Userscripts.org down for good? Here are alternatives
Userscripts.org has been down for more than three days as of today. In case you did not know, it is a popular directory for so-called userscripts which you can install in web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome to add, change or remove functionality from websites.
Even though its quality has deteriorated in recent time, it is still the go-to website for userscripts for many Internet users.
Especially spam and malicious script were pushed to the website regularly, and since it did not take much to get promoted on the frontpage, often ended up being installed by users who visited the website.
The userscripts.org team has not posted any information why the site is not available, which means that it could be anything from a denial of service attack over successful hacks to hardware errors or the shut down of the site.
Several issues are associated with the downtime. For one, there is no mirror of the site. If it is really gone, then a lot of userscripts that were only hosted on it are gone forever.
Update: It seems possible to access the site using this address: http://userscripts.org:8080/
Update 2: The site appears completely down. Someone set up a mirror site (userscripts-mirror.org) that you can access.
There are however alternative sites available that provide you with access to scripts. None is as big as the Userscripts.org website though which means that the selection of scripts is limited in comparison.
On the other hand, those sites appear to be maintained actively which means that you will not run into spam related issues on them, at least not for now.
Userscripts.org Alternatives
I have reviewed GreasyFork before here on Ghacks Technology News and suggest you read the extensive review here if you have the time.
The site is managed by the creator of the popular userstyles.org website. It has been created recently but features a good selection of scripts already.
What I like is that you can sort scripts by domain using the interface, and that it supports core features like code reviews, a version history and feedback option.
A couple of things are missing. If you want to read feedback, you need to go to another page as it is not displayed directly on the script's profile page.
Besides GreasyFork, there is also OpenUserJS.org which features just a handful of scripts currently. The script directory seems to be brand new as well which may explain why the site does not list lots of scripts right now.
Still, if you cannot find the script you are looking for on GreasyFork, you may want to give this one a try as it may have it listed.
A third and final option that you have is to search for userscripts on search engines such as Google or Startpage. Combine a site name or feature you are looking for with .user.js to find indexed scripts.
Please note that this will also list other types of pages, for instance those discussing userscripts. On another note, it is also important to be careful when it comes to downloading scripts from third-party repositories. It is a good idea to go through the code before you install any script using this method.
Closing Words
There is no 100% alternative to userscripts.org at the time of writing. If the site comes back up, someone should consider mirroring all the scripts that it is hosting just for the case that it will go down again in the future. A program like Httrack can do so.
The Internet Archive has some pages.
http://web.archive.org/web/20*/userscripts.org
True that the Internet Archive has some pages, but downloading scripts calls userscripts.org, unavailable. Still it is possible to view some scripts’ sources, copy and create the script, I guess (haven’t tried).
About usercripts.org, it has always been so deeply incorrect with users, accepting spam, rotten scripts, even accepting scripts with exactly the same names as ones already available, letting rotten scripts (there were soooo many) trick (new) users.
Whatever the problem, userscripts.org’s team lacks the minimum of politeness and respect towards the users, that is at least informing of what is going on. The site was an alibaba cavern, and many of us are quite upset. Nothing, not one word. Let them go to hell.
GreasyFork is indeed the new place to go, and it is adding new scripts daily. Yet, it’ll take time to find what we had found in hell, unless and I hope so, script authors switch to GreasyFork on the go.
> it has always been so deeply incorrect with users, accepting spam, rotten scripts, even accepting scripts with exactly the same names as ones already available, letting rotten scripts (there were soooo many) trick (new) users.
> userscripts.org’s team lacks the minimum of politeness and respect towards the users
Userscript’s team, as you call it, was/is constituted by a single person who was working for free all the time to mantain the biggest script directory on the web. In some periods, he also had to deal with more important things like… well *real life* and also some health probles. By the way, he by no means forced you to use his website.
If you are calling for a single person to manually review each submitted script, well you should move to a city called Utopia. Spam is sometimes a problem even on websites with tens or hundreds of full-time employee, but if you have a perfect recipe to stop it I am sure the webmaster would be very happy, so you should contact him immediately.
Next time you think about randomly blaming a person who runs a website as a volunteer project, think twice before posting.
@ Lazza, I couldn’t reply to you but wanted to demonstrate how much of a complete idiot you are. It’s the sole webmaster’s responsibility to either recruit other trustworthy volunteers, or take the site down, if it’s not going to be maintained. Kinda like how the captain of a ship does not leave the ship until everyone is safe first. There’s a code that he broke, he abandoned a very popular site where thousands relied on him. IMO, this should tarnish his record and if I were an employer, I would tell him to get bent.
It’s extremely easy to get rid of the spam, all one needs to do is incorporate a captcha per new submission. Then the automated spam bots would disappear over night. Don’t talk as if you know how to run a website when you’re obviously too clueless.
> how much of a complete idiot you are
When you don’t have any point, play the ad hominem card. Well done, LOL.
> It’s the sole webmaster’s responsibility to either recruit other trustworthy volunteers, or take the site down
He took the site down and you complained exactly for that reason.
> It’s extremely easy to get rid of the spam, all one needs to do is incorporate a captcha per new submission
You seem to know nothing about the fact that captchas are not an effective way to block spam. They can of course deter some spammers but only the dumbest ones. I run myself a website with a combination of reCaptcha and 4 different blocklists, but still some bots can circumvent this. There is no perfect solution.
Of course, you didn’t follow a single lecture of an AI class, but at least reading Wikipedia should help you a bit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA If you don’t know basic concepts about neural networks then I guess you don’t really realize how much captchas can be circumvented.
They have all of them I downloaded the entire site and I was in the process of cleaning them up but I just modified my scam script for IA because they have everything except removed links pages.
Google the script you want then /scripts/review/166494 replace the number FYI the entire site is in order starting at /scripts/review/1
I have a bandwidth cap or else I would volunteer to download the site myself. I truly hope someone rises up to mirror the website.
yeah it says that it’s been accessible by some at userscripts.org:8080- I can’t get access but I pray that whoever did was smart enough to make a mirror of it….but prolly not
You can still grab the scripts there by adding searching the cached version of the pages. Once you find the cached version of the script you want, you can manually add the script via your script extension options and save a local copy in notepad. That’s what I’ve been doing with my favorite scripts in case this downtime is longterm.
userscripts.org just loaded fine for me.
Can you ask the Archiveteam to save Userscripts.org?
I hope the team behind Greasemonkey will recognize Greasy Fork as an alternative source for user scripts.
GreaseMonkey already does and gives directions on how to download scripts from a secure server. All you have to do is go to the GreaseMonkey site, https://greasespot.net/, read the updates and wiki. They’ve been pushing the Greasy Fork every since it opened.
I’m hoping Userscripts.org comes back soon. I’ve been active on that site for 7+ years. It’d be sad to see it end (and so unceremoniously at that).
Hope its down for some serious scrubbing.
And hope they add some screening mechanism too (if possible).
In the meantime it would be good if they say something about the downtime via Facebook or Twitter.
http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/userscripts.org.html
nooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we userscripts back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://userscripts.org:8080/
Interesting. So what is the problem with the site?
Why Userscripts is working fine with ” :8080 ” ?
My personal best guess: the website author decided to put down the site to do some spam cleaning and at the same time stopping any user to add more content to the website. Since most spammers use automated scripts that target the standard 80 port he didn’t bother of blocking the 8080 port.
Of course this is just my speculation, but it seems to make sense.
Ok, now that this is working. Can someone please download and mirror the entire site? I don’t care if the author took it down or not, I don’t trust him anymore and would really like to get away from that Jesse guy. We need to mirror it on another domain and implement anti spam measures.
Thank you!
Yeah and people are still posting scripts at that address. Site is not really down.
The alternatives have almost nothing in comparison to userscripts. Suggest that they mirror the site and actively monitor scripts with help of users.
I gave up on using userscripts a while back, as I use Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension kept on having memory leak problems. Has that been definitively fixed?
Yes that was fixed a long time ago. It’s like Chrome, except with more powerful addons. Give it a full update, update the addons, disable crapware, clear temp files, and give it another go!
I meant that the Greasemonkey extension specifically — not Firefox itself — had repeated problems with memory leaks, extension update after extension update.
MONKEYGUTS and YOUR CHANCE TO OWN USERSCRIPT.ORG:
Another script site that is literally in it’s first days of existence, is http://monkeyguts.com. In fact, today (May 10th) appears to be it’s first day with scripts (2 scripts and 3 downloads). Hey, even userscripts.org I’m sure had only two scripts at one point.
Visiting the comments section of the greasemonkey install page for mozilla you can find links that clear up the mystery of what’s going on with userscripts.org. In fact, you could be the next owner of userscripts if you really really really want it.
Here are the two important links I found and a quick summary of what you’ll find at the other end of the hyperlink.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1574840
This is a post titled “passing the torch on userscripts.org” … which means the owner is looking for someone to take over the site and breath life back into it. He lists a number of serious issues that need to be addressed and he just doesn’t have the energy to do it anymore. If you are up for the challenge (not just running the site, there are legal issues and other not-so-fun problems to deal with) there is info on how to get in touch and make an inquiry.
https://twitter.com/userscripts
The twitter account for userscripts has lots of feedback n such from users.
Hope all that helps.
RICK
The Hacker News link is nearly four years old.
Yes, because what we really need is yet another user scripts repository. At least Jason Barnable admitted that he decided to create Greasy Fork because he felt the development of OpenUserJS.org wasn’t happening fast.
I checked out that link you provided. The last people who posted saying that they were interested in taking over the project posted over 1300 days ago. I don’t know if that number is incorrect or not. Basically that means it was posted over 3 years ago.
The number is correct. I was there.
Thank you!
文科 May 10, 2014 at 5:55 pm #
http://userscripts.org:8080/
Thanks for mentioning monkeyguts.com, Rick — I created it! :) I was the author of the Userscripts.org Scam Filter that gHacks reviewed a little while ago (https://www.ghacks.net/2013/04/16/userscripts-org-scam-filter-hides-scam-scripts-automatically) — and now I’m trying to get this new script site going. Hopefully word’ll spread amongst script authors.
MonkeyGuts looks good.It is better than Greasy Fork and OpenUserJS.
OpenUserJS.org is currently in the process of a Bootstrap.js makeover.
oh ok then, perfect…I just checked out this post that was provided: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1574840
It says the last person who posted to the page saying they were interested in taking over the project posted over 3 years ago. Is that number correct. 1300 + days? If so, please get on with it already!
Yes, the number is correct. I was there 1300 days ago (LOTR reference): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628657
Jesse never provided us with a real response. He didn’t open source the site and we have no idea who “maintains” it today.
FYI, ArchiveTeam has started archiving Userscripts.org:8080 via ArchiveBot
You can see the progress here: http://archivebot.at.ninjawedding.org:4567/ (scroll down)
Also discussion on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/userscripts/comments/255zy8/userscriptsorg_down_for_good_here_are_alternatives/
That’s good news.
Interestingly I can’t access userscripts.org even using the 8080 port. =( Also http://archivebot.at.ninjawedding.org:4567/ isn’t working. I hope the site will be back, since I urgently need updates for some scripts.
userscripts.org:8080 works on my mobile using Opera, but not at the office. Probably my company’s proxy or something.
Made an complete dump already containing the needed data (title/description/summary/rating) in an easy text DB format with JS files packed separately (self made scraper), hoping userscripts.org will make an comeback as the alternatives seem pretty limited with content so far and much too divided
Why not work together and make it share scripts among sites (API with code on github perhaps)?
This way you get more reviewers and eliminate the spam mess userscripts was for some time now, will put the dump online if userscripts.org goes down for good.
Netty05 — great idea!
Mind sharing how you went about doing that (like the self-made scraper)? I’ve been wanting to do this myself to help archive Userscripts, but I’ve just been looking at full-fledged programs that archive websites automatically. I’d love to learn how you went about making something like this yourself!
Thanks,
C
@Netty05
Nice work Netty05! Would you be so kind to made that available for everyone, maybe via torrent, so it can be shared more easily? Thanks!
Agreed, Matias. It would be nice to get this backup in the hands of as many people as possible so that our chances of getting the site back up in completion are good for anyone with the money and time to do so.
Hi guys!
If you seek for userscripts replacement, take a look at my project Taist – it’s actually “Userscripts on steroids”, allowing you to solve many tasks much easier than with Userscripts and use them for business needs even in non-technical teams.
Start from website itself: http://www.tai.st, or jump directly to docs and examples: http://docs.tai.st
It appears Userscripts is down for the count :/
Anyone else able to get in? I’m kicking myself now for not better backing things up while it was up with the :8080 trick.
It seems that userscripts.org:8080 is down for the count, but people can use http://userscripts-mirror.org
I announced this over on reddit here: http://redd.it/27gw9z
Excellent work!
Thanks Martin! Is it OK to request that you include this info in the main article?
Done
Wow! Whoever did this is a hero! Thanks!
Userscripts is down since many months, the others doesn’t have the Absterge, I need that script, also, others doesn’t have search, etc.
I will be adding search in the near-ish future to userscripts-mirror.org, but in the mean time you can search Google for terms like `userscript some key words` (in your case: userscript Absterge). Then search within the found pages for appropriate links to userscripts.org. When you find a relevant link, copy/paste/edit the URL to replace “userscripts.org” with “userscripts-mirror.org”.
I just wanted to say thank you for mirroring userscripts. This mirror is going to be so helpful for me. I’m learning how to make scripts myself and userscripts was a wealth of knowledge when trying to learn cause and effect in programming. It’s irreplaceable. Thank you for this.
userscript is still down for me …
UserScripts is still accessible on port 8080 as per Update 1: http://userscripts.org:8080/
Userscript.org is also working for me very fine…. Yeah its little bit slow but still working…So don’t worry about it…
There seems to be a mirror at http://userscripts-mirror.org/ – if you install http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/487275.html mostly everything might be working like before.
Nice idea! Too bad that the script isn’t working. Try yourself: https://www.google.com/search?name=f&hl=en&q=userscripts
The first link (to http://userscripts.org:8080/) isn’t modified at all.
It doesn’t modify the port 8080 links. It only modifies normal links. There have been many years of history of people creating links to scripts on userscripts.org and only a tiny fraction of existing links, those created most recently, would point to port 8080.
Thanks for clarification. Anyway I think it would be best if the script would modify any link to userscripts.org no matter which port the link is pointing at.
I’m cloning the data from userscripts.org to this site: http://www.webextender.net/
For now you can view, search and install the script. The remaining script and feature will be added later.
You guys are awesome, really! :-)
Why duplicate the efforts of userscripts-mirror?
Possibly to have a 2nd back-up in case suddenly anyone loses interest in maintaining a website! :P
Many thanks, excellent work :)
@ Lazza, this new clone has the advantage of a working search option.
«this new clone has the advantage of a working search option»
The “old clone” search option is on its way, as far as I understand from their website. Mine was not a critique, I was just wondering why there is always the need of so much fragmentation and forking in the FLOSS world. I would personally have helped the owner of userscripts-mirror instead of making a new mirror. :) This is my opinion, but it seems to me that it would’ve been cheaper and easier to help the mirror than fork another one.
Hi Lazza,
I’m still working to write the module to help the owner can update and manager their script. It will be finish soon.
Thank You,
DuongTC
Script owner is now can update/create new script on http://webextender.net.
If you are a script owner or you know any one of them, please inform them to email me at account (at) webextender.net by the registered email on Userscripts.org, I’ll send back the login info.
Thanks,
Truong thanks for the work. You are the man:)
nothing has been done with webextender, looked on it a few times
Truong you’re a star, much appreciated, excellent job.
http://www.iswebsitedownnow.com/d/userscripts.org check out it’s status;)
monkeyguts has gone, website needs renewing
http://www.iswebsitedownnow.com/d/userscripts.org
userscripts just has old stuff on it,
userscripts.org is down up to now 2018-08-15 from that day