Onboarding Docs Overhaul

[Shoalsteed]

https://dergigi.com/2022/06/27/the-words-we-use-in-bitcoin/ good template for reworking I2P onboarding docs.

[Shoalsteed]

I2P Terminology Terms and Misconceptions about the I2P Network

[Shoalsteed]

Peers Node overlay client server b32 address Eepsite/ I2Psite Clearnet Hidden Service AddressBook Bandwidth Decentralization NetDB Reseed leaseSet garlic routing NTCP2 SSU2 DPI Garlic Routing Signatures Tunnels

[Shoalsteed]

Terms/ Misconceptions:

Darkweb/net I2P is like Tor I2P is like a VPN

[eyedeekay]

Do we need to potentially define "Incomplete Conception" perhaps? As in, I2P is like Tor in many meaningful and descriptive ways, which all fall short of describing what I2P is/does/is capable of. There are less meaningful ways in which I2P is like a VPN, but still meaningful levels upon which to make a comparison, especially since what actually goes into building a VPN is not actually a fixed target. For instance:

• https://github.com/eyedeekay/udptunnel is a VPN which uses I2P as a transport. It creates a network interface, and then uses that network interface to connect to other computers over I2P.
• https://github.com/pojntfx/weron is a VPN which uses WebRTC as a steganographic tool, sort of like what Snowflake does.
• https://github.com/WireGuard/wireguard-go uses a NOISE-derived transport, just like I2P does, and is capable of multihopping but does not provide the nodes to multihop with.

Dealing with these comparisons gives us a window on some of the terms above. Easy, comparatively relatable for at least some people ways of using these words in a sentence. For instance:

• The key difference between I2P and Wireguard's multihopping is that you must know the IP addresses of the nodes that you're connecting through, there is no distributed network to support your connections. In contrast, I2P uses the NetDB to share leaseSets for computers in our "Decentralized" network, allowing you to automatically discover peers to build connections through. I2P also offers identity management features which do not make sense in Wireguard as it exists today which allow it to build many "Tunnels" through the network through many nodes at the same time, in order to build connections to "Hidden Services." This system is loosely referred to as "Garlic Routing" and is the basis of how I2P operates.

etc. The answer to a ton of the questions I get asked starts with "Yeah, but" and maybe a truly detailed high-level comparison of some other technologies is warranted. Right now we have comparisons to Tor, Freenet, and GNUNet sort of. We don't have comparisons for any kind of VPN, or anything augmented by a PT, Open Web Proxies... I'm sure there are other things I hadn't thought of too.

[Shoalsteed]

For comparisons, I think high level with an accompanying chart for quick visual chart ie:

network overlay (yes) protects traffic (yes) Browse the internet (no)

[Shoalsteed]

Common Issues:

Conflating I2P and Tor Browser Browsing Workflow IP Questions Define "Privacy" and "Anonymizing" with side by side graphics / descriptions of protocol.