A published list of addresses
You are looking at ten strings on a page, including the ten at the top of this one. Before you use any of them it is worth being precise about what a list like that is actually asserting, because the answer is narrower than it looks.
- What it is
- A set of addresses said to be in circulation for one market
- Where you meet it
- Link pages, forum posts, the market own pages, this one
- What it settles
- Which strings are being handed around
- Cannot tell you
- That any of them is up, safe, current, or served by who you think
The specimen
77x6lmfaxyqskpcjidkl5r7mnounjzp6fqe7oqeu3au6hsv4xgkmasad.onion7iaj3wjpffjg5acgxqqbjkerdwkcxrzetp4gnsoofaa5lukrmuhcdjad.onionatmqbitgx7g5c4gdc4t23erlpvub7c3agbmky6on6vxcfs26fuj3usqd.oniondgkozv5myc3lfpedjl2khhk6icok2xm5wmc5vg42xvbyh4fs345mopyd.onionevwigej45n3nywbn3aqdun4o6cgjyfgxf2ts7lm6no3uotxanpeuosad.onionfr6bvsrcx7ajxou7kyme5otctzdmpllum6iqootcjnwmzepuuams2tad.onionh3h66vql4ucodjre4bluwtywhoq2bjqxpgvxgv2xo2nkui5ney6gslqd.onionjcyjjcu4oocqkgxyq4d6mmbuuha5db7iz3zifhf2cm6n6m5mvogxwqyd.onionncmebasolcj2pmw5oy2bco4r65jbcqznrujtxcalz6e2b2jmhjlf44ad.onionotw35cxf2rssl23tsvtqjwj32u62q4becl2jmgvekuemptxli7gt5lyd.onionTen addresses, published as given, in no particular order and with no labels. That last part is deliberate. Calling one of them the main address and the rest mirrors would put a claim in front of you that nobody outside the market can support.
Three claims a list is not making
| It looks like it says | It actually says |
|---|---|
| These addresses work | These addresses were in circulation when the page was written |
| These addresses are safe | Nothing. Safety is not a property of a string |
| The first one is the best | Nothing. Order on a page is order on a page |
Why there are several in the first place
Hidden services are slow to reach and easy to overload. Running the same market on a number of addresses spreads the load, keeps something reachable while one is having a bad day, and gives the operators room to retire an address without taking everything down with it.
It also means the set changes. Addresses drop off, new ones appear, and the count goes up and down over a year. A page claiming a fixed permanent list is either freshly written or not being maintained, and you cannot tell which from the page.
How to keep your own copy
- Keep the set in a file you control, with the date you wrote it down next to it. Not a bookmark, because bookmarks get used without being looked at.
- Compare against a published set every few weeks. It takes under a minute and it is the whole maintenance burden.
- Delete what falls off instead of archiving it. An address kept in case it comes back is an address you will paste in six months. That is its own specimen and it is not a good one.
- Never trust your own memory of the first few characters. That is the exact habit forgeries are built around.
When two lists disagree
This happens constantly and it usually means nothing sinister. One page was updated last week and the other was updated in spring. The useful move is not to work out which page is honest, because you cannot. It is to treat the union of both as candidates and let a signature settle which one you are actually talking to.