News

Update: Thank you for taking the time to offer your honest feedback. We understand and appreciate your desire for privacy. We share your concerns. Most of us would not want to publish our LiveJournal usernames or FO comments to Facebook or Twitter either (to the extent we even use them). Please give us a little time to address your concerns. We are listening, and we'll do our best to respond.

For those of you who squander spend time on those other social networks, we've just made it easier to stay in touch with your grandparents, forgotten acquaintances, and former bosses on Facebook and Twitter without having to leave the comfort of your LiveJournal home. To activate cross-posting, visit Account Settings/Extensions. Once you link your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts to your LiveJournal account, you can automatically cross-post entries and/or comments. Alternatively, you can choose to cross-post selectively to Facebook or Twitter whenever you post an entry or comment by clicking on the Facebook or Twitter icon beneath the text box (you must be logged into your Facebook or Twitter account on the same browser).

Several things to keep in mind:

• If you've been using the previous version of Facebook Connect, you'll need to reactivate this feature by re-implementing your settings on the Account Settings/Extensions page.
• Once you enable Facebook and/or Twitter Connect, only your public LiveJournal posts (those marked as "Everyone") will default to cross-post, but you can override this on a per-post basis beneath the text box.
• If you set your default to cross-post comments, ALL of your comments, including screened and Friends Only comments, can be cross-posted whenever you choose. Only public comments, however, will be preselected to cross-post. If you wish to cross-post a Friends Only or screened comment, you will need to select the cross-posting option manually when you post the comment. Of course, you can override your settings on a per-comment basis, so you have complete control over whether to cross-post each and every comment.
• If you edit a post or comment after it has been cross-posted, it will not revise the post on Facebook and/or Twitter.
• Your posts will publish on Facebook and Twitter according to your respective privacy/visibility settings on those networks.
• For further information, see the Facebook and Twitter Connect FAQ.

• If you've never used this feature, the default will be set to open (i.e., on).
• If you formerly disabled pingbacks, it will remain off.
• The "ping" will appear as a screened comment on the original post in the journal or community.
• To update your pingback settings, please visit your Account Settings/Privacy page.

• Webmoney: This payment method has been temporarily removed while we work on improving integration.
• Repost tags: We fixed the bug that was cutting off reposted entries. The basic Repost tag now correctly reposts an entire entry. To learn more about this feature, please see FAQ 313.

We want to thank you for letting us know which LiveJournal features you didn't discover immediately that you can't live without. High on the list was the ever-popular LJ-cut. An LJ-cut allows you to 'hide' part of an entry behind a text link, so that the entry doesn't take up as much space in your journal and Friends pages. You can create an LJ-cut in an entry by following these easy steps (described more fully in this FAQ):

• Rich Text editor: Highlight the text you want to cut, then press the <lj-cut> button (). In the dialog box, you can replace "Read more" with another word or phrase, which will link to the entire entry.
• HTML editor: Type <lj-cut> before the text you want to hide. This will insert "Read more" with a link to the entire post. When you want to end the cut, type </lj-cut>.

We'll be back next week with another tip.

Congrats to sergey_sk78, who won our 35th lj_photophile poll! Click here to vote for the next photo of the week. You can also vote for your favorite pic in this week's themed contest, on the subject of Purple, here. FYI: We pick entries for the polls based on a combination of comments, +1 ratings, and staff input. Winners of both polls receive 500 LJ tokens. We thank you for sharing your talent with the global LiveJournal community.

In order to ensure you get the answers you need as quickly as possible, we're in the process of evaluating our FAQs. We hope you'll take a few minutes to complete a short survey. Your input will provide invaluable insight that will help us improve our FAQ system.

Congratulations to clover71, who won our remixed header design contest. You can start submitting entries (a maximum of two entries per user) for the next monthly header contest now until Monday, September 13th, 4PM, PDT. As a courtesy to other users, please post thumbnails of your original header designs (400x40 pixels) and place the full-sized version (900x90) under a cut. Be sure to include the LiveJournal logo in both the logged-in and logged-out positions. The winner will be awarded 2,500 LJ Tokens. Finalists will receive 1,000 LJ Tokens. All other participants will get 500 LJ Tokens (one award per user). For further information on the rules, please see the Remixed profile page. Thank you for making LiveJournal your creative canvas.

Our Community Care team came up with a fantastic idea! After speaking with some of our new users (and even some experienced ones), they realized that a lot of LiveJournal users didn't know how to use some of the awesome features many of us take for granted. For instance, did you know that the little guy next to a LiveJournal username is called a userhead? There's a userhead for journals () and one for communities (). Clicking on the userhead beside a linked journal or community name (such as frank or feedback) will take you to the Profile of the journal or community. Clicking on the text of the journal or community name will take you directly to the journal or community. If you mouse over the userhead, you'll get a drop-down menu that lets you send a Private Message, friend someone, or join or watch a community. (If you're not seeing the hover menu, you can activate it here.)

We'd love to hear about some of the cool features you didn't discover right away. Let us know in the comments below, and Frank'll send you a little something for teaching us the way.

• Header design poll: It's time to decide which header you'd like to see on the top of LiveJournal for the month of September. The header finalist poll closes on Monday, August 23rd, at 3PM, PDT. We'll announce the winner in the next newsletter (and send LJ Tokens to all participants).
• Orbit vgift contest: We were completely blown away by your brilliant submissions. After lengthy deliberation by the LiveJournal staff (which nearly ended in fisticuffs), we are pleased to present the finalists. Remember, all LiveJournal users will be able to send the winning vgift to three mutual friends. Please click here to pick your favorite! This poll will stay open until Wednesday, August 25th, at 3PM, PDT.

• Gulf_Aid_Now: Congratulations to our friends at gulf_aid_now, who have raised over $4,700 to support clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. We're delighted to report that our Gulf Aid charitable vgift has raised an additional $500. Thank you for helping us make a positive difference!
• Remixed Rickshaw design contest: Congratulations to sissaphus, who submitted the winning entry for the Rickshaw ad design contest. We were all blown away by the brilliant submissions. Rickshaw had a really tough time choosing finalists! Thanks, again, to all participants. We'll be sending out those LJ Tokens shortly. In the meantime, you can check out the winning entry here.
• Header design contest: We've got another stellar batch of header designs for your viewing and voting pleasure. Please choose one finalist from each group. We'll keep the polls open until Monday, August 16th, 3PM, PDT. Just a reminder that we accept a maximum of two entries per user. You can check out all the fantastic submissions in remixed. P.S. We reposted the Group Four poll to include a missing entry. So, you might need to vote again.
• Orbit vgift contest: There's still time to ply your design skills in the Orbit vgift contest. In addition to winning prizes and LJ Tokens, all users will get to send the final vgift to mutual friends. You can learn more about it here.

A joy ride for our paid users!

If you have a paid or permanent account, you can send five free dune buggies now until Monday, August 9th, at 4pm, PDT! You'll see both the free and the $0.99 beach buggies displayed until they've zipped off 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 car 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. Happy riding!

• Read your Friends page
• Post to your journal or communities
• Add and respond to comments
• Read and reply to personal messages
• Upload images
• Access advanced setttings, like custom view options to speed load times

Join ljmobile to discuss the new LiveJournal iPhone app.

• Rickshaw ad design contest: Our neighbors over at Rickshaw Bagworks have selected ad design finalists for your review. Please help them choose a winner by voting for your favorite entry here. The poll will remain open until Tuesday, August 3rd, at 4PM, PDT.
• Header contest: Congrats again to delightedly for creating the stunning header that graces the top of LiveJournal. You can continue to submit entries to remixed for next month's header contest until Tuesday, August 3rd, at 4pm, PDT. The winner will get 2,500 LJ Tokens. Finalists will receive 1,000 LJ Tokens. All other participants will get 500 LJ tokens (only one award per user). For more information on this contest, please see the Remixed profile page.
• Orbit vgift contest: We're excited to announce a brand new creative contest. Orbit gum is sponsoring a vgift design contest that is open to all LiveJournal users. The winner will receive a $500 Amazon Gift Certificate plus 2,500 LJ Tokens. Finalists will get 2,000 LJ Tokens, and all other participants will receive 500 LJ tokens (one award per user). Best of all, the winning vgift will be free for all users to share with mutual friends. For more information, please check out this entry in remixed.
• Daily poll: Just a reminder to check out our new daily poll question on the LiveJournal homepage (bottom right corner). The general theme is "Have you ever...?" Please use the spotlight suggestion form to submit questions.