Hey, team!
Welcome to the November User Feedback summary. November was /special/, in that users mentioned bugs and known issues much less than in other months. This is partially because there were no TB release blog posts in November, and most bug reports appear on the blog. As such, I'm skipping the user feedback sheet this month, since it's pretty bare compared to past months. All relevant user-reported bugs are included directly in this email.
The most frequently mentioned bugs were the following: - Cannot select/copy/paste text on TBA (27256) - RESOLVED [1] - Tor Browser cannot be booted multiple times from a USB drive (28068) - OPEN [2]
TL;DR: - I'm noticing that questions like "why can't I access this specific site on TB" are common across platforms (i.e. on RT, reddit, etc). - This month I've seen lots of questions about why Tor won't connect. This gives me the impression that bridges and pluggable transports are the biggest point of confusion for Tor users. Traumschule has compiled some more info to add to the pluggable transports section of the Tor Browser manual, which should help to address these questions. [3]
----------- Blog posts: ----------- Nothing of note - fewer releases this month than in past months, which means less user interaction on the blog posts, and fewer bug reports from users.
------- Reddit: ------- There wasn't much content in November that differed from past months. Still lots of people asking about using a VPN with Tor, wondering why they can't access a specific site, asking if a specific action will compromise their anonymity (adjusting settings, etc.), and wondering why bridges aren't working for them. The community is very good at answering these questions (though they still give varying answers regarding the question of VPNs).
There have been a few questions about the Circle with Disney app, which people can use to monitor their family's internet use.
--- RT: --- By far the most common question is 'why isn't Tor working?', with little supporting information. Maybe we can add something to the new support portal asking people to include a log and some context when they contact us on RT for help.
--------------- Stack Exchange: --------------- most common tags: tor-browser-bundle: 12 this month configuration: 12 this month tor-install: 10 this month tails: 6 this month help: 5 this month vpn: 5 this month update: 5 this month
That's all for November! As always, please feel free to get in touch with me any time for more information on user feedback.
---------- Footnotes: ---------- 1. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27256 2. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/28068 3. https://github.com/torproject/manual/pull/7