I must share this burden with someone.

I need sleep. But whenever I close my eyes, I see it. My life is now a waking nightmare because of that terrible video.

I found it online. On the dark web.

You know what I'm talking about. The place where drug dealers and pedophiles rub elbows with arms merchants and hitmen. The place where terrorists conspire and all sorts of ugly rumors roam.

I thought it would be a good idea to visit this place.

My purpose? Call it morbid curiosity. I was looking for the most extreme content I could find. Snuff movies. Red rooms. Sex and death comingled.

I consider myself a student of the human condition and am fascinated by Man's darker urges. His apparent hatred of himself. I wanted to plumb the depths of his sickness and see what I could find. Knowledge for its own sake. Or something.

I come from a wealthy family and have never known want. I knew I would have to pay for my curiosity, so I purchased several thousand dollars’ worth of crypto in advance.

I’m not going to bore you with the technical details of accessing the dark web. If you have the desire, it only takes a little bit of research. Seek and ye shall find.

In my search I scoured message boards covering many distasteful topics such as cannibalism and incest-necrophilia. I chatted with several strange individuals, most of whom were distrustful of my direct approach. A few offered to make a trade but wanted me to show them something first. I, however, had nothing to offer.

I was burned more than a few times, but I anticipated as much. After more than two weeks of searching and being continuously ripped off, I finally came across something interesting: the promise of a genuine red room.

After a days-long conversation with a friendly stranger on a rather disturbing message board, I was provided with a link to a livestream. He assured me it was genuine and unlike anything I had ever seen.

It cost me a mere five hundred dollars. And I have no doubt what I saw was real. If you saw it, you would know too.

---

The scene began abruptly with the camera displaying a large, windowless room with high ceilings. Mulch covered the floor. What appeared to be a giant rock took up one corner and opposite this was a kids’ swimming pool filled with water.

Jesus Christ, how could I have known what was about to take place?

A portion of the ceiling suddenly opened and a small girl, upside down, was lowered into the room. Nude, she writhed. She was suspended by the feet from what looked like giant forceps. Her hands were bound behind her back and tape covered her mouth. She was only a teenager. Needless to say, she was visibly terrified.

Nothing happened for a few seconds.

Then, from under the rock, a head appeared. It was a snake. An anaconda, I believe.

Slowly, soo slowly, he emerged from his hide, forked tongue tasting the air. The girl's eyes bulged from her head with the most intense fear I have ever seen.

The snake continued his creeping advance. He was massive. He had to be at least fifty feet long. I had never heard of a snake so big. He was an absolute monster if there ever was one. (I later learned the snake was genetically modified, and it was even hinted there were other such creatures).

His face rose to within inches of hers, tongue darting in and out. He loomed above her, all coiled aggression. Mercifully, the girl fainted.

Whatever was holding the forceps began to shake the girl, like someone dangling a toy in front of a cat. The snake's head pulled back slightly, tongue still flickering. He remained still for a moment and then, without warning, he struck.

His jaws clamped down on her throat and his body whipped around her with lightning speed. He took her to the floor and proceeded to squeeze the life from her as the giant forceps were lifted from the room and the ceiling panel replaced.

I watched, stunned, as the snake then uncoiled and released his teeth from her throat. He unhinged his jaw and began to swallow her whole, a hideous lump working its way down the length of the snake's body. The entire process could not have taken more than twenty minutes.

Afterwards, I sat in silence for what seemed hours, trying to process what I had just watched. My conscience gnawed at me to do something. That poor girl was in the springtime of her life, and others could be in danger of the same ghastly fate. This had to be reported.

But I did nothing.

This was all bought and paid for by me, and I’m just as guilty as the people who made the film. I will not go to prison. Never prison. I refuse to spend the rest of my life behind bars.

Besides, I have a family to take care of.

Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/2kyces/another_tale_of_the_dark_web/

We’ve been one of the top personalized bracelet sellers for a while on Etsy, but they have officially made it impossible to do business.

With their new ODR policy, sabotage will and is becoming more and more rampant.

Basically the 1% they expect you to stay under, means you have to have less than 1% of cases and low reviews. Most people who open a case also leaves a bad review, so you can have a maximum of 1 disgruntled customer for every 200 shipments.

This also doesn’t count customers who make a mistake “I accidentally clicked one star”.

We had a customer who accidentally typed in the wrong address, she opened up a case because she didn’t know any better. We made her a new one and sent it immediately, free of charge. She immediately cancelled her case. We still got dinged.

Remember, even when a case is closed or even if the shipment gets lost - still counts against you.

So right now more and more stores are sabotaging each other, and it’s only a matter of time before most shops are off Etsy. Tons of stores are getting shut down and Etsy refuses to even talk to them.

We’re officially starting our plan B, I suggest you all do the same.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EtsySellers/comments/ex0gzv/close_to_exiting_etsy_and_you_should_be_doing_the/