Hi Reddit,

I'm Eileen Ormsby, a journalist, author and drug law reform advocate who lived and breathed Silk Road from mid-2011 until its fall in November 2013. I spent every single day on the site and in the forums, documenting everything as it happened in real-time on my blog All Things Vice as well as writing the occasional article for Australian newspapers and finally two books.

With Ross Ulbricht's recent release and the surge of both misinformation and mythology around Silk Road, I'm here to provide factual, unbiased information based on my firsthand observations and extensive documentation of events as they unfolded.

Over the past decade, I spent thousands of hours on the site and forums, watching events unfold in real-time; conducted in-person interviews with DPR's inner circle and other key figures; attended trials and legal proceedings; and continued following developments and interviewing participants up to the present day.

I've noticed a lot of misconceptions circulating online about what really happened - both overly negative and overly positive narratives that don't align with what I witnessed firsthand. I'm here to answer your questions and provide accurate, sourced information about any aspect of the Silk Road story.

This sub - kept going thanks to the efforts of u/gwern - is mostly a historical archive now, and has been set to require mod approval of comments to avoid us being taken offline. I will approve questions and comments as quickly as I can, but keep in mind I'm on Australian time. This is intended to be an ongoing AMA though, so rest assured, if I can answer your question I will answer it.

Let's cut through the myths and get to the truth. What do you want to know about the real Silk Road story?

https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/irishman-jailed-over-role-in-notorious-darknet-drugs-marketplace-silk-road-walks-free/a1428173093.html

Gary is the last of Ross Ulbricht's three deputies to be released from prison. Inigo got home detention and SSBD spent 18 months in prison in Australia and the US before being sentenced to time served

/u/GravitationalOno asks:

Hi, I just finished "American Kingpin" and enjoyed it a lot. Now I'm doing follow-up reading by doing searches, partially to see what all these characters look like and what they're doing now. Two questions I need help with though, and I thought I'd ask them here. 1) Why are there no pictures of Variety Jones? It's been asked before but none of the answers were satisfactory. 2) I looked up prosecutor Serrin Turner. Why does he not mention Silk Road in his bio. It's such a big case, I thought he'd be eager to mention it. https://www.lw.com/people/serrin-turner https://iclg.com/firms/latham-and-watkins/serrin-turner (Well, it looks like Jared Der-Yeghiayan doesn't either...) https://blog.executivebiz.com/2020/06/law-enforcement-vet-jared-der-yeghiayan-named-brg-cyber-practice-director/