I use TOR, but never ventured on onion sites. I'm not sure what's safe, what isn't a scan, not trusting directories, etc. Any advice??
If your using tor(the onion router) then your on the right path. If your going to venture onto .onion sites then you should also download a vpn(virtual private network). Using a vpn makes your ip (internet protocol) address seem invisible in the eyes of anyone tracking you, like the law. Vpn's bounce your ip across hundreds, even thousands of other network signals, usually through different counties, so it makes it virtually impossible to track you. And using tor is even better because your on a anonymous browser. Good vpn's can be found, if using your phone, in the app store or, if using a laptop/desktop you just Google "reputable vpn service download." The best vpn service is nord vpn. You have to pay for it but it's cheap, I think you can get a free month trial, its only 2.99 us dollars a month. You can get free ones that are kind of hit and miss, but one that I used to use is "thunder vpn." It works well and usually redirects your signal to either Canada or Germany.
Just so you know before I continue. .onion sites load a lot slower than the clear web. They use an outdated server and usually run through Linux. So don't hey discouraged if your page isn't loading. It can take from 30 seconds to 3 minutes for one page to load.
Now getting into .onion sites can be really tricky and confusing at first, but after a few days you will get the hang of it. There are search engines, but they don't work like Google or Bing. They direct you to keyword searches that normally land you on junk sites or somebodies personal blog. If you ask me their junk. Don't use them. The best way to find the common sites like markets and fake hitman sites you need to go through a .onion site directory like "daniels links." There's literally dozens of directory sites. If you are just casually browsing the dark web then you won't stumble across any real "red rooms" or "human experiment" sites. But be careful of you want to look at dark web porn sites. You can find normal porn, but beware cause there's snuff porn (porn where a person gets killed), gore/violence porn, animal porn add the most disgusting, child porn(what's referred to as "cheese pizza" or "Lolita porn." Always be careful of dark web porn cause you can easily stumble across Lolita's real easy and even though most sites make you pay to gain access they still have samples blazed across the front page. Just use pornhub on the clear web to watch your porn and if you really wanna see some some snuff, violence, gore porn go to bestgore or fukt. Now the dark web can be tame too. Facebook, Twitter and the likes all have dark web pages where you can post anonymously without the prying eyes of ad revenue spies. You won't find anything sick on these sites. Also there are tons of sites that allow whistleblowers a chance to vent their grief. You might find interesting material on these pages but it's mostly junk. Journalists frequent the dark web to write anonymously about anything they like. It's also a place where journalists meet each other and swap material. There's also tons of marketplaces where you can buy anything from shoes to guns to fake id's to fake money to drugs. Whatever your heart fancies. If yippy really want to get dirty you can visit "real" red room sites (this is where you can pay, usually between 500 and 10000 us dollars to watch or direct how a person gets tortured and eventually killed live via live stream). Or you can find human experiment sites. There's forum sites where you find people selling organs or even one post I saw "I would like to buy a human infant. Will pay any price (must be reasonable)." Like wtf, what's a reasonable price for a human infant? That's this belief that you can find creepy videos on the dark web, it's a lie. The server speed on the dark web isn't fast enough to support a site like YouTube. Sorry. There are strange sites, like "cicada 3301"(*I think that's the right name? ). But they're usually innocent. To get onto the really dark stuff you need to find hidden links or follow a random link that just pops up on the screen and you most always have to have an invite code.
So that's the dark web. Its really not as sinister as it seems. It can be a fun place to roam for hours on end. If you get on and are having a hard time navigating around just pm me and let me know. Also if your interested in certain sites I can provide you with some .onion addresses. Just pm me.
Sorry I wrote so much. I'm just passionate about the subject. Thanks!
