Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: KudzuKashgari on July 02, 2013, 07:55 pm
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I've decided to do a bit of research before making my first purchase, and for all the other newbies out there I thought it would be good to detail the methods necessary for a stress-less first purchase. For those out there who have more knowledge than I do, please reply with helpful suggestions for others (and myself) which I may have missed.
So, you've obviously got Tor, and your profile is set up. Good. Now, I'm not going to cover too much, but let's start with vendor profiles: who can you trust? As an example let's look at The Avengers. These guys review vendors of LSD, and they have compiled a list of very good, good, and bad vendors of said psychedelic. This will be an example to show that there are threads out there which can give you a good idea of who is legit, and who is not. I think it's a little out of date, but most of the vendors are still selling. Here's the page:
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=45270.0
Go to a vendor's section at the bottom of their page and you will see comments. You want to watch out for the 'freshness' of the comments: do they have dozens of the same basic comment all at the same time? Beware; there are posts on the forum of people who actually sell positive reviews of vendors. I know, highly unethical, right?
The next thing I want to cover is encrypting your address information if you hypothetically decide to make an order, so that only you and the vendor know your sensitive information. I found a good article, but I'm only going to link page 3, so make sure to check the whole thing out. Here's the link:
http://cannabiscorner.net/guide-to-the-silk-road-part-3-making-an-order/
Seeing how I'm new to Silk Road, I don't feel educated enough to go over any more, because I don't want to give anybody any information that isn't the greatest, so please, if you want to help out just reply with some other helpful tips for all of us newbies.
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A nice guide to get started out with! I must add something else though and this is aimed at the people who really, really want to be anonymous when ordering from the road or being online in general. I am talking about using TAILS (https://tails.boum.org/), learn how to use it!
Here are some links to guides:
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=114141.0 (The guide that I used. Probably the best of the three)
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=176112.msg1288265#msg1288265
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=178897.msg1294661#msg1294661
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Thanks dfrosty, I've heard about Tails in passing, but didn't think to research it. Ima check that out!
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I think TAILS is mostly useful if you're really hardcore about being anonymous. I've thought of using it myself but I don't make enough purchases to warrant learning how to use it.
Having been scammed myself a few times through SR and elsewhere in the deepnet I second your advice on looking through the forums for sellers you're interested in. Had I just looked through the forums using the search function for the vendor that scammed me (LegalizeMJ) I would've have known about other people's problems with him before I placed my own order. I learned the hard way to check through SEVERAL DAYS worth of feedback to make sure the vendor's legit and THEN check the forums to doubly verify.
Be weary of any vendors that ask for FE unless both the feedback and forums verify that the vendor is legit.
Hope we all learn from other people's (including myself) mistakes.
Peace.
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Great idea. :)
The next thing I want to cover is encrypting your address information if you hypothetically decide to make an order, so that only you and the vendor know your sensitive information. I found a good article, but I'm only going to link page 3, so make sure to check the whole thing out. Here's the link:
http://cannabiscorner.net/guide-to-the-silk-road-part-3-making-an-order/
There's a single-page encryption service here that's simpler than the two-page one linked in the article
http://www.hanewin.net/encrypt/PGcrypt.htm
tho I'd personally avoid such services. Browser encryption is leaky & dangerous. It's probably fine if you're just sending an address, but if you're seriously about encryption, you should visit GnuPG.org and download one of the frontend apps they link to. It's intimidating at first but the apps are easy to use & if you join one of the SR PGP Clubs (the one in the newbie section is fine) to practice you'll get the hang of it quickly.
Also the *Buying Bitcoin* section of that site needs to be updated. There are many ways to get Bitcoin but the best/easiest depends on who you are & where in the world you live & whether or not you're comfortable showing ID etc. Here it's best to just do your own research as you don't want to give out too much info about your location & age & so on.
The only other thing I'd add for newbies is to act like adults - when you post, when you make your order, all of it. (For most this won't apply but it does seem there's always a few not-yet-of-drinking-age in the newbie section). Of course you think you're smart enough & independent enough to be ordering drugs online, but you need to convince others of this too. If you're not out on your own, don't order to your parent's house. Get a PO box or place to get your own mail. If your parents pay for your internet, same deal. Get a secure laptop and go use Tor from a public wifi station. It's not good for anyone involved with SR to see "HALP MY MOM OPENED MY MAIL" posts or "hi guys my friends at school told me about SR" & vendors for obviously reasons don't like selling to kids. If you can't convince a few strangers online that you're a working adult (with access to a good lawyer) you may want to think a bit about your ability to keep your ordering a secret. :)
A few other tips, tho they've mostly been covered before.
* Order small to begin with so if something goes missing or you do get scammed (happens to everyone) it won't be a disaster.
* Try not to order more than one package at a time - it's tempting to load up a shopping care but safer if you make sure each has arrived w/out incident before ordering another. Being caught with a stockpile of drugs is never ever a good idea. Make sure that your personal stash looks like what it is.
* Be respectful & professional when communicating w/ the vendors. It'll help keep you from getting scammed & help w/ any resolutions should something go wrong.
* It's tempting to misspell your name(or use a fake one) when you give your name & address. Don't do this. All it does is make your package stand out to the mailman or the mail sorter. You want your package to get to you as quickly & smoothly as possible. The more accurate your address the better the chances it won't get a second look.
* Many of the first tier vendors won't work with brand new buyers, or req new buyers to FE. Not a problem! Help out a new vendor instead. Yes there is a bigger risk that they might not be trustworthy, but if you use the forums & your best judgment you can get some great deals. Also new vendors in the process of building their business usually don't mind if you ask questions & talk w/ them a bit before you place your order, which is not a bad thing for new buyers. :)
* Order Priority rather than Express. It's less likely you'll be asked to sign & won't stand out as much as Express.
* If you get a PO box, get a few eBay or Amazon orders there before placing your first order. It will make the first time you go pick up your SR goodies less stressful. (If you're ordering at home & don't usually get much online, do the same thing, just so you know what normal package deliveries in your neighborhood are like. Plus the more normal parcels you're getting to your house the less the SR ones will stand out).
* As KK said, the forums are your friend! Look for review threads & check the Customer Support area too. (It's a good idea to do this even if you've ordered from a vendor before, as there have been cases of established vendors pulling scams before disappearing). Be a good buyer, too, and contribute reviews.
Maybe this is all obvious stuff, but it might help someone starting out! Let me know if I can answer questions or point you to other good resources too. It's not always easy being trapped in newbie-land. :)
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Small detail, but something I had not thought of. Thanks for the tip!
* Order Priority rather than Express. It's less likely you'll be asked to sign & won't stand out as much as Express.
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Great Post