Editing LiveJournal (section)

===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>