to their .onion marketplace profile. If they have other methods of contact, such as an email or bitmessage address, it must be listed secondary to their .onion marketplace link.

Do not attempt to direct deal in these threads, or you will be permanently banned. You must send people to your .onion marketplace link if you wish to advertise here. Do not advertise "Reddit Specials" or "Reddit Discounts" or anything of the sort, as this is not a marketplace to list your wares. You may only inform people of your listings on your .onion marketplace.

Vendors who advertise outside of this week long sticky may only do so in relevant and appropriate threads. Please don't abuse our goodwill by advertising in threads which are not relevant to your offerings. For example, if someone asks a sourcing question "Is vendor X or vendor Y better for Z?" and you are a vendor who sells Z, you may comment in the thread and say something along the lines of "Hey, I sell Z too, check me out on this market - [marketplace .onion link]." The key here is that you must include your marketplace .onion link and your self-promotion must be relevant to the topic of the thread.

Vendors, if you are unsure if your ad falls outside of our rules, you should ask the moderators before posting, so you do not risk a temporary ban. Vendors who break our advertising rules more than once may be permanently banned.

The new week-long DarkNet Deals advertising sticky will go live on Sunday at 6 a.m. EST, and renew every week thereafter.


Please feel free to use this thread to discuss these rule changes as well as suggest ways to further improve /r/DarkNetMarkets.


Comments


[6 Points] DownVoteMeYahAsshole:

Thank you for working for the longevity of this sub. I wonder how much longer we'll be here.


[6 Points] KimJongUntouchable:

You may only inform people of your listings on your .onion marketplace.

Does this mean no vendor who is not on a market can advertise that they operate their business via other mediums, eg BitMessage or otr-Jabber?
And what is the threshold for "market?" I can point Tor at a server that delivers barebones HTML with a BitMessage address in a few minutes. Would posting that onion link be allowed?


[3 Points] None:

[removed]


[2 Points] afkjones69:

Sourcing posts who's titles do not resemble

gonna be the grammar asshole here and point this out, but this is a quality post from a quality mod <3

Sourcing rules look good. I think the weekly sticky could definitely be an improvement.


[2 Points] DareToHope:

/u/greengiantxo happy with how phase 2 looks? I'm sure it will be sufficient in solving any doubts you had about phase 1 :)


[2 Points] young_k:

awesome - this should streamline the finding of deals each week. especially compared to when they bled into the posts people were making throughout the week.


[2 Points] None:

The new week-long DarkNet Deals advertising sticky will go live on Sunday at 6 a.m. EST, and renew every week thereafter.

I don't see it as of Sunday 9:38 EST

=P

(pulling your leg)


[1 Points] DirtyHippy69:

You may only inform people of your listings on your .onion marketplace

Does this mean you can't actually list anything you have, you can only link to your marketplace itself?


[1 Points] Febbraio2468:

Where is the DarkNet Deals Sticky so I can advertise?


[1 Points] None:

... i dont think uranium is the best example to be preventing yourselves from getting kicked off reddit


[0 Points] BallnYourMom:

This is a bunch of rubbish . 1. with all the "talent " around here , then you could independently get an offshore vps run a tor web server and just rip off reddits framework and just make you own"darknet reddit" with i2p backups. 2. These rules are going to get alot of people thrown in jail and there for in a way makes all the mods a snitch, its a real dry snitch but it is there . Toying around with an idea charge like 5 bucks a head then you can advo or say whatevs .. As long as your not some CP creepo then in that case you deserve to die


[0 Points] darknetpotter:

The key here is that you must include your marketplace .onion link

While I definitely see the point of this rule, I think it opens up the possibility of easily getting phished. Is pretty much every vendor is constantly linking their market link, users will get into the habit of just clicking those links to check them out. Great, for the legit vendors, but when some douche comes along posing as a vendor and tries to phish people, they will be much more successful.

Now sure, I'm still not going to click those links and look up vendors . But one day I'm chilled and see my regular vendor dr_zseller, who I trust and buy from and click the link. Turns out some phisher, dr_z_seller actually created that account and phished me.

Not to mention, the noobs.

We, as a community, should not be promoting clicking on any random onion links.