Okay, that explains it...

[matrixrefugee]

Kudos to anivad for the heads-up on the recent LJ blackout. This from http://status.livejournal.org/:

LiveJournal has been under a DDoS attack since Thursday, August 6th. A DDoS attack is focused heavy traffic in an attempt to make the site unavailable; not an attempt to gain access to anyone's account or personal information. We have taken steps to filter this traffic so that the site can remain accessible.

The site is running normally for most users at this time. Because of the mitigation procedures required to keep the site up and running, however, some users may not be able to access the site or post entries or comments from some locations and browsers. This is not account-specific, and you may be able to access the site from a different computer or network.

What I want to know is why someone would cyber-attack a blogging site, unless it's out of revenge or spite.

Comments

[dark-puck.livejournal.com]

Last I heard, it was politically motivated against a pro-Georgia blogger. I don't know if he was Russian or Georgian, but they also hit Facebook and Twitter.

[ladyneferankh.livejournal.com]

Seconding the above comment, a friend of mine posted this link at her own journal which is supposed to help explain some of the mess: http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/38011611.html

[eastpath.livejournal.com]

DDoS attacks have occurred on LJ, Facebook, Twitter and apparently Hotmail within the last week. Apparently it's fallout from the DefCon (Hackers Convention) that recently took place.

As a friend of mine said: Yes, we get it. Hackers are l33t, can we please have our internet back nao? ;)

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's like people piling cement blocks in front of the door of a library to keep the "unwashed masses" out. Who died and made the hackers the keepers of teh intarwebz?