diff --git a/plugins/down.py b/plugins/down.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7293051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/down.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import urllib2
+
+from util import hook
+
+@hook.command
+def down(inp):
+    '''.down <url> -- checks to see if the site is down'''
+    inp = inp.strip()
+
+    if not inp:
+        return down.__doc__
+
+    if 'http://' not in inp:
+        inp = 'http://' + inp
+
+    # http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2006-December/589854.html
+    try:
+        request = urllib2.Request(inp)
+        request.get_method = lambda: "HEAD"
+        http_file = urllib2.urlopen(request, timeout=10)
+        head = http_file.headers
+        return 'it seems to be up'
+    except urllib2.URLError:
+        return 'it seems to be down'
diff --git a/plugins/downforeveryoneorjustme.py b/plugins/downforeveryoneorjustme.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 662df54..0000000
--- a/plugins/downforeveryoneorjustme.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-from lxml import html
-from util import hook
-import urllib
-
-@hook.command
-def down(inp):
-    '''.down <url> -- checks http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com to see if the site is down'''
-
-    url = 'http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/' + urllib.quote(inp.strip(), safe='')
-    page = html.parse(url)
-    status = page.xpath("//title")[0].text_content()
-
-    return status
-
-#local testing
-#print down("googlelakj.com")
\ No newline at end of file