We have updated our criteria for showing the Tor™ Network as "Code Green", which is how we define it as operating "normally". Our criteria was bound to change, since the Tor Network itself is in many ways a work in progress. And I doubt this will be the last change we make to it. In order to make it more clear what our criteria is going forward, we have now included a new listbox called Tor Network Status "Code Green" Levels, which can be seen at pickaproxy.com?speak=tor.
I should clarify that our criteria is not endorsed by the Tor Project, but rather something we embarked on ourselves to identify and communicate to our users when something does not seem to be right with the Tor Network in aggregate. This is one of the added values of using our service. What we changed yesterday was the minimum number of "Guard" nodes, which was reduced from 300 to 200, and a minimum number of "Hidden Service" Directory Servers was established at 15.
"Guard" nodes are an important part of the Tor Network design, but pretty much irrelevant for our users at this time. We handle that part for you as part of the connection we give our users into the Tor Network. If you are interested in the details about guard nodes, I suggest you start with reading http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#head-9927a2f6d044e4c5b1fc610d92175b7c8d4f49d9.
The reason we changed our criteria yesterday from 300 to 200 Guard nodes is because there have been a significant number of times recently when the total number of Guard nodes has been less than 300. In fact about 30% of the time in September so far this has been true, compared with about 5% in August, and only about 2% of the time for July. We figure the normal state of the Tor Network must have changed, and 200 Guard nodes is still a reasonably high number.
"Hidden Services" are another important part of the Tor Network, but also irrelevant for the majority of our users at this time. Hidden Services are web servers (and web services) running on the Tor Network that do not expose their IP Address to their users. If you are interested in the details about Hidden Services, I suggest you start with reading https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-hidden-service.html. The number of Hidden Service Directories is important because the more there are, the greater the protection they offer to Hidden Service users.
Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about these changes.
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