[tor-dev] Retiring old user number estimates

[Karsten Loesing]

On 9/16/13 8:28 PM, Karsten Loesing wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> some of you may already know our new approach to estimating daily Tor users:
> 
> https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html#userstats
> 
> This new approach is in beta since April, and I'm quite happy with it.
> I trust the new numbers more than the old ones, both for direct users
> and bridge users.  The new code for direct users is quite similar to the
> old one, but much cleaner.  The approach for bridge users is a much
> better idea than the old hack.  Today I added the missing features like
> the top-10 lists and the censorship detector.
> 
> Why do I tell you this?
> 
> Because the old approach uses resources on our poor, already overloaded
> metrics machine, and I'm planning to shut down the old approach in the
> very near future.  Here's the plan:
> 
>  - Compute user numbers for 2012 and before; the current numbers start
> on January 1, 2013.  This is going to take at least until September 23.
> 
>  - Take out the "BETA" labels and throw out everything above "New
> approach to estimating daily Tor users (BETA)".  This could happen on
> October 1.
> 
> Thoughts?  Did I miss anything that's worth keeping?  Anyone want to
> create an archive of their favorite graphs before I pull the plug?

Pulled the plug.  The users page now shows only the new graphs:

https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html

Scroll down for a few questions and answers explaining the approach.

The old numbers until September 2013 are still available and come with
graphing code:

https://metrics.torproject.org/data/old-user-number-estimates.tar.gz

All the best,
Karsten