Hello Tor Blog!

My name is Colin Childs, and I go by P houl on IRC. I have been the support and translation coordinator at the Tor Project for a number of years. I am also a founding director of a TorServers partner named Coldhak which runs high capacity Tor exit relays in Canada .

Thousands of relays make up the roots of the Tor network, and the volunteers who run them are indispensable, donating their time, infrastructure, and technical know-how to help millions of people around the world , including activists and journalists, communicate privately and securely.

Over the years, the Tor team saw there was a need for greater support of the relay operator community and heard concerns about how to better meet their needs. So recently, my role within the Tor Project has changed; I am now the new Tor Relay Advocate. My job will be improving the health and happiness of the relay operator community, expanding the community, and helping improve bonds between operators.

What I'll be starting with:

1. Open a #tor-relays IRC channel on irc.oftc.net . ( T his is now open, everyone should join!)

2. Reach out to re lay operator groups / individuals to introduce myself and solicit feedback (started last week - please get in touch if you haven't heard from me! ) .

3. Plan a relay operators meet-up at PETS in July (follow this blog and the tor-relay mailing list for details) .

4. Form a team of trusted technical and legal volunteers able to help operators around the world .

5. Organiz e a larger "relay operator summit" event dedicated to relay operators .

6. Work with operators to resolve issues impacting the health of the network (DNS diversity, End of life releases in use, etc..)

7. Bring back Tor Weather , a tool for monitoring the health of the network.

What else would you like to see? I am here to help you, so p lease do not hesitate to reach out to me directly (either by email , or on IRC [Phoul]) with any feedback, con c erns , or questions. If you are interested in joining the operator community yourself, please see our recent blog post introducing the Tor Relay Guide . I also strongly encourage you to join the tor-relays mailing list and the #tor-relays IRC channel on irc.oftc.net.