A small heads up about userscripts dot org May 22, 2014 10:32 AM Subscribe
It seems that http://userscripts.org has been down for an extended period of time, although the site is currently available on an alternate port ( http://userscripts.org:8080/ ). I would like to suggest if you maintain scripts there, that you make them available at another location (perhaps the mefi wiki?) out of an abundance of caution.
Thanks, yes! I was just trying to install a mefi-related script yesterday, and found out that the site is apparently down for the count.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:38 AM on May 22, 2014
posted by taz (staff) at 10:38 AM on May 22, 2014
What is the deal with that place? Thanks for the news.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:40 AM on May 22, 2014
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:40 AM on May 22, 2014
I also noticed that some scripts (specifically the awesome metafilter scroll tag) only work with http urls and not https urls. If you're a script developer and are reading this, please support both http and https!
posted by Phredward at 10:50 AM on May 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Phredward at 10:50 AM on May 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also whoever made the mefi comment divider script please make it work on fanfare plz
posted by elizardbits at 10:58 AM on May 22, 2014
posted by elizardbits at 10:58 AM on May 22, 2014
cortex: "If there's a good easy way to host a copy of mefi-specific scripts on the wiki, that seems like a great idea, yeah."
As someone who makes heavy use of greasemonkey scripts on mefi (not to mention a handful of userstyles with Stylish), I cannot support this strongly enough. I'd love to see some sort of semi-official repository or collection point for these scripts (that hopefully fosters the authors to keep them updated and working well with one another).
A git or mercurial repo, linked from the FAQ, with commit access governed by mefi username? I don't know how difficult the mefi authentication piece would be, but the setup of a repo (or repos) and commiting the scripts as they exist today shouldn't be too much work...
posted by namewithoutwords at 11:06 AM on May 22, 2014 [3 favorites]
As someone who makes heavy use of greasemonkey scripts on mefi (not to mention a handful of userstyles with Stylish), I cannot support this strongly enough. I'd love to see some sort of semi-official repository or collection point for these scripts (that hopefully fosters the authors to keep them updated and working well with one another).
A git or mercurial repo, linked from the FAQ, with commit access governed by mefi username? I don't know how difficult the mefi authentication piece would be, but the setup of a repo (or repos) and commiting the scripts as they exist today shouldn't be too much work...
posted by namewithoutwords at 11:06 AM on May 22, 2014 [3 favorites]
The situation there is so aggravating. Basically Jesse Andrews, the founder and admin, got tired of running the site in 2010 and offered to "pass the torch" in a Hacker News thread. But despite getting plenty of offers -- including the very top one from Jay "Saurik" Freeman, famed community manager of the Cydia/jailbreak scene -- he ended up retaining control of the site while simply abandoning it to have fun at some space photography startup, leaving the forums increasingly spam-ridden and basic infrastructure to rot. He's not obligated to run the thing, but just walking away from a valuable resource and community like that with no successor is incredibly irresponsible.
Frustrated users have tried starting various forks and replacements, but none have the name recognition, userbase, or most importantly the script volume to match USO, whose top scripts have tens of millions of downloads. Fortunately, Archive Team has been running their archival bot on the :8080 port since the main site died, backing up script source code at a furious pace. But to what end, I'm not sure, since a lot of value came from the script reviews, forum discussions, etc. I don't know if they plan to reconstruct the entire site or what.
Anyway. Very crappy situation. And the way Andrews continues to blithely tweet about SPACE CAMERAS while ignoring all pleas for help is super obnoxious.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:18 AM on May 22, 2014 [19 favorites]
Frustrated users have tried starting various forks and replacements, but none have the name recognition, userbase, or most importantly the script volume to match USO, whose top scripts have tens of millions of downloads. Fortunately, Archive Team has been running their archival bot on the :8080 port since the main site died, backing up script source code at a furious pace. But to what end, I'm not sure, since a lot of value came from the script reviews, forum discussions, etc. I don't know if they plan to reconstruct the entire site or what.
Anyway. Very crappy situation. And the way Andrews continues to blithely tweet about SPACE CAMERAS while ignoring all pleas for help is super obnoxious.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:18 AM on May 22, 2014 [19 favorites]
Plutor, if you are out there, please fix your Mefiquote script for FanFare!
posted by Chrysostom at 12:07 PM on May 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 12:07 PM on May 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
to be fair, SPACE CAMERAS.
posted by boo_radley at 12:57 PM on May 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by boo_radley at 12:57 PM on May 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
I really tried to find a contact at this site. Anyone been able to?
posted by cjorgensen at 5:20 PM on May 22, 2014
posted by cjorgensen at 5:20 PM on May 22, 2014
Adding HTTPS support to Plutor's Mefiquote script just requires adding a few lines at the top. Here is a copy of the modified script.
Alternatively, you can do it manually:
posted by Riki tiki at 5:33 PM on May 22, 2014
Alternatively, you can do it manually:
- Go to "Tools" → "Greasemonkey" → "Manage User Scripts..."
- Hit "Preferences" next to the Mefiquote script.
- Hit "Add..." Next to the "Included Pages" list.
- Enter "
https://*.metafilter.com/*" (without the quotes) and hit OK.
posted by Riki tiki at 5:33 PM on May 22, 2014
cjorgensen: "I really tried to find a contact at this site. Anyone been able to?"
Here's his profile on USO, and I linked to his Twitter handle above. I strongly suspect he's ignoring any site-related questions, though (if he hasn't abandoned that website/email completely).
posted by Rhaomi at 10:58 PM on May 22, 2014
Here's his profile on USO, and I linked to his Twitter handle above. I strongly suspect he's ignoring any site-related questions, though (if he hasn't abandoned that website/email completely).
posted by Rhaomi at 10:58 PM on May 22, 2014
HTTPS support is not the issue with the Mefiquote script - it doesn't pull the username properly. Cortex theorized that FanFare handles usernames slightly differently than the other sites.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:47 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by Chrysostom at 5:47 AM on May 23, 2014
The only difference in the markup (that I see, I might be wrong) for comments is that the div.comments that holds a FanFare comment has an id and the div.comments that holds a MeFi comment does not. This difference shouldn't make anything that worked on MeFi break on FanFare.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:23 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:23 AM on May 23, 2014
Okay, when you use Mefiquote, you normally get this:
Jpfed: "The only difference in the markup"
You see how the username of the quotee is hyperlinked.
When you do it on FanFare, the username becomes: %n So, not showing the actual user.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:53 AM on May 23, 2014
Jpfed: "The only difference in the markup"
You see how the username of the quotee is hyperlinked.
When you do it on FanFare, the username becomes: %n So, not showing the actual user.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:53 AM on May 23, 2014
The issue with plutor's Mefiquote is that Fanfare doesn't use protocol prefixes. URLs look like
instead of
When Mefiquote tries to grab the username, it looks for 'https://*.metafilter.com' at the beginning of the URL:
It's expecting a https, and it's no longer there.
I messed around with it a bit, and I think all you have to do to make it work is replace that line with a regular expression that makes the http(s) bit optional.
This probably isn't an optimal regex - if anyone better at regexes than myself wants to make it a little more elegant, go ahead.
posted by zamboni at 8:01 AM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
//fanfare.metafilter.cominstead of
https://fanfare.metafilter.comWhen Mefiquote tries to grab the username, it looks for 'https://*.metafilter.com' at the beginning of the URL:
var path = url.replace(/https?:\/\/([^\/]*\.)?metafilter.com/, '');It's expecting a https, and it's no longer there.
I messed around with it a bit, and I think all you have to do to make it work is replace that line with a regular expression that makes the http(s) bit optional.
var path = url.replace(/(https:|http:)?\/\/([^\/]*\.)?metafilter.com/, '');This probably isn't an optimal regex - if anyone better at regexes than myself wants to make it a little more elegant, go ahead.
posted by zamboni at 8:01 AM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
And looking back at previous Mefiquote threads, I see pb's kinda already on top of this, although I think his regex fixes FanFare, but breaks the other subsites that are still using non-relative protocol URLs.
posted by zamboni at 8:18 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by zamboni at 8:18 AM on May 23, 2014
Looks like that worked, zamboni, thanks much.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:52 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by Chrysostom at 8:52 AM on May 23, 2014
so while i was all hopped up on arthritis meds last night i apparently edited the comment divider script to change all the comment dividers across the site to hot pink
why didn't anyone stop me
posted by elizardbits at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
why didn't anyone stop me
posted by elizardbits at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
scripts.metafilter.com!
Make it happen! Like pastebin meets userscripts.org meets "Dr. Theopolus" from Buck Rogers, as this is Metafilter and Disco-Era television sci-fi is how we roll.
Lets see the fuckers at Teh Goobles downrank that action.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:24 AM on May 23, 2014 [6 favorites]
Make it happen! Like pastebin meets userscripts.org meets "Dr. Theopolus" from Buck Rogers, as this is Metafilter and Disco-Era television sci-fi is how we roll.
Lets see the fuckers at Teh Goobles downrank that action.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:24 AM on May 23, 2014 [6 favorites]
Does anyone who has looked into the various us.o alternatives have an opinion on where we should move our scripts to?
I mean, in the immediate sense - the Metafilter wiki sounds like it might be a good, but I get the impression that it would first have to be set up to host them (or at least that it would be good to first set them up to host them).
posted by Flunkie at 11:43 AM on May 23, 2014
I mean, in the immediate sense - the Metafilter wiki sounds like it might be a good, but I get the impression that it would first have to be set up to host them (or at least that it would be good to first set them up to host them).
posted by Flunkie at 11:43 AM on May 23, 2014
It seems like any wiki-style "anyone can edit" thing would be extremely risky, since user scripts only really work if you trust the author, or vet the scripts before installing them.
posted by smackfu at 11:49 AM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by smackfu at 11:49 AM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
A github repository sounds really cool, but I'm at a loss for how commit rights would be handled.
posted by cj_ at 12:33 PM on May 23, 2014
posted by cj_ at 12:33 PM on May 23, 2014
Hey all, this is the wiki host. While the wiki can (probably) hold scripts, I'm not sure the workflow for uploading scripts or installing them is there. Would some web-accessible Github-like site on the server help?
posted by Pronoiac at 12:37 PM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Pronoiac at 12:37 PM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
And not to be all "this is why we can't have nice things," but hosting user-submitted Javascript opens up security problems across the domain, doesn't it?
posted by Pronoiac at 1:03 PM on May 23, 2014
posted by Pronoiac at 1:03 PM on May 23, 2014
How about if the folks that wrote the scripts put them on their github pages, and linked them in this thread?
We need a userscript bat signal.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:46 PM on May 23, 2014
We need a userscript bat signal.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:46 PM on May 23, 2014
boo_radley, thanks for this post, and Rhaomi, thanks for the explanation. I found out about the port 8080 thing on Tuesday and was trying to figure out where to put my little MeFi greasemonkey scripts.
I found that greasyfork.org (one of the alternate sites listed in the second link of this post) has an import tool to grab scripts from userscripts.org, so I tried it; the tool copied over the scripts' code correctly (you have to verify ownership of of your userscripts.org account first by adding a link to your greasyfork.org profile on your userscripts.org profile). The import process only covers the script code itself, so any additional html/text descriptions on the userscripts pages themselves need to be copy/pasted over. I also found that image paths need to be accessible via https in order to be displayed in the Description sections on greasyfork script pages.
So, I'm not sure if greasyfork is the best place to host these right now, but I'm willing to give it a go...it supports versioning, and I didn't have any problems updating the scripts from its UI.
In any case, for anyone interested, here are the new links for the comment hedgehog, Recent Activity rainbows, and inline video fishy icon greasemonkey scripts. If a better (or MeFi-specific) solution comes along, I'd certainly be interested in adding the scripts there, too.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 10:47 PM on May 23, 2014
I found that greasyfork.org (one of the alternate sites listed in the second link of this post) has an import tool to grab scripts from userscripts.org, so I tried it; the tool copied over the scripts' code correctly (you have to verify ownership of of your userscripts.org account first by adding a link to your greasyfork.org profile on your userscripts.org profile). The import process only covers the script code itself, so any additional html/text descriptions on the userscripts pages themselves need to be copy/pasted over. I also found that image paths need to be accessible via https in order to be displayed in the Description sections on greasyfork script pages.
So, I'm not sure if greasyfork is the best place to host these right now, but I'm willing to give it a go...it supports versioning, and I didn't have any problems updating the scripts from its UI.
In any case, for anyone interested, here are the new links for the comment hedgehog, Recent Activity rainbows, and inline video fishy icon greasemonkey scripts. If a better (or MeFi-specific) solution comes along, I'd certainly be interested in adding the scripts there, too.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 10:47 PM on May 23, 2014
Recent Activity Rainbows, as well as the narwhal/unicorn buttons, make me so sad that Safari on iPad can't do Greasemonkey.
posted by IndigoRain at 12:40 AM on May 24, 2014
posted by IndigoRain at 12:40 AM on May 24, 2014
If your device is jailbroken, you can buy Userscripts Loader from Cydia ($2.99) and use scripts like on a desktop. It's super cool.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:48 AM on May 24, 2014
posted by Rhaomi at 12:48 AM on May 24, 2014
It would probably best to have these scripts on github, yes, where bugs can be reported etc., but that might be a pain for non-coders. So maybe a directory of some sort, more palatable to less technical users, but backed by/linking to github repos?
posted by jjwiseman at 10:56 AM on May 24, 2014
posted by jjwiseman at 10:56 AM on May 24, 2014
I have now moved mine to Greasy Fork too, and I will shamelessly take this opportunity for self-promotion:And a couple more that you probably don't want to install:
- Embiggen the Smallest Metafilter: Mouse over small text to embiggen it.
- Jessamyn's Star: Bring back Jessamyn's star. Screenshot.
- Metafilter Comment Box Logout: Add a "logout" link to the right of your username above the comment box. Screenshot.
- Metalinks: A sidebar of links collected from the current page's comments. Screenshot.
- Subdue Metafilter Titles: Makes the titles on the main pages less obtrusive (in my opinion). Screenshot.
- Enhance Metafilter Titles: The yin to Subdue Metafilter Titles' yang. Warning #1: If you have both installed, I think only one will work; disable or uninstall the one you don't want. Warning #2: You don't want this one.
- Hide That Thread: Hides a particular thread from Ask Metafilter's list. No, literally: one specific thread. You don't even have a choice which one.
Oh, and: Any chance of getting Greasy Fork added to the "Also on" list in our profiles? Userscripts is there.
posted by Flunkie at 1:30 PM on May 24, 2014
posted by Flunkie at 1:30 PM on May 24, 2014
My one small self-promotion (now on greasyfork):
MeFi Nope! -- adds a "nope" link to each post on the blue. Click it and the post goes away (and is replaced with an "unnope" link). Great for hiding things that you know you really don't want to click on ever ever ever.
posted by rouftop at 11:47 PM on May 27, 2014
MeFi Nope! -- adds a "nope" link to each post on the blue. Click it and the post goes away (and is replaced with an "unnope" link). Great for hiding things that you know you really don't want to click on ever ever ever.
posted by rouftop at 11:47 PM on May 27, 2014
FWIW, the fix suggested by zamboni above seems to work great and is easy to implement for even a non-savvy user in Firefox. Open your add-ons manager, select "Options" for Mefiquote, then click "Edit this User Script". The line you need to replace is line 74. Save and then restart Firefox.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:25 AM on May 28, 2014
posted by Rock Steady at 7:25 AM on May 28, 2014
I just recently had to reinstall Firefox and lost all my MeFi userscripts. The new link to the 8080 port on userscripts.org just throws errors all over the place. A new place to host all the MetaFilter related scripts (other than this thread, although what's here has been a huge help so far) would be fabulous.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:10 AM on May 28, 2014
posted by iamkimiam at 8:10 AM on May 28, 2014
And it looks like userscripts is just dead now.
posted by boo_radley at 8:16 PM on June 9, 2014
posted by boo_radley at 8:16 PM on June 9, 2014
Nuts. The Internet Archive has a decent backup, I think, but search won't work there. I've been thinking about how to make a better backup, and I'll work on it.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:41 PM on June 9, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Pronoiac at 10:41 PM on June 9, 2014 [2 favorites]
There's now a static copy at userscripts-mirror.org - search and tags are currently broken.
posted by Pronoiac at 12:45 AM on June 10, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Pronoiac at 12:45 AM on June 10, 2014 [4 favorites]
If a google search gives you a userscripts.org link to the script you want, you can plug it into the wayback machine. I just was able to download Netflix Queue Sorter at http://web.archive.org/web/20140403052747/http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/35183
posted by QuakerMel at 4:14 PM on June 10, 2014
posted by QuakerMel at 4:14 PM on June 10, 2014
Looks like Google Chrome just disabled all of my extensions that aren't officially from the Chrome Web Store. I really don't want to move to Firefox, but I miss the MeFi extensions already. Installing them again isn't working.
From a quick search, it looks like this is something Google implemented with Chrome a few months ago, so it's not just me.
If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them.
posted by aabbbiee at 7:12 AM on June 11, 2014
From a quick search, it looks like this is something Google implemented with Chrome a few months ago, so it's not just me.
If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them.
posted by aabbbiee at 7:12 AM on June 11, 2014
aabbbiee: If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them.
I binged it.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:21 AM on June 11, 2014
I binged it.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:21 AM on June 11, 2014
aabbbiee: "Looks like Google Chrome just disabled all of my extensions that aren't officially from the Chrome Web Store. I really don't want to move to Firefox, but I miss the MeFi extensions already. Installing them again isn't working.
From a quick search, it looks like this is something Google implemented with Chrome a few months ago, so it's not just me.
If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them."
There's an extension named Tamperfox that'll let you install userscripts.
posted by boo_radley at 7:57 AM on June 11, 2014
From a quick search, it looks like this is something Google implemented with Chrome a few months ago, so it's not just me.
If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them."
There's an extension named Tamperfox that'll let you install userscripts.
posted by boo_radley at 7:57 AM on June 11, 2014
I'm moving to firefox right this very minute!
Can anyone point me to where Metafilter MultiFavorited Multiwidth by Deathalicious might be hosted? And Threadwin?
Cheers!
posted by rebent at 9:12 AM on June 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Can anyone point me to where Metafilter MultiFavorited Multiwidth by Deathalicious might be hosted? And Threadwin?
Cheers!
posted by rebent at 9:12 AM on June 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
That Chrome change is nuts. It's fine to throw up a bunch of warnings, and require explicit permission, but to flat out forbid non-Web Store extensions?
posted by Chrysostom at 9:13 AM on June 11, 2014
posted by Chrysostom at 9:13 AM on June 11, 2014
I am shocked, Shocked!, by how up-to-date and clean firefox is looking. aabbiee and anyone else on the fence, tots give it a look.
posted by rebent at 9:15 AM on June 11, 2014
posted by rebent at 9:15 AM on June 11, 2014
Rock Steady, the comments on that are from 2012, so the info is old. I could not get Chrome to reinstall the extensions and Chrome did not recognize the flag that I added.
But hooray for Tampermonkey, which does install userscripts! The MeFi Wiki still lists the userscripts.org addresses, so I was able to pull those individually from the Internet Archive and they installed. The disabled extensions are still listed in my Chrome installation, but Tampermonkey could not fix them and re-enable them.
posted by aabbbiee at 10:26 AM on June 11, 2014
But hooray for Tampermonkey, which does install userscripts! The MeFi Wiki still lists the userscripts.org addresses, so I was able to pull those individually from the Internet Archive and they installed. The disabled extensions are still listed in my Chrome installation, but Tampermonkey could not fix them and re-enable them.
posted by aabbbiee at 10:26 AM on June 11, 2014
just to follow up on my own comment:
multifavorited from the wayback machine (looks like Threadwin is not up archived)
posted by rebent at 10:43 AM on June 11, 2014
multifavorited from the wayback machine (looks like Threadwin is not up archived)
posted by rebent at 10:43 AM on June 11, 2014
Rock Steady, the comments on that are from 2012, so the info is old. I could not get Chrome to reinstall the extensions and Chrome did not recognize the flag that I added.
Oh, hmm. I have been able to get Chrome to load unofficial extensions, and I could have sworn those were the directions I followed.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:39 AM on June 11, 2014
Oh, hmm. I have been able to get Chrome to load unofficial extensions, and I could have sworn those were the directions I followed.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:39 AM on June 11, 2014
Rock Steady, they are still in the process of rolling out the new policy. So while that method of installing worked even a few days ago for me, it's now completely ineffective unless I switch to a dev build of the browser.
posted by specialagentwebb at 5:21 PM on June 11, 2014
posted by specialagentwebb at 5:21 PM on June 11, 2014
I got
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:23 PM on June 12, 2014
Whoops! There was a server error!when I tried to find a script.
The error has been logged to the database; you can complain in the site forum or email the admins.
[Monkey playing with cat]
Sorry, the monkey that normally runs the site is busy playing with a cat.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:23 PM on June 12, 2014
I seemed to have lost the Metafilter MultiFavorited Multiwidth extension due to Chrome's new policy. If anyone has any suggestions other than moving back to FF, do tell. Thanks.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 8:55 AM on June 13, 2014
posted by chrono_rabbit at 8:55 AM on June 13, 2014
Chrome's extensions live somewhere within your appdata directory (on windows, IDK about mac or linux). You should be able to root around in it to find your extension. I encourage you to save it and post it somewhere.
posted by boo_radley at 10:02 AM on June 16, 2014
posted by boo_radley at 10:02 AM on June 16, 2014
I made this comment a while back with direct links to my favorite user scripts. Just right-click each one that you want, select "copy URL" or "copy link location" and paste it into your address bar. Then change the "userscripts.org" part to "userscripts.org:8080" (without the quotes.) That will take you directly to the script install page (as long as userscripts lasts.)
Here are the scripts I have listed:
Mefi deleted posts
Mefiquote
MeFi Navigator
MetaFilter Scroll Tag
MeFi comment numbering
That comment has some other things that I've found useful in my Metafilter travels.
Hope that helps someone.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:01 PM on June 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
Here are the scripts I have listed:
Mefi deleted posts
Mefiquote
MeFi Navigator
MetaFilter Scroll Tag
MeFi comment numbering
That comment has some other things that I've found useful in my Metafilter travels.
Hope that helps someone.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:01 PM on June 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
If there's a good easy way to host a copy of mefi-specific scripts on the wiki, that seems like a great idea, yeah.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:35 AM on May 22, 2014