[tor-dev] Proposal for improving social incentives for relay operators

[Roger Dingledine]

On Mon, Jun 09, 2014 at 05:26:28PM -0700, Virgil Griffith wrote:
> I propose the following system for harnessing "warm glow" and "reputation"
> for Tor relay operators.

Hi Virgil,

I agree with your direction here, and I'd love to see some more work
on it.

In fact, the "per relay" page idea is nearly in place -- I think if we
add some elements to the atlas and globe pages for relays, to show their
total contribution, ranking, etc, we will be a lot closer to your goal.

The overall ranking page idea has gotten lost lately though. We used to
have the torstatus pages (e.g. blutmagie), but they've been unmaintained
for a long time. Tools like Atlas and Globe don't replace that "public
reward" aspect because there's no master page where you can see at a
glance who you should be impressed by. Compass is a bit closer, but
still not quite it.

So I'd suggest the following next steps:
* Figure out what metrics we should use to quantify useful contribution,
  and make sure Karsten's onionoo can tell them to us. Add entries for
  them to the atlas/globe pages.
* Make some new pages where you can get a list of relays sorted by those
  metrics.

This is the sort of topic where it would be best to get some excited
new people involved, rather than trying to load down e.g. Karsten more.

Also, don't underestimate the difficulty of choosing the right metrics.
And also try to avoid the trap where somebody writes something and then
disappears and then you realize you wanted a slightly different metric
but nobody knows how to modify the code. :)

--Roger