r/TOR • u/Realistic_Dig8176 • Jun 13 '25
On behalf of all the participating large-scale Tor operators, we want to extend a massive thank you to everyone who joined us for this Ask Me Anything. Quite a few questions were answered and there were some insightful discussion.
We hope that we've been able to shed some light on the challenges, rewards, and vital importance of operating Tor infrastructure. Every relay, big or small, contributes to a more private and secure internet for users worldwide.
Remember, the Tor network is a community effort. If you're inspired to learn more or even consider running a relay yourself, don't hesitate to join the Tor Relay Operators channel on Matrix, the #tor-relays channel on IRC, the mailing list or forums. There are fantastic resources available to help you out and many operators are very willing to lend you a hand in your journey as a Tor operator. Every new operator strengthens the network's resilience and capacity.
Thank you again for your good curiosity and question. Keep advocating for privacy and freedoms, and we look forward to seeing you in the next one!
Ever wondered what it takes to keep the Tor network running? Curious about the operational complexities, technical hurdles and legal challenges of running Tor relays (at scale)? Want to know more about the motivations of the individuals safeguarding online anonymity and freedom for millions worldwide?
Today we're hosting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with four experienced large-scale Tor operators! This is your chance to directly engage with the people running this crucial network. Ask them anything about:
This AMA offers a unique opportunity to gain firsthand insights into anything you have been curious about. And maybe we can also bust a few myths and perhaps inspire others in joining us.
Today, Tor operators will answer all your burning questions between 08:00-23:00 UTC.
This translates to the following local times:
| Timezone | abbreviation | Local times |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Daylight Time | EDT | 04:00-19:00 |
| Pacific Daylight Time | PDT | 01:00-16:00 |
| Central European Summer Time | CEST | 10:00-01:00 |
| Eastern European Summer Time | EEST | 11:00-02:00 |
| Australian Eastern Standard Time | AEST | 18:00-09:00 |
| Japan Standard Time | JST | 17:00-08:00 |
| Australian Western Standard Time | AWST | 16:00-07:00 |
| New Zealand Standard Time | NZST | 20:00-11:00 |
Four excellent large scale Tor operators are willing to answer all your burning questions. Together they are good for almost 40% of the total Tor exit capacity. Let's introduce them!
R0cket (tor.r0cket.net) is part of a Swedish hosting provider that is driven by a core belief in a free and open internet. They run Tor relays to help users around the world access information privately and circumvent censorship.
Nothing to hide (nothingtohide.nl) is a non-profit privacy infrastructure provider based in the Netherlands. They run Tor relays and other privacy-enhancing services. Nothing to hide is part of the Church of Cyberology, a religion grounded in the principles of (digital) freedom and privacy.
Artikel10 (artikel10.org) is a Tor operator based in Hamburg/Germany. Artikel10 is a non-profit member-based association that is dedicated to upholding the fundamental rights to secure and confidential communication.
CCC Stuttgard (cccs.de) is a member-based branch association of the well known Chaos Computer Club from Germany. CCCS is all about technology and the internet and in light of that they passionately advocate for digital civil rights through practical actions, such as running Tor relays.
Account authenticity can be verified by opening https://domain.tld/.well-known/ama.txt files hosted on the primary domain of these organizations. These text files will contain: "AMA reddit=username mastodon=username".
Because Reddit is not available to all users of the Tor network, we also provide a parallel AMA account on Mastodon. We will cross-post the questions asked there to the Reddit AMA post. Link to Mastodon: mastodon.social/@[email protected].
r/TOR • u/Resident-Sale-3791 • 6h ago
Hello everyone.
I’m French and my English is quite good, but sometimes I find it difficult to translate. Could you recommend a good translator that works directly on Tor and automatically translates websites into French? I’ve already tried some extensions, but I get the impression they don’t work in (the most secure) mode. Thanks
r/TOR • u/Far_Pumpkin895 • 17h ago
When does .onion websites become so slow, I always use to prefer .onion website of popular sites like reddit and use onionize duckduckGo but recently those .onion websites has become significantly slower. It was not like that before, .onion websites were almost as fast as their regular websites, duckduckGo onionize has become almost useless and onionize reddit is not opening at all.
r/TOR • u/Foreign-Record8239 • 1d ago
I'm searching for not only a private but an anonymous Mail adress where I can send mails to other gmail acc. but is also compatible with onion sites. For me is Protonmail not really anonymous because you have to sign in with an other mail adress or number or whatever. I would like more something like Riseup or something like this.
Do you have any Ideas?
I do not want to pay like for example like mullvad.
r/TOR • u/icebornadonis • 1d ago
Now I know everyone is heavily anti java script. But what do people use instead if java script is not used? What tech stacks do people use in order to interact with their backend as well?
Is it feasible with compressed formats (like av1) to make a legal decentralized social media on the onion network?
r/TOR • u/Fair_Chicken5216 • 1d ago
I have finally decided that I want to use Tor and be as anonymous as I can. What tools (including external tools), settings, extensions, etc. should I use? I don't want to spend money, even using BTC, but I'm aware that it's highly recommended to use a VPN. not good to use a VPN
edit: thx u/somerandomahhhperson i didnt know VPNs are bad with Tor
r/TOR • u/owinrockafella • 2d ago
I am new to tor, so I don't have the right information on how to safely interact with it, I am just curious on what lies in it, I am not gonna use it for illegal stuff like dr@gs and weap@ns, i am not very familiar with the terms used from cybersecurity and terms that native users use often. Can someone explain all this to me, and how I can use it on my phone?
r/TOR • u/Square-Spot1727 • 2d ago
I use android. I have a vpn on my phone that I route most things through. I use orbot and invizible pro in proxy mode using different ports for different apps. Everything seemed to be working ok but I updated Orbot now the connection between it and fdroid doesnt hold and takes many times of reconnecting to update apps. I'm not sure what the problem is. Any ideas?
r/TOR • u/Accomplished-Act8616 • 3d ago
Idk why, but anytime I host a tor relay on my ip, sites like Amex or Disney + would give me 403 forbidden error a day or 2 later , meaning they refusing the request I sent, like login, or stream on Disney+, I'm not sure why, I've checked my ip reputation, it's all clear, as I don't run an exit, and I set my traffic to https, is this happening to anyone else, should I just move to Bridge setup?
r/TOR • u/Bulky_Tap_168 • 4d ago
r/TOR • u/NoAbroad7772 • 4d ago
whenever i try to access orbot and activate it, this keeps happening. and no matter what i try, it just keeps happening. can anyone help me out?
r/TOR • u/Rob4ix1547 • 4d ago
I wanna find something like orbot on windows, but i cant and i just dunno where to look, i dont exactly wanna use the tor browser, since i already got used to zen and moving to another browser is a hastle i dont really wanna repeat.
r/TOR • u/miyaaaaaaaaavvvvvvv • 5d ago
it doesnt let me do it. i tried to use different temp mail providers even tried with onionmail and protonmail. it doesnt send the code to the email so i cannot make an account. what should i do?
r/TOR • u/Natural_Wolverine947 • 5d ago
I live in Kuwait, and this is the first time this has ever happened to me. Did my country suddenly block Tor or something?
Can anyone else in Kuwait confirm if they're having the same issue?
I already tried using a VPN and different bridges, but nothing worked. Please let me know if you're experiencing this too or if you know what's going on.
r/TOR • u/Existing_Cicada1691 • 4d ago
r/TOR • u/trymeouteh • 5d ago
If my device weather it is Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android or iOS is using a VPN. Will the following bypass my VPN or will it go through my VPN?
r/TOR • u/trymeouteh • 5d ago
Does anyone know where I can find the source code for the snowflake browser extension?
r/TOR • u/saint_hwanii • 6d ago
I started a new middle relay about a week ago and I’m trying to figure out if what I’m seeing is the normal ramp-up or a misconfiguration.
What the metrics show:
• Total traffic since start: ~17.9 GiB
• Relay traffic rate: mostly 100–200 kb/s, with occasional spikes to ~1 Mb/s
• Circuit creation: ~4–8 circuits/sec
• OR connections peaked around 4,600 on 07/13 and have been steadily declining since, down to ~1,200 today
Setup:
• Tor version: Tor 0.4.9.11 on Linux
• OS: Debian 13 over Proxmox on a dedicated mini pc.
• Link capacity: 150 mbps with static public IP
• RelayBandwidthRate / RelayBandwidthBurst: 18MB/s - 19MB/s
• AccountingMax: unset
• Current flags: Fast / Running / V2Dir / Valid
Is this just the normal measurement ramp-up for a new relay, or does the declining connection count suggest something is off?
I have access to unlimited internet (decent speed, around 100-300/mbps), I have played with networking and homelabbing before – I still regularly maintain a homelab.
I want to host a Tor node/relay in India for the sake of experimenting. Writing this post to ask for resources/guide/papers and suggestions – I do not have any plans of running a full fledged node at the moment, just want to experiment in a playful way temporarily.
r/TOR • u/AstronomerStatus4646 • 6d ago
My relay says its offline, and now it says UnreachableIPv6. Unreachable OR Addresses now has one address and OR addresses has another. Does that mean my IPv6 address just changed and now my relay is considered 'offline' because the IPv6 address changed? My IPv4 didn't change. The relay is on locally, and the port is open, with network traffic flowing through.
Fingerprint:
15106153A8119E567AFA381FA1D32602E832F50B15106153A8119E567AFA381FA1D32602E832F50B