What does the traffic pattern of a bridge look like?

Question

For about two weeks now I've had three bridges running but none of them is getting any real traffic yet. Example :

It usually doesn't have any OR connections at all, and never goes above three (with two being the bare minimum for building a circuit).

RD wrote a great article on the lifecycle of a normal relay, and I already have data on what the lifecycle of an exit node looks like, but after how many weeks does a bridge get enough users to be useful?

Answer 1

When you run your server as a bridge it can be put into three baskets:

1. Bridges-Website
2. Mail
3. not public

In the first and second case your bridge will be handed out via the website or the mail service. The bridges in the last basket are only handed out through some trusted persons. So it might be that your bridge is in the last basket and waits until its contact information is given to some person.

Maybe you can also install obfs3. This technology helps users in highly restrictive countries and so it will most likely attract more traffic.