They probably pushed it through without notice to avoid the sure shitstorm of comments.

At least at present, you can get the "classic" look back by clicking on the second icon from the right on the top bar (or that space if the icon doesn't show) and in that box, clicking on "SWITCH BACK TO OLD VERSION".

If I just want to do that directly, what is the URL of that link?

I have no idea - I'm back to classic so it doesn't show up.

I'd love to try that too, but I don't know how long it would last till that doesn't help either .... :/

There is no direct URL, it's a JavaScript thing.

I don't know, either.

Thanks for the clue about how to switch back. I was getting eyestrain trying to read that pale text, and the "View Friends Feed" link on my user info page didn't even work.

It's the third icon from the right for me. The question mark in a speech bubble.

In my case, for whatever reason, that icon was the second from the right. The rightmost was a magnifying glass. A friend told me that she only saw it the first time she logged in, then it disappeared. However, the link was still in the space the icon was in originally. Curious.

I see no such icon, either second or third from the right.

My journal didn't have that icon, but did have a blank box between the "post in blog" icon, and the envelop with number of messages icon. The blank box icon is one you want to click.

Thasnk you iut is now all the way on the right side in question /speech bubble with a question mark in it. As soon as you switch the option to give feedback goes away. LJ is really being a bitch over this change . Every time it gets posted where the fix is, the move the location. Looks like the hope for better behaviour from the owners and coding department was a false one.

A big heartfelt thanks to you bandicoot for your post giving help to people.

HEY LIVE JOURNAL STAFF IF YOU THINK I WILL EVER PAY WHEN YOU TREAT ME LIKE FUCKING SHIT AS A FREE ACCOUNT WITH THESE GAMES, YOU ARE SMOKING SOME SERIOUS BATH SALTS....

There's a bit more info about the changes here: http://ruljautonews.livejournal.com/38645.html

Oh my God, thank you so much for the information on how to switch back. I was one of the ones without the icon to switch back.

I only ever interact with LJ through the iPhone app anymore, so I didn't notice. I'll take a look over the weekend from a real computer.

That's 11 months old; it doesn't describe whatever might have changed this week.

NO WONDER it did not make sense! I have not found a newer one. Sorry about that.

i imagine the next stealth change will be to make the default language Russian.

This is where LJ needs a "like" button.

There is one, it's just never been widely released. Take a look at the lj_photophile community and notice how each entry has a +1 link at the bottom, near the comments link. Press that to like that entry, and click the number next to it to see who's liked that entry.

How do I add that feature to a community that I co-maintain (and own)?

You'll have to write to Support to ask LJ to do it for you. It requires a bit of JavaScript in the theme layer of your layout to enable and ordinary users can't use JavaScript. I don't know of any regular user or community that has the feature.

There's now a post in lj_releases. With comments disabled, naturally.

? I see no posts in that community later than March 20.

Ah, my mistake. There's some unofficial information here.

I don't know what's happened either, but I can confirm it's happened to EVERY page where I go to comment .... GACK .. ;P

I am totally blind and use a screen reader (NonVisual Desktop Access, or NVDA). So talking about graphical icons like bubbles, blank spaces, and such is useless for me. Live Journal used to be the one mainstream blogging site that was accessible for us, and now, it's turned to garbage, like everything else. Yes, there is Facebook (and thank The Gods that has a mobile site or I could barely use that as well), but Live Journal has a different kind of atmosphere. If I can't fix this mess, it will be yet one more thing lost to the blind community. I would like to be able to post with normal links, text input fields,, combo boxes, and check boxes. By the way, I tried the mobile site, and though it's clean, it keeps giving me an error each time I post. I logged in with Facebook, so don't have a proper Live Journal account with a username and password. So I am not sure if a regular client, like Simmagic, would work. I guess I can do what I am always forced to do, and use a workaround, in this case, by logging into a client with an actual account. I do not have Java installed on this machine, which might be part of the problem, but I have used Live Journel in the past, with another account, and experienced no difficulties. Thanks for any help given.