Section 08 · For researchers

Sources, method, and how to cite this file

This project is built to be auditable: every statement of fact carries a reference, every assessment is labelled as one, and every change is versioned. This page explains the rules behind that — and how to quote the result.

Sourcing policy

• Primary and institutional sources only: regulators (CRTC), law enforcement agencies (Europol, US DOJ), and professional threat-intelligence firms publishing under their own name. News reporting is used only to locate primary documents, which are then cited directly.
• Never used as evidence: directory pages, "mirror" lists, marketplace advertisements, forum claims about markets, or anything paid for by the trade being described. No link from such a source appears anywhere on this site.
• Dated by default: figures and reports carry their periods. Nothing on this site is presented as a live feed.

Facts and assessments

• A fact is a statement referenced to a named source — every numbered reference in this file links to the source's own publication.
• An assessment is this project's reading of the cited facts. Assessments are labelled with a visible tag and stand or fall on the facts under them.
• No operational claims: this site makes no statements about whether any marketplace exists, operates, or is reachable at any given time — by policy, and permanently.

Corrections and versioning

Errors are corrected on receipt and logged on the changelog with a version number. If you find a mistake — in a fact, a citation or a character of a name — write to [email protected]. Corrections that improve accuracy are published the same way the original text was.

How to cite this file

Plain-text format, for any page:

Wethenorth. (2026). How darknet markets end — and what it means for the people inside them. Wethenorth. https://wethenorthmarketdarknet.com/consequences.html (Version 1.0, reviewed 19 October 2026)

In-text:

(Wethenorth, 2026)

BibTeX:

@misc{wtnfile2026,
  title        = {Wethenorth: An independent public record and warning},
  author       = {{Wethenorth}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Version 1.0, reviewed 19 October 2026; cited page: consequences.html},
  howpublished = {Online},
  url          = {https://wethenorthmarketdarknet.com/}
}

Licensing and reuse

• The text of this site is published under CC BY 4.0: quote it, translate it, republish it with attribution to Wethenorth and a link to the source page.
• The name and marks of this project are not licensed for reuse in any way implying endorsement, verification, or affiliation.
• The no-links policy travels with the text: if you reuse material from this file, do not combine it with marketplace addresses or access instructions in any form.

What this project will not do

• No marketplace links, addresses, mirrors or access instructions — ever, in any context.
• No tracking or reporting of any marketplace's operational status.
• No "verification" services, escrow, recovery or introductions of any kind.
• No monetisation of access: no sponsored placements, no affiliate links, no paid edits.

Transparency about authorship

This project is published anonymously — the reasoning is set out on About. Because there is no named author to check, the method is the accountability: dated sources, labelled assessments, versioned changes, and a standing invitation to correct the record.