User:	news (posted by theljstaff)
	Date:	2010-03-16 15:33
	Subject:	LiveJournal Major Notes: Global navigation, Mobile, Bug fixes
	Security:	Public

feedback

We've updated the global navigation menu:

• Scrapbook can now be found under Profile (thanks for your feedback, btw), along with Settings, Stats, and Edit Profile.
• You'll find all the tools you need to post and update entries under Journal, which includes posting and editing entries, managing comments and tags, and customizing your journal's style.
• Friends contains all of your friend settings, from filtering your Friends page to adding, removing, and finding new and existing friends on LiveJournal.
• Under Communities, you'll find links to manage your communities, accept community invites, and create new communities.
• Explore includes search features, RSS feeds, Question of the Day, and FRNK radio.
• Under Shop, you'll find links to upgrade or give a paid account, buy virtual gifts, purchase LiveJournal merchandise (like T-shirts), and view your payment history.

LiveJournal Mobile update:

Other important changes:

• You can lock comments to prevent further commenting on a post, while leaving existing comments visible.
• We replaced the "Tell a friend" link with a new "Share This" widget that lets you share LiveJournal posts on other social media sites, including Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.
• We changed some of the icons on entries (you can hover over the icons to view descriptions).
• You'll see a Tag count on your Tag management page.
• You'll now see the 10 most recent vgifts on your profile page. To remove vgifts, left-click on the vgift and choose whether you want to remove the vgift from your profile or delete it entirely.
• We've added options to help you control receipt of vgifts, which you'll find in My Stuff under Edit Profile. You can now enable vgifts from friends or everyone and disable anonymous vgifts.

We've got your fix:

• UPDATE: Rolling several updates into one listing here -- 1) Scrapbook should be back and working again. 2) The problem with the Update Journal page in IE6 and IE7 should be fixed now. 3) The problem with the userpic add-on package pricing has been fixed and refunds issued to anyone who was overcharged while the erroneous prices were in place.
• Non-conforming images will now be automatically resized for custom mood themes.
• Line breaks no longer count as two characters against your entry's character limit.
• We fixed a bug on the Manage Tags page so you can clear all tags and add new tags.
• We corrected the UI for the update.bml page so it displays properly in IE8.

	User:	news (posted by theljstaff)
	Date:	2010-03-11 16:11
	Subject:	LiveJournal Major Notes: March header, Charitable vgift, Squirrels in love
	Security:	Public

We're finishing up a few odds and ends before our next major release. Our mighty Ops guys continue to slay spambots and balance load times on a highwire without a safety net (which is kind of tough dressed in full ninja gear). Down on solid ground, we're celebrating this week's virtual birthday party with a warm toast to pants. If you can rearrange the letters of your favorite city, state, and/or country (feel free to combine these elements) to spell one of Frank's favorite treats (e.g., pants, wire, paper, etc.), he'll send you over a can of whipped cream to top it all off (provided you return the empty can for his midnight snack)! And, with that, let the word scrambling commence!

Stuff you should know:

We're still working on the delayed/missing notifications issue. Sorry, we're frustrated too. We'll keep you posted. Last week, we became aware that a recently-implemented script was overwriting affiliate referral fees for some of our users. Once we confirmed this, our Ops team quickly removed the script. Please be aware that, while we may beta-test other affiliate scripts down the line, we will take greater measures to ensure that no existing user-referral arrangements are impacted in any way. While we plan to stick to a weekly news schedule, if we have a release in between regular newsletters, we'll post here to keep you informed. You can also check lj_releases for current release information.

To our paid users, we send squirrels in love!

If you have a paid or permanent account, you can send five free Squirrels in love vgifts through Monday, March 15th at 4pm, PST! You'll see both the free and the $0.99 squirrels displayed until they've scurried off to their new homes. Please send only one vgift at a time. In other words, you'll need to complete check-out and start a new order for each vgift you send. If you're not receiving vgifts (from friends and/or Frank), you may have disabled them. To enable vgifts, visit Edit profile (under Profile), scroll down to the bottom of the page, and select 'Do not disable' from the drop-down menu. Have fun!

Help is on the way!

We're pleased to announce the winner of our first charitable vgift poll, Doctors without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières, which provides critical medical care to under-served populations around the world. Priced at $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of the proceeds we raise from the sale of this vgift (we'll cover credit card fees). We invite you to start recommending nonprofits for our next fundraising drive at ljnewscontests. We'll take suggestions through the month and post a poll in the news during the first week of April to let you choose the recipient. We thank you, again, for your passion and generosity.

We've crowned a header

Congratulations to ohterlus for submitting the winning header, which will go live next week and keep us leafy through mid-April! You can submit designs for our next header contest at ljnewscontests now until March 31st. We'll post a poll in the news to let you decide which header will sit at the top of LiveJournal from mid-April to mid-May. All artistic interpretations are welcome. The winner will get a $25 LiveJournal gift certificate. All other contributors will receive $5 gift certificates. Our heartfelt appreciation for sharing your talent and creativity!

For this week's winning photo and more adventures with Frank & Meme, we'll catch you under the cut!

( Read more... )

	User:	metrum
	Date:	2010-03-12 13:10
	Subject:	The Motorcycle Dealership Fiasco.
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	blah

Yesterday was crazy.

Picked up the 125 from the shop - paid $700 for the warranty service (including oil change), new rear tire, safety certificate, and left front signal. Then went to another shop to pick up the helmet I ordered last week. Things were good. Love the new helmet. The bike was great.

20 minutes later, on the highway, G was following behind me in my car and saw a giant plume of thick blue smoke suddenly come from the bike. The smoke engulfed the car. He pulled up beside me and signaled for me to follow him to the nearest exit. I didn't see the smoke and had no idea what was going on. All I noticed was that the bike was particularly slippy and hard to control. I thought it was the wind pushing the tiny bike (being used to the weight of the 500), and the new tire being slippery against the cold pavement. But then the off-ramp was a nightmare and I knew something was wrong when I attempted to turn right at ~5km/h and nearly dropped the bike.

We pulled over on Rochester at Beech and smoke was billowing from the bike. It dumped the remainder of its oil in a puddle underneath it. The underside and entire rear of the bike, including the tire, was covered and slick with oil. No wonder it was hard to control. There was a thick trail of oil coming from the highway all the way to the intersection we stopped at. The whole front end and windshield of my car was covered in little oil droplets. I was furious, and a bit shaken.

( The rest of the story: )

Will post photos of the bike and oil puddle when I get them.

OK. So the service manager just offered me a $300 credit on the $700 of work. That covers the warranty service and the safety certificate. The tire, tire installation, signal, and taxes are not refundable. The mechanic was sent home without pay for a few days. Does that sound fair?

EDIT: I pushed for a bigger refund. They refunded ALL the service fees, to the tune of $440. However, when I went to pick up the bike, it still hadn't been cleaned. The rear and front tires still had oil on them, the underside of the bike was still coated, and the BRAKES were still wet and slick. They tried to assure me the tire and brakes were fine but I wouldn't have it. I left the bike there for them to clean properly, and called other dealerships to ask what THEY would do. The other dealerships insisted the brake pads need to be replaced and possibly the tire. Today when I got the call that my bike was ready to take home, they informed me that they DID replace the rear brake pads this morning. Hopefully my bike is clean, safe, and finally ready to ride.

EDIT 2: They surprised me by detailing the entire bike and replacing the rear brake pads. NOW I have a bike that is clean, safe to ride, and safe to sell. Phew.

	User:	metrum
	Date:	2010-03-08 03:06
	Subject:
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	tired

Spent yesterday driving around, navigating heavy market traffic, getting coffee, moving bikes out of their winter storage, reattaching batteries, doing oil changes, reassembling the 500 gas tank, getting gasoline, and other preparatory tasks/errands. Just the basics for getting ready to ride.

There is still work to be done on the bike - some cosmetic, some important. The front fairing is cracked and needs some repair, the heated grips need to be reinstalled and the wiring better hidden, the whole bike could really use a good wash, the fairing could use some paint where the saddle bags rubbed it away, then it needs to be waxed and the mufflers polished, the tank needs to be de-rusted and lined (it takes days, needs to be done outdoors, and works better in warmth so I'll wait a month), the front fairing needs to be removed so its frame can be bent back into shape, the chain could be adjusted a bit, the mirrors need to be replaced, the front signals don't match the rear, and I'm considering covering the grey on the tail with black.


ANYWAYS, the bikes were ready with about an hour to spare before the sun set. Words cannot describe how good it felt to ride again.

	User:	metrum
	Date:	2010-03-06 02:41
	Subject:
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	annoyed

I went to my friend's place to charge the battery on the 125 so I can drive it to the shop tomorrow for servicing and a new rear tire (the bike was stored in his basement). Oddly, the battery didn't need charging at all - after attaching the charger the green light came on right away, so I removed the charger and turned the bike on no problem at all! Nice.

Unfortunately, the left front signal light was wrecked - the orange plastic was gone, the light bulb smashed (and also missing), and the bottom of the signal was almost shaved off. The left mirror was scratched in the back, the front fairing was cracked on the left (but not scratched anywhere, strangely), the left bar-end was scratched and rusted, the end of the clutch lever was shaved off, and the left foot peg was scratched underneath. These are all things that happen when a bike goes down and slides. I know I never dropped that bike, so I'm angry and confused.

edit: The friend who borrowed the bike in October said he damaged it and described the damage. So strange that I don't remember noticing it. I feel a little weirded out (and kind of stupid) that either I just didn't notice or completely forgot that I'd noticed the damage. Anyways, my friend will pay for the repairs. Problem mostly resolved.

	User:	news (posted by theljstaff)
	Date:	2010-03-04 15:20
	Subject:	Help Chile, Charitable vgift, March header contest, Frank & Meme
	Security:	Public

We're gearing up for a couple of major releases over the next few weeks, so there's not much in the way of bug fixes or product announcements this week (other than our spiffed up news template). We promise to have exciting "real news" for you very soon! In the meantime, Frank is so grateful that he can count on you that he'd like you to count on him too! To celebrate his freedom from ice-skating (both viewing and participating), his good friend, Sheldon, suggested we honor the Figure 8! If at least two elements of your birthday (month + day; day + year; month + day + year; etc.) add up to 8, Frank'll glide you over a pair of skates. In other words, if you were born on May 3rd (5+3), bazinga! If you were born on April Fools, 1992 (4+1+1+9+9+2=26; 2+6=8), double bazinga!! Creative calculations are most welcome. Let the math festivities begin!
Stuff you should know We received a number of wonderful suggestions for our next charitable vgift drive. You can help us select a nonprofit by voting in our poll, which we'll keep open until Monday, March 8th, at noon, PST. Keep in mind that some of these organizations (including Doctors without Borders) are supporting emergency care in Chile. Thanks to a user suggestion, we're offering a Help_Chile charitable vgift. Priced at $9.99, we'll donate all proceeds (we'll cover credit card fees) to support relief efforts in Chile. Remember that whenever you receive $10 in vgifts (rounded up) within a two-week period, you get two months of paid account time. A heartfelt shout out to help_chile for creating a UNICEF support page for LiveJournal. All proceeds raised will benefit Help_Chile LiveJournal on UNICEF. Be sure to tell us about other communities that are making a difference in the comments below!
Head[er]s up! Color us dazzled. We loved each and every one of your March header designs. That's why we're so relieved that we don't have to choose a winner ourselves. Please check out our March header poll and let us know which design you'd like to see on the top of LiveJournal up through the first week of April. The polls stay open until Monday, March 8th, at noon, PST. You can start posting April headers (900x90 pixels) now through the end of the month at ljnewscontests. From flower power to April showers, let your imagination run wild (just keep it youth-friendly). The winner will receive an annual paid account credit (which you can keep or give to a friend). We'll award all other participants who submit one or more valid entries one month of paid time (which you can also give to a friend if you'd like). We thank you for sharing your talent and creativity! For this week's winning photo and more adventures with Frank & Meme, we'll catch you under the cut! ( Read more... )