[tor-relays] Open call for proposals for improving the health of the Tor relay operator community and the Tor network

[Georg Koppen]

gus:
> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 07:49:47PM +0100, nusenu wrote:
>> gus:
>>> On Fri, Mar 03, 2023 at 11:26:07PM +0100, nusenu wrote:
>>>> I've got some practical experience with how things are (not) handled
>>>> by the Tor Project in this space which discourages involvement.
>>>> The past has also shown that proposals in this area are not
>>>> handled as tor proposals in the sense of [1].
>>>
>>> I believe some proposals about relay operators were not handled as
>>> people had different opinions about the Tor Community governance and its
>>> process.
>>
>> I actually had something else in mind (see geko's reply) but
>> if you say that people had no clear understanding or different opinions about
>> community governance than it might also be a good time to start clarifying it.
>>
>> The point "clarify and describe the different involved roles" as mentioned on Saturday's relay meetup
>> is a good start in this specific context and I agree that it will be useful.
>>
>>>>> We're not in the process of approving any of them.
>>>>
>>>> a few questions:
>>>>
>>>> - Can you describe the process these proposals will undergo after they got collected?
>>>> - Who "approves" / rejects them?
>>>> - Will it be a public and transparent process?
>>>> - Who will be involved in the process?
>>>> - How are relay operators included and to what extend?
>>>>
>>>> - Will "approved" proposals be enforced?
>>>> - How will they get enforced? New tor release or directory authority vote?
>>>> - Will directory authorities be formally required to enforce "approved" proposals?
>>>
>>> Great questions.
>>>
>>> - Yes, it will be a public and transparent process;
>>
>> When geko highlighted the sponsor in the meeting something along the lines of
>> "sitting down with our sponsor and defining criterias" (if you haven't been at the meeting don't take this too serious)
>> it made me wonder: If this is a public and transparent process, who is financing this work? (dubbed S112)
>>
> 
> If you're not familiar with project management practices at the Tor
> Project, it's important to note that Sponsor+code is simply a numerical
> code assigned by the operations/grants team to a particular funded
> project. It is not a cypherpunk "scramble box" as some may mistakenly
> assume.
> 
> The sponsor name, DRL (Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human
> Rights, and Labor - US Gov), can be found in the linked milestone that was
> previously shared, during the meetup, and is also publicly listed in our
> GitLab instance.
> 
> Milestone:
> https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/44#tab-issues
> 
> S112 activity tracked with the label "S112" in our GitLab:
> https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues/?sort=created_date&state=opened&label_name%5B%5D=Sponsor%20112&first_page_size=100
> 
> You can find all the current Tor Project sponsors, projects and
> reports here:
>   - Project wiki page: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/team/-/wikis/sponsors-2023
>   - Current Sponsors: https://www.torproject.org/about/sponsors/
>   - Fiscal year reports: https://www.torproject.org/about/reports/
> 
> For those interested on learning more about S112 work, the Network
> Health team meet every Monday at 16 UTC, on #tor-meeting (irc.oftc.net),
> and we've been adding the relevant topics on the relay operator meetup
> agenda.

To add to what Gus said: we have from time to time face-to-face 
meetings[1] and we publish meeting notes for those as well. So watch 
that space, too. :)

In our latest face-to-face meeting two weeks ago we had a session about 
network health proposals and I just finished uploading the notes[2] for 
those of you who are interested. Two highlights included there are

- our current draft of proposal evaluation criteria
- some proposal ideas we as the Tor Project should pursue, which are all 
tracked in our shiny new policies project[3]. I expect more to come in 
this area... :)

Georg

[1] 
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/team/-/wikis/Meetings#face-to-face-annual-meeting-notes
[2] 
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/team/-/wikis/2023-Tor-Meeting-Costa-Rica-Wiki/Network-Health-proposals
[3] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/policies
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