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The journalistic approach for a story I am not going to name

I am writing about the market. I have decided not to name anyone. This article is what my approach looks like given that decision.

Journalistic approach 4 min read why no author line

The three addresses

Nexus Market publishes these three onion addresses. Present as supplied, in no order, with no ranking. This site does not probe them and shows no uptime figure.

nexusb2l7fmqnefwphyy7m5zjhlkytlbo7qbb5lu5dlczr3azgii2gyd.onion
nexusma2iqgauqqvjcgds4ckv5xbf272tkfagq4epojjhsgleqpwxiqd.onion
nexusabcd6tyfhdwilyitaqiri6tisj2v2hueyjuj6qkvd6azvi5tuqd.onion

What deciding not to name changes

It changes what I need to verify. If I do not name a vendor, I do not have to verify the identity of any vendor. If I do not name a buyer, I do not have to verify any buyer.

It leaves me free to describe patterns, shapes, prices in general ranges, and the reader experience of the site itself. All of that is legible on the market front pages and does not depend on identifying anybody.

It also changes the visits I need to make. Reading is enough. I do not need to interview.

The visits, in the shape they take

I open Tor Browser. I open this site. I copy one of the three onion addresses at the top of any article. I paste, front page, captcha. I look at the parts of the site that are visible without an account.

For some stories I make an account so that I can see how the interface behaves for logged in users. If I do, the account is a research account, in a manager, and it never carries any money.

The visits are calm and repetitive. Nothing about the visits is undercover.

What I write from those visits

I write about the shape of the market from the reader's side. What the front page looks like, how it changes over the weeks I watched it, what a first visit feels like, what a repeat visit feels like. I write about the design decisions the market has made visible to anyone.

I do not write about specific listings, specific vendors, or specific messages. Those would either name people or would need to be so heavily de identified that they would stop being useful.

What I do not write

I do not write anything that would tell somebody how to find a vendor faster than they otherwise would. If the story would work as a marketing piece, it is not the story I meant to write.

I do not write about the addresses in a way that adds a fourth source. The three addresses at the top of this article live on this site, and my story references this site rather than repeating the addresses in the article.

I do not name mirrors, aggregators, or any specific third party site by name unless it is essential and I have thought about whether naming them changes anything about their traffic.

The ethics of the visit

The visit is small. I make no orders. I make no messages to vendors. I make no attempt to interact with anybody on the market side. The market sees a slow reader over a few weeks, and that is all.

This is the visit shape I would want somebody to make about my own life if I were the subject. Non intrusive, non interactive, non specific.

What my editor asks and what I answer

My editor might ask for names, for a case study, for a specific arrest, for a specific price. On this piece I say no to all of them and I say why in one sentence. The piece is about the shape of the market, not about specific participants.

A good editor accepts the frame. If they do not, the piece is not the piece I said I was writing, and I would rather withdraw than reshape it into something else.

The three addresses in the story

  • They appear once, in a short paragraph that says the market publishes three onion addresses and points at this site as the reference.
  • They do not appear as a list in the article.
  • They are not the point of the article, and treating them as the point would misrepresent the piece.
  • This site is credited as a reference the piece uses, not as the piece's source of anything the market itself did.

Why writing this down helps

It helps me remember the frame later. Writing about the market as an anonymous shape is a discipline that erodes if I let it. Naming this article as my approach keeps me honest across weeks of visits.

It also gives me something to hand an editor who wants to know what my approach is. A written approach is easier to argue with than a vague intent, and a written approach is easier to defend than an argued one.

The opposite approach

The journalistic approach for a story that names people, the approach for a piece that does name specific people

What this article is not. This is not journalism advice. It is a plain account of one approach that a piece of writing can take.

Read another in this approach

The journalistic approach for a story that names peopleNaming somebody in a story changes what the story owes them. The visits are the same; the responsibilities are not. The journalistic approach in a shared CMSDraft visibility is a thing to manage, not to ignore. Half of my care is about what the draft looks like before the piece runs. The journalistic approach and what not to publishNot everything I know goes in the piece. The list of what stays out is the shape of the piece as much as what goes in.
Every page on this site
All approaches on this siteHow to read this siteThe words people searchThe three nexus market addressesWhat this site is notThe first-time approachThe cautious approachThe impatient approachThe rebuild approachThe verify approachThe routine approachThe secondary approachThe helper approachThe journalistic approachThe operator approachThe first-time approach when a friend sent me a noteThe first-time approach out of a forum threadThe first-time approach starting on a search pageThe first-time approach after reading a news articleThe first-time approach after hearing it on a podcastThe cautious approach before I touch the keyboardThe cautious approach when the network is not mineThe cautious approach with a second machineThe cautious approach to what I copy and what I typeThe cautious approach that never signs inThe impatient approach that goes straight to the address barThe impatient approach from a tab I already had openThe impatient approach inside a five minute windowThe impatient approach when a mirror is slowThe impatient approach that skips the second checkThe rebuild approach after losing the phoneThe rebuild approach after losing every noteThe rebuild approach after losing the passwordThe rebuild approach after a clean installThe rebuild approach when one mirror has gone quietThe verify approach with two lists side by sideThe verify approach for a friends messageThe verify approach against this site aloneThe verify approach that reads the string itselfThe verify approach across two visitsThe routine approach on a normal eveningThe routine approach with one eye on a newer mirrorThe routine approach when nothing has changedThe routine approach that reads the front page firstThe routine approach with one eye on my own consistencyThe secondary approach coming from another marketThe secondary approach that keeps two markets separateThe secondary approach during a move between marketsThe secondary approach that eventually stops being secondaryThe secondary approach that reads one market and uses anotherThe helper approach at one desk with two readersThe helper approach for questions coming through a chatThe helper approach on paper, for laterThe helper approach and the things I refuse to doThe helper approach that only points at this siteThe journalistic approach for a story I am not going to nameThe journalistic approach for a story that names peopleThe journalistic approach when I interview somebodyThe journalistic approach and what not to publishThe journalistic approach in a shared CMSThe operator approach: what a request tells the marketThe operator approach: what a slow visit looks like from thereThe operator approach: what the inbox tells themThe operator approach: what a mirror does and does not shareThe operator approach: what I cannot know and choose not to guess