news

• Header design contest: We've extended the deadline to submit original header designs to June 30th, so keep on posting to remixed. Images should be 900x90 pixels and should not violate copyright protections. Please incorporate the LiveJournal logo and menu template (you'll find them posted to the Profile page). The winner will be awarded 2,000 LJ Tokens. Finalists will receive 1,000 LJ Tokens. All other participants will get 500 LJ Tokens (only one award per user). We thank you for sharing your talent!
• Oh Canada: We're relieved happy to announce that Canadian users should be able to record voiceposts longer than 60 seconds. If you're a Canadian user who uses this feature, we hope you'll try it out and let us know in comments if you can record voiceposts longer than a minute. We're still working hard on this issue, and we hope to get this resolved for all of our international users.
• gulf_aid_now: We're always delighted when we hear about LiveJournal users joining together to use their powers for good. gulf_aid_now is currently hosting an auction to help clean up the devastating oil spill (LiveJournal has donated three annual paid accounts). If you know of other communities that are making a positive difference, please give us a holler in comments.
• +1: We've introduced a '+1' button on lj_photophile to help select photos for the weekly polls. We're eager to get your input on this new rating tool! Please comment on the latest photo poll to let us know what you think.

Blurb is offering LiveJournal users an exclusive, one-time discount on all purchases. While you can use this coupon to buy any of Blurb's wonderful publications, we highly recommend their LGBT collection. To take advantage of this special discount, please enter the appropriate code at checkout:

• For USD, enter LJRN16, for a $15.00 discount
• For GPB, enter LJRN16U, for a 10.00 discount
• For EUR, enter LJRN16E, for a 10.00 discount
• For CAD, enter LJRN16C, for a 15.00 discount
• For AUD, enter LJRN16A, for a 20.00 discount

• Gift Shop redesign: We've relaunched the Gift Shop to help you locate and purchase items more easily.
  


• LJ Tokens: We've introduced a flexible, new way to pay for LJ services in the Gift Shop! LJ Tokens can be used to make one-time purchases of paid account time, buy userpic add-ons, vgifts, storage, and more. LJ Tokens replace gift certificates and eliminate the need to use an entire gift certificate for a single purchase or lose the balance. Now you can use LJ Tokens to pay for what you want and save the rest for another day! Based on feedback from our beta testers, here are a few quick facts to keep in mind:
  
  • Conversion rates: One LJ Token is worth $0.01 USD (although you'll receive discounts for purchasing LJ Tokens in greater amounts). This means you can purchase a one-year paid account for 2,500 tokens (i.e., $25 USD). You can purchase tokens in the following increments: 3,000 tokens for $25 USD; 1,000 tokens for $9 USD; 500 tokens for $5 USD.
  
  
  • Invisible tokens: If you make a purchase in the LiveJournal Shop (say, for userpic add-ons or vgifts), you will only see LJ Tokens if you have enough tokens to cover the entire order. Otherwise, your token balance will not display at all. In this instance, you will either need to pay by another method or purchase more tokens before you complete the transaction.
  
  
  • Bye bye gift certificates, hello LJ Tokens: You can still use the gift certificates you already have, but you can now send your friends LJ Tokens in any amount you like. LJ Tokens can be pooled and redeemed at any time! If you have gift certificates that were bought for you as a gift, you can use them to purchase LJ Tokens. Sorry, but gift certificates that were given out for free or as part of a promotion cannot be converted to LJ Tokens.

• Homepage update: We've added a user activity panel on the right side of the homepage to help you view recent activity in your journal, including comments, messages, and friending.


• Rename Account: We've simplified the process for renaming your account so you no longer need to buy a rename token before you reinvent yourself. You can now rename your account as soon as your payment is credited. If you'd like to give a friend the ability to rename themselves, simply send them 1,500 LJ Tokens! (P.S. Don't worry, you can still use your existing rename tokens.)


• Repost button: You can add a repost button that allows other users to share all or part of your entries on LiveJournal. Please note that you have to use the HTML editor to insert a repost button. This button is only intended for public entries (i.e., if your entry is marked friends-only and you add the repost button, the entry can be reposted publicly by others, although the original post will remain friends-only). In order to illustrate how this works, we've added spaces before and after brackets ("<", ">") below to avoid auto-formatting:
  
  • To add a simple repost tag, insert the following tag at the end of your post: < lj-repost button="Post this to your journal!" / >
  
  
  • To modify the text of the share button, use the following tag: "< lj-repost button="Modify your button text" >< /lj-repost >"
  
  
  • To enable reposting of an excerpt of your entry, insert the following tags: "< lj-repost >Here is an excerpt from my entry< /lj-repost >"
  
  
  • To modify the text of the repost button and enable users to repost an excerpt of your entry, insert the following tags: "< lj-repost button="Modify your button text" >Here is an excerpt from my entry< /lj-repost >"

• Header design contest: We've begun accepting entries for our next header contest. You can submit your original designs to remixed. Images should be 900x90 pixels and should not contain copyright-protected images. Please incorporate the LiveJournal logo and menu template (you'll find them posted to the Profile page). We'll accept submissions until Monday, June 21st at 3PM, PDT. The winner will be awarded a $20 LiveJournal gift certificate. Finalists will receive $10 LiveJournal gift certificates. All other participants will get $5 gift certificates (only one per user). We thank you, again, for sharing your talent!
• American Idol tickets: Our good friend brenden at ohnotheydidnt is giving away tickets to American Idol's Live Tour 2010! Simply submit an ONTD fan sign, and you could find yourself up close and personal with today's instant celebs (a/k/a tomorrow's top gossip victims). To enter, you must be a member of ONTD and post a fan sign here!  

• Purple reign: We've got an exciting announcement for all of you Oh no they didn't fans! ONTD members can now dress up in stylin' purple userheads! frank couldn't wait to show his love! To get yours now, sign into LiveJournal, visit ohnotheydidnt, click Rules & Info on the upper right corner, and then click Switch to ONTD userhead on the upper left side of the profile page. Remember, you MUST be a member of ONTD to get a purple userhead, which will color you purple wherever you roam. If you go through a blue period, you can always repeat these steps to switch back anytime.
• Traveling light: We've cut the number of default entries on journals and communities from 20 to 10 entries. We expect this to decrease load times and improve site performance. To review or update your entries setting, click here.

We want to thank you for helping us narrow our header selection to a brilliant group of finalists (although all of the entries were painfully good). While we vote, Frank would like to convey his appreciation for sharing your touching bike stories. He was so delighted that he's hoping you'll take a few moments to describe your first solo cooking experience. Whether you struggled to flip pancakes, mix Ramen noodles, or burn a slice of toast, tell Frank about your first time in the kitchen, and he'll send you over a hearty strawberry. P.S. Epic fails are cordially invited!

Help us choose the winning header!

Last week, thousands of you voted for your favorite header designs. This week, we're hoping you'll help us choose the header that will appear on the top of LiveJournal throughout the month of June. Please note that you'll see a few extra stragglers mixed in, which were accidentally omitted during the first round (sincere apologies from the bleary-eyed editor). The polls will remain open until Wednesday, May 26th, at 3pm, PST, after which time we'll begin accepting submissions for the next contest. So, without further ado, poise your cursors and let the voting begin!

Dazzling shades for our paid users!

If you have a paid or permanent account, you can send five free glitterati sunglasses beginning Saturday, May 22nd at noon, PDT, and extending through Wedneday May 26th, at 4pm, PDT! You'll see both the free and the $0.99 sunglasses displayed until you've blinged them all to your friends. Please send only one at a time. In other words, you'll need to complete check-out and start a new order for each fantabulous pair of shades you send. If you're not receiving vgifts (from friends and/or Frank), you may have disabled them. To enable vgifts, visit Edit profile (under Profile), scroll down to the bottom of the page, and check your settings. We hope these keep you concealed until the paparrazi have left the building!

• Billing issue: We're aware that some of the orders placed in the LiveJournal shop last weekend were not properly delivered (e.g., Userpic add-ons did not get credited after purchase and vgifts were not sent). We're happy to report that we successfully resolved this issue earlier this week, and all orders should now be processed. Thank you for your patience!
• Purge update: A number of you have been asking when we'll start purging suspended accounts. The quick answer is we're still working out the technical details to make sure we get it right. We'll be sure to let you know when it's time to buy those rename tokens.

• Basic and Plus Accounts can purchase up to 3 packages of 5 userpics each at a cost of $2 per package per year: That's up to 15 more userpics!
• Paid and Permanent users can buy up to 3 packages of 70 userpics each for a total of 210 more userpics! The cost is $2 per package for 2 months, $6 per package for 6 months, or $10 per package for one year.
• You can also send gifts of a la carte userpics.