This started the ordinary way. For years, being the person who understood Tor meant being the person friends texted whenever something did not work, or whenever someone they knew was nervous about being watched and did not know where to start. Explaining the same handful of things, over and over, to people who deserved a better answer than a rushed message.
Eventually it seemed worth writing the answers down properly, once, rather than retyping them each time. That is this site.
Who is writing it
Right now, mostly one person. Jesus Cordonero has used Tor since 2013, which is the kind of experience that comes from stubbornly sticking with something through every version, every scare, and every change, not from any professional qualification. The editorial standards page says plainly what that is good for and what it is not, and it is worth reading if you want to know how much weight to put on anything here.
That said, this was never meant to stay a solo effort. The people this site grew out of, the ones who kept getting asked the same questions, know things worth writing down that go beyond what any one person has seen in twelve years. The plan has always been to bring some of them in properly, with their own bylines and their own accountability for what they publish, rather than folding their knowledge into one voice pretending to have seen everything itself.
As of today that has not happened yet. When it does, each new writer will be introduced the same way this page introduces the first one: plainly, with what they actually know and what they do not.
What holds it together
A handful of things are not up for negotiation, whoever ends up writing here.
- No addresses, no link directories, ever. The reasons are covered in detail elsewhere on the site, and they do not get weaker with more contributors.
- No advertising and no affiliate income, for anyone who writes here. The moment recommending something pays the person making the recommendation, the recommendation stops being trustworthy, and this site would rather stay small and honest than grow and stop being either.
- Corrections are welcome and get credited, not buried. A mistake caught and fixed in public is worth more than a mistake never admitted.
Where it is going
Slowly, and in the open. New articles, more contributors over time, and the same commitment to saying plainly what is known, what is not, and what has changed since it was last checked.
If something here is wrong, or if you think you have something worth adding to it, get in touch.