DDoS Attack, Facebook and Twitter Updates
As most of you know, LiveJournal has been the victim of repeated, large-scale DDoS attacks over the last two weeks. These attacks are against multiple journals worldwide, several of which are political in nature. LiveJournal believes strongly in the ideal of freedom of expression, and we're working very hard to ensure that users around the world have a place where their voices can be heard.
Based on our analysis of the traffic, most of the attacks are coming from entire networks in the same subnets, suggesting participation by multiple network operators. We have made significant changes to our systems and processes to battle attacks of this nature and are continuing to adjust to each new attack as quickly as we can. We share your frustration in not being able to access LiveJournal during these attacks -- please know that we're doing everything within our power to get this behind us. Frank's weekly giveaway
This week we're celebrating April birthdays. If you were born this month, tell us your birthday wish (a coordinating userpic always delights us), and Frank will send you a box of buttery popcorn to make your day (up through the first ten pages of comments).
Header design update
A number of you had questions about the currently-displaying LiveJournal header. We wanted to let you know that the design is based on an open stock image that allows for unlimited use and licensing, so there's no copyright issue. We also wish to take this opportunity to urge our remixed header designers to use original imagery, photographs, or designs as much as possible to avoid these kinds of concerns in the future. We thank you, again, for making LiveJournal your canvas.
Did You Know ...?
As we discussed above, LiveJournal was the victim of repeated DDoS attacks this week. We try to update our external status page as quickly as possible in these cases and have also begun to post to Twitter and Facebook. Here are the links to our Facebook Page and our Twitter feed. Please be aware that in addition to site outage and maintenance information, we also post links to news updates, contests, and other site-wide features.
For more fun with photos, Frank and Meme, and LJ_Scribe, we'll catch you under the cut!
Photo of the week
Congrats to hepkitten, who won our 61st LJ_photophile contest! Click here to help choose the next photo of the week. FYI: We pick entries for the poll based on a combination of comments, +1 ratings, and staff input. The winner receives 500 LJ tokens. We thank you for sharing your talent with the global LiveJournal community.
Welcome back, dear scribes
Congratulations to levi_averi, bridals, jim_lonsdale, and dashingmare, who won our LJ_Scribe contest! After aching deliberation, we've selected seven finalists in response to our eighth prompt for your review. In addition to the joy of sharing your well-turned phrases, the authors with the most votes will each win 1,000 LJ Tokens. Finalists will receive 500 LJ Tokens (a limit of one award per user). For our next contest, we'll ask you to respond to the following prompt in the form of prose, poetry, or an IM chat (no more than 100 words, excluding the prompt): "She left her email open and popped into the bathroom to take one of her notoriously long showers (all the while proclaiming herself an environmentalist)." You do not need to include the prompt in your writing. Be sure to post your submissions as entries, rather than comments, to lj_scribe up through Monday, April 11th, at 4PM, PDT. You'll find the +1 rating link under each post, so remember to check back and vote for your favorites!
Frank and Meme's excellent adventure
We received five terrific entries in our frankandmeme contest. Please vote here to choose the next official chapter in the Frank and Meme saga. Comment on the post and Frank'll send you a little something to brighten your day. On behalf of our quarreling darlings, we thank you for keeping the drama alive!
Thanks, again, for joining us. We'll see you next week!