Hello everyone!

This is my monthly status report for January, 2022.

This month much of my user support work was concentrated around the three Tor Browser releases (11.0.4 for Desktop [1], 11.5.a2 for Desktop [2], 11.5.a3 for Android [3]), internet shutdown in Kazakhstan [4] and Tor censorship in Russia [5]. For the latter two, I have mostly been helping out with users reporting issues related to Tor Browser and little-t tor. Near the end of month, we also launched a Telegram support channel for users in Russia and I have been working on testing and evaluating our new cdr.link instance [6] from a long term user support perspective. This is ongoing work so definitely stay tuned for more updates!

As we wrapped up the year-end campaign [7], we generate lot of interest and support requests from users and supporters of Tor. This month, I resolved all of the tickets we had in this regard on frontdesk. Apart from this, I have been continuing my work moderating and helping users on the Forum (forum.torproject.net), our IRC/Matrix channels and social media platforms.

# Frontdesk

Timeline : 01 Jan - 31 Jan 2021

Tickets:

new: 12 open: 17 resolved: 1711

Breakdown of number of RT tickets received with respect to operating system:

(Note: This includes tickets where the user mentioned the operating system or it was evident from the issue they were running into and/or enclosed screenshots.)

Windows - 17 macOS - 11 GNU/Linux - 3 Android- 8

Breakdown of most frequent tickets (at least 3 RT tickets):

1. 857 RT Tickets - How to use Tor Bridges in Russia. [5]

2. 452 RT Tickets - Internet shutdown in Kazakhstan: how to circumvent censorship with Tor. [4]

3. 75 RT Tickets - Submissions for 'Help Censored Users, Run a Tor Bridge' campaign. [8]

4. 16 RT Tickets - Private Bridge requests. This is not related to the .ru censorship but requests from Tor users in China, Iran, etc. [9]

5. 6 RT Tickets - Tor Browser incompatible with older versions of macOS. [10]

6. 5 RT Tickets - Missing features in Tor Browser on first-time launch in macOS/Windows. [11]

7. 4 RT Tickets - Issues with downloading files on Tor Browser for Android. [12]

# Tor Forum

Most popular topics (in terms of views) after January 2022:

1. Internet shutdown in Kazakhstan: how to circumvent censorship with Tor. [4]

2. "Gah. Your tab just crashed" (Tor Browser 11-11.0.2 crashing on certain websites). [13]

3. "Torrent imitation" (Imitate Tor traffic to be similar to torrent traffic). [14]

4. (How to) Check if a bridge is broken using the terminal. [15]

5. Problems with GitHub.com registration CAPTCHA and Tor Browser [16]

If you have any suggestions, questions or want to discuss anything in detail please feel free to get in touch.

Thanks,

-- Joydeep

[1]: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1104/ [2]: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a2/ [3]: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a3/ [4]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/internet-shutdown-in-kazakhstan-how-to-circum... [5]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/tor-blocked-in-russia-how-to-circumvent-censo... [6]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40059 [7]: https://blog.torproject.org/fundraising-2021-results/ [8]: https://blog.torproject.org/wrapping-up-bridges-campaign/ [9]: https://support.torproject.org/censorship/connecting-from-china/ [10]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/version-of-tor-browser-compatible-with-macos-... [11]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40679 [12]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/fenix/-/issues/40192 [13]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/gah-your-tab-just-crashed/1614/10 [14]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/torrent-imitation/1733/6 [15]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/check-if-a-bridge-is-broken-using-the-termina... [16]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/problems-with-github-com-registration-captcha...