Your favourite User Scripts for MusicBrainz?! (so that they can be used while redesigning!)

Hello :slight_smile: As you know, we are in the phase of redesigning MusicBrainz. A lot of you, have been using user scripts to customize it. It would be nice to know some of the functionalities they serve and include them in the features in the upcoming redesign.

Comment below and let us know. It would also be nice, if you could mention what it does and a screenshot of how your interface looks to you because of it. Gives us more reference points to work with.

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I recommend that you install and try the scripts yourself, because some of them are quite complex and hard to explain. I only took screenshots of the scripts that I have modified or made myself. The descriptions describes what I mainly use the scripts for.

mb. Mass Merge Recordings: Mass merge recordings from the release page.
mb. Merge Helpor 2: Remove entities from the merge page + merge into the oldest mbid.
mb. Power vote: Vote on all edits on the same page with just 1 click (currently requires up to 25 clicks).
mb. Inline track artist: Displays the track artist on the recording page (MB currently only displays the release artist).
mb. Funkey Illustrated Records: Displays cover art. I use a modified version that only displays the big covers:


Set recording comments for a release: Add more than one recording disambiguation comment at the same time, from the release page.
Compare Acoustids easier!: My own script. Adds acoustids to more pages:

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Here are the one I have in Tampermonkey currently,

I’d say the ones I tend to use the most are…

Various import scripts (mainly bandcamp, itunes, discogs)
Musicbrainz DiscIds Detector
Set recording comments for a release
Show discid count
Show alias count
ALL LINKS
INLINE STUFF
MASS MERGE RECORDINGS
SUPER MIND CONTROL Ⅱ X TURBO

Colbydray made a nice list that I bookmarked for scripts

EDIT: almost forgot… Integrated HIDE RATINGS would be awesome!

3 Likes

mb. Funkey Illustrated Records:
Already mentioned, displays cover art, this should really be part of the UI.

MusicBrainz: Batch-add “performance of” relationships:
Links all checked recordings on the recording page to the matching work of the same artist.
I use this script very often, it really helps to get most recordings linked to their works.

MusicBrainz: Set recording comments from a release:
Very useful for any live release.

MusicBrainz edit: Create entity or fill data from wikidata / VIAF / ISNI:
Great for adding new artists, if the data exists.

MusicBrainz: Display sort button on table columns:
I use this mostly on Work-entities, because I want the recordings of a work to be sorted by artist.

MusicBrainz: Replace recording artists from a Release page:
Replaces recording artists with performers. Very useful for classical editors.

mb. Mass Merge Recordings:
Merges all checked recordings at the same position from two releases.

Extra MusicBrainz/AcoustID Integration:
Display Icon for all recordings/tracks with an AcoustID (has link to it).

All Import-scripts:
OK, the “Import into MusicBrainz”-Button on discogs, bandcamp etc. can’t be part of the MusicBrainz-UI,
but maybe there could be an import-function with a pasted URL…

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Mine:

Musicbrainz UI enhancements is a must.

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If we could build a comprehensive list of current working user scripts for MusicBrainz (those that actually run on the site, not on other sites), then we could allow everyone to vote on their maximum 2… not favourites but those that should be part of MB, modified to be streamlined.

[poll type=multiple max=2]
- script one
- script two, feature one
- script two, feature two
- script three
- etc.
[/poll]

Taken from:

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I have a simple one I wrote myself (not even a user script, just a user stylesheet): in the relationships editor, use text styles not just colors to show added/removed. I understand a lot of people hallucinate that red and green are distinct colors, but I assure you they’re not. Using italic for add, strikethrough for delete makes those two types of changes visually distinct for me (and anyone else who is red-green colorblind)

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I did not know that! This is fantastic news, is there somewhere I can read up on what’s being planned? I hope there is a nice balance between what powers users, regular contributors (like me) and end user music nerds (also me!) would want from the UI/UX. Super exciting stuff!!! :+1::nerd_face::notes::musical_note:

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These are the two I always use:

Funkey Illustrated Records:

INLINE STUFF:

In particular the ‘show acoustid’ button so that I can check if it’s worth me opening Picard and submitting something.

Both encourage me to edit things by showing ‘gaps’.

Oh, I almost forgot, this part of INLINE STUFF is literally the only reason I know about, or ever fix, issues with recording names:

funkey3

The red track has a discrepancy/ isn’t the same as the recording name, the recording name is displayed below it. This is useful for fixing mistakes and moving fixes to recordings, but also informative if different releases have legitimately different names for a track.

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Because @chhavi specifically mentioned that she’d like to include the functionalities of some of these scripts in the upcoming redesign, I’m only gonna focus on the features that I think are suitable for every user, including new and inexperienced editors. Besides, most of the scripts I’m using have already been covered.

Here is my complete list for reference (I think the last one is currently not working):

Here are the features that I think could be implemented so that everyone could take advantage of them (as I said earlier, even new and inexperienced editors):

mb. INLINE STUFF

  • displays how many cover arts does the release have and modifies the link to add CAA if there is none

caa
add-caa

mb. PENDING EDITS

  • if the entity has open edits, it displays a highlight on the “Open edits” button and shows the open edit count

pending-edits

MusicBrainz: Expand/collapse release groups

Honorable mention:

mb. MERGE HELPOR 2

  • indicates which entity has the oldest MBID, so no data will be lost after the merge

I decided to mention this userscript despite thinking the concept of MBID age would be complicated/confusing for new or inexperienced editors. The most important strength of this userscript is that it potentially prevents the loss of data. I remember when I was a new editor I merged some recordings and picked the target recording based on: a) most correct name and/or artist credit, b) most information attached to it, such as ISRC or relationships or c) consisted of the most tracks. I didn’t really pay attention to the MBID age, so it’s quite possible that some information could have been lost, because afaik the edits for the recordings with older age than the ones I had merged into can’t be viewed anymore. The most often case is the first one where people are merging entities into the newer MBID simply because the title or artist credit is correct on the newer entity instead of fixing the older MBID and merging it into that one. I think I even had to defend one of my edits simply because someone thought I was merging the “correct” recording into the “incorrect” recording while I was merging the newer MBID into the older MBID while also fixing the title and artist credit on the recording with the older MBID at the same time. Perhaps there could be a warning of some sort or even a guide how to fix the “incorrect” entity in these cases to preserve the entity with the older MBID. This is just some food for thought.

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So useful!!
Having to click to see if there’s pics than just the cover, or any images added at all, is not great.

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:warning: Sorry for this very egocentric post :warning:


I will only list the scripts that should be made available to everyone, not the scripts that I think should stay difficult to access, restricted to power editors, as potentially dangerous and cluttering or too much OCD oriented, like my other scripts or the brilliant‐cannot‐live‐without @Bitmap’s Fast cancel edits, @loujin’s wikidata scripts, and many others.

So sorry for being so selfish by mentioning 100% my scripts.
But it’s not so surprising as I have learnt user scripting (from @nikki, if I remember correctly) after waiting for such features that I was really missing so hard.
It was difficult to write those scripts for me but I would be so glad to have features like this and no more need to maintain the scripts.


:sparkling_heart: My ultimate must have feature is:

Indicators for collection items

A real need for me.

Highlight all things that are in your collection(s).

This way I could at last see what edition I have and have not when in a second hand shop as the feature would be globally visible, including on mobile, not only on my nerd PC.

My most recent screenshot (above) is the last one of that post but I unfortunately don’t own such a user script enabled mobile phone.

Above is a screenshot on PC (it really works and is useful in each and every pages that display any kinds of entities).

Collection highlighting of all entities is also so very useful when editing or reviewing edits, as you can see how it will.


:star2: My other bonus feature I’d like is:

To see record covers everywhere possible

It’s related to mb. FUNKEY ILLUSTRATED RECORDS (cf. vertical mb. COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTER mobile screenshot at the beginning of this post) but should be more streamlined like the mockup pictures I saw in MBS-9536 that actually look superb, million times better than the script!


Sorry another bonus and :bowing_man: sorry again one of mine:
When you want to move around some Cover Arts and you don’t see any images,
you always need mb. SHOW CAA COMMENTS IN REORDER PAGE.
This is so straightforward and simple fix.


Thanks everyone here, I always love reading user thoughts on our user scripts in general (not only mine).

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Ditto all of these. Mass Merge Recordings is the biggest game changer for me.

Set Recording Comments From Release Page needs some kind of safety feature if it’s going to be integrated into the main site. It’s way too easy to make a mess, as I discovered with my first time using it. One could say the same of Mass Merge Recordings, but at least those go into the voting queue, where the recording comments are applied automatically.

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(my turn for an egocentric post)

  • for browsing (and not editing):

I like to see tab headers with more information: mb. INLINE STUFF as mentioned by @culinko above, my own “Show discid/alias count” (screenshots)

Also I’d like to see acoustid/acousticbrainz/IRSC links on recordings (mb. INLINE STUFF, my own “Show acoustID/AcousticBrainz link” scripts)

And the ability to sort tables on each column (but it needs probably solving MBS-157, not my hacky “Make table columns sortable” script)

  • for editing:

“Mass Merge Recordings” would be very nice, in a dumbed-down version or limited to a power-user editing interface (I don’t remember if that is planned for the redesign)

My own “Propagate dates” inside the relation editor

Power Vote

Not keen about the “Replace recording artists from a Release page” or “wikidata/ISNI”, they seem too specific

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I will not list userscripts but instead features lacking from current MB i like to have thanks to userscripts:

  • mass vote, editors voting a lot can’t stand the basic MB interface
  • number of cover art images and discid in tab headers
  • search and replace in tracklist editor
  • mass merge (this one is mandatory for any advanced editor)
  • cover art display (we have all those cover art images available and they aren’t displayed by default… wtf)
  • acoustid display / mismatch detection (and i wish acoustid compare feature without going to acoustid website)
  • isrc year’s highlight
  • track vs recording titles (very needed to spot typos)
  • deploy to see all releases in a release group
  • table sorting
  • parse times in any text to set track durations in release editor (very useful)
  • retrieve data from trusted services and set them automatically (ie. from Wikipedia)

Most of those features are provided by userscripts listed above (mainly from Jesus, bitmap, loujin).

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We already have that in release page, don’t we?
At the top right corner of the track list, a text link.

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Oh yes, it was integrated years ago, forgot about this, removed from list.

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Apart from import scripts, Inline Stuff and Mass Merge Recordings are probably the most significant for me. Has Paste-a-Date already been merged into the MB codebase?

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This feature is phenomenal for advanced editors but I think I’d hide it from new or inexperienced editors.

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