Lexicon
Terms of the territory
Every term used across the atlas, defined plainly. If a plate uses a word you do not know, it is here.
- Anti-DDoS queue
- A waiting-room page in front of the login that holds every visitor for a short spell. It is flood control, rate-limiting bots so they cannot hammer the captcha behind it. TorZon is the plate best known for it.
- Bond
- A refundable deposit a new vendor posts before listing. It is forfeit if the account is suspended in probation, which makes a smash-and-grab vendor account cost real money up front.
- Captcha address check
- The habit of reading the onion address a market prints into its login captcha image and holding it against the address bar. A fast, per-session catch for lookalike sites.
- Dispute
- A formal disagreement over an order. A moderator reads signed evidence from both sides and co-signs the escrow release toward whichever side the evidence favours.
- Escrow
- The arrangement that holds a payment in a multisig contract until buyer and vendor agree the order is done, or a moderator decides a dispute.
- Finalise-early (FE)
- Signing your escrow release before the package arrives. It empties the strongbox to the vendor and removes the dispute path. The one move the atlas warns against on every plate.
- Hidden service
- A server reachable only through Tor at a .onion address. Every market in this atlas is one. A normal browser cannot open it.
- Mirror
- A distinct onion address that resolves to the same market. Same account, same balance, same orders. Markets run several so a flood on one address does not take the market down.
- Multisig (2 of 3)
- An escrow contract with three keys held by buyer, vendor and market, where any two release the coin. It stops the market walking off with deposits because one key alone opens nothing.
- Onion address
- A fifty-six character v3 Tor address ending in .onion. Copy it, never type it, and verify it against a signed list before entering a password.
- PGP signature
- A cryptographic signature over a message that proves who signed it and that nothing has changed since. Markets sign their mirror lists so you can confirm an address is genuine.
- Probation
- The escrow-only window a new vendor runs before earning finalise-early. Their standing shows on the profile, so you can read it before ordering.
- Safest
- The top Tor Browser security level, which turns scripting off everywhere. The correct setting for every crossing in this atlas, and the markets are built to work at it.
- Signed mirror list
- A market address list published with a PGP signature, usually on Dread. Verifying it against the market key is how you know an address was published by the market and not an impersonator.
- Withdrawal PIN
- A second secret, separate from the login password, required to move a balance off the market. TorZon enforces one, so a stolen session cookie alone cannot empty the account.