[tor-project] ebanam's monthly status report and user support report for January 2024

Hello everyone,

Last month there was a slight uptick in private bridge requests from
Chinese speaking users which also involved helping users with installing
Tor Browser, troubleshooting Tor Browser on Windows and using pluggable
transports.

Similar to last month, we got another couple of reports about the "Proxy
Server Refused Connection" bug affecting users using Tor Browser for
Android on Oppo devices.[0]

Following is a breakdown of tickets our user support team handled in
January:

# Frontdesk (email support channel)

* 450(↓) RT tickets created
* 430(↓) RT tickets resolved

Tickets by numbers:

1. 208(↑) RT tickets: private bridge requests from Chinese speaking
users.
2. 115(↓) RT tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian
speaking countries.
3. 2(-) RT tickets: "Proxy Server Refused Connection" bug on Tor Browser
for Android, affecting users with Oppo phones.

Highlighting some other topics we received questions and feedback:

4. Circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi.
5. Question about how to contribute and volunteer.[1]
6. Question on how to setup Tor Browser Alpha for Alpha testing.[2]

# Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal Support channel

* 508(↓) tickets resolved

Breakdown:

* 485(↓) tickets on Telegram
* 15(↓) tickets on WhatsApp
* 8(↓) tickets on Signal

Tickets by numbers:

1. 325(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking
countries.
2. 16(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi.
3. 13(↓) tickets: private bridge requests from Chinese speaking users.
4. 3 tickets: Questions about using GetTor

Highlighting some other topics we received questions about:

5. Help with installing Tor Browser on Linux.
6. Questions about Orbot: how to use obfs4 bridges and snowflake with Orbot.
7. PTs on Tor Browser 13 do not work with Windows 7 (issue is resolved with Tor
Browser 13.0.8)[3].

# Highlights from the Tor Forum

1. How to start Tor Browser on Linux?[4]
2. New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 13.5a4[5]. Help us test initial implementation
of Connect Assist on Tor Browser for Android.
3. Tor Browser unable to connect on Windows 10[6]

Thanks!
e.

Note: (↑), (↓) and (-) are indicating if the number of tickets we
received for these topics have been increasing, decreasing or have been
the same from the previous month respectively.

[0]: "Proxy Server Refused Connection" bug not related to the bootstrapping or using it as a default broswer (#41289) · Issues · The Tor Project / Applications / Tor Browser · GitLab
[1]: https://community.torproject.org/
[2]: Tor Project | Become an alpha tester
[3]: PTs on Tor Browser 13 do not work with Windows 7 (#42179) · Issues · The Tor Project / Applications / Tor Browser · GitLab
[4]: How to start Tor Browser on Linux
[5]: New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 13.5a4
[6]: Tor Browser can't connect