ljskins Submission Policy

[soph]

All skins submitted to this community must adhere to this Submission Policy. Items marked with a (*) have been confirmed by the LiveJournal Abuse Prevention Team, who have given insight into what is legally allowed or not.

1. 
   If you use the official logo in your skin, small changes are permissible. (*) That would include things like:
   
   • adding shadows,
   • changing colours,
   • probably moving the various elements around (so the text comes before the pencil logo, for example)
   • other small changes. The important thing here, I think, is that if it can be recognised that it's the LJ logo, it's probably okay. Use common sense.
   
   It probably does not include:
   
   • using a different font for the logo,
   • removing the pencil graphic,
   • anything that makes the logo un-LiveJournally. You know the score.
   
   It should be noted, however, that I'm not a legal expert so the above could be wrong. However, I believe it's correct.
   
   A version of the official LiveJournal logo with proper variable transparency is available, should you need it. I hereby grant permission to use this logo in any manner for which you are allowed to use the original logo file. If you need to create your own version of the logo, I recommend that you use this SVG file as a starting point, as it's scalable, leading to a higher quality logo. Remember to save it in another format before using it in the skin, though.
   
2. 
   Replacement logos are allowed. (*) In other words, you don't have to use the official logo in your skin; if a completely different logo of your own design fits better, you are allowed to use it.
   
3. 
   Insulting or objectional changes to the official logo are not acceptable. (*) In other words, don't have a "CrapJournal" logo, for example. The Abuse Prevention Team didn't state whether insulting or objectional *replacement* logos (ie, fully designed from scratch that bears no resemblance to the official logo) are acceptable or not; I asked for a clarification on this, and they had this to say on the matter:
   In regards to your inquiries about insulting or objectionable content [in replacement logos], please just use common sense as your guideline. For example, using the logo over pornographic content would not be acceptable.
   
   Since this is open to interpretation, I'm not going to impose any additional rules; if a skin appears to tread the line, it'll be up to the moderators as to whether it'll be approved. Please use your common sense when designing; it'll make our jobs easier.
   
4. 
   Recreating holiday schemes is acceptable. (*) No need to fret any more about holiday schemes disappearing from the site; we're allowed to recreate them in skin form and have them in this community.
   
5. 
   All content provided must conform to the Terms of Service. (*) This means, for example, that no copyrighted content is allowed unless you have permission to use it, even if you host it externally. Here's the relevant excerpt from the ToS:
   
   XVI. MEMBER CONDUCT
   
   [...]
   
   You agree to NOT use the Service to:
   
   [...]
   
   6. Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;
   
   This also means that you may not design any ad-blocking measures in your skin: "You agree to NOT use the Service to... Employ tactics to prevent the full and complete display of advertisements on LiveJournal pages. These include, but are not limited to, making journal style changes, customizations, or overrides that effectively block or substantially impair the display of advertisements on a Plus account's Content or other pages within the Service."
   
   In short, this means no copyrighted content without permission, and no blocking of advertisements. Skins which use either of those will not be allowed in the community.
   
6. To make it easier, all skins posted in this community should use the classes provided by the LJ Skins: Class Adder script (if userscripts.org is down, use this link instead). This isn't an ego thing on my part - it's just that it serves to make sure that no pages are affected which shouldn't be affected, and to make things easier all round. Full information on how to use the script is available in this documentation post (members only).

Further instructions on how to submit skins to the community is available in the Submission Guide.