[Greasemonkey] Greasemonkeyed.com, userscript.org, forums, source code, and the future of our community

[Jesse Andrews]

Since Britt is behind me actually working, I'll answer these. :)

> Since US.O tracks the original script location, I'd rather have it
> update itself. Why do I have to upload a script to my server and then
> log in to US.O and update it there, too?

You shouldn't have to, but the way it is implimented you need to.

> In fact, why is US.O even "hosting" scripts at all for scripts that
> have known hosts? If the script is on a host, shouldn't it just
> forward users to that host for installing the script?

Because many servers were going down all the time.  And to provide
usage stats (which isn't exposed yet, but will be).  Also if/when we
move to providing "stamps of non-evilness" to scripts, it will be
important that the script that is installed is the version checked.

> Caching the script is a great idea for when the original host ever
> goes down but I don't see why the cached (potentially out-of-date)
> copy needs to be the one most users install (because they're more
> likely to click on the big title as opposed to the smaller "Original
> Source Location" link).
>
> A link that says something like
> "the-original-host-is-down-please-let-me-install-the-last-known-version-of-this-script"
> would be very useful.
>
> As would metadata in the script describing the version number, release
> date, etc. I know this has been discussed to death on this list but
> that discussion didn't seem to end up anywhere. Maybe if US.O just
> goes and implements something, we can all follow its lead and be
> happy.

I am VERY open to all suggestions.  We don't want to make a decision
in private and piss off everyone.  We want to try to avoid the future
where someone installs a script and it is "evil".  How best to do this
is debatable.

Britt & I coded the site, but it is a community resource (in fact the
site itself is open source, though I think SVN is down right now on
that server), so if the community thinks hosting is bad, it will be
gone.

I've been contacted by several people thanking for hosting, and one
guy was REALLY pissed about hosting and deleted all his scripts from
US.O.

Jesse