I've never visited the dark web, nor do I know how to find it. Thankfully. But tell me some stories.
The Regular
Spongebob Squarepants Internet GIFGiphy"Mostly just like the regular web but with illegal stuff. Drugs, weapons, passports or Kreditcard, apparent hitman service (not sure if that was real though). It is super slow though and the link collections you find for the Tor browser are mostly dead."
PvtPill
Layers Lag
"Slow."
SixBitDemonVenerable
"Just like VPN slows down your connection a bit like 5-10% slow if it's a good VPN with it's company spending lots of money on running thousands of servers. Dark web required multiple layers of encryption and proxies just like a using 3 VPNs on top of each other so that alone makes it much slower, moreover the proxies servers are cheap low budget ones run by volunteers (and some by intelligence agencies)."
idorandombs
Ah... simpler times indeed
"I've seen scarier stuff in the untamed age of the internet than I did when going through it."
hats4bats22
"We lived in simpler times back then, I loved growing up on the internet. Back when most people didn't even know what social media was, AOL chat rooms, MSN and Yahoo chat rooms."
funnystuffmakesmelol
Not a Browse
"'What it's like.' is just websites. What you find depends on what you look for. There's a bunch of piracy sites, a lot of counter-culture blogs, sites on hacking (not just blackhat stuff, but a lot of whitehat stuff too)."
"You will also find a lot of sites in other languages too, especially ones you don't normally see, as a lot of darkweb stuff is used to circumvent censorship (the most famous Darkweb network, TOR, was developed by the US Naval Research Lab), and most major news orgs will have some sort of presence there, just as a way to get tips they can't get otherwise."
"A lot of what people assume is there, isn't as common as you might think, and a lot of what is there of that, are government-run honeypots. It's not generally a 'browse' thing, you tend to go to the darkweb with a specific topic in mind, and go to that."
P2PJones
Watching You
Glitch Snes GIF by Death OrgoneGiphy"I think of the darkweb as a honeytrap. Drugs, guns, antisocial groups. There's no way a place with that potential isn't being monitored."
5point5inch
Sounds pretty run of the mill so far. With a few naughties here and there.
Bad Clicks
computer clicking GIF by South Park Giphy"Turns out the accessing the deep Web doesn't do you any good if you don't have any idea where to go. Like I know of websites that are supposed to be on the dark web but I don't want to go to them. That seems like a short road to a long prison sentence."
TheOneWes
Window Shopping
"A lot of freaking searching for correct url’s. Idk, I was just window shopping, if you’re not there to shop, and been around for a while, it’s not that interesting."
Chickenmilk_
"This is the best way to describe the deep web imo. I tried using it once out of stupid impulsive curiosity, and it was just rather boring, slow, and overall rather tedious to use. A lot of the websites are poorly designed and dated, and that's if they work at all. Not worth it if you have no business being there and don't know what you're doing."
J0HNNY-D0E
Meh...
"Oddly boring. I disconnected and covered up my webcam. Because all of those stories I heard, people accessed your webcam. The first thing I noticed was that it was as slow as hell. Can you imagine running a livestream on this thing? The next thing I found was surprisingly weird."
"It was selling fake magazine paper or fake newspaper paper to print forged coupons on. Not a single person opened a chat window saying 'I SEE YOU! You are x in y!' No red rooms, and any videos of creepy things would probably take days to load. No links to those either. I did find fake accounts to access scientific journals though."
CrazyCoKids
Risk
"Awkward and slow to use. It's hard to find what you are looking for, even harder to find a reliable source. The only currencies used are crypto currencies and anonymity is taken extremely seriously. PGP encryption is widely used for direct messaging."
"You have access to a reliable site it is just the same as using a website url and clearnet only slower and the interface is much older looking. I won't get into any details on how its accessed for very obvious reasons but the process of purchasing is normally just found a listing on one of the market websites (think eBay only much shadier), make sure the seller is reliable by checking reviews etc and then place an order."
"You message them directly using PGP (encrypted messages only they can decrypt) with your address and pay them using some crypto. After a few days a package shows up with whatever you brought in it. Usually disguised as something else. For example what I bought came disguised as a sim card!! It's all quite similar to the clearnet just with more security steps added in and a bit more risk!"
Cheekythrowaway69420
Rarities
Working On It GIF by KAT BALLGiphy"I haven't, but a guy I watch on YouTube used to do a weekly video series where he would look at stuff on the deep/dark web."
"Obviously for video purposes he was showing stuff that was YouTube friendly, but he frequently talked about how the dark web is pretty boring, and 99% of the stuff on it would be perfectly fine on the normal web. Yes, illegal content does exist, but it's actually pretty rare in the grand scheme of things."
Zoomii555
Well that is underwhelming but comforting. Maybe there is more good in the world than sleaze.
"What’s a good first date that doesn’t involve alcohol?"
Being entertained is a great way to experience something together without having to worry about initial small talk.
Catch A Flick
"Movie I think is fine, but if it's around 7 or 8PM and you get out with some time left in the night. I say that because it gives you a shared experience and something to connect and talk about which can be a good icebreaker. Not ideal first date but in a pinch it can work."
– Jennyferr0412
Don't Blow Your Cover
"Not a comedy club - if they find out you're on a first date you will get roasted without mercy."
"Source: Been there, done that."
– ConsultantForLife
Get Roasted, Not Toasted
"Great first date if your date is already a friend and you know their taste in comedy and tolerance for the obligatory hazing."
– ThrownAway3764
Some prefer engaging in an activity, where being anti-social is not an option.
Scaling New Heights
"My SO and I had our first date at a climbing gym."
– Shantor
Get Cheesy
"My husband took me to a cheese factory on our first date."
T"here were free samples. A tour of the new factory, and a heritage tour of the original wooden building and dairy."
"That was a good first date."
– FormalMango
Raising The Bar
"It wasn't our first date, but the first time I brought my girlfriend(now wife) to my hometown I took her on a tour at Saranac in Utica NY. She loved it."
"Downside though, some of the dates after that were kinda boring because that one went so well. It was hard to follow up"
– I_AM_DEATH-INCARNATE
Putting Around
"Mini golf is the best first date ever."
– woolsocksandsandals
Friendly Competition
"bowling is really good as long as she's into it. There's a slight friendly competition to see who wins, and you can get food/drinks and talk a ton. great time to not be uptight and just be a lil goofy and friendly."
– LuxerIsCool
Excursions are a great option, but it would be wise to consider the following:
Not Recommended
"As a woman who loves hiking: absolutely do not go on a hike as a first date, or if you really want to then make it a double date. Unless she already knows you (and even then...) she will be on edge/scared the entire time, more likely than not turn the whole thing down."
– DiscussionPale3216
Stay In The Public Eye
"Try walking at a beach or some other place where you always be in sight of many other people. I live near a very busy rail trail, but that does NOT meet the standard of ALWAYS visible."
"I live near an upscale strip mall, and my first few dates with my wife we got froyo and walked the mall. Window shopping can help provide interesting items to keep the conversation flowing."
– NCBGLC1912
Window Shopping
"Something that I've done with first dates off of dating sites/apps is go to a food court in a mall. This accomplishes a few things: 1) You are meeting for the first time in a public place. 2) There's a wide variety of food to choose from, with the added bonus that you can get a clue of where to take her on a second date. 3) After eating you two can walk around the mall, do some window shopping, maybe blow a few bucks at the arcade. etc."
– II_Confused
Outdoor Seating Preferred
"Picnic is a great idea. If you go to a crowded park in your area so they’re not on edge that way you can control what you’re eating and drinking."
– whitehat_creamer
I went to a Six Flags park as a first date once, and that was a lot of fun.
It's a good mix of gradually getting to know the other person while waiting in line to get on one of the rides and experiencing the thrill of a roller coaster together.
When the adrenaline is pumping and your heart is throbbing, it's a great ice-breaker that could culminate in the greatest thrill of all at the end of the day–That first kiss.
