Is it me, or does someone have their finger on the fast forward button of life? I can't believe it's September already!

For anyone who's wondering, I'm still in love with my Buffy boys, and my Supernatural boys and my SGA boys and the rest of my menagerie, I'm just completely obsessed with the guys in tights and spandex right now, so most of my ficbrain is focussed in that direction. Most. ;)

If any of you are tempted to take the fandom 'research' poll that's out there, I'd advise you to read this, this, this (links taken from metafandom) and follow a few of the links in those posts before you get drawn into their asshattery. (Not that I'm biased, or anything, but the reason for their 'research' is a contract to write a book entitled: 'RULE 34: WHAT NETPORN TEACHES US ABOUT THE BRAIN.')

rounds_of_kink is asking for prompts again here. And remember, 'kink' covers a lot of ground, from something as simple as enjoying playing with someone's hair (or someone playing with yours) through to auto-erotic asphyxiation, scat, bloodplay, etc. So go and prompt. You could end up with some delicious new fic that hits your buttons.

Rounds of Kink prompt call

And finally, LJ are offering three extra days of Paid Time to everyone with paid journals for the downtime experienced on Thursday August 6th. You have until September 10th to claim your days. Why wait?

Anyone else watching Dark Blue and wanting Carter to slam Dean up a wall and eat him alive? No? Just me then. *g*

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes, by email, ecard, PM, comment and journal post. (If anyone sent one by skywriter... I missed it. Sorry. :D ) It was a wonderful day full of the bestest food and the bestest booze and the bestest boys doing the bestest things to each other. ;)

Secondly, to anyone who has a flist of 500+ or moderates a comm of 500+, you need to READ THIS POST IMMEDIATELY.

Thirdly, and this applies to everyone, here is a little security advice for your lj:
1. ENABLE A SECURITY QUESTION IMMEDIATELY.( or...Not )
2. GO HERE AND REMOVE ANY EMAIL ADDRESSES THAT YOU NO LONGER CONTROL.( Why? )

Wondering why I'm so worried? It's because posts like this (click for larger version):

have started popping up in various comms again, and that's not good. If you follow a link in a post like this, you should run your antivirus programs immediately, as the linked pages can contain viruses and keyloggers, and if they gain control of your journal, they will systematically delete every single post there, and then they will attack any comms you moderate.

It sucks, but them's the facts. For a much better look at the problem, read acari's post how not to become the next hacker victim.

(Please don't ask for technical details or help because all I've done is read the posts that are floating around and thought "I gotta warn everyone!". If you read the linked posts, you have as much info as I do.)

20 minutes ago, madders sent me a recipe for 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake. Now I'm sitting here eating chocolate cake and telling you all about it, because really? It's Chocolate! Cake! In Five Minutes! What's not to love?

( easy peasy cake recipe inside )

In conclusion: OM NOM NOM!

Hi, everyone. I'm still alive, still... around, just very very quiet. I can't believe it's March already and that I'm staring 39 in the face, but at least I have the week off work to cope with getting older. *g*

( So, what have I been doing since last I posted? )

Teeny pimp, cos I just gotta:

ship_manifesto - the place for your "Why I ship this pairing/threesome/moresome" manifestos. All fandoms welcome - live action tv, manga, anime, literature, computer games (Suki, I'm looking at you *g*). Go check out the masterlist! Stake a claim! Share the love! /pimp

One last thing! If you or anyone you know is being inundated with popups, and/or has seen their computer slow down considerably, you may be infected with the Virtumonde/Vundo trojan horse. Spybot, Norton, Symantec, Adaware, AVG (and possibly others) are not catching this. But all is not lost. malwarebytes.org has the solution, and for free! There is a paid, always-on version with automatic updates and scheduled screening, but the freeware version does the job just as well. I diagnosed a customer's computer woes while selling his wife cigarettes and told him to use this prog. He was back in 3 hours with tears of joy in his eyes. Well, okay, he was happy and said thank you, but it works! :D

This PSA is aimed mainly at my HP-adjacent flisties but we should all take heed as this is likely to spread outside HP fandom at some point.

(Ganked from furiosity via the HP-loving literati.)

If you see any posts ANYWHERE saying that JK Rowling died today (or any other out-there news), DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINKS. It looks like the same person who took over shoebox_project; seems now they're creating accounts and posting their spider food/keylogger/whatever-infested links to popular HP comms.

If you mod a comm and see a post claiming outrageous news and linking to tinyurl, please delete that post as soon as you can. JKR did not die, the world is not ending tomorrow, and your grandmother is fine too.

In general, before you click any link, ever, make a habit of looking in your status bar to see where the link leads. If it's a cloaking service like tinyurl or any of these, feed it to the w3c Validator first to see what link it's obscuring.

Pass it on.

p.s. Also, see here and here for more information about the recent account break-ins.

LJ is moving from California to Montana TOMORROW, at 8:00 a.m. PST (4pm GMT), and this means serious downtime. Nothing on LJ will be available — no posting, no Friends page, no LJ mail, nada.

Read the post, follow the suggestions, and start stockpiling off-LJ things to do to pass the time so we can all get through this. /PSA

There are probably quite a few of you sitting out there staring at all the cookie cutter 'adult content' lj cuts on your flist and wondering wtf has happened, so here it is: LJ has instituted some age-appropriate adult content flagging and you have to go and change your settings to get rid of all the silliness.

If you scroll down that page to 'Adult content options', you need to set 'Viewing Adult Content' to 'Do not collapse' and then set 'Safe Search Filtering' to your preferred level, which is most probably 'Do not filter my results'.

NB: This only works if you are an adult in the eyes of LJ - ie, if you gave an appropriate DoB when you set up your account, or (if you set up your account before they added that requirement) if you have an appropriate DoB listed on your profile. (You can set that to be hidden from view.)

The explanation for all this can be found here in lj_biz. I advise you to read the comments carefully as some rather important/obvious questions have been answered there but not edited into the main post because, hey, that would be too easy, right?

Look out for replies by marta (also known as pheret1) - she's joined the LJ Team to help out with customer service and community issues, so her word is, or should be 'gospel'.

I see a sudden spate of new 18+ LJs being created by all those tweenies who didn't lie about their age when they created their first LJ and now suddenly find themselves cut off from all their favourite comms.

Spreading the word of what appears to be a new software glitch here at LJ.

libby_drew made a post here about finding autopay turned on for her account after she had specifically turned it off in July.

In response to that post, loupgarou1750 went to check their account status and found that, despite never having used that option before, autopayments had been turned on.

Check your account status now!

You need to be logged-in to the relevant LJ account, and if it shows "Manual payment/gifts", then you're not on automatic payment.


In other news, there is still fic fomenting in my brain, it's just taking its own sweet time about letting me get it down into actual words. And the ibuprofen I'm taking for a recurrent sciatic problem doesn't really help much either. :/

*smooches you all*

ETA: Pimp time - rounds_of_kink is asking for more prompts, in any and all fandoms. Go, feed the beast, and then watch the pretty fic pile up!

sheafrotherdon has pulled together a very compelling case against repeated plagiarist hotspur18 here in stop_plagiarism. (Follow the links in comments to see the full accounting.)

This isn't just one story (and hey, there's graphics too!), and it's not just one fandom. Multiple stories stolen and mutilated to fit different fandoms - HP, Buffyverse (my beloved Spander and more besides!), and I know she's also posted SGA and Firefly fic.

If you are involved in any way with a fandom awards site, you should really be watching stop_plagiarism. In fact, I think everyone in fandom should have it on their flist, not only so the plagiarists' names become well-known, but also because many of them have posted other fics and there's every possibility that they could belong to me, or you, or someone you love to read, and the mods need help tracking down the true authors.

All of my fic comms are affiliated with stop_plagiarism and each has a very obvious link to the comm on their profile page. I have no tolerance for plagiarists, especially not in fandom where comments are our only rewards and these people (scroll down, you'll find the list) are effectively stealing those rewards right out of our pockets.

kyrieane has had to temporarily delete her journal due to somebody (name withheld)) on her flist giving her flocked posts to Dusty, her estranged husband. She hopes to be back within the month. Please pass the news on to anyone who freaks when they see she's been emboldened. ;)

She's okay, considering the circumstances, which means kinda shook up and unhappy, but is still here in spirit.

~~~sends love and fairy dust her way~~~

ETA-the-last (26 August): Comments by 'name withheld' and a defender (apparently not a sock) have been deleted (and 'name withheld' banned and anon non-friend comments to this post are now screened) because this post is supposed to be a PSA, not a battleground or the gateway to a shitstorm in some other journal.

Helping to get the word out to all the comm mods hereabouts - scribblit is trying to compile a list of fandom comms that will be ported over to Scribblit once it's up and running.

If you mod a comm here at lj and would like to mod the same comm over at Scribblit, GO HERE NOW and add your comment (and your comm(s)) to the list.

Because this isn't news, you know! It's not like there are a lot of people out there holding their breath to hear what 6A/LJ have to say about this whole mess...

So, here it is: Illegal and Harmful Content Policy Clarifications. (Their title, not mine. Can you feel the love?)

...but I do have other journals to go to if I have to. Feel free to bookmark and/or friend any or all of these, plus Slashverse, mine and literati's shared website.

me @ GreatestJournal

me @ InsaneJournal

me @ JournalFen

me @ Twitter (where I think I'm going to post mini movie reviews, just for the hell of it. *g*) Also available in syndication! darkhavenstwitt :P

me @ Vox (also owned by Six Apart, so I'm basically just name-squatting there.)

Right now, I'm not updating any of them (except Twitter), but if/when I get around to setting up Semagic or some other client, I will, honest. ;)

ETA: superkinkfest has a lot of lovely Supernatural kink prompts going begging (rules || prompt list), and rounds_of_kink is asking for prompts in a good selection of fandoms here. Go and add some kinky idea to the ones already there!

As most of you probably know, LiveJournal was unavailable between approximately 2pm and 9pm PDT on Tuesday, July 24, 2007. While LJ were in no way responsible, they are offering a 3 day extension of Paid time to anyone who was an active Paid member as of any time Tuesday, July 24, 2007.

The extension isn't automatic but you can choose to claim your extension by going to this page: http://www.livejournal.com/pay/claim.bml. /psa

For the next week, you can now purchase a permanent LJ account for the princely sum of $150 US.

Any of you wondering about the fallout from the recent furore nicknamed "Strikethrough '07" can read here how it was all a case of misinterpretation and miscommunication. *coughbullshitcough*

Also included in that post is the following statement: listing an illegal activity in your interests list isn't a violation of the Terms of Service in isolation, and we won't equate individual interests with activities you support or advocate. Instead, we will consider journals and profiles as a whole, in context, to determine whether they violate our policies.

You can also read here that there will be no change to the TOS and policies, but that they will be enforced more rigorously (though, as before, only in response to actual complaints). Also, the post defines what content will not be deemed acceptable by 6A/LJ.

If, after plowing though that lot, you still want to buy a permanent account, please be aware that any paid time, or userpic add-on time, you have left on any account you make permanent can be transferred to another journal or community with this Permanent Account Holder Transfer Tool.

And once you've handed over your hard-earned money, you should go and join permmembers so you can be kept up-to-date on the latest goodies that LJ has to offer. (Perm/paid members usually get to play with them first.)

The Permanent Account sale will end at 12:00 midnight PST Thursday June 28th.

More info here and here.

What a way to start the bank holiday weekend, huh?

May the 25th is a day for fans and geeks to hold their heads high. If you're a Douglas Adams fan, you might know it as Towel Day. If you're a fan of Terry Pratchett, and you were there, you might be wearing lilac. And as it's the 30th anniversary of the very first screening of Star Wars, it's also the first Universal Day of the Jedi.

What a perfect day for rumour to get fandom running around, chasing their tails and panicking.

According to this post at lj_maintenance, the trouble many people have had accessing LJ recently has been due to a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack, now dealt with.

According to this post by a member of the LJ Abuse team, the rumours of a fandom-wide witchhunt all a bunch of hooey. (Not exactly an official source, but probably the closest we're likely to get to one.)

Before you all sigh with relief, there's this news story being linked in several places, talking about Government crackdowns on public networking sites like LJ, MySpace and FaceBook. But as it's dated July 2006 and talking about a crackdown to garner votes in the November elections, I think we're pretty safe. For now.

And just in case you haven't all heard it all before, life_wo_fanlib has links to plenty of posts about the asshattery that is Fanlib and how they could totally screw up our happy place.

I made sure to grab my name there so nobody else can. I'd advise others to do the same. Posting fic there, however, is not something I'd advise.

Just a heads-up to everyone that LJ will be making permanent accounts available for purchase (for a limited time only) in a couple of months, so y'all should start saving now.

I don't know how much they'll cost, and I have selective amnesia about how much I paid for mine, but I still think it was worth every penny. (Does that make sense? Do I care? *g*)

Also, they recently added a new Edit Journal Privacy doohickey, that lets youedit privacy settings of multiple posts in date-defined batches.

And finally, for those of you bemoaning the 750 friend limit that LJ imposes - they changed it! Free accounts now have an upper limit of 1000 friends and Paid journals can have 2000!

Friending spree, anyone?

/PSA

After the fubar that was LJ's scheduled power supply maintenance event last weekend, LJ are offering people with paid journals 7 days of additional paid time as compensation.

This offer applies only to active paid accounts during the outage window from Friday (11.03.06 at 12:01am GMT) through Monday (11.06.06 ending 11:59pm GMT).

This extension claim expires in a week on Monday, 11.20.06 (at 11:59pm GMT).

Permanent accounts, your permanent account has been extended to infinity + 1 week. ;)

7 days of additional paid time

As some of you may know, lj has an image feed that displays recent posted images, and a few communities now gather and post these images (and so do some external websites).

One particular guy, iconscraper, is automated--he's set up a program to scan the feed LJ sends out which has people's icons on it. This process means that he hotlinks to all the icons he "scrapes" up. He think's there is nothing wrong with what he's doing and is pissed off that people are pissed off that he's stealing their icons and their bandwith. What a charmer, eh?

Anyhow, there is a way to keep people like him from linking to your icons/images and stealing both them and your bandwidth.

To remove your own journal from these feeds go to The Admin Console and input type set latest_optout yes and click on the execute button. Make sure that you are logged into LJ when you do this.

If you run a community, type set for communityname latest_optout yes, replacing 'communityname' with the plain text name of your community (no lj code).

ETA: As uniquewonders has just pointed out in comments over at bloodclaim, you can also set your syndication level via the Admin Console:

set synlevel option
set for communityname synlevel option

The options are:
* full - includes full entry text
* summary - includes excerpt of entry text
* title - includes subject lines only

examples:
set synlevel summary
set for bloodclaim synlevel title

You can see the links to your feeds and therefore what their content is in this FAQ.

ETA2: Also courtesy of uniquewonders, here is a link to a comprehensive list of privacy settings you can tweak to suit yourselves.

(Feel free to link here or repost.)

This is a quick reminder that LiveJournal is changing its default site scheme over to Horizon today, September 14th, after noon (PST), so before you all start screaming about 'WTF is LJ playing at this time?!', go read this. *smooches you all*

(I'm trying to write fic, I really really am. I want my words back, dammit! At this point I'd be ecstatic if I spontaneously got bit by Drarry bunnies!)