Glossary
Defined as used across this table, which is not always how they are used elsewhere.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Expected cost | How often something happens multiplied by how much it takes. The ordering rule for this whole site. |
| Parked balance | Funds held on a platform and not committed to an order, therefore outside escrow and outside every protection. |
| Escrow | An arrangement where funds move only when two of buyer, vendor and platform sign. The platform key is a tiebreaker, not a veto. |
| Onion address | Fifty six characters computed from a public key rather than assigned. Cannot be seized, and proves nothing about who runs it. |
| Near miss | An address matching the recognisable opening of a real one and differing in the middle. What people mean by a cloned address. |
| Replay | Presenting a genuine old signed statement as current. Signatures never expire, so this works unless you read the date inside the signed text. |
| Fingerprint | A short hash of a public key, comparable by eye. The thing you pin. The key file itself is disposable. |
| Delivery window | The period after which a dispute becomes appropriate. Filing before it closes is the most common self inflicted mistake. |
| The boundary | Where money converts from something with a record into something without one. Where nearly all real exposure comes from, and not on the chain. |
| Substitution | Software on your own machine replacing an address between the copy and the paste. Checking a signature does not catch it, checking the ends does. |
| Published set | The list of addresses currently in use. A statement about what is in use, not about what is genuine. |
| Rate limiting | Slowing or refusing connections based on behaviour, since a hidden service cannot see identity. It looks identical to rejection. |
Terms this site avoids
Dark web, which names no network and describes nothing technical. Deep web, which means content not indexed by search engines and is mostly bank statements and intranets. Both appear in search queries, so they turn up in a page title or two, and neither is used in an explanation because neither is precise enough to build an argument on.
Two terms worth extra care
Verified is used here in one narrow sense: a signature checked against a fingerprint you established independently. It does not mean an address that opened, an address somebody recommended, or an address that appeared on a list. Those are all commonly described as verified elsewhere, which is why the word is worth pinning down.
Mirror is used loosely everywhere, including here, to mean another address reaching the same market. It does not imply a separate copy of anything, and being reachable at several addresses says nothing about how the thing behind them is built.
Words that signal something
| If you see | Consider |
|---|---|
| Official mirror list | Official compared with what. No authority exists that could confer it. |
| Verified daily | Verified by whom, against which fingerprint, and published where |
| 99 percent uptime | A measurement claim, which requires a measuring apparatus somebody has to describe |
| Trusted vendor | Trusted by whom, on what evidence, and with what at stake |
| Secure escrow | Escrow is a mechanism rather than an adjective. Ask what has to sign. |
None of those phrases proves bad intent. They are simply claims that carry no content, and noticing an empty claim is a cheaper skill than evaluating a full one.