[tor-bugs] #3287 [Vidalia]: Display consensus bandwidth when available

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#3287: Display consensus bandwidth when available
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 Reporter:  mikeperry  |          Owner:  chiiph
     Type:  defect     |         Status:  new   
 Priority:  normal     |      Milestone:        
Component:  Vidalia    |        Version:        
 Keywords:             |         Parent:        
   Points:             |   Actualpoints:        
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Comment(by atagar):

 Iirc the observed bandwidth is still the preferred metric if you want,
 say, an estimate of the traffic going through the relay. It could be a
 lie, and descriptors might be stale or missing (which is often the case
 when relaying) but at the moment it's the best we've got for a measured
 metric of relay usage.

 The consensus bandwidth, however, is a heuristic provided by the bandwidth
 authorities which clients use for relay selection. This is purely a
 heuristic - it's not a direct measurement of anything and its absolute
 value alone is meaningless.

 I agree that this is the preferable metric for sorting and icons (since
 those are relative values to each other), but be aware that if you're
 displaying the observed bandwidth elsewhere then this might not always be
 a good replacement.

 Cheers! -Damian

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/3287#comment:1>
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