[tor-project] User Feedback Report - August 2021

Fri Sep 3 16:12:36 UTC 2021

Greetings, everyone!

This is a report of the work done by the Community Team
in the past month and general user feedback that we've received across our
official support channels.

Report Period - July 31 upto 31 August, 2021

Tickets resolved in the past month: 165

Here is a list of issues which got the most attention (at least 2 tickets on
RT):

# Tor Browser

Breakdown of number of RT tickets received with respect to operating system:

Windows (10,8,7 ...all the way upto Vista) - 24
macOS - 5
Android - 8
GNU/Linux - 2
iOS - 4

(Note: This includes tickets where the user mentioned the operating
system or it
was evident from the issue they were running into or enclosed screenshots.)

1. 12 RT tickets - Unable to access websites; Login fails.
Users also reported issues with payment on sites like eBay, PayPal etc.
Regarding websites blocking Tor users, Hackhard GSoC project is tracking
the top 500 websites.[1]

2. 5 RT tickets - YouTube not accessible renders the error "Our system
have detected unusual traffic from your computer network".
We point users to the "Basic Troubleshooting when users can't access any
particular website"  article (template) on the RT.

3. 5 RT tickets - "Tor Unexpectedly Exited": Failure to launch Tor Browser.
We direct users to the "Seven-point basic troubleshooting" article
(template) on the RT to help users.

4. 5 RT tickets - Installation Issue (OS - Windows)
We ask users to make sure they've downloaded the correct version of TB
depending on their Operating System 32-bit or 64-bit. [2]

5. 4 RT tickets - Fake Tor App on Apple Store.
Users are being charged after installing a fake Tor Browser app on iOS.
We educate users about fake apps and recommend them to solely use the
Onion Browser for iOS.

6. 3 RT tickets - Cannot download files on Tor Browser for Android.
Regarding this we have a ticket on our GitLab. [3] A workaround for this
recurring issue is to make a new Tor connection and relaunch the download.

7. 3 RT tickets - Error "Proxy Server Refused Connection".
We ask users NOT to set TBA as their default browser and point them to
the article on the Support Portal. [4]

8. 2 RT tickets - Reporting bad onion sites.
The Tor Project doesnot host or control onion sites, we answer users
taking help from the article on our Support portal. [5]

9. 1 RT ticket -  Error "RSA_get0_d could not be located in the dynamic link
library tor.exe" on Windows. We have a GitLab ticket regarding this long
standing issue. [6]

# Onion Services

1. 9 RT tickets - v2 onion deprecation.
Users were confused 'how' to upgrade v2 onions to v3. They were asking
for a direct link/button to upgrade.
We help users identify v2 and v3 onions, point them to the "v2 onion
deprecation" article (template) on the RT and FAQ on the Support Portal. [7]

# UI/UX and documentation

1. Google Play Store - In terms of user experience, reviews mostly revolve
around- 'Unable to access to YouTube and other sites', 'Tor freezes',
'Can't download anything files/images', 'Tor Browser is slow', 'can't
upload files' and 'too many captchas'. However, in terms of reviews we
have quite a good number of 4 and 5 star ratings.

2. Tor Stack Exchange - Statistics of what the discussion has been about
(6 most
active tags):
hidden-services- 17 questions
anonymity- 12 questions
security- 9 questions
configuration (questions about configuring Tor software)- 6 questions
tor-browser-bundle- 6 questions
onion-routing - 4 questions

3. Reddit

Discussions have been around:

  * Tor browser is Looping same exits.
  * Hidden Service for Minecraft
  * Can't access YouTube and other sites over Tor
  * Tor is very slow 
  * VPN and Tor - How does using VPN decrease anonymity?
  * fdroid version from the guardian project not updated
  * Onion sites

# Anti-censorship

1. 5 RT tickets - Bridges not working
Tor logs revealed that it was caused by users editing their torrc file;
overriding the exit nodes and 'general SOCKS server failure' errors.

We educate users NOT to modify their torrc file and one gets the best
security Tor can provide when they leave the route selection up to Tor.
Then point them to the FAQ on the Support Portal. [8]

2. 4 RT tickets - Bridge requests
We got users requesting help to connect to Tor which have been from
Iran, China and other countries. We provided private bridges for them.

3. In the past month, there have been instances of censorship and
internet shutdowns in countries like Iran and South Sudan. We're
following up on their situation.[9]
There has also been a decrease in users connecting directly to Tor from
Turkmenistan. We've a ticket open to track the status. [10]

If you have any suggestions, questions or want to discuss anything in detail

please feel free to reach out to me and/or anyone from the Community Team!

Thanks,
Kulsoom
IRC - kulsoom_z

Links:
[1]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/woswos/CAPTCHA-Monitor/-/wikis/GSoC-2021
[2]: https://www.torproject.org/download/
[3]:
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/31013
[4]: https://support.torproject.org/tbb/#tbb-32
[5]: https://support.torproject.org/abuse/remove-content-from-onion-address/
[6]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/33702
[7]: https://support.torproject.org/onionservices/#v2-deprecation
[8]: https://support.torproject.org/tbb/#tbb-16
[9]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40034
[10]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40030

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