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* for the past 3 months Pari has been tracking these areas and trying to make sense of it. she has discovered some recurring areas and themes
* for the past 3 months Pari has been tracking these areas and trying to make sense of it. she has discovered some recurring areas and themes
=== Finding: there are two major groups of Tor users ===
### Finding: there are two major groups of Tor users
==== group one: power users eg computer programmers, they understand workarounds, they know Tor in depth, on some forums they're answering queries for regular users ====
#### group one: power users eg computer programmers, they understand workarounds, they know Tor in depth, on some forums they're answering queries for regular users
* power user may be asking "I want to run tor on FreeBSD" or "I want to modify the torrc files" etc, they have opinions about things Tor is doing that may compromise their secuirty, they don't care about GUIs, they want to be able to customize it
* power user may be asking "I want to run tor on FreeBSD" or "I want to modify the torrc files" etc, they have opinions about things Tor is doing that may compromise their secuirty, they don't care about GUIs, they want to be able to customize it
* they don't like being told what to do
* they don't like being told what to do
==== group two: "regular users", people who have either a very simple understanding of Tor or complete confusion, they require help at almost every step, they don't actually know or understand how Tor works ====
#### group two: "regular users", people who have either a very simple understanding of Tor or complete confusion, they require help at almost every step, they don't actually know or understand how Tor works
* these users need everything to be really easy
* these users need everything to be really easy
* all information has to be up front
* all information has to be up front
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* these two sets of users needs are often in conflict
* these two sets of users needs are often in conflict
=== Typical queries ===
=== Typical queries ===
==== I'm using Tor Browser, is there a mail client I can use too? Or can you recommend an operating system? ====
#### I'm using Tor Browser, is there a mail client I can use too? Or can you recommend an operating system?
* maybe Tor can think about some services to recommend when people ask about these other privacy tools? what is the right language to use that express the level of confidence we have in whatever thing. for most users the most secure option is to live in the woods with no comptuer and never open your mouth. so we can say 'we aren't promising that this is perfect but we can say this will make you reasonably secure'
* maybe Tor can think about some services to recommend when people ask about these other privacy tools? what is the right language to use that express the level of confidence we have in whatever thing. for most users the most secure option is to live in the woods with no comptuer and never open your mouth. so we can say 'we aren't promising that this is perfect but we can say this will make you reasonably secure'
==== lots of users have tor installed and they run it but they don't actually know how to do anything with it. for example, many users don't know anything about the security slider. ====
#### lots of users have tor installed and they run it but they don't actually know how to do anything with it. for example, many users don't know anything about the security slider.
* we have funding from OTF for onboarding new features, this may be useful for communicating better about the security slider and other features that are what makes Tor Browser different (there is a trac ticket open about this).
* we have funding from OTF for onboarding new features, this may be useful for communicating better about the security slider and other features that are what makes Tor Browser different (there is a trac ticket open about this).
* generally people have a perception that security is too hard for them and we can help change that perception
* generally people have a perception that security is too hard for them and we can help change that perception
* these challenges are mostly due to design, not language barriers. not just bad design, but also users are not actually aware of what Tor does. we can't get 100% of people to understand all these things but we can do better.
* these challenges are mostly due to design, not language barriers. not just bad design, but also users are not actually aware of what Tor does. we can't get 100% of people to understand all these things but we can do better.
* will localization help? it will help but it's not all of the work. there has to be some onboarding as well.
* will localization help? it will help but it's not all of the work. there has to be some onboarding as well.
* it's important to implement the style guide across all Tor products so that people do have a better understanding of what is actually a Tor thing
* it's important to implement the style guide across all Tor products so that people do have a better understanding of what is actually a Tor thing
==== people have lots of misconceptions about Tor related to the dark web. ====
#### people have lots of misconceptions about Tor related to the dark web.
* maybe we could help with this by giving a list of recommended onion addresses in categories? maybe built into the browser or maybe on the website or something like that. there is a ticket open on that -- should we actually recommend onion addresses? ticket #12952
* maybe we could help with this by giving a list of recommended onion addresses in categories? maybe built into the browser or maybe on the website or something like that. there is a ticket open on that -- should we actually recommend onion addresses? ticket #12952
==== "I am being blocked from getting into my account over Tor" ====
#### "I am being blocked from getting into my account over Tor"
* they get security alerts, etc -- power users understand this but regular users are very suspicious about this. we added some content about this on the support portal but we could improve that experience more
* they get security alerts, etc -- power users understand this but regular users are very suspicious about this. we added some content about this on the support portal but we could improve that experience more
==== "what are the different versions of Tor and how do I know about them?" ====
#### "what are the different versions of Tor and how do I know about them?"
* people don't understand update and alpha language, it's jargon to them
* people don't understand update and alpha language, it's jargon to them
* how do they know which is the right version?
* how do they know which is the right version?
* when you go to the download link you get a list based on your OS and what is available, but because of the different blog posts that come out about different types they get people confused.
* when you go to the download link you get a list based on your OS and what is available, but because of the different blog posts that come out about different types they get people confused.
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* or what if we put a prologue on the blog that says "the programmers are done with this version, if you are a regular user then you don't have to do anything"
* or what if we put a prologue on the blog that says "the programmers are done with this version, if you are a regular user then you don't have to do anything"
* we should make sure that announcements about core tor releases go to a much smaller group than Tor Browser releases for the sake of avoiding confusion. Steph is working on a new newsletter with all that -- we could have developer announcements, we could have user announcements, and keep them separate. we should be clear that we have different users
* we should make sure that announcements about core tor releases go to a much smaller group than Tor Browser releases for the sake of avoiding confusion. Steph is working on a new newsletter with all that -- we could have developer announcements, we could have user announcements, and keep them separate. we should be clear that we have different users
==== "I want to tell people about Tor, can I get some material like flyers, stickers, etc" ====
#### "I want to tell people about Tor, can I get some material like flyers, stickers, etc"
* it would be great if we could have a small kit for downloading SVG files etc. this is the kind of thing that would be great in the community portal
* it would be great if we could have a small kit for downloading SVG files etc. this is the kind of thing that would be great in the community portal
==== local disturbances in the network ====
#### local disturbances in the network
* maybe censorship or maybe a local relay has gone down, but some issues are geographically relevant to different users.
* maybe censorship or maybe a local relay has gone down, but some issues are geographically relevant to different users.
* the idea that came up this morning of having users click their flag (eg location) when they open tor launcher that will then choose the correct bridges for them etc.
* the idea that came up this morning of having users click their flag (eg location) when they open tor launcher that will then choose the correct bridges for them etc.
* we could also have dedicated announcements for different regions, or countries. one challenge is that the most frequent reason for a local outage is a new censorship event.
* we could also have dedicated announcements for different regions, or countries. one challenge is that the most frequent reason for a local outage is a new censorship event.
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* we can also ask users about how to effectively communicate in the presence of whatever censorship is occurring (they tend to know)
* we can also ask users about how to effectively communicate in the presence of whatever censorship is occurring (they tend to know)
* how do we currently get information about censorship events? quickly from OONI, also from power users. it's very usual for us to be contacted by someone we've never heard from before with really detailed technical analysis that they've done in their spare time about what's being blocked and how
* how do we currently get information about censorship events? quickly from OONI, also from power users. it's very usual for us to be contacted by someone we've never heard from before with really detailed technical analysis that they've done in their spare time about what's being blocked and how
==== other stuff ====
#### other stuff
* lots of things that come up are actually already happening (people request things that we already do) -- how do we communicate better about what's already going on?
* lots of things that come up are actually already happening (people request things that we already do) -- how do we communicate better about what's already going on?
* just because there is a ticket doesn't mean it's going to get resolved soon -- understanding what is important to users is essential for us prioritizing
* just because there is a ticket doesn't mean it's going to get resolved soon -- understanding what is important to users is essential for us prioritizing
* we need an explanation of what onion addresses are, how to get to them, here is a list of them
* we need an explanation of what onion addresses are, how to get to them, here is a list of them
