People Who've Used The Dark Web Share The Exact Moment They Felt They Were In Danger
Y'all in danger GIRL!!
The internet is a vast and bottomless virtual land. As much as it brings joy and connection and business, it also had secret, dark places that can lead us all to some nefarious decisions and unintended consequences. Sometimes all you want to do is order a vintage t-shirt, the next thing you know.... the FBI is knocking on your door.
Redditor u/BusinessOnion wanted to know who has meandered around the side of the internet that isn't particularly safe and lived to tell the tale by asking..... [Serious] Dark Web users of Reddit, was there ever a point in your use that you felt you were genuinely in danger? What happened?
Notice of Fear
I once bought a bit of weed and I received a blackmail letter threatening me with awful things (like sending CP and calling the police) if I didn't send 1 btc (1000$ at the time). I was scared sh!tless but nothing ever happened. Always check the reviews before buying anything!
The High Note
One time I got twice the amount of drugs that I actually ordered. Was paranoid for about 2 hours and then I just got really high and it was fine.
Once a friend ordered a "sample pack" of 10 Pills from a new vendor and got shipped 1k pills. Everyone who ordered got this surprise. This led to friends devastating addiction to Xanax which led to black tar and meth which led to a rock bottom that you only read about. He's been clean and off the dark web for 4 years now though.
Damn Bits
A friend of mine used to use Silkroad on the Darknet when Bitcoin was $10 a pop. He placed a tleast 100 orders through it and never had any issues.
It's a shame he didn't keep all the Bitcoin he bought because he would have been a millionaire now.
I made a TON of money from it, but at that time in my life money = drugs, so I have 0 from it.
Paranoid
In college some friends and I ordered a 100 sheet of acid, using bitcoin, to our college P.O. Boxes. We got pretty terrified when it didn't arrive when it should've. We thought it was found by USPS, our own mail service, or the DEA; we were paranoid. Turns out they just shipped it later than they said. We got our 100 tabs but that was a VERY stressful week and a half for all of us.
Mary Jane Issues
Had a buddy who used to order weed. The distributer got busted and the postal service let him know there was a suspicious package for him. He could either pick it up or it would be destroyed.
Getting an illegal package addressed to you leaves you with plausible deniability if you've purchased it anonymously and covered your tracks. You can say, "No thanks, I don't want anything to do with that because I have no idea what it is," and that'll be that, you just have to suck up the sunk costs. Trying to pick it up after you've been told it was suspicious and being held will earn you a nice talk with the authorities.
Lasers
I was trying to buy those super cool laser pointers and I got a random message saying I know where you live. I noped out of that sight straight away.
My father was issued a laser pointer by the US Army that had been shown to cause skin cancer if u pointed it at someone for too long so there r some pretty crazy laser pointers out there.
Choo-Choo
Came across a chan style site. Every post was about trains. Wouldn't say i felt in danger, but i felt so out of the loop that i was missing something that I just got off.
I immediately thought this too. They're all there innocently chatting about trains and this guy stumbles across it like "wtf, this is some crazy stuff."
big brother
Everything feels government owned.
I used to frequent drug sites. They would go down for weeks at a time. Then pop up again, have weird prices. Sellers were different.
It made the dark web feel like a labyrinth more than a ruleless wasteland.
Fading Out
I've used the dark web once or twice. Scariest thing was when my screen went black for a few moments and turned back on. Wasn't anything big, just my display cable messing up, but it did give me the creeps. As for dark or disturbing stuff, I've only found a list of random addresses. The dark web really has a lot of stigma associated with it.
For the most part it's just people curious about the dark web or people trying to scam you or sell you drugs. You have to do a lot of looking to find the really screwed up stuff. You're more likely to find dark web type crap on Reddit or YouTube than the actual dark web.
Beware
Be safe boys and girls! Don't give out your information or communicate with others. And if you plan on purchasing anything, use a secure Linux OS like Tails, use private keys, connect to a public wifi spot (not your house), encrypt all messages, use multi signature markets so your chances of losing your Bitcoin lessens, escrow preferably, never send your bitcoins from a wallet attached to you directly to the seller, tumble your coins first. And when the package arrives, don't open it for a few days. A friend of mine gave me all this info and told me I should help u guys out.
Code Errors...
I own a fairly rare car that had a rare error code. I looked it up on Google and there was only one other person on the car maker's forum that had the same error. And this guy took months and months going back and forth between car shops and the forum thread to try to get the issue fixed. Everyone on the forum was pitching in to try to help him. So I kept going through this long forum thread to try to figure out if he ever fixed it. And suddenly there's no more replies from the guy.
Everyone was scratching their heads for a while. We thought he had maybe gotten the issue fixed and didn't bother to update us on it. Then one day, a news article popped up about a really rich guy who died in a Thai jail cell. And then we connected the two stories and they matched up. The same make and model of the car in the news article matched up with his car. And they were both claiming to be in Thailand at the time.
So what happened was that that same guy who was still talking on the forums got raided by the Thai police around the same time he stopped replying to the forum. Turns out that he was running one of the biggest dark web marketplaces where drugs were being sold and exchanged. It had something like $1 million in revenue per day and he was hiding out in Thailand while living in luxury. They found him dead in his jail cell a few days later. They claim he died of "suicide".
I'm Out
Idk if it was the "dark web" but accidentally came across a website that was basically just Pornhub but for gore. I saw a couple seconds of a man with his hands already chopped off and noped the heck out. I had to take a break from the Internet for a couple of days.
Don't Do Drugs
Every time. Remember that the person you just bought drugs from knows:
- Your address.
- That you have drugs in your house.
- There's probably evidence of dark web use in your finances/computer/trash.
They can rat you out with impunity just because they're feeling malevolent. They also could just get caught and be careless with destroying ex customer information, so it hangs over my head to this day.
"love letter"
There's hitmen, human trafficking and snuff films and such but a vast majority of these sites are scams asking you to send them bitcoin. A small portion of users on the dark web would be there for this sort of stuff. However, buying drugs online is quite popular and widespread. Single vendors can have $500,000+ in lifetime sales.
It's quite safe to use. You use PGP to encrypt your address so only the seller of the drugs has access to your private info. If your package is seized, LE have no proof you ordered it unless they seize your computer and you have that information stored on it, you can use tails/USB to avoid this.
Even if your packages get seized, you'll often get a "love letter" saying what they seized and there is no follow up after that.
Chatter
Kinda dark... I wanted to install Windows 7 on my old PC so I installed the .iso file from some website and everything was working good for like 1 hour but then porn started appearing on my screen and I was like wtfff. Chat box opened and camera turned on. He told me I have nice eyes and after that I just turned off the PC and did a clean install of Windows 10.
Whoops....
Don't frequent it a lot but once i accidentally left my browser in full screen and a stranger in a chat room asked me if my curved monitor was nice, freaked me out a bit.
Weird Sites...
I've never personally felt I was in actual danger so to speak, since I take proper precautions, but early on I did accidentally come across a site/forum while exploring that was filled with crazy photos of women people had been hit and then knocked out or killed. Shut down my browser pretty quick after that, but felt uneasy for a long time after.
by golly, it worked.....
I actually learned how to access the dark web by listening to NPR. They had a segment where an author who was writing a book about it basically gave step by step instructions on how to do it. I did everything he said and, by golly, it worked.
Truthfully, it was pretty underwhelming. Mostly just drugs and counterfeit items (passports, money, etc.).
I did find some weapons with the serial numbers scratched off (pistols and shotguns), but nothing that would start World War 3. I also saw a couple ads for hitmen, but they seemed pretty hokey and were most likely, undercover cops.
I never felt in danger, but I have never gone back because there's nothing I really want from there. No government agents have kicked down my door, either.
Sketchy not Scary
The scariest moment for me was when I stumbled upon a creepy ARG and thought it was something much more sinister, until I found out it was just an ARG
The dark web isn't really that scary. It has been romanticized and exaggerated by creepy pastas, TV shows and etc.
EDIT: I know stuff like The Red Room and CP exist on the dark web. it's just that it is not that common; most are scams or require a membership. The common user won't find much, but you will find something really offputting if you dig enough.
beware the lull....
The only real difference between the internet you and I are using right now and the dark web is that you need special software or configurations to access it.
You have plenty of opportunities of finding bad crap on the regular web. With that in mind, I'd say that the regular web is more dangerous since it lulls you into a sense of security. I mean, most people these days have a significant amount of their personal information on there. The dark web you're likely going to have a sense to be more anonymous.
Personally, I just used it for playing a WoW private server back in the day since the hosts didn't want to get a C&D from blizzard.
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We all indulge in fast food from time to time.
Even if we know what we're eating isn't exactly healthy, sometimes the salty, fatty mass-produced food is the only thing we want.
Resulting in our making weekly, if not daily, visits to a nearby chain.
Then, of course, there are the chains that we make every effort to avoid.
We've likely tried places at least once simply because everyone is always talking about them.
But after having one bite, we have trouble seeing exactly what all the fuss was about and vow to never return.
Even if it might be the only option at a rest stop or even the only available food for miles, we instead opt to wait and be hungry.
Redditor BungOnMimosas was curious to hear what people considered to be the most overhyped fast food chains around, leading them to ask:
"What do you think are the most overrated fast-food chains? Why?"
"Food As It Should Be"... Or Not...
"I know it's not technically 'fast food', but Panera Bread pisses me off."
"Insanely expensive for extremely average food." - Reddit
"Panera."
"Their quality has decreased so much in the past few years and they’ve added weird sh*t to their menu like pizza and chicken sandwiches."
"Massive identity crisis and crap food."- asm233
Things Ain't What They Used To Be...
"All of them, now that they charge real restaurant prices."- P00pf4rt5
Golden Arches
"As much as I hate to say it, McDonald's is the only place that I can think of that the quality hasn't changed much."
"I mean, that's a pretty low bar, but it is what it is."- gnatman66
"The majority of them, especially the really big ones (McDonald's, Wendy's, BK, Pizza Hut, etc)."
"The prices are no longer fast food prices and the quality is not there like it used to be."
"Far better local options that cost roughly the same at the end of the day."- senorita_diablo
Consistency Is Key...
"Dunkin."
"You can go to the same location three separate times, have the food made by the same staff, and receive 3 wildly different results."- AndrewLampart
Not So Popular Anywhere, It seems...
"KFC in France became so bad."- SterBout
Likely Won't Go National...
"Idk how wide spread they are, but in the Buffalo NY area there is a chain called Mighty Taco."
"They were even voted best tacos a few years ago."
"It is absolutely terrible food."
"I’ve tried to like it and given them 3 chances."
"Each time I couldn’t eat more than a couple bites."
"Absolutely terrible and I’m disgusted even thinking about their sour vomit in a tortilla."- aa-2020
"Eat Fresh"...
"I think I’ve answered this question before but definitely for me, it’s Subway."
"Nothing but a giant hunk of bread."
"I’m editing this to add that part of my anger about Subway is how good it used to be."
"I can remember the days of nearly a whole can of tuna salad delicious sub."
"And a Veggie sub with Swiss cheese and piles of yummy veggies and the sweet Vidalia onion sauce."
"It’s all gone to sh*t."
"I would’ve been perfectly OK with increasing price but the big drop in quality pissed me off."
"Oh woe is me with my first world problems."- Mysterious-Region640
Quantity Doesn't Guarantee Quality...
"Starbucks is a scam."- cmkeller62
Tasty, But Not Worth It...
"I’m going to say Five Guys."
"Not because the food isn’t good, but because I’m not paying $20 for a burger meal."- 2PacTookMyLunchMoney
"Dairy queen grill and Chill for sure."
"I worked at one for a lil' while and 1 burger combo is $14.56 CAD."- lolidk13
And Not In A Good Way...
Big Kahuna Burger, it kills you."-Darklock2022
No two people have the same taste in food.
Some people know to avoid crappy food, while others eat literally nothing else.
People Break Down Which Movies They Wish They Could Watch Again For The First Time
There are several movies I've watched so many times I think the viewings outnumber the days I've lived.
And much like a favorite tv series or movie, who wouldn't love to start again anew?
Experiencing that first time but with that feeling of... "I'm gonna love this forever."
We never appreciate the first time enough.
But that's life.
Warning: there are spoilers below.
Redditor Jacale1 wanted to discuss all the movies we wish we could experience new all over again, so they asked:
"What is one movie that you wish you could watch again for the first time?"
There are a lot of mystery movies I'd love to redo, just to figure out the killer sooner.
Gasps!
"The Shawshank Redemption."
MisOlga26
"A great nominee. Will never forget gasping when that rock went through the poster, and again when the warden pushed his arm through and ripped it down.... wow."
GalavantingRhino
Over and Over
"Edge of Tomorrow."
jeanrbel
"Is it bad that I got enjoyment knowing Tom Cruise died a lot in that movie. Never on screen, but it happened. Over and over. I hate that guy. How the hell was he the same height as Nichole Kidman in the movies they acted in together. Rhetorical question."
monrovista
"Honestly the whole reason I watched the movie to begin with is that he kept dying over and over."
AutomaticMethod2437
Swooned Away
“'Stardust'- if you don’t know you’ll never know."
jthekoker
"I’m surprised that a fantasy romcom can be so enjoyable, for a straight guy. It’s just the right balance between fantasy, comedy, drama, and romance. Most of the female cast are very easy on the eyes too."
"I swooned when Yvaine glows while dancing on the ship, and when she talks emphatically to the mouse in the caravan. This movie has a lot of A listers, and they deliver. I’m not gonna lie, I have probably watched it half a dozen times."
Redcarborundum
"The book has so much more in it, even having seen the movie you'll feel like a child again."
Beowulf33232
Hail Sigourney
"Alien."
NearDeafExperience
"I watched this with my wife, who has never seen it, and that's about as close as you can get to watching it for the first time. It really displayed just how good the movie is. Also I love Aliens just as much for different reasons."
QueafyGreens
"Came here looking for this! I watched it for the first time with my dad when I was 11, and it’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Amazing movie."
_shes_a_jar
Hey Arnold
"Terminator 2."
lobotomek
"I first watched this as a kid when I knew Arnold was the good guy in movies, and I had not seen T1. I wish I watched T2 for the first time after having watched T1. The mall scene would have been even more mind blowing."
Volvulus
T2 was definitely bada**!! I'd redo that.
Brilliant
"The Departed."
Lineworker2448
"Bro, I'll go further. If I could watch the Nicholson covered in blood scene or the final scene between Damon and Wahlberg, I would be so freaking happy. The sheer acting clout on display for the first is near a masterclass while the last scene was just so business like, I'd love to relive that scene with fresh eyes. I love this freaking movie."
DaBearsMan_72
Originality
"The original Star Wars. Man, that blew our minds! It totally changed movies from then on. We'd never seen such incredible special effects. The story was so fun and the experience was amazing."
Raggmommy
"Even though I’m not a franchise fan, I can get behind this answer. Because when I saw it first run, I was fourteen, and nothing like it had ever been done. I think it was the first movie where the special effects were the movie? Now that’s standard. It’s a reason people see many films now."
"So, for sheer originality, I’d watch it again, but only for the first time. I barely recall the second movie."
Alexbmac
SURPRISE!!
"The 6th Sense. I audibly gasped in the theater. All the clues are obvious on rewatch but that first time, before anyone knew M. Knight Shyamalan was a twist guy... wow."
GalavantingRhino
"I never got to see it the first time. My girlfriend at the time (now wife) inadvertently let slip the ending thinking I had already seen it. I have never seen the point in watching it knowing the ending. But I did enjoy The Village."
failurebeatssuccess
"I watched it again and it was more of a sad film than a thriller."
anotherbarry
Just Beautiful!
"Spirited Away. I was blown away by how beautiful and bonkers it is."
Lizziebunnypie
"Saaaaame! Every single Studio Ghibli film, but Spirited Away especially! I’ve still watched it a million times though, and it’s always special. If I’m in a bad mood that film always cheers me up!"
"Also, Avatar-the last air bender. I know it’s not a movie, but I felt like it deserved a mention. I’ve watched the whole thing several times, and it’s always great, but I do wish I could forget it and rewatch it. I’m 35 btw... lol."
Mimi_315
Great Scott!
"Back to the Future."
dwkindig
"I'd love to watch that in the cinemas... Now from the future."
billieboop
Now I want to go to the movies.
There is no one way to anybody's heart or libido.
Sexy doesn't always have to equal raunchy.
I've known people turned on by music, books, nature, and even funerals (don't ask).
What starts someone's engine is a mystery.
Redditor asexyjohn18 wanted to hear about all the things that get people in the mood, so they asked:
"What is a non sexual trait that turns you on?"
I love a walk. A little strut. Nothing like getting the heart racing.
Tingles
"Getting my head scratched or having someone run their fingers through my hair."
SensitiveDolphin55
"Same. It’s so pleasant when the tingles run down your spine... ;-) "
PumpkinSpiceMaster
LOLOL
"When a girl genuinely laughs at jokes I make."
Realistic_Practice16
"I remember being on a first date with a beautiful woman and I made a bit of corny joke/comment and she laughed at it. I remember thinking, damn, wait till I get to my good stuff. I did get to my good material apparently as we were married. She gives me as many laughs as I give her."
CarlJustCarl
Do Right
"Kindness. When I see someone going out of their way to help others for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do… that is some truly attractive vibes."
Electrical-Bid-9577
"Apparently it's vanishing from this world really fast. People who show kindness often end up in losses (of course not everytime but most of the time yes). It really breaks my heart."
Walker1798
"Probably the sexiest thing out there. Someone can be smoking hot, funny, talented, etc. But if they're not kind, they're unattractive."
sravll
Oh Yes...
"Smiling right at me, and men stretching. LAWD HAVE MERCY!!"
Skwiddling
"I have trouble smiling at women. Is this a turnoff for them? And ones I like are really hard to smile at. Because I know it's always going to be some really weird big smile if I am crushing which makes me feel like a super duper creep."
Maximum_Knee_4622
Simplicity
"Sorry if this is too kinky but i like it when they care about me."
SirReal10000
"Too far man. You need to rethink your choices."
Funkeysismychildhood
Sometimes it's all about the heart.
Eye 2 Eye
"When a guy explains something to you in a calm and understanding voice. Bonus points for gentle eye contact."
Belphiespillow666
GENIUS!!
"Being crazily intelligent. Screw dirty talk, I want you to explain some unexplainable s**t in my ear."
-F**KINGUSERNAME
"Heck yes. My best connections have been with a philosophy/history professor turned chancellor, an environmental engineer, and a neurosurgeon, all 3 Summa cum laude grads and conference speakers in their fields. The downside to genius though is complete absorption in their fields leaving little time for in person connection."
__trezora__
Yummies
"Everyone should know how to cook. Hunger knows no gender. I like to eat good food so I learned how to cook. I asked my mom one day and she reacted surprised. She was more than grateful to have an opportunity to teach me the ‘finer’ aspects of cooking, as she called it. Lol. I love food."
"My girlfriend, now wife, likes to jokingly say I got her into bed with a well seasoned steak and homemade fries. I mean we did sleep together almost immediately after we finished dinner so maybe she’s right. That old saying comes to mind. 'The quickest way to the heart is though the stomach.'"
SaiyanGodKing
Getting Green
"When I ask my husband for help when I repot my plants and he delicately cleans and moves the leaves. He is a mechanical engineer and he works with huge pieces of industrial equipment, seeing him so tenderly caring for my plants just makes me melt."
BoysenberryNo3877
Limbs A Lot
"Men doing intricate work with their hands."
GooglePixel69
"I second this, also someone who can play guitar/bass real real well... just watching their hands, whoa mama."
squeaky-mcgee
Well, it seems that just about anything can get someone in the mood, especially if you're kind, courteous, and especially a good cook.
Anything to add? Let us know in the comments below!
People Explain Which Previously Luxurious Things Are Now Considered Totally Normal
Even just in the past decade, items that used to seem too luxurious or expensive for "average" people to purchase are now incredibly affordable. And inaccessible produce and personal hygiene products are close to a distant memory.
It's fun to think back about how far we've come.
Redditor Repulsive_Ad_1163 asked:
"What previously luxurious thing is now considered normal?"
Speciality Spices
"Vanilla. It’s the second most expensive spice by weight, even today… but for some reason, it’s associated with bland or mundane flavor. Go figure."
- AccioNimbus
Year-Round Produce
"Today's produce is a crazy luxury."
"You are telling me that in Ontario Canada, I can get perfectly ripe bananas in January? Insanity."
- mkicon
Car Bag Phones
"I remember my dad having a bag/car phone in the '90s for his business and people thinking that was a huge deal."
- ServiceCall1986
Cell Phones
"25 years ago, I was in high school, and we watched a corporate video in class. It was one of those of how the future will be all bright and shiny, as long as everyone uses brand X."
"The video was by Motorola, and it described the future. And they weren't that far off, stuff like zoom calls from the beach. But the one thing that had everyone in the class laughing and dismissing the video as bulls**t?"
"The eight-year-old with her own cell phone. Because 'no parent would ever spend that much money on a phone for a kid.'"
- UssMaurauder
Aluminum
"The only way there used to be to get aluminum was to find native deposits of it. Meaning, basically, pure nuggets or otherwise tiny little deposits. Which were exceptionally rare. Hence the precious nature of aluminum."
"Aluminium didn't become the ridiculously disposable commodity it is today until we learned how to break bauxite with electricity."
- PM_ME_CUTE
Accessible Water
"Running Water. I live in a rural part of Alaska in the summer, it is still a luxury there."
- ier_who
Car Features
"Power windows in a car."
- mook1178
Backup Cameras
"Car backup cameras. I think they're mandatory standard features on cars now."
- Augustus58
Readily Available Food and Water
"I LOVE that I can buy pre-butchered meat and vegetables I didn't grow and pasta I didn't make, etc."
"I read 'Little House on the Prarie,' I'm not butchering the pigs and preserving the meat in barrels/smoking it over two weeks, and it's awesome!"
- Revolutionary-Yak-47
Flat Screen TVs
"The first flat screen TV I saw was at a Bose store in the Spring of 99' and it was 42" for $15k! By today's standards, it was a fat flat screen of lower pixel quality. Crazy how cheap you can get one for now!"
- krejkick
Meat Products
"Eating meat every day, my grandfather was born during WWII and he told me that he only ate meat once a week when he was a kid. I can't speak for other countries but in the French countryside that was considered a luxury post-WWII."
- lehmx
Purple Dye
"Purple clothing."
"If there was one random thing I remember from middle school social studies/history, it’s going to be the fact that purple pigment was for the elite."
- GorillonDollars
Feminine Products
"I'm old enough that when I was a girl, most sanitary napkins still had a suspender belt that you attached the pad to; the 'beltless' maxi pads that arrived in the '70s were a game-changing deal."
"And tampons? Revolutionary, although they required a large body of marking reassurance that girls' virginity wouldn't be ruined by tampon use..."
- Mis_Emily
Different Expenses
"Agatha Christie once said, 'I never thought I would ever be so poor that I would not have servants, or so rich that I would own a car.'"
"But Honestly this statement is still quite true around the world."
"In places like southeast Asia, many families have live-in helpers or servants and they are quite poor themselves. Yet they can't afford a car."
"It's wild."
- AussieCollector
Orange Selection
"My dad used to always put an orange in my stocking and explained that it used to be a big deal because the fruit was hard to find."
"I carried on the tradition with my own kids. My 20-year-old, who I still make a stocking for, told me this past Christmas that it doesn't feel like Christmas if he doesn't get an orange in his stocking."
"He said when he has kids, he'll carry on the tradition and explain why. It made me feel good to know that it was as important to him as it was to me."
- Smart_Cabinet_9381
It's amazing to think of how the economy and our lifestyles have evolved over the years, and how expenses have changed to reflect that.