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Tor’s shadowy reputation will only end if we all use it | Engadget
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this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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Hate to burst your bubble but many of the stories are just that, stories. Vast majority of the onion sites out there are either forums like 4chan or hobbyist sites like the old days of the internet.
Illegal websites do exist but they're rare and hard to find, they also are subject to being taken down. They're nothing like the stories though. In fact majority of the websites that exist when you search for these topics are just bitcoin scams, i.e. a livestream website that asks you to pay $200 in bitcoin to enter, almost certainly a scam because livestreaming over Tor is terrible due to low spead and it breaks the anonymity due to generating tons of unique traffic.
TL;DR Tor is a tool that can be used for privacy on the clearnet it can also be used to host your own onion sites. Dark web stories do have a small element of truth to them but are mostly scary stories to tell in the dark.
Why, no, thank you, I don't have any appreciation for this bubble you are bursting. I figured some had to be just tales but it's hard to know exactly how much of it is bs. So thanks.
That's good, Happy I could help. I say that because I know that some people get very upset by internet myth-busting because the scary stories are kind of fun. I can get that I do like horror movies and scary stories, but I also value education and many times people present dark web horror as if it most of it were real.
I also realize that presenting what are for the most part hobby sites run by passionate individuals as evil, dark, or illegal for the purpose of telling scary stories for clout is actually pretty gross, dishonest, and harmful. Which at least in my opinion really outweighs any enjoyment these stories might give by being scary stories, because in essence they demonize the idea of hobbyists running their own hidden websites but possibly also decentralized services as a whole, as an example I've already heard some people talking about how decentralized messaging platforms like Matrix are "creepy" or "like the dark web" and also similar stories about Lemmy or Masotodon as well. The irony is that people say you can't find evil dark stuff on the clearnet but the most evil sites I've seen are on the clearnet and actually are well known for their awfulness, they may also have onion versions but they're for the most part publicly visible.