Hello network!
I would like to briefly inform that I have repeated problems with the hoster Yourserver.se, where I run some exit relays. Again a relay was deactivated with the message "Botnet". At that time I wrote a detailed explanation about the issue. I agreed to a temporary switch to a harmless relay, but as an exit operator I did not want to keep this state.
So starting today the "Hydra family" will get some gaps which will take some time to replace.
I know that there is an attempt to write a list of recommended providers somewhere. However, I have found that some of the information is not up to date. It is better to look into the Tor Metrics and find out the hoster for current exit relays that is mentioned there. Sometimes you are lucky.
From my point of view, it should be possible to find out the age of exit relays from the Tor network database in relation to the hosters (ASxxxx) and thus find a ranking for reliability and suitability. Automatically, this would be a ranking for "privacy support". However, it would then be problematic that all newcomers would rely on these few hosters. Perhaps we will have to live with these problematic hosters and endure the dynamics.
Here is a note about startup problems of the Tor service after a reboot: In my observation, this only happens with slow hardware and may also depend on the hypervisor. I use the same systems and configurations everywhere and see dead Tor services after startup only with the hoster Trabia.com and UDN (Ukrainian Data Network), with UDN working better now than a few years ago. It seems to be a timeout during start-up of the OS. With Debian "systemctl restart tor.service" solved the problem until the next reboot. With delayed start or a cron job this could be avoided, I assume. The fast hosters like * OVH.com, * Frantech.ca, * Flokinet.is, * Bahnhof.net * and Terrahost.com do not have the problem after reboot.
First I will try to replace the failing VPS at Yourserver.se with reliable providers from my list, but I am checking other offers. I would also like to ask other participants in the network to name smaller, still unknown hosters.
Kind regards Olaf