Thus spake Jon (torance.ca@gmail.com):
In adding further info on the topic, I have noticed and looked back over the past couple of weeks and have seen a drop of of usage of about 43% s of today. I am not in the higher bracket as others, but I have been in the 3 bars bracket only up till recently.
Don't know if this will help, but if it does, add it to the rest of the info you have already received.
What helps more is your node nick and/or idhex string. If you're not comfortable talking about that publicly, knowing if you are Guard, Exit, Guard+Exit, or just Stable (Middle) node helps.
I actually do expect that this system may cause some slower nodes (especially those with capacities close to or below the network stream average of ~70Kbytes/sec) to experience less traffic. This does not mean the nodes are useless. It just means that we should try to use them infrequently enough such that when they are used, they can provide enough capacity to not be a bottleneck in a circuit.
We are still waiting for the effects of the Guard bug to fully dissipate. I am cautiously optimistic that things are getting better, but we'll need to keep an eye on things for a bit longer to be sure, I suspect.