LiveJournal Major Notes: Notification fix, Snowflake cookie avalanche, LJLimerick, holiday vgifts!

[news]

Tweaks and enhancements

• As a number of you reported, a service interruption impaired sending and receiving notifications for a couple of days. This was due to an avalanche of snowflake cookies. We've removed the free snowflake cookie and unclogged the pipeline. Timely notifications should resume shortly. Please note that there's a backlog in our queues, so you'll be getting earlier notifications first. For more details, check out this post at LJ_Maintenance.
• In anticipation of the new year, we've embarked on a self-improvement kick to boost our backend (pun semi-intended). This will allow us to offer you a holiday promotion in the next few weeks (yes, we're listening and working very hard to make it happen). We sincerely appreciate your continued patience and support.

Holiday vgifts are here!




We've added some fantastic new vgifts to help you spread holiday cheer. We also hope you'll honor AIDS Awareness Month by purchasing virtual red ribbons. Priced at $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of gross proceeds to IAVI.org (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) to support the development and global distribution of an affordable HIV vaccine.
Introducing: LJLimericks
We cordially here do invite you
To craft a fine limerick. Might you?
Each week, a new theme,
Then a poll, that's our dream
Winner posted on news to delight you!

In honor of all the brilliant writers on LiveJournal, we've created a brand new community: LJLimericks! Each week, we'll enter a handful of limericks into a poll (which we'll tuck snugly under an LJ-Cut). The winning poem will be published in the following newsletter. In addition, the author will receive a virtual blue ribbon! If you have the time, come drop us a rhyme. Please keep the "Nantucket" stuff on the downlow, since this is a youth-friendly community. Our first prompt is: Insomnia in winter.
Photos of the week

We're back with more incredible images from our global photography community. Congratulations to sempre_marseeya, who has been awarded a virtual blue ribbon as the winner of our second LJ_Photophile poll.



We hate to squelch your creativity, but, as a courtesy to other users, please post only one photo at a time and keep the main photo no larger than 350x350 (so images display properly via mobile and on friends pages). You can link to a larger image and/or post photos under a cut. Just so you know, we select photos for the poll blindly, based on user comments and staff feedback. Please continue to vote, comment, and, of course, enjoy. You can check out the week in pictures and view more awesome user content after the jump!
Poll LJ_Photohpile: Photo of the Week Spotlight community of the week

For those who believe the best gifts are handmade, haul your craft basket over to handmade_gifts and get ready to turn all those stray buttons, remnants, and lone earrings into treasured keepsakes!



Conquer Writer's Block

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

What are your feelings towards smoking? What rights do you think smokers and non-smokers should have?

1. Smoking is a waste of time, money, and life. It should be banned permanently. Anyone caught should be either sentenced or deported. No gray areas. You give them an inch, they take a mile.
2. I'm a smoker so I really can't make much of a judgement here but I think everyone should be free to do as they please. If you don't want to smoke, then that's fair enough, I applaud you for your good sense, but if you do, then that's up to you as well.
3. ...The truth of the matter is that smoking is a filthy habit. ... Now as far as rights go, I do side with the non-smokers because they should not have to suffer ill health from an ill habit they do not partake in. Public establishments should be non-smoking inside, but offer covered outdoor seating for those who wish to light up. Now as far as rights go, I do side with the non-smokers because they should not have to suffer ill health from an ill habit they do not partake in. Public establishments should be non-smoking inside, but offer covered outdoor seating for those who wish to light up...
4. I am not a smoker. I never will be a smoker. I don't think I could find it in me to date or be close friends with a smoker. This is for health reasons. No, I'm not an asthmatic. But you know all that stuff that can happen to you when you smoke? It's even worse for the people inhaling your smoke. So with all of these health risks (including, but not limited to, lung cancer, blood clots, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, etc.), I can't really wrap my head around why people still pick up smoking...
5. I HATE SMOKING!!! I am proud to say that I have never smoked, or tried smoking, at all. Quite frankly, I don't plan to start either. What I don't enjoy is that non-smokers don't get the occasional 5-minute break that smokers claim they need to fulfill the addiction...
6. As a human being, I would appreciate the right to ruin my health any way I see fit without some self-righteous asshole I've never met before telling me off for it in public. What part if "it's none of your business" do you not understand?...
7. Like many other vices for instance gambling, my sentiment is very staunch, I am totally against smoking. If smokers have the right to smoke, then non-smokers have the same right to clean, breathable air. We did this smoker vs non-smoker debate in school all the time, it's meaningless to me because ultimately it boils down to the government's sentiment and how this is being regulated in a country. I am just happy that our government is against smoking.
8. It's a personal choice of the person who wants to do it. As for rights, I think someone should be allowed to smoke if they want to and nonsmokers shouldn't tell a smoker what to do. HOWEVER, I'd much prefer for smokers to smoke OUTSIDE because the smell of it inside is nauseating and gross. :c ...
9. I ABHORE smoking. I grew up as an asthmatic where both of my parents smoked. My mother once looked at my father and said, "we're killing our daughter," after I had to excuse myself to go use my inhaler while they lit up their post-dinner cigarettes. Note that it didn't stop them. ...
10. I have struggled with quitting smoking for a very long time. I hardly ever smoke now. I tend to smoke when I am around people who smoke if I am really stressed. I think smoking is a disgusting habit and terrible for your health. I think that smoking should be banned in all enclosed spaces. I think that smokers should have the right to smoke outside and I think that people should not give them dirty looks if they are being respectful and smoking outside. Most smokers struggle trying to quit. Most smokers don't want to be smokers. It is extremely difficult for most to quit...

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Stay warm and safe out there!