[tor-talk] Number of tor users

[Karsten Loesing]

On 5/29/13 10:11 AM, Maimun Rizal wrote:
> I would like to know, where i can find data average number of tor
> users? As I know, number of users in metrics.torproject.org are total
> number in a day. So how can I know a average?

Hi Maimun,

this is a fine question.

Actually, what you find on metrics.torproject.org *is* the estimated
average number of Tor users per day, not the total number.

Here's how we calculate those numbers (simplified): we sum up daily
requests by Tor clients to the Tor directories to fetch the network
status document, assume that an average user makes 10 such requests per
day (some make just 1 or 2, others 15 or 20), divide the number of
requests by 10, and have our estimated average daily user number.

But we don't have data to say whether two requests were made by the same
client or two different clients, mostly because clients can send their
requests to hundreds of directories which cannot exchange data on
requesting clients for obvious privacy reasons.  That's why we cannot
calculate total users per day, just averages.

For more details, see these reports:

https://research.torproject.org/techreports/counting-daily-bridge-users-2012-10-24.pdf

https://research.torproject.org/techreports/countingusers-2010-11-30.pdf

I wonder, why did you think metrics.torproject.org shows total users per
day, and how can we make it clearer that these are in fact daily averages?

Thanks,
Karsten