Hey, friends!
Welcome to the October 2018 user feedback report. For more information on what users and community members were talking about this month, check out the Fall 2018 User Feedback pad [1].
TL;DR:
Things seem to be going smoothly! - Users aren't talking as much this month about the user agent changes. - The most common questions are related to using Tor together with a VPN (should I use both? Is it bad to use both? How can I hide the fact that I'm using Tor?). - Regarding TBA, users are largely grateful that we're developing an official Android app, and feedback is generally very positive. Ratings on the Google Play Store are high (the app is currently rated 4.3 stars), even when users are experiencing some fairly frustrating quality-of-life issues. - In offline news, Cybelle and I ran a Demystifying Tor workshop at MozFest! There was great turnout, and lots of interest in running relays.
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Now, on to the feedback! Scroll further down to see a recap of some of the MozFest session questions, a summary of Reddit posts, some points from Google Play Store reviews, a list of the most common Stack Exchange tags from the month, and a collection of some notable issues and bugs mentioned by users in October.
- One of the most common points of confusion is whether people should use a VPN together with Tor to mask the fact that they're using Tor. In conversations about this on Reddit, pluggable transports are rarely mentioned. Even though we already have some information about VPNs in the FAQ, it seems that this explanation is not extensive enough, and that the information is not visible enough. I suggest that we release a blog post or a few tweets to further address this misconception.
- In general, it seems like users will go to Reddit before reading the FAQ or support.torproject.org. How can we change this flow to encourage users to check Tor resources before seeking outside advice?
- People always have questions about whether doing a certain thing will allow them to be fingerprinted (i.e. relative window position, adding bookmarks, etc.). Can we add a list of things to the FAQ that might allow users to be fingerprinted? We might also consider implementing more pop-up warnings when users attempt to do something that might identify them, as we currently do when users resize the browser window.
- Tor is still broken for screen readers. In addition, Gesturefy (an extension that can be used as an accessibility aid) doesn't work with Tor Browser any more. These two issues are limiting Tor's accessibility, and making it so that certain users can't use Tor at all.
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Questions from the MozFest Demystifying Tor session: - Is it ever safe to run any type of relay from my home? - How can I contribute to Tor? - What are some good ways to convince people to use Tor?
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Most common questions on Reddit (r/TOR): - How can I hide the fact that I'm using Tor; or, should I use a VPN together with Tor? - (it's worth noting that these discussions rarely mention pluggable transports as a solution.) - Tor can't connect. What do I do? - People on Reddit are generally very good about troubleshooting this one.
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TBA Reviews & Feedback on Google Play Store: - People are frustrated by the current issues with copy/paste and text selection. - TBA fails to download files, causing frustration for users. - Users are requesting that we bundle Orbot and TBA into the same app.
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Most common stack exchange tags: - tor-browser-bundle - 18 asked this month - configuration - 10 asked this month - tor-install - 7 asked this month - windows - 6 asked this month - anonymity - 5 asked this month - security - 5 asked this month - tails - 5 asked this month - help - 5 asked this month - connection - 5 asked this month
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Notable bugs, fixes, & issues:
#27867 - Gesturefy doesn't work with Tor Browser - (OPEN - needs more info) [2]
#27256 - Text cannot be selected, copied, or pasted as usual on TBA - (OPEN - needs more info) [3]
#27701 - TBA fails to download files - (OPEN) [4]
#27987 - TBA disables screenshots, with no option to enable them - (OPEN) [5]
#27845 - Browser window size is 1000x998 on MacOS - differs from other OSs and allows MacOS users to be differentiated - (OPEN) [6]
#27813 - Tor 0.3.4.8 is leaking memory - (CLOSED - fixed in Tor 0.3.4.9) [7]
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That's it for the month of October! For the sake of brevity I've left out some other feedback, so if you want to know more, please do check out the Fall 2018 User Feedback pad [1] or reach out to me via email (waywardwyrd at riseup dot net) or IRC (wayward).
Thanks for reading! I'll see you all back here next month.
- Maggie (wayward)
pronouns: she/they | twitter: @meochaidha https://www.twitter.com/meochaidha pgp: 0626 9C68 D0CC 1A5B E41B 72F2 615E B878 975C 4CDC
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Annotations: 1. https://storm.torproject.org/shared/-vEQadBBHb8ZOzrLMMaJNrDuFK5XxJAQXcta30-q... 2. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27867 3. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27256 4. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27701 5. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27987 6. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27845 7. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/27813