[tor-relays] Become a Fallback Directory Mirror (deadline: July 23)

[Michael Gerstacker]

Am Do., 17. Sept. 2020 um 20:51 Uhr schrieb Toralf Förster <
toralf.foerster at gmx.de>:

> On 9/16/20 1:05 AM, Michael Gerstacker wrote:
> > the only relay i don't want to be a fallback anymore is a fallback now
>
> Maybe OT but I'm just curious about the reason to want a relay being not a
> fallback.
>

First reasons why i don't want that this one relay of mine is a fallback:

1. It is heavily used and can barely keep up with the traffic.
Even if fallback traffic is low i have plenty of other relays that are
bored right now.

2. I plan to switch it to an exit maybe and i don't think exits should be
fallbacks.
They draw attention, they are blacklisted, they are hated and depending in
which country they are maybe even watched by some higher authority.
So i think users connecting to fallbacks that are exits should be avoided.
Again i have plenty of other relays that are no exits and where i don't
plan to make them exits so i think these ones are better for being a
fallback.


Not related to that one relay but other reasons why i don't want that some
relays of mine are fallbacks:

3. I have relays in countries where the government doesn't really like Tor.
If my provider would be forced to shut them down (or just shut them down
because he doesn't like Tor) then if the relay is not a fallback soon after
it went down no users will try to connect to it anymore and after a week or
two it is gone from metrics.

If it is a fallback then for weeks, months maybe even years users with old
Tor versions will try to connect to these addresses because Tor expects a
fallback there.

Maybe having fallbacks in these countries is even more important but again
as long as i have relays that are really bored and as long as i can only
opt-in a limited amount of relays i prefer to choose ones that are not
located in these countries and maybe it even helps my provider with not
getting any future problems with their regime.

4. I didn't checked it but some provider have a crazy TOS and i would not
be surprised if some of them write there that it is not allowed to hardcode
the IP you get from them into anything to prevent them from reason 3 where
old versions of a software are abusing their IPs when it is already long
gone.
But exactly that is what you do with opting-in as a fallback.


Maybe there are more reasons but these are the ones i have in my head right
now.

It is not the end of the world that this one relay is a fallback now.
But it is surprising because that particular fingerprint never got opted-in
by me so i think something went wrong somewhere.
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