LiveJournal News

LiveJournal Major Notes: Spam counter-attack, RSS feeds again, CSI Deadly Intent contest

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:15:56 GMT

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!


ilya_gorokhov	galaski	karohemd

Spotlight community of the week

Get your fix of Chinese pop culture and entertainment news.

aiyatheydidnt

Conquer Writer's Block

Here are some excerpts from this week's most popular question of the day:

Which character from any film, television show, or book would you most like to take on a date and why?

Anna Marie Darkholme AKA Rogue Because I love her, because she deserves it more than anyone else I know, and you don't get to know the rest.

Polgara the Sorceress from the David Eddings books. She is well aged, infinitely wise, imminently powerful, and gorgeous.

Edward Cullen because he is gorgeous and a gentleman!

This one is SOOOOO easy. I would date Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a second. My obsession with Donatello is probably not healthy but I dun care.

I would most like to take Michael Madsen from Reservoir Dogs on a date. Particularly his character, Mr. Blonde. I enjoy his undying cynicism and craziness. In essence, he's sexy.

Edward Scissorhands, because I probably love him more most than other fictional character and possibly more than a good amount of real people.

Oh, it's NO CONTEST there! I'd choose Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs. He's real smart, perceptive and has a gorgeous pair of eyes. Oh, and he seems to have some interesting recipes.

Shaggy, from Scooby Doo. I've always had a crush on him. How fun would it be to smoke some weed and then investigate haunted houses? BEST DATE EVAR!

Selene from underworld! Who wouldn't want a date with a sexy vampire woman =D

The Winchesters from Supernatural... Sam n Dean are hot. Movies wise probably Jacob from Twilight. Idk lol.

For more daily questions, comments, and discussion, join writersblock.

Curtains

Thanks, again, for reading. See you next week!

LiveJournal Major Notes: Search super-tweak, postcards, and amazing user content!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:54:09 GMT

In response to user comments from last week, we want to let you know that we'll remain LJ cut-free for the next month in order to get more eyeballs on our evolving newsletter. As for product coverage, that continues to be our top priority. For more granular detail, however, we recommend you join lj_releases.

Super-tweak for Yandex search

Some of our beta testers expressed privacy concerns using the Yandex search engine. Here's why: Last week, when you ran a search, you could see the usernames (and only the usernames) of everyone who commented on an entry, even if that entry was switched to Private or Friends Only after it was originally indexed. You could NOT see the actual comments from Friends Only or Private posts. In response to your input, we've implemented a fix to keep all user activity currently marked Friends Only or Private completely hidden. If you'd prefer your public content not to be indexed by Yandex, click here and use the settings labeled Search Inclusion (this covers your entire journal) and/or Comment Search Inclusion (which covers comments only). To test drive Yandex search now, click here.

Postcards from the edge

Several years ago, we asked LiveJournal users to send postcards to help us decorate our dull, white-washed offices. Since a good idea warrants repetition, we're at it again (same issue, new address). We hope you'll surround us with LiveJournal love by sending your postcards to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. We'll post snapshots right here. Be sure to include your username, since we'll randomly pick 10 lucky recipients to win free paid account time.

Conquer Writer's Block

Here are some excerpts from this week's most popular question of the day:

If a friend or relative makes a racist or homophobic remark, do you tend to confront them or let it slide? Are you more likely to confront them if it offends you directly or someone else who seems reluctant to speak up?

I find it easier to stand up for other people, and i wouldn't let it slide if they made a rude or hurtful comment.
Usually if a friend makes a racist or homophobic remark, I tend to let it slide. I think that while i would not say such things myself, I have no right to censor those around me.
This happens all of the time. I confront some relatives, but I refuse to if they are drunk or watch Fox News.
I'd let it slide if it was just a private remark... As much as I despise bigotry and intolerance, I know that you can't change people-they have to change themselves ...
Confront! confront! confront! Politely, but without equivocation.
SPEAK UP. Always, always, always speak up. Letting something slide lets ignorance win. No matter if it offends me directly, or someone else, I will confront the speaker and let them know that's not ok.
I don't get offended personally. As an immigrant, woman, gay and person of color if I took every single potentially offensive remark seriously I wouldn't get anything done.
I punch them in the balls. With my mind.
I do speak up, but often very timidly because I feel that I'm white and therefore I don't really have any authority to lecture someone on what's racist and what isn't...
Generally speaking, I do not let this shit fly, because it reduces me as a person, to this non-person and it replicates the destructive discourse that makes sure that sexual minorities, racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, trans people and every intersection thereof into something other than human... And sometimes... I'm just too tired to deal with it, so I roll my eyes, make a sarcastic remark and hope the conversation moves on quickly.

For more daily questions and user comments, join writersblock. FYI, we don't want to invade your privacy, so we haven't credited individual users for their responses. We'd appreciate your feedback on this!

Spotlight community of the week

We can't resist making one last midnight trip to the ol' pumpkin patch. If you adore crazy costumes, fiendish festivities, and bottomless candy consumption as much as we do, this community has just what it takes to light up your jack-o-lantern.

halloween_fan

Photos of the week

We received so many incredible photos, we had to close our eyes and point. We uploaded a selection of awesome images at our new lj_photophile community. Please join and start posting (try to keep the width at around 625 for the sake of consistency)! We'd love for you to tell us more about your photos! You can help us select spotlight photos by commenting on your favorites. Once again, we thank you for making our online world more beautiful!


shutter	pancetta	ilya_gorokhov

Curtains

Thanks, again, for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you next week.

LiveJournal Major Notes: Super-search, spam counter-attack, and other cool stuff!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:14:55 GMT

News and Noteworthy: 10.22.09

We're in the process of giving the LiveJournal newsletter a slow, full-body massage. We’ll still keep you posted on key product developments, but from now on we’ll turn more of our attention to you. In the upcoming weeks, we'll expand our focus on original user content, including Writer’s Block responses, photos, and more. If you have fresh ideas about what you'd like to see here, we'd love to hear from you! Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress. For those who crave technical detail, you can join lj_releases to stay in the loop. We look forward to seeing you more often.

Super-search

After months of research, we're proud to announce a beta release of a state-of-the-art search engine on LiveJournal, powered by the Russian search engine leader, Yandex. When you run a keyword search using our beta search tool at the above URL, it will comb through ALL public areas of LiveJournal pages, including journals, communities, comments, and friend pages, to help you find specific info and other users around the world who share your interests. Rest assured that LiveJournal respects user privacy settings and will only display public content. Just so you know, this is a soft launch. You will still see the old search box on the LiveJournal homepage until we've had an opportunity to work out all the kinks with the new search tool. We look forward to hearing your feedback.

Email verifications battle spam

To cut down the amount of spam cluttering your comment pages, inboxes, and friends pages, LiveJournal now requires validated email addresses for all accounts. If you do not have a validated email address, you will not be able to engage in any activity beyond setting up your profile and account settings. In other words, you will NOT be able to send private messages, add friends, post journal entries, community entries, or comments. This is just one of the proactive measures we're employing to reduce spam on LiveJournal. We appreciate your continued patience and support. Together we can can spam!

We've got your trick or treat!

We've added more Halloween vgifts. You can check them out here!

Conquer Writer's Block

Nothing sparks debate like posing a provocative question to the eclectic LiveJournal community. That's why we update Writer's Block daily. You can flex your creative muscles, comment on other responses, or kick back and be entertained. It's also a great way to connect with old and new friends. Now you can add Writer's Block to your friends page or set up a notification to get your daily Writer's Block question on the LiveJournal homepage. Check out excerpts from last week's most popular question!

What is your biggest fear? Have you tried to overcome it?

Clowns. And of course not, clowns are gross and scary.
Spiders. Those creepy crawlers just freaked me out.
Bees. The flying fluff balls with stingers on their butts. Don't like them, don't like the sound they make, don't like that they kind of slither and hop when they land like they should be swarming ...
My biggest fear is 2012. I'm terrified of the end of the world ...
I have a fear of being buried alive, speaking in public, spiders, snakes, and sharks.
My biggest fear is to live anonymously and die anonymously. I don't think I can overcome this.
My biggest fear is height. And how do I overcome it? By not looking down.
Not living up to my own expectations.
Being buried alive with rabid, radioactive armadillos.
My biggest fear is that I'll run out of popcorn while I watch LJ discussions unfold.

Spotlight community of the week

For those who think Halloween is a nice day for a black wedding, you'll find tips, photos, and support to help you celebrate your eternal love in wickedelic style.

halloweddings

Introducing photo of the week

Submitted by amyty.

We want to see your stuff! We're working on a formal submission process. In the meantime, if you'd like us to consider your original photo for an upcoming newsletter or homepage spotlight, please post it to LiveJournal and send us a public link using the comments section below.

Curtains

Hey, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week with more product news and community highlights from the wonderful world of LiveJournal!

LiveJournal Major Notes: TxtLJ Verizon, Amped notifications, vgifts, XBOX contests, Blog Action Day!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:10:54 GMT

LiveJournal News: 10.15.09

TxtLJ with Verizon makes a comeback
Amped up TxtLJ notifications
Bag some Halloween vgifts
Calling all videogamers
Support Blog Action Day!

TxtLJ with Verizon makes a comeback
Your patience has finally paid off. You can now use TxtLJ with the Verizon network (provided your mobile phone supports it). This means you can check your profile and post to your Journal, Communities, and ScrapBook right from your cell phone. To sign up for TxtLJ, click here. For more info on how to make the most of TxtLJ features and services, click here. For additional information on how much TxtLJ access you get for each account level, check out the following FAQ and read below.

Amped up TxtLJ notifications
If you suffer LiveJournal separation anxiety whenever you and your computer are divided, help is on the way. Now you don’t have to miss a beat of the drama with increased TxtLJ notifications. Keep in mind that the maximum number of TxtLJ subscriptions you get depends on your account level. If you need more TxtLJ notifications, you can always upgrade to a Paid account anytime. For complete info on all things TxtLJ, check out the following FAQ. Here's the breakdown of maximum messages allowed per account level:

Plus: 6 messages (instead of 3)
Paid: 30 messages (instead of 10)
Permanent: 50 messages (instead of 15)

Bag some Halloween vgifts
We've added some tasty visual treats to sweeten your Halloween festivities. There's something for every LiveJournal witch, ghost, and vampire who comes a'knocking at your Journal door. You can check them out here.

Calling all videogamers
If you love gaming, we've got your golden ticket to high-definition fun and fortune. XBOX 360 is sponsoring an awesome contest. If you're at least 18 years old and live in the United States, simply join morefun_xbox360 and click here to post your answer to the age-old question: How did you fall in love with video games? Enter your response as a comment and you'll be automatically entered to win a 42" Plasma HDTV worth $679.99! Now that's sure to put an extra kick in your joystick. Get all the details and deadlines here.

Support Blog Action Day!
Post your thoughts about eco-activism and help put a chill on global warming. Join blogactionday and register your journal to help drive public awareness and support for environmental issues on Thursday, October 15th.

Thanks for joining us on LiveJournal. Keep posting and we'll keep you posted!

Media embedding change - important notice

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:19:15 GMT

As you may have already noticed, some video and media embedding in LiveJournal entries have been disabled, and content and security level of some entries may have changed unexpectedly. Both are related to a web security exploit that affected some entries on LiveJournal for approximately two hours today. Here is what you should know:

You should check your recent entries to be sure the security level has not been changed and embed tags (as described below) have not been added.
This exploit was spread through malicious Flash code embedded in journal entries.
To combat the exploit, most video and other media embedding has been disabled - we will re-enable them on a site-by-site basis over the coming hours and days.
Once media embedding was disabled, the exploit was stopped; it is no longer a risk.
If you see four boxes (picture below) on a friend's entry, you should inform your friend since they may not be aware of what occurred.

What occurred today caused a limited but serious privacy breach, so we are making this post in order to inform you of the issue, what actions this exploit performed, and how to know if you have been affected. All of the information provided here is offered to the best of our knowledge right now, and if it substantially changes we will update this post or take other action to notify you.

We received several reports beginning at about 7:45 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, September 22nd (2:45 a.m. GMT Wednesday, September 23rd) that entries had been mysteriously altered - by adding additional code and/or by altering the security level. When the users attempted to return the entries to their previous state (taking out the added content or returning the security level to the chosen one), their changes were often reversed again.

Developers were promptly notified, and upon investigation it was determined that the exploit took place through a cross-domain scripting in an embedded Flash file. All media embedding was disabled immediately. At the present time, media embedding from YouTube and RuTube is re-enabled, but we will be adding to that list over the coming days.

How the exploit was spread:
- Viewing an entry with the infected media caused the script to modify the latest entry of the account which viewed it, and added the malicious code to that entry.

What this exploit did:
- When a user who was logged in viewed an infected post, the flash would then make a cross-domain request to livejournal.com
- The most recent post was then edited to add the flash files, and all settings were changed back to default (default userpic, no mood listed, and the security setting was changed to journal default, for example)
- The file then recorded the email address listed on the "Edit Profile" page - meaning, it recorded the email address regardless of the privacy settings
- While the exploit was active (at this time we believe it was about 1-2 hours), affected posts that were edited by the journal owners to their original state would be reverted back to the infected state (not able to be edited/changed)

What this exploit *did not* do:
- It did not steal any passwords, manipulate or "steal" login cookies, or record any information other than an email address
- It was rendered inactive at 8:50 p.m. PDT (September 22nd)/3:50 a.m. GMT/UTC (September 23rd), when LiveJournal engineers disabled embedded media (such as video files) to stop it from spreading
- It did not infect a computer or harm it in any way

How to identify an affected entry/account:
- Accounts which have been affected will have a recent entry with these four boxes at the bottom:

- This will be one of the most recent entries on the journal and/or the top entry (if it is a backdated top-post)
- If no entry with this modification is present, the account has not been affected.

After investigation of the JavaScript code that was found, we believe there are two privacy breaches potentially affecting these journals:
- One or more of the most recent entries in the journal may have had their privacy settings removed; therefore a post set to friends-only or private may have been made public, if the journal default entry-security level is set to "public"
- The email address (whether hidden or not) associated with the account may have been sent back to a server controlled by the attacker

The scope of the exploit/number of users affected:
- We believe this was present for more than one hour but less than two
- Through reports and our investigation this evening, we've seen fewer than 100 affected entries; however, due to the nature of friends pages it is likely more widespread than this
- At this time, we believe the number of users affected is limited - we will investigate activity logs and other data in order to determine with more accuracy the scope of this issue

Major Notes: Your Journal - Your Money

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:37:25 GMT

We're thrilled to announce the launch of Your Journal - Your Money, a joint program with Google AdSense that allows LiveJournal paid and permanent account holders around the world the chance to earn extra cash just by displaying ads on their journals.

If you have a paid or permanent account on LiveJournal, you can start earning some extra pocket money simply by doing what you love to do on LiveJournal, like writing, sharing photos, and catching up with friends! The more people who visit your journal, the more money you can earn. It's that simple. You’ll get to control where ads appear and whether you prefer text or image ads. You can even customize colors and choose different ad sizes and formats. LiveJournal is turning over 100% of net proceeds to you. (After Google takes their cut, the rest is yours.)

Here's how it works: If you sign up for Your Journal - Your Money, you'll see Google AdSense ads displayed on your own journal. You can opt-in if you want to see ads on other journals. As always, paid and permanent account holders who don't opt-in will not view ads on other LiveJournal pages.

Here's all you'll need to get started:

A paid account on LiveJournal: If you don't have one, click here (it costs from $19.95/year)

Next, click here to sign up for a Google AdSense account or to associate your existing AdSense account with your LiveJournal account

Complete the easy sign-up process and choose the type of ads you wish to display

Keep posting and start earning extra income now

Curtain call
That's it for this issue of LiveJournal Major Notes. We're really proud to be in partnership with Google. You can read more about it here. There are some other minor improvements in today's code release. You can read about it in lj_releases.

Thanks, again, for tuning in. Without you, there's no harmony.

International voice posting, LJ contests, syndicate to MySpace & new release!

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:48:14 GMT

Your number's up

Back by popular demand, we're thrilled to announce that we've brought back international voice posting. We'll be adding other countries soon, but here's what we've got so far:

Canada - (705) 805-0069
United Kingdom (tollfree) - 0808 280-0740
Australia - (03) 8888-5192
United States (this hasn't changed) - (888) 840-6189 or (888) LJ-VPOST (558-7678)

Get lucky on LJ

We've got lots of win-win action with some contests and competition this month. Check it out and get in on the fun.

Designing minds: Check out the LiveJournal anniversary theme contest at lj_turns10. Submissions are open until September 14, so there's still time to design the theme of your dreams. Winning designs will play a starring role as our Featured themes, and the theme that takes the Grand Prize will be the default theme for all new accounts for the rest of 2009.

Zazzle bedazzles: Our friends over at lj_promote are so excited about the new LiveJournal store on Zazzle that they're hosting a contest. Comment with a photo of yourself with your favorite LiveJournal t-shirt/pencil/hoodie/hat/thingie (there's lots to choose from at the Zazzle store!), and you could win a $5 LiveJournal gift certificate. Get details here.

Get schooled in giving: LJ’s own ontd_ai_gives has raised serious cash for the Adam Lambert DonorsChoose.org fan group competition. ontd_ai_gives group is at the top of the class with over $25,000 already banked. Donations are welcome through September 20, so you can help support public schools while earning ontd_ai the coveted title of Most Generous Adam Lambert fan group.

Check, mate

A heads up to all of you with checks in the mail. Effective October 1, 2009, we'll ONLY accept payments using a major credit card, PayPal, or Web Money. If we're already billing you online, you're good to go. We're really sorry for the inconvenience, but we won't be taking any new orders with cash, check or Money Order as the payment method after October 1, 2009. If you created your order and mailed your payment before October 1, we'll still credit the order, even if the payment doesn't reach us until after the 1st.

Go bi-postal on MySpace

We know how much you love to share. Now, the writing's on the wall. Install the MySpace widget and instantly syndicate all your LJ posts to your MySpace profile.

To install the widget, log into MySpace, click More (from the upper nav bar), choose Apps Gallery (from the drop-down) and do a keyword search for LiveJournal. Install the widget, complete the quick online form and all of your LiveJournal posts will publish automatically on your MySpace profile. We'll be adding more syndication widgets down the line, so stay posted.

Tag, you're it

We've just released an update that allows Community Maintainers to restrict tag editing to only the author of the post and Maintainers. So, if you subscribe to the philosophy that too many cooks spoil the broth, you now have three restricted options to choose from: (1) Members only, (2) Maintainers only, or (3) Entry author and Maintainers. If you prefer the group soup approach, by all means, change the default setting to Any User, which means any LiveJournal user can edit tags.

To update your tag editing permissions, here's what you do:

log into LiveJournal
mouse over Journal (on the upper nav bar)
choose Manage Tags (from the drop-down-menu)
on the top of the page, next to Work as user, choose the community you want to change permissions for; click Switch
scroll down to Tag Settings and choose a permission level
when you're done, click Save Settings (on the bottom of the page)

LiveJournal is hiring!

If you're smart, driven and passionate about LiveJournal, we want you on our team!

Check out our current openings for a Russian Abuse Prevention Team member and an Operations Engineer:

Other important stuff

TxtLJ service through Verizon is still down, but we have been told it should be working shortly!
The number of comments has been added to the entry view of each post, so you can watch your comment-count grow.
TxtLJ limits remain status quo, but will be increasing in the near-future.
Read more details on changes and feature updates in lj_releases.

New LiveJournal Merchandise Store, Anniversary Design Contest, and Paid Time Extension

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:23:11 GMT

New Store, New Gear—Check out the goods at the new store for LJ merchandise.

Theme Design Contest—Show off your design skills to all of LJ.

Outage—We're sorry. We want to make it up to you.

Welcome to a Special Edition Birthday News Post—we have a few happy things to share with you as we continue our yearlong celebration of LiveJournal's 10th birthday. Read on to get dressed up, strut your creative stuff, and make up for lost time.

Prepare to Be Zazzled

One of our best birthday presents is the brand-new LiveJournal store hosted by Zazzle. Zazzle lets you customize just about anything you could want, which makes it perfect for LiveJournal merchandise. The awesome selection of LJ gear includes everything from the classic hoody to a thoughtful tote bag. You can even declare your love for LJ in Japanese, or wear your heart on your shirt (or your dog's shirt.) If you want to go the classy route, check out the embroidered shirts and hats. The only challenging thing about the new store is deciding which new design is your favorite (we love them all, of course).

After you've selected your unique blend of logo, shirt, and color, add your own special flair via tagline, journal URL, or any image or text by clicking the "Customize it" button!

It gets even better—Zazzle has international shipping to 67 countries. Whether you're in Afghanistan or Zimbabwe, you can get your LJ gear delivered right to your door. So check out the new store and let us know what you think!

Birthday Theme Design Contest

Are you ready to dazzle us with your amazing design skills? As of the moment this news release is posted, submissions are now open for the official LiveJournal Birthday Celebration Theme Design Contest. Here's the official scoop:

Who: You!

What: Create a new theme for the Minimalism style. Your design can be based on LiveJournal or LiveJournal's 10th birthday, but it's not required. You can submit a design based on anything you feel inspired by (as long as it's safe for work).

How: You can create your theme using CSS, S2, images for backgrounds or headers, or any other way that works for you. We'll code the winning styles into S2 for you.

Where: Submit your design by making a new post in the lj_turns10 community.

When: The contest opens for entries beginning now and ending at 11:59 p.m. PST on September 14th. Then we'll make a poll in lj_turns10 with all the eligible entries and you'll be able to vote on your favorites.

Why: The top 5 vote-getting themes will be added to the available themes for all LJ users. The theme with the most votes will also become the default theme for all new users through the rest of 2009. And the LJ staff will select a Staff Choice winner. All six winners will receive credit (by full name or username, whichever you prefer) on the "Select a Theme" section of the customization area, as well as adoration, fame, and the respect of your peers.

Check out this post in the lj_turns10 community for the nitty-gritty rules and requirements. We can't wait to see your designs.

It's on Us

As you might be aware, LiveJournal (along with Twitter, Facebook, and a number of other sites) experienced some outages and slowness starting Thursday August 6th and continuing periodically over the next few days due to a series of DDoS attacks. Some of you may have been unable to access LiveJournal or encountered considerable load times when using the site.

We apologize for any inconvenience or frustration that might have resulted from the outage. The cause was out of our control, but we definitely feel your pain at the forced break from LiveJournal, particularly those of you with Paid accounts. Your LJ time is money, after all. To make up for it, we're offering a 3-day extension of Paid account time to our Paid members. All users with active Paid accounts as of Thursday, August 6, 2009, are eligible for the extension. You can find full details on the extension and how to claim it in this post over at paidmembers.

My Guests, LiveJournal Messenger, New Polls Features, New Mobile Service

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:37:27 GMT

My Guests: Set Your Preference
LiveJournal Messenger
New Polls Feature
New Mobile Service
Edit Your Comments

Getting Ready for Guests

If you've ever wanted to know who's been looking at your journal, you'll be very interested in our upcoming My Guests feature.

Users opted-in to our Cyrillic services are already familiar with My Guests, and now we're working on opening it up to all our users. Now you'll be able to see who's been visiting your journal and other users will be able to see that you have come a-calling.

That is, if you want them to. We know not everyone is into that kind of visibility, which is why we've made My Guests opt-in. We just need you to set your preferences for the feature before we launch it. The next time you go to the Home page or Account Settings, you'll be prompted by a dialog box asking you whether you want to enable My Guests or not.

When it comes to My Guests, you're either in or you're out. Enabling My Guests means that you will see who visits your journal and will be visible to others when visiting their journals. If you choose not to enable My Guests, your name will not be visible in other users' My Guests reports and you will not see a report of visitors to your journal.

The default setting is for My Guests to be turned off, but the dialog box will keep appearing until you make a selection. To help you make a fully informed choice, there's a more detailed description of My Guests in this post in feedback.

LiveJournal Messenger

We've added a new way to chat directly with your friends on LJ: LiveJournal Messenger, powered by Windows Live ID. LiveJournal Messenger is an in-browser chat client, which means you don't have to install anything after you've turned it on. All it takes is a Windows Live ID linked to your LiveJournal account. To turn on LiveJournal Messenger, go to the Extensions tab on the Account Settings page and check the box to turn on LiveJournal Messenger. You'll be prompted to create a Windows Live ID with your LiveJournal username, and then you can get started chatting with all your LJ friends. You can also receive all your LJ notifications in LiveJournal Messenger, so you can chat away and still keep up with your LJ. Check out the FAQ for all the details on how to use LiveJournal Messenger.

New in Polls

What's the best way to find out what people think? Poll them, of course! You can learn all kinds of useful stuff by creating a poll for your readers, and now we've added something even more useful: the number of participants in the poll. When there are multiple questions in a poll, it can be hard to figure out exactly how many people responded. Some may have answered every question and others only a few. Or maybe there's only one question but users gave multiple answers. You know the total number of answers, but not how many people gave you those answers. Now when you look at polls, you can see how many unique users participated. So do not ask for whom the poll tolls, but for how many.

m.livejournal.com

We're putting the finishing touches on a new mobile service and we need your help as we finalize this feature. m.livejournal.com offers mobile users a streamlined interface with full LJ functionality. Optimized for modern mobile devices, m.livejournal.com makes using LJ on your mobile phone faster and easier when you're out and about, with links to your journal and your Friends, Profile, and Post an Entry pages all right there in one place. We'd love for you to try out the new mobile service and let us know what you think in the comments over at feedback.

(And if you're currently using www.livejournal.com/mobile, don't worry, it's not going anywhere for the time being.)

Take It Back with a Paid Account

You know what they say: comment in haste, repent in leisure. Whether it's because you've had time to think through your argument a little more clearly or you can't stand the thought of a misspelled word standing for eternity, there can be a lot to regret in commenting too quickly. Those lucky users with Paid accounts, however, don’t have to worry about such things. That's because one of the many perks of having a Paid account is that you can edit your comments. So if you've ever clicked Post Comment in the heat of the moment and lived to regret it, it might be time to upgrade to a Paid account.

As always, you can get the full scoop on this week's release in lj_releases.

Notes, Geo-Location, Pingbacks, Birthday Wishes, and More

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:17:54 GMT

New Notes Feature
Automatic Detect Location
Pingbacks for All
Birthday Wishes

New and Notes-worthy

The bigger your Friends list gets, the harder it can be to keep track of exactly how you know all those people. So if you have a Paid account and have ever had trouble remembering who __frank__1999___ is, then you'll find the new Notes feature to be your new best friend. When you add a Note for a user, you'll be able to see the Note whenever you hover your mouse over the username or look at the header of the user's Profile page. Your Notes are visible only to you, so there's no need to worry about someone else seeing them. There are three different ways to add, edit, and remove Notes:

On the userhead menu that appears when you hover the mouse over the userhead icon, click Add Note (or Edit Note if you've already created a Note for that user) and enter the note in the dialog box that appears.

On the Manage Notes page, you can add, edit, or remove any of your Notes. You can access the Manage Notes page from the Profile pull-down menu at the top of the Home and Profile page.

On the Manage Friends page in the column conveniently titled "Notes."

For full details on how to take Notes on all your friends, read the FAQ.

Where in the World?

Now you can add a little geo-flair to your entries with the new automatic Location Detect feature. Instead of entering text in the Location field of the Post an Entry page, just click Detect and your location will be automatically filled in. Wondering how it knows where you are? Detection is based on your IP address and includes your country, state (for the U.S. only), and city. When you click Detect, no personal identifying information is collected or stored by LiveJournal or any other site.

If you want to get even more geo-specific, you can install the Google Gears client for Windows, Windows Mobile, or Mac OS. This third-party client can automatically detect your location down to the street address. So if, for instance, you take a cool photo of an abandoned place and want to post it in the community, you can click Detect and have the exact address of the abandoned place included in your entry.

But if you prefer to be undetectable, or to have your location defined by your imagination rather than geographic data, you can always fill in the Location field with your own text or just leave it blank. Check the FAQ for full details.

Pingbacks for Everyone!

Pingbacks, previously available only to Paid and Permanent accounts, let you track references to your posts. With this release, Pingbacks are now available to Plus and Basic users, too. Find out everything you need to know about Pingbacks in the FAQ and let the pinging begin.

Birthday Wishes from a Special Someone

On a recent tour stop in Moscow, Moby came by the LiveJournal office to give us a video birthday card. Thanks to Moby for the best wishes, and of course, thanks to you, our users!

Those are the highlights of this week's release; as always, you can get the full scoop in lj_releases.

Advisory Board Election Winners

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:44:04 GMT

And the Winner Is . . .

The votes have been tallied, the results are in, and we have a winner (two, actually). Congratulations to the newly elected user representatives to the LJ Advisory Board: from lj_election_en, it's kylecassidy, and from lj_election_ru, it's nekbke! You can see the full breakdown of results for lj_election_en here and for lj_election_ru here. Thanks to everyone for your participation.

Advisory Board Elections, New Themes, Green by Design Contest

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:44:48 GMT

Advisory Board Elections
New Green Themes
Green by Design Contest

The Polls Are Open!

Calling LJ users to the polls—voting starts today, June 22, for user representatives to the LiveJournal Advisory Board! Voting takes place in lj_election_ru for Cyrillic-language users and in lj_election_en for all other users. Here's what you need to know to be an informed voter:

Polls are open from 9:00 a.m. PDT and MSD, June 22, to 4:30 p.m. PDT and MSD, June 26.

Only accounts created before March 31, 2009, are eligible to vote in this year’s election.

Only one account per registered email address may vote.

The candidates in lj_election_en are webqatch, vichan, kylecassidy, jameth, and daphaknee. Click on the username to see a candidate's nomination statement.

If no candidate receives a clear 51% of the first-choice vote, the winners will be determined using an Instant Runoff process.

We'll announce the winners and the results Monday, June 29, 2009, after the results have been examined for accuracy and veracity, and (if needed) run through the Instant Runoff tallying program.

The new user representatives to the LJ Advisory Board will be seated and begin their terms on July 1, 2009.

Now get out there and vote!

New Green Themes

Although Kermit the Frog might have struggled with being green, we think it's not really that hard to go green. And we have some new green themes for your journal to help make it even easier for you.

We've partnered with One Million Acts of Green, brought to you by Cisco to bring you these three new themes:

A green theme is the perfect way to show the world just how much you love our planet. Plus, by adding a green theme to your journal, you’ll be supporting One Million Acts of Green, a collaborative environmental campaign encouraging everyone to go green one act at a time. The goal? A million acts of green.

After you add a green theme to your journal, visit the One Million Acts of Green site and record your own Acts of Green. Whether you turn the lights off when they're not in use, ride your bike to school/work, or just get your friends to start recording their Acts of Green, every single act makes a difference.

Green by Design Contest

While we're on the green theme, we thought the designers among you might be interested in this Green by Design contest. To enter, all you have to do is create a Green Badge with an earth-friendly design and/or eco-minded message. The winning badge will link to the One Million Acts of Green site. You can get full details and information on how to enter at lj_contests.

Advisory Board Election Announcement

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:02:19 GMT

Let the Nominating Begin!

As of today, nominations for user representatives to the Advisory Board are open. You can only nominate yourself, so if you want to run, you need to join lj_election_en or lj_election_ru and post an entry in the election community stating that you are nominating yourself as a candidate for the Advisory Board elections. To support a nominee, comment on their nomination post in the election community with a clear declaration of support. Nominations close at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, June 19, 2009. You can find full details on the election and the nomination process in news and on the profile pages of lj_election_en and lj_election_ru. Happy nominating!

Advisory Board Election Announcement

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:47:23 GMT

Advisory Board Elections

Calling all potential candidates—nominations for user representatives to the LJ Advisory Board open next week! As we announced last month, we're holding Advisory Board elections this month and we want you to take part.

Nominations for user representatives begin on Monday, June 15, 2009, and close on Friday, June 19, 2009. All the election action—including the nomination process—will take place in lj_election_en and lj_election_ru. But don't worry, we'll announce all election happenings in news, so even if you’re not watching the two election communities, you'll still be able to participate and know what is going on.

Nominations

As stated above, nominations open on Monday, June 15, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. PDT and MSD, and close on Friday, June 19, 2009, at 4:30 p.m. PDT and MSD. We will post again in news on the 15th so that as many users as possible are aware of events.

Ready to declare your candidacy? This is how the nomination process works:

Users may only nominate themselves; no third-party nominations will be accepted. To nominate yourself, join the election community (lj_election_ru for Cyrillic-language users and lj_election_en for all other users) and make a post any time during the nomination period. Posts to the election communities will be moderated—all posts that meet the guidelines described below will be approved.

In your nomination post, you should:

Clearly state that you are nominating yourself as a candidate for the Advisory Board elections.

Include a statement about why you think you would make a good representative or why you’d like to serve.

Use an lj-cut if the post is more than two paragraphs.

Set Comment Screening to All Comments.

Optionally, you may also include a link to an entry in your journal or a community that further states your position or platform, or that has your answers to these five suggested questions, also found in the community profiles of lj_election_en and lj_election_ru:
1. What do you think is the value of LiveJournal?
2. What changes would you like to see LiveJournal make in the next year?
3. Why do you want to be the elected representative?
4. What do you think are the community’s greatest concerns?
5. What skills, qualifications, or unique perspective do you think you would bring to this position?

Supporting a Nominee

To support a nominee’s candidacy, you should comment to their nomination entry stating “I support this nomination” or something substantially similar. You may support multiple candidates’ nominations. Nominees need 300 motions of support in order to be invited to be a candidate in the election. Candidates are asked to assist by only unscreening those comments that express this motion of support, and election moderators will help with that process.

Once a post has comments of support from 300 different users, we will send the nominee a certification form to the email address currently registered and validated for use with their account. The form outlines the responsibilities and commitments that the user representative will likely have and asks the nominee to certify that they are willing and able to serve if elected. In order to be included in the election poll, a nominee must return this signed form via fax or email scan by 5:00 p.m. PDT and MSD on Friday, June 19, 2009. Instructions are included in the form.

Campaigning

It's hard to run for office without campaigning, and naturally we expect nominees will want to campaign for this election. Go for it. We do ask, however, that candidates and their supporters stay within the LiveJournal Terms of Service (i.e. no spamming, no encouraging others to spam other journals on your behalf, and such activities). Candidates who wish to serve as an Advisory Board representative are asked to maintain behavior befitting the position.

The Election

We will post the election poll starting at 9:00 a.m. PDT and MSD on June 22, 2009, and closing at 4:30 p.m. PDT and MSD, June 26, 2009. We will announce the opening of the polls in news and post the election polls in lj_election_en and lj_election_ru. Users will be able to select their first, second, and third choice.

Voting in the poll
Cyrillic-language users may only vote in the lj_election_ru poll, and all other users may only vote in the lj_election_en poll. Additional restrictions include:

Only accounts created before March 31, 2009, are eligible to vote in this year’s poll.

Only one account per email address may vote.

Tallying the results
After the polls close on June 26, 2009, we will determine the winner of the elections in the following way:

If a user receives 51% of the first-choice vote, that candidate will be declared the winner.

If no user receives 51% of the first-choice vote, we will begin an Instant Runoff process. The user with the lowest tally for first-choice vote will be eliminated, and the second-choice candidate on those ballots will be substituted as first choice. This process will continue (drop the lowest candidate, reassign to next vote, tally again) until any user has 51% of the vote.

If all ballots are exhausted and no candidate has 51% of the vote, we will return to the first round and award the election to the candidate with the most first-choice votes.

New Advisory Board Members

We’ll post the results and announce the winner on Monday, June 29, 2009, after the results have been examined for accuracy and veracity, and (if needed) run through the Instant Runoff tallying program. The new user representatives to the LJ Advisory Board will be seated and begin their terms on July 1, 2009.

LJ Birthday, New Mood Theme, HarrisInteractive Survey

Thu, 21 May 2009 23:09:19 GMT

Note: We have disabled email notifications for this news release due to problems that have caused some users to receive duplicate emails of our recent news post. We expect to re-enable these email notifications with the next news post.

Birthday Suit
New Mood Theme
Your Opinion Matters

Our Birthday Suit

You might have noticed that LJ is sporting a new look today in honor of our birthday. The Home page is all dressed up in a new header to show off our birthday spirit. And to share the birthday spirit with everyone, there's a new birthday gift in the Gift Shop. If you have a Paid or Permanent Account, or have had your account for 5 years or more, the birthday v-gift is free for you to send to up to 5 friends. So sing a rousing round of Happy Birthday and get on over to the Gift Shop to start spreading the birthday love around. The party doesn't stop here, however: Look for more special birthday fun to come over the next few months.

In the Mood

Looking for different ways to express the emotions behind your posts? This week's release includes a new mood theme to help you get across the mood you were in on your visit to update.bml. The new manga-inspired theme is called Full Stop and you can find it on the Mood Theme Preview page—check it out and let everyone know how you feel.

Ready for a mood change but not sure how to do it? Take a look at this FAQ for instructions on how to change your mood theme using the themes available on the Mood Theme Preview page. If you have a Paid Account and complex emotions that aren't adequately expressed with the available themes, you can create your own Custom Mood Theme. If you have complex emotions to express but don't have a Paid Account, it might be time to upgrade your account.

Your Opinion Matters

As part of our efforts to get better insights into our audience of readers as well as writers, we’re participating in the spring HarrisInteractive NetObserver survey, which runs through May 31. The survey builds a portrait of Internet users and LJ users—and you have a chance to contribute your opinions. If you're an LJ user in a European country, including the UK and Germany, you also have the chance to win one of several prizes totaling 5,000 euros in value! Of course, the opinions of users in the U.S. and other countries are welcome, too. All you have to do is click, tell us what you think, and enter the drawing for your chance to win.

For more details about this week's release, visit lj_releases.

Advisory Board Elections General Announcement

Fri, 15 May 2009 21:06:19 GMT

Advisory Board Elections
Theme Design Contest Postponed

Advisory Board Elections

Have you ever wanted to be more involved in shaping the future of LiveJournal? Do you have strong opinions about the kinds of features and services LJ should offer its users? Are you ready to play a more active role in the LiveJournal community? Wondering how you can act on your vision for LJ? Run for user representative to the LiveJournal Advisory Board! Advisory Board elections are nigh and now is the time to throw your hat in the ring.

The LiveJournal Advisory Board is an international group of well-informed, highly respected users who help guide the values of LiveJournal by advising the management of LiveJournal Inc. on the development and operations of the LiveJournal platform. Current members of the Board include danahboyd, courtjesther, brad, lessig, and suhel_seth. Advisory Board members each bring a unique perspective to the Board: law, business, knowledge of social media, and awareness of LiveJournal history.

But without the unique perspective of the LiveJournal community, the Board is incomplete. That's why the Board also has two user representatives—users elected by the users—among its members. Here's how it works:

Two Elections

Just as we did last year, we are holding two elections: one to elect a representative from the non-Cyrillic community (English speakers) and one to elect a representative from the Cyrillic-language users (Russian speakers). Posts regarding the elections will be announced in news and ru_news. The elections will be held at the same time and governed by the same rules. The decision to hold two separate elections reflects the fact that the LiveJournal community can broadly be split into two different segments of Russian and non-Russian language users.

Timeline

This year, the nomination and election process will take place during the last two weeks of June. Open nominations, and the chance for users to second the nominations, will be held the week of June 15–19. When the nominations close, LiveJournal will certify the candidates who have been nominated and those candidates will have time to communicate with users regarding positions or campaigning. The elections will open up on June 22 and close on June 26. The new LiveJournal User Representatives to the Advisory Board will be seated on July 1, 2009.

Requirements for Candidacy

To be considered as a candidate for the Advisory Board elections, a user must be:

at least 18 years old as of May 1, 2009

a LiveJournal user since December 31, 2008

nominated and elected using their primary LiveJournal username

willing to use their primary LiveJournal username for Advisory Board business, either by using their actual journal to make posts in official communities or using it to respond to comments and official threads

willing to serve under their full legal name, including having their name recorded on minutes, correspondence, opinions, or other material in relation to their service

available to travel to the once-a-year, in-person meeting in San Francisco, CA, to be held in September (travel costs will be reimbursed)

available for quarterly conference calls, and for consultation via telephone or email correspondence should a situation arise that would need their advice

willing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement in relation to the work and discussions of the Advisory Board

Requirements for Voting

To be eligible to vote in the election, a user must have created their account before March 31, 2009. Voting will take place in the form of a poll, which will remain open during the week of June 22–26. The winner will be determined via Instant Runoff Voting. This means that users will be able to select their first, second, and third choice candidates. In the event there is no clear majority, the lowest-ranked candidates will be eliminated and the users who selected those candidates as first choice will have their vote reassigned to their second-choice candidate. This system is repeated until a clear winner is evident.

Serving on the Board

Logistics
The LiveJournal Advisory Board will meet in person this year in September, in San Francisco, CA. It will hold quarterly conference calls with the management to consider major issues. LiveJournal Inc. will reimburse all travel and related expenses, and offer an honorarium, which may be paid directly to the member or to a charity of his or her choosing.

Structure
The LiveJournal Advisory Board is independent of the LiveJournal Inc. management structure.

Elected user representatives serve a one-year term on the Advisory Board.

Should a user representative of the LiveJournal Advisory Board become unable to perform the necessary duties, he or she shall inform LiveJournal Inc. management in writing. After his or her resignation has been accepted, the user with the next-highest amount of votes in the final vote tally from the previous election will be asked to take up the open position on the Advisory Board.

Meetings
The agenda for meetings and conference calls will be agreed upon between LiveJournal Inc. management and the Advisory Board. Management will respond promptly to any request for documentation.

The LiveJournal Advisory Board may publish position papers by majority vote, including dissenting position papers should LiveJournal Inc. management not follow their recommendations. Beyond the posted statements, LiveJournal Advisory Board members will be held to confidentiality and will be required to sign legally binding non-disclosure agreements to protect the integrity of Board discussions. Advisory Board members are welcome to discuss their role and the work of the Board in public forums but are asked to respect the confidential nature of the discussions that take place.

Birthday Theme Design Contest Rescheduled

In April we announced that later in the spring we'd be holding a special Theme Design Contest as part of our ongoing tenth birthday celebrations. What happened? We ran into a little delay with the contest, which meant that it would overlap with the Advisory Board elections, which would then in turn need to be pushed back. Rather than having a series of cascading delays, we're going to just switch up the order and have the elections first, followed by the theme design contest. So look for the contest to start after the votes are tallied and the results are in, and in the meantime be thinking about your design!

Happy Birthday, LiveJournal!

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:42:53 GMT

Happy Birthday, LJ!

Cue the cake and candles, it's our birthday! On April 15, 1999, brad registered the LiveJournal.com domain name, giving birth to the web's original community blogging platform. Ten crazy years later (and not without some growing pains), LiveJournal is still going strong and we're ready to celebrate. It's not every year that you turn 10, so we have lots of things lined up over the next few months.

Birthday Theme Design Contest

Everyone likes to get dressed up for their birthday and we thought it would be fun to come up with some new birthday suits for the site. Or rather, that it might be fun for you (if you're into S2 and CSS) to come up with some new outfits i.e. journal themes. If you love making new themes for styles like Bloggish and Flexible Squares, the LiveJournal Birthday Theme Contest is for you. Submissions open on April 29 and we want to give you time to fire up your imagination. The theme of this theme contest is "LiveJournal Turns 10," but other than that we're leaving it as open as possible so as not to stifle your creativity. You can use Frank, the LiveJournal logo, base your theme on an existing or past LiveJournal site scheme, or any number of things relating to LJ's tenth birthday. Winning entries will be featured in the Journal Themes on the customize page. We'll announce all the rules and technical requirements here and in lj_design on April 29 when the contest officially starts. We can't wait to see what you come up with.

Commemorative Writer's Block and LJ Spotlight

Part of getting older is looking back on your life and reflecting on those special moments. For the next several weeks we'll be running Writer's Block questions about milestones in your own LiveJournal life. We're mixing these in with the regular questions, so keep an eye on your Home page for your chance to wax nostalgic about topics like your first post ever and more.

We don't want LJ Spotlight to feel left out of the celebrating, which is why starting on April 20, the Spotlight will be shining its bright light back on some old favorites. Each week we're going to feature a popular pick from the past (kind of like the Greatest Hits of Spotlight) alongside two newcomers. That way we can all make new friends but keep the old.

Sneak Peek at the Birthday Book

One birthday plan we've had in the works for a while now is an anthology of LiveJournal entries from the past 10 years. (Maybe we've mentioned this before?) We're very busy finalizing the content of the book (let's just say we have new respect for all the work that goes into creating a book) but we wanted to give you a little advance preview of what's in it. Starting today, we'll be posting a weekly excerpt from the book over at lj_turns10. First up, it's Frank!

Coming Soon to a Journal Near You: Attack of the Blog Slurper!

We're using Blurb to make our book, and we're having so much fun that we want you to get in on the bookish good times, too. That's why we're super-excited (!!) to announce our new partnership with the friendly folks at Blurb. Blurb makes it easy to create your own bookstore-quality books, using their free BookSmart software and your content. Even better, Blurb makes it easy to turn your journal into a book with their Blog Slurper. In just a few short clicks, the Blog Slurper pulls (or slurps, if you will) your journal entries into the BookSmart software, where you can format it to your heart's desire. In less than a week your book will be printed, bound, and on its way to you. So if you've always wanted to hold your LJ in your hands, this is your chance.

Photographers should definitely check out the Blurb Photography Book Now contest. With a distinguished panel of jurors and a Grand Prize of $25,000, the contest is a great opportunity to showcase your work to an international audience.

To get you started, Blurb is offering LiveJournal users a little birthday discount. From now through June 30, 2009, you can get $10 off the price of a $29.95 book. Just enter promo code livej10anv when you order your book. Click here to let the books begin.

Tell Your Story

That's enough about us for one news post. Let's talk about you. We're sure you have a story of greatness to share, and our friends at Nature Made want to hear it.

Greatness doesn't have to come in big packages. Whether you volunteer at an animal shelter, play in a band, or try to live a green life, it's the impact and inspiration of your personal story that matters. Answer today’s Writer’s Block: “What change have you made in your life that you're most proud of?” to share your story and inspire others.

After you’ve answered the Writer’s Block, you can submit your story of greatness at NatureMade.com and enter to win $1000 and a spot in the Nature Made “Fuel Your Greatness” documentary. If you have a Basic, Paid, or Permanent account and want to share your story with Nature Made, click here to answer the question.

Delete Comments, Report Spambots, Accelerator Add-on, Find Your Friends

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:25:56 GMT

Happy April! All joking aside, we thought you might find these new features helpful in your day-to-day LJ life:

Delete All Comments from a User

It's a bummer when an unwelcome guest pays a visit to your journal and leaves a bunch of rude comments behind. Cleaning up after them can take a long time. That's why we've made it easier to mass-delete comments from a single user in a post. When you click Delete on one comment by that user, a dialog box pops up that gives you the option to delete all the comments by that user in the post. Happy spring cleaning!

Report a Spambot

We've also made it easier to report a user that you suspect of being a spambot. The pop-up menu that's visible when you hover your mouse over the userhead icon now includes an option to report that user as a bot.

Just click on "Report a Bot" to get the investigation going.

Accelerator in Internet Explorer 8

The latest version of Internet Explorer has a new add-on for LiveJournal users. Accelerator makes it easy for you to quickly post an entry about an article or web page to your journal without having to leave the site where you found the item you're writing about. Just select the text you want to post and let Accelerator do the rest.

Have You Found Your Friends?

The Find Your Friends feature is up and running, helping connect LiveJournal users with friends from their web-based email contacts who are also on LJ. Whether you're new to LJ or you're a longtime user, you just might be able to make an old friend into a new Friend. You can set your own preferences for being found or not found on the Account Settings page under the Privacy tab.

As always, you can get the full details on the latest release in lj_releases.

Friends Page redesign project

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:08:39 GMT

Over the past few months, we've been working hard to respond to all of your requests from the past year or two regarding what you want out of a social networking and blogging site. With that in mind, beginning tomorrow you will have the opportunity to opt-in to the beta test for our new Friends Page format. We'd like you to try it out and let us know how it works for you. Here are the two major changes we've made:

Automatic lj-cuts

One of the most common complaints we get is that even your best friends don't do you the courtesy of using the lj-cut on long entries. We consulted with a cutting-edge market research firm and concluded that no one really wants to read more than 140 characters about what their friends are doing. And with our new automatic lj-cut, you won't have to! From now on, all those wordy entries on your Friends Page will automatically be cut at the 140-character sweet spot.

Adding Notifications

Have you ever wondered what your friends were up to when you weren't watching their every move? Would you like to see, in real time, what they're doing on LiveJournal? Well, now you can. We've added notifications to your Friends Page! Whenever one of your friends uploads a new userpic, adds or removes friends, comments on an entry, changes a setting, or uploads a picture to Scrapbook, this information will be added as an entry on your Friends Page.

frank has been alpha-testing these changes and he loves his new Friends Page!!!

To opt in to beta-testing, and to give us your thoughts on these changes, please go to feedback. We think this is a vast improvement to LiveJournal and just know you're going to love it!

Keeping Your Journal Safe

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:43:56 GMT

Recently some journals and communities have been broken into, their contents deleted, and their owners locked out. We want to explain how this can happen and give you some steps you can take to help prevent this from happening to your journal or community.

First of all, we would like to dispel the rumor that these break-ins have something to do with the accounts that have recently been friending large numbers of users (sometimes called friending bots). We do not believe these are related. The problem appears to stem from Hotmail's policy of recycling inactive email addresses.

The recent break-ins resulted from hijackers finding and accessing lapsed Hotmail accounts that were used with LiveJournal accounts and publicly displayed on Profile pages in the past. You should be aware that Hotmail recycles email addresses that haven't been used in more than a year. If you validated a Hotmail address for your journal and displayed it publicly in the past, but then let the address lapse, someone who finds and re-registers that address can use it to obtain control of the journal.

Managing Your Email Addresses

The best thing you can do to keep your account safe is to keep your password secure and make sure that you're in control of all the email addresses you have used with your account. We have added a Manage Email Addresses feature that allows you to delete email addresses that are no longer active. If you have been using your current validated email address for at least six months, you can delete all the other addresses associated with your account. If you validated your current email address less than six months ago, you must wait until you've been using it for six months to delete all the other addresses.

The checkboxes will be active if you can delete the address. You can manage your email addresses here.

Keeping Your Community Safe

To keep a community safe, you should remove all inactive maintainers. Make sure that the users listed as maintainers are actively maintaining the community. If any maintainer is no longer part of the community, don't leave them as community maintainers, even for sentimental reasons.

Using the Secret Question and Protecting Your Password

A great way to protect your password is to use the secret question. If you forget your password but no longer have access to the email you used to create your account, the secret question helps us verify that it's really you requesting your password. The secret question is only used when you forget your password or email; you don't need to answer the question when you just want to change your password or email. You can choose from a list of questions or you can create your own. We advise creating your own. The best questions, of course, have answers known only to you, so make sure you haven't inadvertently given away the answer somewhere, like talking about your first pet or where you went to high school on your journal. Another strategy is to make the answer to your secret question completely unrelated to the question. You can set your secret question here.

Even if no one has broken into your account, it's always a good idea to change your password periodically. Going through all the steps in this FAQ from time to time can save you a lot of trouble down the road. And it doesn't hurt to take a peek at your login history now and then, just to make sure it matches your actual activity.

Look Before You Click

Another aspect of the recent community hijackings is the planting of malicious links. Once the hijackers have gained control of a maintainer's email address and used it to remove all the other maintainers, they have been posting entries that may contain links to viruses and malware. Always practice safe clicking. Don't click on anything—even if it's posted by a friend—without hovering your mouse over the link and checking the status bar to make sure that what you're clicking is for real. You should also run any and all spyware/malware/antivirus programs on a regular basis. A basic Google search will turn up a number of free programs that you can use to protect your computer.

We're working on additional solutions to help prevent these kinds of break-ins from happening. The steps outlined in this post are some of the things you can do to help keep your account secure.

Find Your Friends, Pingbacks, Russia!, LJ Birthday Book, V-Gifts, and More

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:54:23 GMT

Find Your Friends
Pingbacks
Russia!
LJ Birthday Book
Featured V-Gifts
And More

Find Your Friends

EDIT: 3/6/09 The Find Your Friends feature is now up and running, ready to find your friends. We apologize for any problems you encountered with the feature.

~~EDIT: We're turning off the Find Your Friends feature until further notice. We'll update the post again next week and remove the strikethrough when the feature is back on.~~

Remember last November when we introduced the next step in our quest to help you find more Friends? Since then you might have noticed a dialog box when you logged in to your journal over the past few months. This friendly fellow wants you to set your preference for the new Find Your Friends feature, which goes live today. Find Your Friends allows users to search their web-based email contacts to see if they know anyone on LJ. Depending on what you set as your preference, you'll show up in search results with your username and email address, only your email address, or nothing at all (because not everyone wants to be found). You can read more about how the feature works here. You can find Find Your Friends under the Friends drop-down menu at the top of the Home page or your Profile page when you're logged in. Find Your Friends is opt-in, but you have to opt for one of the three setting options to make the dialog box go away. If you change your mind later and decide you want to be found (or not found), you can find the setting on the handy new Account Settings page under the Privacy tab, named Find by Email.

Ka-Ping!

Ever wondered who's linking to your posts in their journal or blog? We're introducing a new feature for Paid and Permanent Accounts that lets you track references to your posts using Pingbacks. Whenever someone links to one of your entries, you'll receive a notification in the form of a screened comment from pingback_bot. Get the full scoop on Pingbacks here at paidmembers and in the FAQ.

LiveJournal Live from Russia!

You probably already know that LiveJournal is the most popular blogging site in Russia. But for those of us who don't speak Russian or understand Cyrillic fonts, it can be hard to appreciate the wide and at times wacky world of the Russian blog scene. There's only so far a Google translation can get you. Luckily for us, now there's russiamagazine, a new community on LiveJournal from Russia! magazine where their team translates and posts the best of Russian LJ. Every week they scan the chatter and bring you the highlights, from posts to photos.This is your chance to see how another part of LJ lives, so check it out.

brad: The LJ Interview

Without Brad there would be no LJ, and without LJ there would be no LJ Tenth Anniversary book, so of course the book will not be without Brad!

The book will feature a scintillating interview with LJ founder Brad Fitzpatrick that answers all of your burning questions (well, maybe not all of them—this book is work-safe, after all). But send us what ya got, and we’ll choose the most interesting ones and publish his answers this April in what is sure to be the book of all (LJ) time.

You’ve got from now until 11:59 p.m. PST on Monday, March 2, to submit your questions for Brad at lj_turns10. And for the next two weeks—as we come down the final stretch in finishing the book!—there will be new questions, polls, and quizzes for you at lj_turns10, so be sure to drop by, chime in, and join the fun.

Get Your Irish On

March is just around the corner, which means St. Patrick's Day isn't far behind. We all know what happens to people who don't wear green on March 17—save your friends' profile pages from a virtual pinch by dressing them up with a little bit o' green from the Gift Shop.

And More

As always, you can find the full scoop on the release in lj_releases.

The LJ Birthday Book

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:15:35 GMT

Thanks to your suggestions over at lj_turns10, the anniversary book is really starting to take shape. We're closing in on a rough table of contents and this is the last week for open entry suggestions. Things we're particularly interested in: entries from individual journals (it doesn't have to be your own); entries from the early years (1999–2000); and entries from the very, very recent past (i.e. 2007 and 2008).

As a thank-you for their contributions, all the authors of entries chosen for the book will receive a $20 LJ gift certificate (that's a year's worth of Paid Account time or 2 years' worth of userpic add-ons!). And in recognition of all the good ideas we've gotten from lj_turns10, we'll give you a $5 LJ gift certificate (that's 2 months' worth of Paid Account time) if you suggest an entry that makes it into the book. In cases where we receive multiple suggestions for an entry, the gift certificate goes to the first suggestion. And what if you suggest an entry that gets chosen for the book and you happen to be the author of that entry? Then we'll give you a $20 and a $5 LJ gift certificate, for a grand total of $25, to spend as you wish in the Gift Shop.

11:59 p.m. PST on February 25 is your last chance to suggest any and every excellent entry (remember that entries should be the author's original content and written in English). After the stroke of midnight, lj_turns10 will still be the hub of LJ birthday activity—we'll have polls, questions, and perhaps some writing prompts—but we won't be accepting any more entry nominations for the book. So give us your final suggestions because we can't wait to see them!

Account Settings, Birthday Fun, Happy Valentine's

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:47:44 GMT

Account Settings
lj_turns10
Valentine's Day

There's a Setting for That!

One of the great things about LJ (we think) is the level of control you have over all the different settings. One of the less great things about LJ has been that those settings are scattered all over the place, making it hard to keep track of them or even know that they exist. Back in October we organized all these settings into one central area (cleverly called Account Settings) and put it in beta. We tweaked it a bit based on your feedback and now we're releasing it out into the wide world of LJ. You can find and manage all your settings by clicking Account at the top of any page when you're logged in (it's right next to your username). You'll be amazed at all the things you can do!

Birthday Fun for Everyone

As you might have heard, LiveJournal crosses into double digits this year, age-wise, and we're celebrating with a book commemorating the first 10 years of LJ. Many of you have already paid a visit to lj_turns10, the community for all things LJ-birthday, and given us lots of great ideas for things to go in the book. To keep the suggestions rolling in, we have a new question for you this week: How has LJ changed the world? There can be a lot of crossover between your LJ and your RL, and we want to know all about it. We're looking for specific entries from journals and communities about moments when real-world events spilled over into LiveJournal and vice versa. This could be anything from an entry about how someone met their true love on LJ to entries posted in the midst of sweeping historical events like Hurricane Katrina or September 11. As always, a link to the specific entry is appreciated. Think about it and then head on over to lj_turns10 and meet us at the intersection of LJ Street and Real Life Avenue.

Some of you have been asking how this whole book thing is going to work when it comes to copyright and permissions. All your original content belongs to you and we won't (can't!) use it without your permission. When we decide which entries we want to use, we'll contact the authors and ask for permission to use their entry in the book. If we don't get permission, we won't put it in.

The Easiest Way to Say i <3 u

Ahhh Valentine's Day, the holiday that celebrates love in all its many splendors. Some people love it. Others, not so much. This year, however you feel about flowers, hearts, and chocolates, we've got you covered in the Gift Shop. A heart-shaped, lace-trimmed shipment of Valentine's v-gifts just arrived and we think there's no better way to say "I love you" (or "@#$! Valentine's Day") than with a charming arrangement of pixels sent to your friends' profile pages.

And remember, LJ <3 u!

You can get the full scoop on this week's release in lj_releases.

LJ Turns 10

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:02:22 GMT

Has it really been 10 years?

On April 11, LiveJournal celebrates its tenth birthday. In Internet time, that's ancient. We're not ready to plan our golden years just yet, but we do have a lot of plans for our tenth year. One of the most exciting projects we're working on is a book chronicling the first 10 years of LJ, and we need your help to do it. The book will highlight some of the most interesting and memorable communities, journals, and entries from over the years. The only problem is that there's just so much stuff to choose from that it's hard to narrow it down. That's where you come in. What are your top five favorite LJ entries of all time? Take a minute to think about it (or check your Memories) and then go to lj_turns10 to let us know what you think should go in the book.

lj_turns10 is the hub for all things related to LJ's tenth birthday. We'll be using the community to ask questions and source material for the book, including polls, quizzes, and other fun stuff. Your insights and suggestions into all the things that make LJ the awesome, crazy place that it is will help us shape the book into a true reflection of the great and varied LJ community. Our users (you!) are what make LJ unique, so the focus of the book is on you and your original content (and not just for—ahem—reasons involving copyright and intellectual property law). People across the world use LJ in lots of different ways and we want the book to show that, too. Of course, we won't be able to fit everything we find into just one book, so we'll also be using the community to get ideas for future projects.

Our birthday plans aren't limited to the book. Another way we're going to celebrate is by revamping the LJ Store. Everything is up for consideration and we'd love to hear your ideas about what kind of LJ schwag you'd like to see in the store. Should we bring back old favorites? Focus on new stuff? Let us know what you think.

April 11 is fast approaching, so head on over to lj_turns10 with your top five favorite entries before Time's winged chariot runs us over!

State of the Goat 2008

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:15:14 GMT

State of the Goat 2008

New Features

Paid Account Love

Policy Changes

New Partnerships

Giving Back

Just for Kicks

Controversies

Things We Didn't Get Done

Looking Ahead, Looking Back

Independent Minds

State of the Goat 2008

LJ went through a lot of changes in 2008. Here are the highlights:

New features

Server upgrade. This was the biggest change of the year, if not necessarily the most visible. We moved LJ off the SixApart servers and onto our own servers in our own brand-new data center in Montana, resulting in a faster, stronger LJ with much more storage capacity.

Poll results and comment limits got up upped. 2000 for poll results, 10,000 for comments.

Mobile LJ. TxtLJ lets you post and receive notifications via text message. The LJ App for iPhone makes it easy for iPhone users to post entries (including photos) to journals and communities. And Russian users can access almost their entire LJ on their mobile phones with the 2008 updates to ljmob.ru.

Posting features. RTE now works for Opera and Safari and there's a new icon to identify filtered posts. If you're looking for posting inspiration, try the Writer's Block Archive. For Last.fm users, the updated Music field on the Post an Entry page can now automatically fill in what you're listening to when you write the post. LJ bookmarklet lets you easily post links and articles without leaving the site where you found them.

OpenID. LJ now supports OpenID 2.0 and your OpenID friends can leave comments in journal entries that are marked as "friends only."

Sponsored Accounts. We introduced a new account structure for Russian users, adding Sponsored Accounts that have all the features of Paid Accounts but are supported by sponsors.

New themes and v-gifts. We added some new themes, including the winners of the HP "What Do You Have to Say?" Theme Design Contest and the new Minimalism layout scheme with 25 themes.

Theme contest winners, L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

There were new v-gifts as well, for everything from Chinese New Year to chocolate ice cream, and some changes in the giving process. Now you can send v-gifts to more than one user at a time and view the comment you include on the checkout page.

Secret question. We added a new security measure that lets you access your account when you've forgotten your password or changed emails since you became a user—the secret question. You make up the question and the answer is the key to your account.

Account settings. We took all the various settings scattered around the site and consolidated them on a new Account Settings page. This feature is still in beta but will be making its sitewide debut soon.

<strike> vs. <b>. Back in 2007 we changed the visual display of deleted and suspended usernames from a line through the username to displaying the username in a bold font that was hard to read, confusing, and unclickable. So in 2008 we changed the display back to strikethrough and made it clickable again.

"Delete all." The private messaging inbox got a handy "Delete all" feature so you can clean out your LJ inbox with one click.

Paid Account Love
Users with Paid Accounts got some treats this year: persistent style=mine, collapsed comment thread expansion, and the very popular View Friends Page by Date feature. December saw the return of the Give More promotion and a Permanent Account sale. Permanent Account users also received an increase in userpics and storage limits.

Policy Changes
Updating and clarifying our Abuse policies as a result of events in 2007 was a major part of 2008. Among the most significant changes: Non-sexualized, non-graphic images of nudity are no longer considered to be explicit adult content; flagging content as explicit adult content does not mean the content is in violation of our Terms of Service; and the policy on removal of non-photographic images of minors was itself removed. Removal of this content is no longer required and users posting this content are no longer suspended. We also implemented the ability to suspend a single journal entry and to make a journal read-only, rather than suspending entire journals. You can read about all the policy changes and the reasoning behind them in lj_policy. The complete Abuse policy can be found here.

New Partnerships
Our global footprint got a little bigger in 2008 as we developed new partnerships in India, the UK, and Russia. Highlights included the Caferati flash fiction contest in India; us_election2008, where journalists from partner newspapers Gazeta, MINT, and The Independent posed questions to U.S. users about the presidential election; and the Independent Minds community created in collaboration with The Independent. We hope to build on these partnerships in the year ahead. To read about the latest development in our collaboration with The Independent, see below.

Giving Back
LJ continued its tradition of charitable giving in 2008. We donated proceeds from charity v-gifts to the Depression and Bipolar Alliance, PFLAG, and NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program. To support all the LJers who take part in National Novel Writing Month, we supplied the Grand Prize laptop for NaNoWriMo's Writeathon and also pledged a dollar to the Young Writers Program for every LJ user who finished NaNoWriMo (up to $1000—we gave the full thousand). We also partnered with Razoo.com so purchasers of Permanent Accounts could donate a portion of their purchase price to the charity of their choice.

Just for Kicks
We had some fun in 2008, welcoming a new team member to the Advisory Board at the beginning of April and being taken over by a horrifying new site scheme at the end of October. Also in April we warmed up our new office space in San Francisco at a little get-together with some local LJers. And while the research report had a serious purpose, we really enjoyed reading it.

Controversies
It wouldn't be LJ without some controversy, and we had a few in 2008. Many of you objected to the plan to eliminate Basic Accounts (and the way it was announced). In the end, after a lot of feedback and discussion, we restored the option for existing users to downgrade their accounts to Basic and therefore see no ads when logged in and viewing Basic journals and communities. You can read the full decision here.

And then there was the Profile page redesign. Some of you didn't like it. We went through all of your feedback and comments and made some changes. You can find the full story in lj_design.

The Advisory Board was also the cause of some controversy. The purpose and usage of the Advisory Board wasn't conveyed as well as it could have been, and the election of user representatives had its share of trouble. We'll be having user elections again in a few months and we hope to apply the lessons learned from last year to make the process much smoother this time around.

Things We Didn't Get Done
We promised a la carte userpics and didn't come through. We're sorry. We know they're important to you and they're still on our priority list. We hope to get them to you soon. Another area we're still working on is search, where we had three priorities: improving public email search (Find Your Friends); Journal search to allow you to search within your own journal; and improved site-wide search for interests, tags, and more. We made a lot of progress on Find Your Friends (have you set your preference yet?) and journal search on public entries but not to the point where they were ready to release in 2008. You should see some new search features in the next few releases.

Looking Ahead, Looking Back
LiveJournal turns 10 this year and we're looking forward to celebrating our tenth birthday with a variety of special features. But before we close the door on 2008, let's indulge in some nostalgia. What was your favorite LJ moment of the past year? Comment with your favorite moment and why you liked (or hated) it so much, and the Paid Account fairy just might pay you a visit! We'll be awarding two months of Paid Account time to the best comments on the hits (or misses) of 2008.

And now it's full steam ahead into 2009!

Independent Commenting Powered by LiveJournal

Back in November we announced the launch of Independent Minds, our partnership with The Independent newspaper in the UK. Today we're happy to announce the latest development in the partnership—LiveJournal is the power behind The Independent's new commenting system. Now you can comment on articles on The Independent using your LJ account. This is the first time a newspaper has integrated LJ into their platform for commenting, journalist blogs, and editorial communities, and we're pretty excited about it. You can see it all and get the details at Independent Minds.