View source for LiveJournal

{{Short description|Russian social networking service}}
{{Infobox website
| name = LiveJournal
| logo = LiveJournal icon.svg
| logo_size = 150px
| logo_alt = LiveJournal logo
| screenshot = LiveJournal homepage.png
| screenshot_size = 250px
| caption = LiveJournal homepage
| url = {{URL|https://www.livejournal.com/|livejournal.com}}
| commercial = Yes
| type = [[Blog hosting]]
| language = 33 languages
| owner = [[Rambler (portal)|Rambler Media Group]]
| programming_language = [[Perl]]<ref name="NYT"/>
| author = [[Brad Fitzpatrick]]
| launch_date = {{start date and age|1999|4|15}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/livejournal.com|title=LiveJournal.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools|work=[[WHOIS]]|access-date=2016-12-09|archive-date=2020-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413074811/https://whois.domaintools.com/livejournal.com|url-status=live}}</ref>
| current_status = Online
| registration = Optional (required to post<!--One may write comment without registration — Russian User of LJ-->)
}}

'''LiveJournal''' ({{langx|ru|Живой Журнал}}),<ref name=bbc-zhezhe>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17177053 |title=LiveJournal: Russia's unlikely internet giant |date=2012-03-01 |first=Robert |last=Greenall |work=BBC News |access-date=2012-03-05 |archive-date=2012-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305001123/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17177053 |url-status=live }}</ref> formerly stylised as '''LiVEJOURNAL''', is a Russian-owned [[social networking service]] where users can keep a [[blog]], journal, or [[diary]].<ref name="macworld_weblogs">{{Cite news | last=Hacker | first=Scot | title=Put Weblogs to Work| newspaper=[[Macworld]] | volume=9 | year=2003}}</ref> American programmer [[Brad Fitzpatrick]] started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school friends updated on his activities.<ref name="FAQ4">{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=4&view=full |title=LiveJournal FAQ: How did LiveJournal get started? Who runs it now? |publisher=Livejournal.com |date=2009-06-21 |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2006-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318105724/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=4&view=full |url-status=live }}</ref> In January 2005, American blogging software company [[Six Apart]] purchased Danga Interactive, the company that operated LiveJournal, from Fitzpatrick.

Six Apart sold LiveJournal to Russian media company [[SUP Media]] in 2007; the service continued to operate out of the U.S. via a California-based subsidiary, LiveJournal, Inc., but began moving some operations to Russian offices in 2009. In December 2016, the service relocated its servers to Russia, and in April 2017, LiveJournal changed its terms of service to conform to [[Russian law]]. As with other social networks, a wide variety of public figures use the service, as do political [[pundit]]s, who use it for [[political commentary]], particularly in Russia,<ref name=bbc-zhezhe /> where it partners with the online newspaper ''[[Gazeta.ru]]''.

==Features==
The unit of [[social network]]ing on LiveJournal is [[quaternary numeral system|quaternary]] (with four possible states of connection between one user and another). Two users can have no relationship, they can list each other as friends mutually, or either can "friend" the other without reciprocation.

The term "friend" on LiveJournal is mostly a technical term, but because it is emotionally loaded for many people, there have been discussions in such LiveJournal communities as ''lj_dev''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_dev/profile |title=lj_dev – Community Profile |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-07-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318041431/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_dev/profile |archive-date=2011-03-18 }}</ref> and ''lj_biz''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/profile |title=lj_biz – Community Profile |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-07-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115140720/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/profile |archive-date=2009-11-15 }}</ref> as well as ''suggestions''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/profile |title=suggestions – Community Profile |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-07-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502042253/http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/profile |archive-date=2010-05-02 }}</ref> about whether the term should be used this way.

A user's list of friends (''friends list'', often shortened to ''flist'') will often include several communities and [[RSS (file format)|RSS]] feeds in addition to individual users. Generally, "[[friending]]" allows a user's friends to read protected entries and causes the friends' entries to appear on the user's "friends page". Friends can also be grouped together in "friends groups", allowing for more complex behavior.

; Features common to all accounts
* Each journal entry has its own web page, which includes the comments left by other users. In addition, each user has a journal page, which shows all of their most recent journal entries, along with links to the comment pages.
* The most distinctive feature of LiveJournal is the "friends list", which gives the site a strong social aspect in addition to the [[blog]] services. The friends list provides various [[Web syndication|syndication]] and privacy services, described below. Each user has a friends page, which collects the most recent journal entries of the people on their friends list.
* LiveJournal allows users to customize their accounts. The S2 programming language allows journal templates to be modified by members. Users may upload graphical [[avatar (computing)|avatar]]s, or "userpics", which appear next to the username in prominent areas as on an [[Internet forum]]. Paid account holders are given full access to S2 management and more userpics, as well as other features.
* Each user also has a "User Info" page, which contains a variety of data including contact information, a biography, images (linked from off-site sources) and lists of friends, interests, communities and even schools the user has attended in the past or is currently attending.
* LiveJournal has five account levels: basic (comprising approximately 95% of the network); plus (sponsored with more advertising); "early adopters" who were registered prior to 14 September 2000;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml |title=LiveJournal Terms of Service |publisher=Livejournal.com |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-date=2011-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816041959/http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml |url-status=live }}</ref> paid; and permanent. Permanent accounts are normally not available to the average user; there have been occasional sale days or special offers, but such sales are not guaranteed in the future. Before March 12, 2008, basic accounts were ad-free; in August 2008, LiveJournal resumed new basic account creation but changed that account level to display ads to non-logged-in readers.<ref name="no basic">This change first appeared [http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=38&view=full in the LiveJournal FAQ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060424015324/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=38&view=full |date=2006-04-24 }}, then, after being omitted from an [http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html official LiveJournal news post discussing changes in the first 100 days of SUP ownership] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318100631/http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html |date=2008-03-18 }}, was itself the subject of a [http://news.livejournal.com/106909.html later news post] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318100642/http://news.livejournal.com/106909.html |date=2008-03-18 }}. A LiveJournal spokesman said that LJ management [http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2008/03/13/291948 did not consider it necessary to inform users of this change] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318104536/http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2008%2F03%2F13%2F291948 |date=2008-03-18 }}.</ref> Basic users also see advertising, but not on other basic journals.
*As well as allowing embedded videos from other sites, LiveJournal can host videos and allows users who have enabled the updated site design to post links to the hosted videos.<ref>Brouwer, Bree (January 22, 2015). [http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/01/22/livejournal-video-hosting-stan-lee-video-upload/ "LiveJournal Debuts Video Hosting, Comic Book Legend Stan Lee First To Upload"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150126064005/http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/01/22/livejournal-video-hosting-stan-lee-video-upload/ |date=2015-01-26 }}. Tubefilter.</ref><ref>[http://news.livejournal.com/148548.html Video hosting is here!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203214713/http://news.livejournal.com/148548.html |date=2015-02-03 }}, news.livejournal.com, January 22, 2015.</ref>

;Paid account features
* Sending Text Messages<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/30.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065330/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/30.html |url-status=live }}</ref> – users can receive text messages sent via LiveJournal without sharing their phone number. If the text messaging feature is set up, anyone (or any authorized user) can use LiveJournal to send text messages to their cellphone by following a link on the User Info page.
* "To-do list" feature<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/86.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065510/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/86.html |url-status=live }}</ref> – LiveJournal offers "to-do lists" for managing users goals and aims. Users can have 150 to-do list items. Each to-do list item must have a subject, priority, details and descriptions, status, percent done, due date and categories field.
* "Express Lane"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/74.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065257/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/74.html |url-status=live }}</ref> – users with paid accounts have access to express lanes that make pages load faster. When logged into their Paid or Permanent Account during times of heavy site load, their requests for pages are sent to the web servers before other users' requests.
* "Voice Post"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/183.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065306/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/183.html |archive-date=2012-11-09 }}</ref> – members with paid accounts can call from any phone to a specific number, record the audio and upload it directly to their journal.
* "Extra storage space"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/shop/diskquota.bml |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109052930/http://www.livejournal.com/shop/diskquota.bml |archive-date=2012-11-09 }}</ref> – lets users store more Scrapbook photos and voice posts. Photos and voice posts that have been uploaded there are easy to include in the log entry.

==Community==
===User interaction===
As of 2014, LiveJournal in the United States had 10 million monthly uniques, 30 million monthly visitors, and 170 million pageviews.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Return of LiveJournal|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/1809674/return-livejournal|website=FastCompany|date=20 January 2012|publisher=Fast Company & Inc|access-date=22 October 2014|archive-date=6 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806134445/http://www.fastcompany.com/1809674/return-livejournal|url-status=live}}</ref>
As with most weblogs, people can comment on each other's journal entries and create a [[internet forum|message board]]-style thread of comments – each comment can be replied to individually, starting a new thread. All users, including non-paying users, can set various options for comments: they can instruct the software to only accept comments from those on their friends list or block anonymous comments (meaning only LiveJournal users can comment on their posts). They can also screen various types of comments before they are displayed, or disable commenting entirely. Users can also have replies sent directly to their registered e-mail address.

In addition, LiveJournal acts as host to group journals, dubbed "communities" (frequently abbreviated as ''comms''). Anyone who joins a community can make posts to it as they would on a regular journal; communities also have "maintainers", ordinary users who run the community and oversee membership and moderation.

===LiveJournal community===
LiveJournal community is a collective blog in which different users can post messages. Users who are interested in a particular subject can find or create a community for this subject. All the users of the communities are divided into:
* Owners<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/225.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065558/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/225.html |url-status=live }}</ref> who are supervising the community and capable to use all administrative functions that are available for managing the community.
* Maintainers<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/330.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065350/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/330.html |url-status=live }}</ref> usually use their own user accounts to supervise a community, control its settings and Community Info, perform some administrative functions.
* Moderators<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/157.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065748/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/157.html |url-status=live }}</ref> can approve or reject messages left by participants, add existing records label or tags, approve requests to join a community, hide and freeze comments.
* Members<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/101.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065619/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/101.html |url-status=live }}</ref> can see the community's members-only entries. For Communities with fewer than 500 members, the entire Members list will be displayed on a Community Info page.
* Watchers<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/179.html |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065837/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/179.html |url-status=live }}</ref> can assign permissions, allow entry into the community, delete posts (messages) or hide comments on posts.

===Contributors===
Some areas of LiveJournal rely heavily on user contributions and volunteer efforts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/site/contributors.bml |title=LiveJournal Contributors |publisher=Livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522003051/http://www.livejournal.com/site/contributors.bml |archive-date=2010-05-22 }}</ref> In particular, the LiveJournal Support area is run almost entirely by unpaid volunteers. Similarly, the website is translated into other languages by volunteers, although this effort is running down due to a perceived lack of involvement from the LiveJournal administration.

The development of the LiveJournal software has seen extensive volunteer involvement in the past. In February and March 2003, there was an effort, nicknamed the ''Bazaar'', to boost volunteer performance by offering money in return for "wanted" enhancements or improvements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_dev/493562.html |title=Announcement of the Bazaar in LiveJournal Development |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831115301/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_dev/493562.html |archive-date=2006-08-31 }}</ref> The Bazaar was intended to follow a regular monthly pay-out scheme, but it ended up paying out only once, after which it was neglected by the management, and shut down one year later.

Nowadays, voluntary contributions to the software are considered for inclusion less and less as the company has acquired more and more paid employees who focus on the organization's commercial interests. This has led to the formation of several [[fork (software)|forks]], many of which introduce new features that users would like to see, especially features that are brought up repeatedly in LiveJournal's own ''suggestions'' journal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/profile |title=LiveJournal.com |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502042253/http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/profile |archive-date=2010-05-02 }}</ref>

In some cases legal and administrative concerns have led LiveJournal to prohibit some people from volunteering.

===Demographics===
<!-- Please update the statistics below from the information available at http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml if it becomes outdated. -->
{{As of|2012|11}}, 39,663,771 accounts exist on LiveJournal, with 1,790,795 listed as "active in some way."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml |title=LiveJournal Statistics |publisher=Livejournal.com |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-date=2010-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522003532/http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml |url-status=live }}</ref> Of those users who provided their date of birth, the majority were in the 17–25 age group, with an exceptionally large group of 32-year-olds. Among the users specifying their gender in their profile, 45% of those accounts identified as male, and 55% as female. One fifth, or 20%, of accounts did not specify a gender.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml | title=Statistics | publisher=LiveJournal | access-date=November 16, 2012 | archive-date=May 22, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522003532/http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml | url-status=live }}</ref>

LiveJournal is most popular in English-speaking countries (although there is a language selection feature), and the United States has by far the most LiveJournal users among users who choose to list a location.{{Obsolete source|date=March 2023}} There is also a sizable Russian contingent. LiveJournal is the largest [[online community]] on the [[Runet]], with about 45% of all entries in the Russian blogosphere.<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://company.yandex.ru/news/2006/0926/index.xml Yandex researched Russian-language blogosphere] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812210920/http://company.yandex.ru/news/2006/0926/index.xml |date=2007-08-12 }} – [[Yandex]] company news, September 26, 2006</ref>

===Mascot: Frank the Goat===
Frank the Goat is LiveJournal's [[mascot]]. During the early years of the site, Frank was treated like an actual living being by much of the LiveJournal userbase, and his brief "biography" as well as his "journal" reflect this.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/site/goat.bml |title=About: Frank the Goat |publisher=LiveJournal |access-date=2004-07-10 |archive-date=2013-06-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619105002/http://www.livejournal.com/site/goat.bml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://frank.livejournal.com/profile |title=User Profile: Frank the Goat |publisher=LiveJournal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203033440/http://frank.livejournal.com/profile |archive-date=2006-02-03 }}</ref>

Sometimes, callers to LiveJournal's Voice Post service are informed "Frank the Goat appreciates your call." This occurs randomly.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.livejournal.com/75379.html?thread=10040435#t10040435 |title=Brad Fitzpatrick Comments on Voice Post Easter Egg |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2011-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510082110/http://news.livejournal.com/75379.html?thread=10040435#t10040435 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A weekly comic about Frank, written and drawn by cartoonist [[Ryan Estrada]], was updated every Thursday on the "Frank: The Comic Strip" community on LiveJournal. As of July 2009 the community had roughly 8,000 members, and was watched by more than 7,000 LiveJournal users.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/frankthecomic/profile |title=Frank: The Comic Strip |author=Estrada, Ryan |work=Community Info |publisher=LiveJournal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619161445/http://community.livejournal.com/frankthecomic/profile |archive-date=2006-06-19 }}</ref>

Beginning at the end of January 2010, LiveJournal's weekly news posts included references to Frank's life,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.livejournal.com/121612.html |title=LiveJournal Major Notes: Speedier servers, Haiti gift drive, Blurberati |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409232849/http://news.livejournal.com/121612.html |archive-date=2010-04-09 }}</ref> becoming works of short fiction at the end of February.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.livejournal.com/122786.html |title=LiveJournal Major Notes: Charitable vgifts, Balloon bouquet, Header contest |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409232911/http://news.livejournal.com/122786.html |archive-date=2010-04-09 }}</ref> These pieces are often tied to weekly virtual gift promotions, where commenters that meet a certain criterion will receive a free v-gift sent by Frank.

== Content==
===Privacy===
LiveJournal provides an option intended to reduce the chances of [[search engines]] indexing a journal; however, the only way to make it completely impossible for such indexing to occur is to set the entry security to "friends only" or higher when first posting the entry. If an entry is first posted publicly, and then edited to reflect a higher security level, it may have already been indexed by a search engine in the time between the security edit. The popular "friends only" security option,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/24.html |title=Display of Security Levels |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-date=2012-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030215611/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/24.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which has since been adopted by [[Xanga]] and [[Myspace]], hides a post from the general public so that only those on the user's friends list can read it. Some users keep all their posts friends-only (except for a single post explaining that the journal is friends-only). Still, such features as tags and userpics cannot be hidden. LiveJournal also allows users to create custom user groups within their group of friends to further restrict who can read any particular post, and to allow reading of subsets of a user's friends list.

LiveJournal additionally has a "private" security option which allows users to make a post that only the poster can read, thus making their LiveJournal a private diary rather than a blog. It is also possible to choose a default security setting for one's journal, so that all entries are posted at that security level by default even if one forgets to alter the security setting at the time of posting.

Users may restrict who can comment on their posts in addition to who has the ability to read their posts. Comments on a given entry may be allowed from anyone who can read the entry or restricted. Commenting may be restricted by disabling commenting altogether or by screening comments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/134.html |title=Journal Screening Settings |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-date=2012-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030173532/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/134.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Screened comments are visible only to the original posters until the journal owner approves the comment. These restrictions can be applied to just anonymous users, users who aren't listed as a friend, or everyone. The IP address of commenters can be logged as well if the journal owner wishes to enable it.

An option allows users to hide their "friend of" list from public view, but leaves the list visible to the user. In this case, only the friends list is shown. When "friend of" is allowed, journal accounts who have friended the user and who are also friended are listed in neither "friend of" nor 'friend", but rather a third category, "mutual friends". This was eventually made a separate option, like the "friend of" list, and reworded so that the lists would have to be selected to include them in a profile, rather than to select an option to remove them.

LiveJournal lists that users can hide communities from their profile page by not friending them (friended communities are "watched") and by either banning the community from posting in their journal (which has no effect since they cannot anyway, but does remove them from the "member of" list) or by removing the "friend of" list, which removes the "member of" list in addition to the "friend of" list.

LiveJournal allows paid account users to change privacy settings on past entries in bulk. Basic and plus accounts do not have an official web-based method, and normally must manually change such settings one by one; some third party clients, such as Livejournal Visibility Changer,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://articles.jehy.ru/|title=Jehy's notes|website=Jehy's notes|access-date=2020-12-20|archive-date=2020-12-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202025033/https://articles.jehy.ru/|url-status=live}}</ref> provide this functionality for non-paid users.

Communities can also be private, with moderated or closed membership, when community holders give users different level of access to the content, based on the information about the user.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/80.html |title=Community Posting Access |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-date=2012-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030220104/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/80.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Adult content===
While LiveJournal permits adult-oriented content, it is a user's responsibility to mark content as inappropriate for minors. There are two types of adult content:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/281.html |title=Adult Content |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-date=2012-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030215437/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/281.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Adult concepts: This rating applies to content that is not explicitly graphic, but may contain things that are of a mature nature and could be inappropriate for anyone under the age of 14 years.
* Explicit adult: This rating applies to graphic and explicit content (depicting nudity, sexuality, violence in images and language) that is appropriate only for adults, and is not suitable for viewers under the age of 18 years.

Labeling as adult material does not convey in any way that this content is considered obscene, in the legal definition of the term. Such content should be marked in order to be shown only to users whose birth dates on their user information page indicate that they are over the age of 18. At the same time the user itself can set own preferences in viewing adult content settings in order not to receive such materials. All users are defaulted to ''Moderate Filtering'' in the ''Safe Search Filter'', but can change this option.

It is written in the LiveJournal rules that if the content is reported as being offensive or inappropriate, LiveJournal has the right to flag, restrict access, or delete it at any time without notice.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml#t13 |title=LiveJournal Rules |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-date=2011-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816041959/http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml#t13 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Notable LiveJournals and users==
[[Oh No They Didn't]], also known as ONTD, is the most popular<ref>[http://www.livejournalinc.com/aboutus.php "Livejournal Inc. – About Us"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207105305/http://livejournalinc.com/aboutus.php |date=2009-02-07 }}, retrieved on 2009-02-27.</ref> community on LiveJournal, with over 100,000 members.<ref>[http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/profile "ohnotheydidnt – Community Profile"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090110222412/http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/profile |date=2009-01-10 }}, retrieved on 2009-02-27</ref><ref>[http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/32794378.html?thread=4477264650#t4477264650 "Exact number of comments"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122152111/https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/32794378.html?thread=4477264650#t4477264650 |date=2023-01-22 }}, retrieved on 2009-03-04.</ref> The community's primary interest is celebrity gossip, and most of its posts are taken and sourced from other gossip blogs. At the end of January 2009, ''Oh No They Didn't!'' was the first LiveJournal to surpass 16,777,216 comments (2<sup>24</sup>), effectively breaking LiveJournal's previously undocumented limit on comments.<ref>Livejournal responds: [http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/122809.html "Minor database maintenance – ONTD!!!1"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201072438/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/122809.html |date=2009-02-01 }}, 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-02-27.</ref><ref>Continually updated ONTD post detailing the issue: [http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/31879100.html "It appears that ONTD has reached an undocumented limit – journals can only have approximately 16.7 million total comments made to them before running out of room in the database to store more comments."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201214122/http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/31879100.html |date=2009-02-01 }}, 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-02-27.</ref> This resulted in almost a week of downtime for the community, while LiveJournal worked to fix the issue.

In April 2010, the Oh No They Didn't community was moved to its own database cluster to improve site performance for all users, due to its size and the amount of traffic it was receiving.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/128204.html |title=Website Performance – UPDATE |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412063338/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/128204.html |archive-date=2010-04-12 }}</ref>

== History ==
===Founding and eventual sale to Six Apart===
{{Expand section|1=LiveJournal's history prior to 2005|date=May 2014}}
[[File:Brad Fitzpatrick by Anton Nossik cropped.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Brad Fitzpatrick]]]]
LiveJournal's parent company, Danga Interactive, was formed and held entirely by Brad Fitzpatrick.
He sold the company to Six Apart in 2005. Rumors of the impending sale were first reported by [[Business 2.0]] [[journalist]] [[Om Malik]] in January, 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gigaom.com/2005/01/04/six-apart-to-buy-live-journal/|title=Six Apart to buy Live Journal|first=Om|last=Malik|date=January 4, 2005|website=gigaom.com|access-date=December 20, 2020|archive-date=December 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203233813/https://gigaom.com/2005/01/04/six-apart-to-buy-live-journal/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Fitzpatrick confirmed the sale, and insisted the site's core principles would not be discarded by the new ownership.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.livejournal.com/82926.html |title=Confirmation of Sale in LiveJournal News |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530150815/http://news.livejournal.com/82926.html |archive-date=2010-05-30 }}</ref>

In August 2007, Fitzpatrick left to work for [[Google]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://valleywag.com/tech/brad-fitzpatrick/livejournal-creator-leaves-as-six-apart-fails-to-spin-286218.php |title=Brad Fitzpatrick: LiveJournal creator leaves as Six Apart fails to spin |publisher=Valleywag.com |date=2007-08-06 |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013043244/http://valleywag.com/tech/brad-fitzpatrick/livejournal-creator-leaves-as-six-apart-fails-to-spin-286218.php |archive-date=2007-10-13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2007/08/07/261770 |title=CNews: Live Journal creator leaves for Google |publisher=Eng.cnews.ru |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615082705/http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2007%2F08%2F07%2F261770 |archive-date=2011-06-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfitz |title=Brad Fitzpatrick |publisher=LinkedIn |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2010-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316215517/http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfitz |url-status=live }}</ref> He continued to serve on the advisory board of LiveJournal, Inc until it was retired in June 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_2008/3384.html |title=We have LiveJournal Advisory Board members to announce! |date=2002-08-28 |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328030045/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_2008/3384.html |archive-date=2008-03-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_advisory/1840.html |title=Our heartfelt thanks to the LiveJournal Advisory Board |date=2010-06-23 |access-date=2010-12-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628030216/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_advisory/1840.html |archive-date=2010-06-28 }}</ref>

===Sale to SUP Media===
LiveJournal became extremely popular in Russia. The Russian translation of LiveJournal – ЖЖ (''ZheZhe'', which stands for Живой Журнал) – has become a [[genericized trademark]] for blogging in Russia, and the community boasts approximately 700,000 Russian LiveJournals, with 300,000 of them being active.<ref name="Russia Growls at LiveJournal Deal">{{cite web |author=Quinn Norton |url=https://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2006/11/72060 |title=Russia Growls at LiveJournal Deal |website=Wired.com |date=2006-11-08 |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2009-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827010216/http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2006/11/72060 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Six Apart licensed the LiveJournal brand to the Russian company [[SUP Media]] in August 2006.<ref name="Russia Growls at LiveJournal Deal"/> The deal was brokered with Fitzpatrick's assistance, but expatriated Russians have expressed concerns, citing links between the company and state security. Some have also worried that SUP's purchase of the community was less to make a profit and more to curtail or even dissolve the strong independent Russian blogging community, silencing dissent the government found inconvenient.<ref name="Russia Growls at LiveJournal Deal"/> These concerns started with the licensing deal, and have grown with the announcement of LiveJournal's sale to SUP Media in December 2007.<ref name="Six Apart Announces New Home for LiveJournal">{{cite press release|title=Six Apart Announces New Home for LiveJournal|url=http://www.sixapart.com/about/press/2007/12/acquisition-of.html|date=2007-12-03|access-date=2010-09-28|archive-date=2011-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511122434/http://www.sixapart.com/about/press/2007/12/acquisition-of.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Six Apart Sells LiveJournal To Russia's SUP">{{cite web|title=Six Apart Sells LiveJournal To Russia's SUP|author=Michael Arrington|author-link=Michael Arrington|url=https://techcrunch.com/2007/12/02/six-apart-sells-livejournal-to-sup/|work=[[TechCrunch]]|date=2007-02-12|access-date=2010-09-28|archive-date=2012-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818110315/http://techcrunch.com/2007/12/02/six-apart-sells-livejournal-to-sup/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a March 2008 interview, [[Anton Nosik]], an advisor to SUP Media, accused LiveJournal users of "trying to scare and blackmail us, threatening to destroy our business," and said that a large class of users are on LiveJournal only to harm it and its owners; "their goal is to criticize, destabilize and ruin our reputation." Nosik said his likely reaction to such pressure would be to retaliate against the users rather than bowing to their pressure.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.izbrannoe.info/30184.html|title=Избранное: Желающим предоставят пещеру|publisher=Izbrannoe.info|access-date=2010-03-29|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207033623/http://www.izbrannoe.info/30184.html|archive-date=2010-02-07}}</ref>

Despite stating that LiveJournal would maintain the majority of its operations in the United States via the local subsidiary LiveJournal, Inc.,<ref name="heavy-newtos" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.livejournal.com/104520.html |title=news: LiveJournal & SUP |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222225728/http://news.livejournal.com/104520.html |archive-date=2009-12-22 }}</ref> in January 2009 SUP laid off some employees and moved product development and design functions to Russia.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601216.html |title=paidContent.org – LiveJournal Lays Off San Francisco Staff, Will Operate From Moscow |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=2009-01-06 |access-date=2010-03-29 |first=Robert |last=Andrews |archive-date=2017-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315231346/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601216.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournalinc.com/press_releases/20090106.php |title=Press Releases |publisher=LiveJournal Inc. |date=2009-01-06 |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609034327/http://livejournalinc.com/press_releases/20090106.php |archive-date=2010-06-09 }}</ref> In December 2016, LiveJournal moved to servers hosted in Russia;<ref name="heavy-newtos" /> in April 2017, it changed its terms of service to conform to Russian law and to be written (in their official form) only in Russian.

==Controversies and criticism==
===Invite system===<!-- This section is linked from LiveJournal -->
From September 2, 2001, until December 12, 2003, the growth of LiveJournal was checked by an [[invitation system|"invite code" system]]. This curbing of membership was necessitated by a rate of growth faster than the server architecture could handle. New users were required to either obtain an invite code from an existing user or buy a paid account (which reverted to a free account at the expiration of the period of time paid for). The invite code system serendipitously reduced abuse on the site by deterring people from creating multiple throw-away accounts. The invite code system was lifted after a number of major improvements to the overall site architecture.

Elimination of the invite code system was met with mixed feelings and some opposition. LiveJournal's management pointed out that the invite code system had always been intended to be temporary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.livejournal.com/74165.html |title=Post Announcing the End of Invite Codes |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407100124/http://news.livejournal.com/74165.html |archive-date=2010-04-07 }}</ref>

===The word "friend"===
The dual usage of "friends" as those whose journals one reads, and those one trusts to read one's own journal, has been criticized for being at odds with everyday use of the term. The individual users on a user's friends list may contain a mixture of people met through real world friendships, online friendships and general interests, as well as [[courtesy]] friendships where a user has "[[friending|friend]]ed" someone who friended them. A friends list may represent something entirely unrelated to social relationships, such as a reading list, a collection or a puzzle.<ref>Fono, D. and K. Raynes-Goldie.  [http://k4t3.org/publications/hyperfriendship.pdf "Hyperfriends and Beyond: Friendship and Social Norms on LiveJournal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605031535/http://k4t3.org/publications/hyperfriendship.pdf |date=2007-06-05 }}. Internet Research Annual Volume 4: Selected Papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conference (2006).</ref>

The difference between online and real-world friendships is sometimes a source of conflict, hurt feelings, and other misunderstandings. LiveJournal friendships are not necessarily mutual; any user can befriend or "defriend" any other user at any time.<ref>boyd, danah.  [http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/index.html "Friends, friendsters, and top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511140201/http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/index.html |date=2011-05-11 }}.  ''First Monday'', vol. 12, no. 2 (December 2006).</ref>

In the Russian LiveJournal community, the word френд ("friend", an English borrowing) is often used to describe this relationship instead of the native Russian word "друг" ([ droog ]) that translates to "friend".

The [[Dreamwidth]] code fork of LiveJournal has split the 'friend' concept into its two component pieces of subscription and access.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=124 |title=If you're coming from LiveJournal to Dreamwidth: Terminology: Subscribe/Access |publisher=Dreamwidth.org |date=2010-04-24 |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-date=2010-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621084838/http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=124 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Abuse Prevention Team decisions===
As LiveJournal has grown, it has had to deal with issues involving the content it hosts. Like most web logging hosts, it has adopted a basic [[Terms of Service]].<ref name="TOS">{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml |title=LiveJournal Terms of Service |publisher=Livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2011-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816041959/http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml |url-status=live }}</ref> The Terms of Service simultaneously expresses a desire for [[free speech]] by the users while outlining impermissible conduct such as [[spamming]], [[copyright]] violation, and [[harassment]]. LiveJournal created an Abuse Prevention Team and processes to handle claims about violations of the Terms of Service, violations of copyright, violations of the [[law]], and other issues. There is an ability for a user to report an entry as "spam", and it is a user's responsibility to separate spamming and bot activity from actual violations while reporting.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/209.html |title=Spam |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109065828/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/209.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

If the Abuse Prevention Team determines that a violation has occurred, the user will be either required to remove the infringing material (as in the case of copyright violations);<ref name="TOS"/> the journal will be suspended until such time as the material can be removed (e.g., posting of home addresses or other various contact information of another); or, in cases of severe or multiple violations, the journal will be suspended (e.g., account hijacking, multiple instances of copyright violation, child pornography).<ref name="TOS"/> The offending user is notified by email of any journal suspension or, if any offending material must be removed, the user is given a deadline for its removal. When a journal is suspended, it effectively removes from sight everything the user has written on LiveJournal, including comments in other people's journals; however, the user is able to download the material while suspended. Those suspended users who have paid for LiveJournal's service do not have payments refunded.

A small controversy arose in November 2004 when a policy document used by the Abuse Prevention Team was leaked to a group of its critics before it was due to be released. The policy document has since been officially released.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/abuse/policy.bml |title=LiveJournal Abuse Policies and Procedures |publisher=Livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2010-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409232901/http://www.livejournal.com/abuse/policy.bml |url-status=live }}</ref>

Another controversy arose when users complained after an unknown number of users were asked to remove default user pictures containing images of breast feeding that were considered inappropriate as they contained a view of nipples or areolae.<ref>{{cite web|author=Response from Six Apart May. 24th, 2006 at 3:00 PM |url=http://community.livejournal.com/boob_nazis/1763041.html |title=Response from Six Apart on Breastfeeding Userpic Controversy |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |date=2006-05-24 |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022210621/http://community.livejournal.com/boob_nazis/1763041.html |archive-date=2006-10-22 }}</ref> The incident attracted the attention of [[lactivism|breast feeding advocacy]] groups such as Pro-Mom<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.promom.org/bf_info/pr.html |title=Popular Blogging Site Restricts Use of Breastfeeding Photos |publisher=Promom.org |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218105330/http://www.promom.org/bf_info/pr.html |archive-date=2009-12-18 }}</ref> who publicized the issue to gain larger media awareness. LiveJournal responded by changing the FAQ on appropriate content for default user pictures. The current FAQ 111 says that nudity is not appropriate in ''default'' user pictures; the original FAQ 111 said that graphic sexual content was not appropriate. Breastfeeding pictures were not restricted by the original FAQ, and the current FAQ reflects the fact that they are only restricted from use as a default user picture.<ref>{{cite web |last=Haines |first=Lester |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/01/livejournal_kerfuffle/ |title=LiveJournal tells lactating mums to put 'em away |publisher=Theregister.co.uk |date=2006-06-01 |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2010-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606165041/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/01/livejournal_kerfuffle/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Breastfeeding pictures are still allowed as user pictures that may be manually chosen while posting but may not be the default.

===Account vulnerabilities===
In January 2006 the site had to make emergency changes to the way the site hosts [[user accounts]] due to a [[web browser]]-side security [[Vulnerability (computing)|vulnerability]]. The hacker group responsible was later identified as "Bantown". Approximately 900,000 accounts were at risk.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krebs |first=Brian |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/01/account_hijackings_force_livej.html |title=Account Hijackings Force LiveJournal Changes |publisher=[[The Washington Post]] |work=Security Fix |date=January 20, 2006 |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503233908/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/01/account_hijackings_force_livej.html |archive-date=May 3, 2011 }}</ref>

===LiveJournal and advertisements===
In April 2006, LiveJournal announced<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.livejournal.com/91919.html |title=news: Introducing a new account level |publisher=News.livejournal.com |date=2006-04-18 |access-date=2012-07-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316225101/http://news.livejournal.com/91919.html |archive-date=2012-03-16 }}</ref> it was introducing a new user type that gave free users some of the features available to paid members in exchange for ad sponsorship. This user type was initially called Sponsored+, but was later renamed to Plus.

This announcement was met with a whirlwind of controversy. Between April 2004 and January 2005, one of LiveJournal's Social Contract promises stated the site would, "Stay advertisement free." The Social Contract went on to say, "It may be because it's one of our biggest pet peeves, or it may be because they don't garner a lot of money, but nonetheless, we promise to never offer advertising space in our service or on our pages."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040401175244/http://www.livejournal.com/site/contract.bml LiveJournal Social Contract] (old page, archived by the Internet Archive)</ref>

Another ad-related controversy occurred in June 2006, when ads for Kpremium began installing [[malware]] and triggering [[pop-up ads]] on Australian and Western European users' computers,<ref name="community.livejournal.com">{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_ads/4176.html |title=Lj_ads: Kpremium advertisements |access-date=2006-06-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117193641/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_ads/4176.html |archive-date=2007-11-17 }}</ref> against the LiveJournal ad guidelines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=265 |title=What are LiveJournal's guidelines on acceptable ads? |publisher=Livejournal.com |date=2009-12-07 |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2010-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522004305/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=265 |url-status=live }}</ref> LiveJournal responded by removing the advertisement from the website and issuing an apology to its users.<ref name="community.livejournal.com"/>

In March 2008, LiveJournal discontinued the ability for new users to select the "basic" level of journal, which allowed for a minimal set of features with no advertising at no cost.<ref name="no basic"/> However, in August of the same year, the company reversed the decision, reviving "basic" service as a manual, post-registration downgrade. However, the resumed basic service level is no longer ad-free: advertisements are displayed when readers who are not logged into livejournal view postings on a basic account.<ref name="basic returns">{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/lj_2008/4979.html |title=Basic Accounts Decision |publisher=Community.livejournal.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123114501/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_2008/4979.html |archive-date=2009-01-23 }}</ref>

Advertisement in LiveJournal is based on the user's preferable categories, gender, age, location, interests, or a small portion of public page contents. Ads are targeted according to information about the author, the viewer, and LiveJournal's ad preferences as a whole. Users can choose the preferences in their settings<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/manage/settings/?cat=advertising |title=advertising |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-18 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109015755/http://www.livejournal.com/manage/settings/?cat=advertising |url-status=live }}</ref> among five or more categories of advertising, including Art & Humanities, Cars & Wheels, Books & Reading, Charities, Home & Hobbies, Housing, Internet & Media etc.
It is not possible to completely remove the advertisement other than by upgrading to a Paid Account.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/263.html |title=Introducing a new account level |publisher=News.livejournal.com |access-date=2012-11-18 |archive-date=2012-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118120609/http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/263.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

As part of changes made in April 2017, Livejournal eliminated the ability of paid contributors to prevent ads being shown to their readers. Instead, LiveJournal began showing ads on all pages, including postings by paid contributors, unless the reader of the page was also a logged-in paid contributor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.livejournal.com/151767.html|title=LiveJournal: Important Updates {{!}} 2017-04-04 03:04:00 |website=news.livejournal.com|access-date=2020-12-20|archive-date=2020-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029200841/https://news.livejournal.com/151767.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Account suspension ===
In May 2007, LiveJournal suspended approximately 500 accounts and communities, causing what [[CNET]] referred to as a "revolt" from "thousands of LiveJournal customers",<ref name="cnet">{{cite web|first=Declan |last=McCullagh |url=http://news.cnet.com/Mass+deletion+sparks+LiveJournal+revolt/2100-1025_3-6187619.html |title=Mass deletion sparks LiveJournal revolt |date=May 30, 2007 |publisher=[[CNET Networks|CNet News.com]] |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714131202/http://news.cnet.com/Mass-deletion-sparks-LiveJournal-revolt/2100-1025_3-6187619.html |archive-date=July 14, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> after a number of activist groups, including one named Warriors for Innocence, reported pedophilic material on its website.<ref name="cnet"/><ref name="inquirer">{{cite web |url=http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40013 |title=Live Journal does a u-turn on online book burning |publisher=Theinquirer.net |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707220510/http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40013 |archive-date=2007-07-07 }}</ref><ref name="firefox">{{cite web |author= |date= 30 May 2007 |url=http://firefox.org/news/articles/408/1/Six-Apart-Deletes-500-LiveJournals-Many-Fannish/Page1.html |title=Six Apart Deletes 500 LiveJournals, Many Fannish |publisher=Firefox.org |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226081112/http://firefox.org/news/articles/408/1/Six-Apart-Deletes-500-LiveJournals-Many-Fannish/Page1.html |archive-date=26 February 2010 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2009}}<ref name="informationweek">{{cite web |url=http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/05/child_sex_crack.html |title=Child Sex Crackdown Causes Problems For LiveJournal |publisher=Informationweek.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2009-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601030633/http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/05/child_sex_crack.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="afterelton">{{cite web |last=Keith |first=Christie |url=http://www.afterelton.com/blog/christiekeith/live-journal-the-blogging-platform-that-gay-sex-built |title=LiveJournal: The blogging platform that gay sex built |publisher=Afterelton.com |access-date=2010-03-29 |archive-date=2009-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722014218/http://www.afterelton.com/blog/christiekeith/live-journal-the-blogging-platform-that-gay-sex-built |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Six Apart chairman and chief executive Barak Berkowitz, "We did a review of our policies related to how we review those sites, those journals, and came up with the fact that we actually did have a number of journals up that we didn't think met our policies and didn't think they were appropriate to have up".<ref name="cnet" /> In a subsequent posting to the LiveJournal news community,<ref name=screwed/> he apologized, discussed some of the circumstances behind the suspensions, and indicated that the suspended journals would be reviewed and potentially brought back online. In particular, he noted that Livejournal's normal practice of reviewing suspensions and notifying suspended account holders had not been followed:
<blockquote><nowiki>[T]hese</nowiki> journals were suspended for easily correctable problems <nowiki>[...] [T]his</nowiki> was not communicated to the journal or community owners at all.
<nowiki>[T]hese</nowiki> journals were taken down before review could be completed to avoid mistakes.</blockquote>

Most of the backlash was from [[fan fiction]] writers whose communities and personal journals were among those suspended, seemingly because they listed interests such as "[[incest]]" or "non-con" (short for non-consensual).<ref name="cnet" /> Although these communities did not necessarily encourage illegal behavior, it has been reported that there was no further investigation into the content of these journals.<ref name=screwed>{{cite web | url=https://news.livejournal.com/99159.html | title=Well we really screwed this one up… | publisher=LiveJournal | date=May 31, 2007 | access-date=November 8, 2020 | archive-date=November 9, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109024737/https://news.livejournal.com/99159.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

Beyond merely fan communities, many were initially upset that communities entirely unrelated to anything but the discussion, sometimes therapeutic and other times literary, of rape or child molestation were among those suspended.<ref name="cnet" />

On May 31, 2007, Berkowitz released a statement to the LiveJournal news community<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.livejournal.com/99515.html | title=Journals being restored | publisher=LiveJournal | date=May 31, 2007 | access-date=November 8, 2020 | archive-date=October 29, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029205600/https://news.livejournal.com/99515.html | url-status=live }}</ref> announcing that Six Apart was currently in the process of unsuspending about half of suspended journals. The journals being reinstated fell into fandom or fiction categories or were journals that were suspended for problems related only to the contents of their profiles. In an earlier interview with [[news.com]],<ref name="cnet"/> he had stated that he would be "shocked" if "more than a dozen" journals would be reinstated.

On July 19, 2007, Abe Hassan at LiveJournal released a statement clarifying LiveJournal's suspension policies.<ref>{{cite web |author=Abe Hassan (burr86) wrote in lj_biz |url=https://lj-biz.livejournal.com/241428.html |title=lj_biz: more clarifications |publisher=LiveJournal |date=July 19, 2007 |access-date=2020-11-08 |archive-date=2020-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114104955/https://lj-biz.livejournal.com/241428.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A further statement was made on August 7, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lj-biz.livejournal.com/241884.html |title=lj_biz: Illegal and Harmful Content Policy Clarifications |publisher=Livejournal |date=August 7, 2007 |access-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-date=September 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922025259/https://lj-biz.livejournal.com/241884.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Advisory board election===
As previously announced, SUP Media, the latest owners of LiveJournal, decided to create an advisory board to help it make decisions. The first members were distinguished people in the areas of law and technology, [[danah boyd]], [[Esther Dyson]], [[Lawrence Lessig]], and the original LiveJournal founder, Brad Fitzpatrick. SUP announced two other members would be appointed from the LiveJournal userbase, one Russian and one English speaking.<ref>{{cite press release| url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080505005563/en/LiveJournal-User-Election-Opens-Advisory-Board-Bloggers| title=LiveJournal User Election Opens Up Advisory Board to Bloggers| publisher=[[Business Wire]]| access-date=2020-11-08| archive-date=2021-06-12| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612134601/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080505005563/en/LiveJournal-User-Election-Opens-Advisory-Board-Bloggers| url-status=live}}</ref> The English speaking election was marred with accusations of [[ballot stuffing]], conflicts of interest, and multiple death threats. The developer who wrote the poll software running the election called the ballot stuffing plausible.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://valleywag.com/394077/social-networks-advisory+board-election-sparks-talk-of-death-threats | title= LiveJournal: Social network's advisory-board election sparks talk of death threats | publisher= valleywag.com | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601051658/http://valleywag.com/394077/social-networks-advisory+board-election-sparks-talk-of-death-threats |archive-date = 2008-06-01}}</ref>

===Distributed denial-of-service attacks===
LiveJournal was the victim of several [[DoS|DDoS]] attacks in 2011. The first attack on March 30 took down the site for several hours. The attack is reported to be the largest DDoS attack against LiveJournal since the site's creation. A second attack continued through April 4 and 5, causing service disruption for some users.<ref>{{cite web|title=DDoS Attack on LiveJournal|url=http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/04/06/russia-ddos-attack-on-livejournal-has-russians-debating-internet-politics/|work=Global Voices, English|date=6 April 2011|access-date=2011-07-28|archive-date=2011-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823072953/http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/04/06/russia-ddos-attack-on-livejournal-has-russians-debating-internet-politics/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Why Have Hackers Hit Russia's Most Popular Blogging Service?|first=Simon|last=Schuster|newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=2011-04-07|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2063952,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410224600/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2063952,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2011}}</ref> A third attack in July caused the site to be unavailable for several hours at a time for a week.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Hacker Attacks paralyze LiveJournal
|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/hacker-attacks-paralyze-livejournal/441237.html
|access-date=2011-07-28
|newspaper=The Moscow Times
|date=2011-07-28
|archive-date=2011-08-12
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812173332/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/hacker-attacks-paralyze-livejournal/441237.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> On December 2, 2011, another attack was recorded, with LiveJournal's status blog acknowledging it as such. Of the attacks, Russian president [[Dmitry Medvedev]] commented in April 2011 that "what has occurred should be examined by LiveJournal's administration and law enforcement agencies."<ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/08/russian_ddos_assaults/ Russian pres fumes at mystery DDoS hack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707124013/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/08/russian_ddos_assaults/ |date=2017-07-07 }}. The Register. Retrieved 2011-12-02.</ref>

On [[2011 Russian legislative election|Russia's election day]] in December 2011, LiveJournal saw another attack.<ref>Ioffe, Julia, [https://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/russian-elections-faking-it.html "Russian Elections: Faking It"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407120856/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/russian-elections-faking-it.html |date=2014-04-07 }}, ''The New Yorker'' blogpost, December 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-06.</ref>

===Presumed database breach===
In October 2018, [[Troy Hunt]], creator of the [[Have I Been Pwned?]] site, tweeted that he was getting multiple independent reports that email addresses and passwords from the LiveJournal user database were being used in a scam email campaign.<ref>Hunt, Troy, [https://twitter.com/troyhunt/status/1050391317266620416 "I’m getting multiple independent reports of a @LiveJournal compromise, anyone else?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024091946/https://twitter.com/troyhunt/status/1050391317266620416 |date=2020-10-24 }}, October 11, 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-11.</ref>

In May 2020, admins at [[Dreamwidth]] reported that they had repeatedly warned LiveJournal of an apparent breach with exposure of LiveJournal passwords, dating back to 2017 or 2014, but that LiveJournal had declined to disclose this to their users.<ref>{{Cite web|title=dw_news {{!}} PSA: Likely LiveJournal password compromise|url=https://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/40167.html|access-date=2021-06-22|website=dw-news.dreamwidth.org|language=en|archive-date=2021-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629134825/https://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/40167.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

This information was also passed on to (or somehow otherwise received by) the [https://opm.myidcare.com MyIDCare website], a site that was created in 2015 for Federal employees or retirees, who were given free lifetime monitoring to this service by the Office of Personnel Management (the "opm" in the URL), an agency of the Federal Government, after the personal information of millions of people was compromised in a major data breach involving approximately 21,500,000 records in that year (which was made even more serious by the fact that some of the compromised data included information such as fingerprints, which helped this breach gain national attention.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What are the Worst Government Data Breaches?|url=https://www.fedsmith.com/2019/08/07/worst-government-data-breaches/|access-date=2022-11-06|website=www.fedsmith.com|language=en|archive-date=2022-11-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106221018/https://www.fedsmith.com/2019/08/07/worst-government-data-breaches/|url-status=live}}</ref> The MyIDCare site sent out an alert (dated May 22, 2020) to their previously registered users about a potential data breach at LiveJournal and requested that users change their passwords to protect those accounts against potentially fraudulent activity.

==Legal cases and censorship==
{{Main|Internet censorship}}

===Lawsuits against bloggers===
In 2007, Russian blogger Savva Terentyev was accused of fomenting social hatred to the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sentenced to one year probation due to his comment in the blog of a local journalist.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://threatened.globalvoicesonline.org/blogger/savva-terentyev |title=Bloggers: Savva Terentyev |publisher=Threatened Global Voices |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2014-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705161228/http://threatened.globalvoicesonline.org/blogger/savva-terentyev |url-status=live }}</ref>
Later another number of individuals were accused of calling for extremist activity, libel and incitement of interethnic hatred.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://agora.rightsinrussia.info/reports/june2011 |title=Threats to Internet freedom in Russia, 2008–2011: An independent survey |publisher=RightsinRussia |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2013-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222033531/http://agora.rightsinrussia.info/reports/june2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===LiveJournal blocking===
In May 2007, the Chinese government began blocking LiveJournal.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/03/72872 |title=China Blocks LiveJournal |magazine=Wired |access-date=2012-11-10 |last1=Norton |first1=Quinn |archive-date=2012-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202091637/http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/03/72872 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to SixApart, there were 8,692 self-reported Chinese bloggers on the site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mashable.com/2007/03/05/china-livejournal/ |title=China's Evil Censorship Continues: Bans LiveJournal |date=6 March 2007 |publisher=Mashable.com |access-date=2012-11-10 |archive-date=2012-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216041006/http://mashable.com/2007/03/05/china-livejournal/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In October 2010, LiveJournal was blocked in Kazakhstan by court order due to blogs containing extremist content.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/22/54960010.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130417131625/http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/22/54960010.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-04-17 |title=Kazakhstan bans LiveJournal |publisher=The Voice of Russia |access-date=2012-11-10 }}</ref> In March 2012, Uzbekistan began blocking LiveJournal. Although the home page and many of the advertised articles remained accessible, blogs contributed by certain well-known authors couldn't be accessed from Uzbekistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,UZB,4562d8cf2,5062e894b,0.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416030355/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,UZB,4562d8cf2,5062e894b,0.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-04-16 |title=Freedom on the Net 2012 – Uzbekistan |publisher=RefWorld |access-date=2012-11-10 }}</ref>

=== Russian jurisdiction ===
On April 4, 2017, LiveJournal significantly modified its [[terms of use]], making the service subject to Russian law. The new terms prohibit users from posting "advertising and/or political solicitation materials" or performing any actions "contradictory to the laws of the Russian Federation". The terms also state that users are subject to Article 10.2 of the Federal Act of the Russian Federation No. 149, which dictates that blogs with more than 3,000 daily visitors are classified as media outlets and may not be published anonymously, are responsible for the dissemination of unverified information, and are restricted from posting pornography, obscene language, or "extremist materials".<ref name="nyt-bloggerlaw">{{cite web|title=Russia Quietly Tightens Reins on Web With 'Bloggers Law'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/world/europe/russia-quietly-tightens-reins-on-web-with-bloggers-law.html?_r=0|website=The New York Times|date=7 May 2014|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-date=19 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519143918/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/world/europe/russia-quietly-tightens-reins-on-web-with-bloggers-law.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ru-tos">{{cite web|script-title=ru:Пользовательское соглашение|url=http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos-ru.bml|publisher=SUP Media|access-date=6 April 2017|language=ru|archive-date=5 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405211154/http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos-ru.bml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bbc-draconianlaw">{{cite news|title=Russia enacts 'draconian' law for bloggers and online media|work=BBC News|date=31 July 2014|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28583669|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-date=7 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407055604/http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28583669|url-status=live}}</ref> Western media have described these laws as "draconian" and restricting free expression.<ref name="nyt-bloggerlaw"/><ref name="bbc-draconianlaw"/>

Additionally, only the Russian-language version of the terms of service are considered legally binding. The new terms prompted wide concern from users who believed that their content would now be targeted under [[Internet censorship in Russia|Russian censorship]] policies, including the country's [[Russian gay propaganda law|"gay propaganda" law]].<ref name="heavy-newtos">{{cite web|title=LiveJournal, Now Based in Russia, Bans "Political Solicitation" in New User Agreement|url=http://heavy.com/news/2017/04/livejournal-russia-censorship-bans-political-solicitation-usr-agreement/|website=Heavy.com|date=6 April 2017|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406180155/http://heavy.com/news/2017/04/livejournal-russia-censorship-bans-political-solicitation-usr-agreement/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dailydot-ljrussia">{{cite web|title=Users are fleeing LiveJournal over Russian owners' possible anti-LGBTQ terms|url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/livejournal-users-anti-lgbtq/?tw=dd|website=The Daily Dot|date=6 April 2017|access-date=6 April 2017|archive-date=7 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407055122/https://www.dailydot.com/irl/livejournal-users-anti-lgbtq/?tw=dd|url-status=live}}</ref> This prompted an "exodus" to alternate platforms of groups who either support LGBT rights or wished to continue discussing those topics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boingboing.net/2017/04/08/six-to-end.html|title=Livejournal's Russian owners announce new anti-LGBT policy, fandom stages mass exodus|first=Cory|last=Doctorow|date=April 9, 2017|website=Boing Boing|access-date=July 8, 2020|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803151240/https://boingboing.net/2017/04/08/six-to-end.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Other sites running the LiveJournal engine==
The software running LiveJournal is primarily written in Perl. It was [[open source software]] under the [[GNU General Public License]] until 2014, when LiveJournal closed their official source code repository to the public; the license continues to apply to the old code from before this change.<ref>[https://github.com/apparentlymart/livejournal Archived copy of the old LiveJournal codebase] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130143609/https://github.com/apparentlymart/livejournal |date=2016-01-30 }} on [[GitHub]], retrieved 2017-04-22.</ref> Because it was [[open source software]], many other communities have been designed using the LiveJournal software or [[code fork]]s of it, with features and formats similar to LiveJournal itself, including [[Dreamwidth]], InsaneJournal, DeadJournal and GreatestJournal (defunct).<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Nussbaum |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/magazine/my-so-called-blog.html |title=My so-called blog |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |date=January 11, 2004 |access-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124170359/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/magazine/my-so-called-blog.html |url-status=live }}: "While the sites that are hosts to online journals may attract different crowds, their formats vary only slightly: a LiveJournal is a Blurty is a Xanga is a DeadJournal is a DiaryLand."</ref> However, they often have different [[terms of service]] than LiveJournal's, making them attractive to users who have become disenchanted with LiveJournal's rules and wish to move their journals to other hosts.<ref name="cnet"/>

==See also==
* [[List of social networking services]]
* [[Timeline of LiveJournal]]
* [[Tumblr]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}
* {{Official website|name=LiveJournal official website}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110820081633/http://www.livejournalinc.com/ LiveJournal Inc. Corporate site]
{{Social networking services|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Livejournal| ]]
[[Category:1999 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Blog hosting services]]
[[Category:Blog software]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1999]]
[[Category:Internet services supporting OpenID]]
[[Category:Russian social networking websites]]
[[Category:Formerly open-source or free software]]