0.3.1.7 is stable
Earlier in the thread you said "I wouldn't recommend upgrading to 0.3.0 or later, there are stability issues on some clients, and maybe relays." That's what I was referring to. I think we're having a semantic argument; "stable" release doesn't always mean the software is actually stable (unfortunately).
But it's not Long Term Support.
Yeah, that's really the issue here. There's no way to install the LTS package on Ubuntu.
And it's understandable that they want to reduce their effort.
Agreed.
I'm not sure that using 0.2.9 will help you, anyway.
I'm not sure either. :) I'm getting some mixed messages. 0.2.9.11 has the bug https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/20059 from my top post, which was fixed in 0.2.9.12. That package would at least remove the bug from the equation. You had also mentioned the 0.3.x stability issues. Given this info, 0.2.9.12 seemed like the ideal version. However if the underlying cause is something else (like a HSDir spike, DDoS, or connection limit), you're right, the version probably doesn't matter much.