[tor-bugs] #21994 [Metrics/Consensus Health]: Consensus Health: what is the distrubution of a bandwidth authority's measurements?

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#21994: Consensus Health: what is the distrubution of a bandwidth authority's
measurements?
--------------------------------------+---------------------
 Reporter:  teor                      |          Owner:  tom
     Type:  enhancement               |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Very Low                  |      Milestone:
Component:  Metrics/Consensus Health  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                    |     Resolution:
 Keywords:                            |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                            |         Points:
 Reviewer:                            |        Sponsor:
--------------------------------------+---------------------

Old description:

> Once we know how many relays a bandwidth authority controls (#21992), we
> might want to know how much it can change their figures, or how their
> measurements are distributed.
>
> I'm not sure if we would use this, but I am writing it down so others can
> decide if they want it, and which option they want.
>
> '''Quartile Option'''
>
> This option doesn't tell us the exact range for each relay, but it's easy
> to calculate and understand.
>
> For each bandwidth authority:
> * the quartiles of its bandwidth measurements
>
> This could look like:
> https://consensus-health.torproject.org/#downloadstats
>
> '''Range Option'''
>
> This option is more specific, but might be harder to understand and use.
>
> For each bandwidth authority:
> * the median of the measurements it controls
> * the median of the next highest measurement
> * the median of the next lowest measurement
>
> We should probably use medians for the average, because we really don't
> care about extremes.
>
> Maybe this could look something like:
>
> '''Bandwidth Authority Variance'''
> ||          || lower || median || higher ||
> || longclaw || 27887 || 58578  || 89090  ||
> || gabelmoo || 34585 || 69344  || 84323  ||
>
> Or maybe it would be better to express them as percentages of the median.

New description:

 Once we know how many relays a bandwidth authority controls (#21992), we
 might want to know how much it can change their figures, or how their
 measurements are distributed.

 I'm not sure if we would use this, but I am writing it down so others can
 decide if they want it, and which option they want.

 '''Quartile Option'''

 This option doesn't tell us the exact range for each relay, but it's easy
 to calculate and understand.

 For each bandwidth authority:
 * the quartiles of its bandwidth measurements

 This could look like:
 https://consensus-health.torproject.org/#downloadstats

 '''Range Option'''

 This option is more specific, but might be harder to understand and use.

 For each bandwidth authority:
 * the median of the measurements it controls (the relays for which it is
 the median)
 * the median of the next highest measurement where it is the next highest
 measurement
 * the median of the next lowest measurement where it is the next lowest
 measurement

 We should probably use medians for the average, because we really don't
 care about extremes.

 Maybe this could look something like:

 '''Bandwidth Authority Variance'''
 ||          || lower || median || higher ||
 || longclaw || 27887 || 58578  || 89090  ||
 || gabelmoo || 34585 || 69344  || 84323  ||

 Or maybe it would be better to express them as percentages of the median.

--

Comment (by teor):

 I think the range option is very confusing, and we probably just want
 quartiles.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/21994#comment:1>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online