What is the Bloggernacle? I have tried to answer that question a time or two recently, and thought I might post my notes so other LDS bloggers could add their thoughts as well. I'll retain the Q&A format that I originally used to formulate my replies.
What is Mormon blogging all about? In the LDS blogging community I am familiar with, blogging is more like sharing stories around the water cooler than real publishing via newspapers, magazines, or journals. Posts and comments are informal and ordinarily quite friendly.
Who are you? Just a regular Mormon who happens to enjoy online conversations about Mormon history, doctrine, and culture. I started this weblog in August 2003, when there were only two or three Mormon weblogs; today there are perhaps a few dozen weblogs that regularly post on Mormon topics. A short summary at Times & Seasons provides additional background for those who are interested.
What do you write about? I generally link to online media articles that discuss LDS topics or events, then add a few comments of my own. When I have time I also post comments on books I am reading on Mormon history or on more general history or religion topics. Other Mormon bloggers have a different approach or focus to the material they post. Some posts generate dozens of comments from visitors; others receive no comments at all.
Why do you run a weblog? Because I enjoy exchanging comments with other Mormon bloggers in the small and friendly LDS blogging community (often referred to as "the Bloggernacle"). As far as I can tell, just about every LDS blogger is an active and believing Latter-day Saint.
So does blogging fill some kind of unfulfilled need? Since those who participate in the LDS blogging community are people you could meet at church on Sunday (were they all in the same geographic location) blog conversations are just extensions of conversations that could occur at church. On the other hand, Sunday classes stick to the basics and are not really the proper forum for in-depth discussions of LDS history or doctrine. In that sense, LDS blogging fills a need not provided for on Sunday for those who want or enjoy a more searching discussion of interesting or even troubling issues.
So does blogging fill some kind of unfulfilled need?
Community. Not that there are not different types of community on church, work, familily levels, but LDS blogging alows for a distinct community that is not limited geographically or temporally (i.e., by time).
Posted by: J. Stapley | Feb 10, 2005 at 06:41 AM
Community and entertainment. It's fun!
Posted by: john fowles | Feb 10, 2005 at 09:04 AM
Money. It's all about the coin, folks.
Posted by: Rusty | Feb 10, 2005 at 11:47 AM
"So does blogging fill some kind of unfulfilled need?"
Not for everyone.
Posted by: Kim Siever | Feb 10, 2005 at 01:12 PM
"So does blogging fill some kind of unfulfilled need?"
It must because I can't... stop... typing...
BTW -- Whoohoo! New Cool Thang just made Dave's top 12! (This feels a lot like when one of Noisepie's songs would reach #1 on the charts at now-defunct MP3.com back in the day -- I hope it doesn't end as quickly as that usually did...)
Posted by: Geoff Johnston | Feb 10, 2005 at 01:37 PM
Geoff -- Yes, when I finally got the Archipelago icon on my sidebar and shifted some blogs to that list, there were some openings on my Top Twelve list. Not that it really means anything, it's just my short list of active and interesting blogs I visit when I "make the rounds" to see what people are saying. If I have spare time or just need some variety, I'll run through the Second Twelve instead, which tend to be not-so-active blogs or newer ones. But if it makes people happy to be listed, it must be a good thing!
Posted by: Dave | Feb 10, 2005 at 05:09 PM
Making the top twelve was the best day of my life!
Or the second best . . . or maybe the third . . or maybe the . . . well it's up there.
Posted by: Lisa | Feb 10, 2005 at 10:48 PM
This year in the Bloggernacle for me has been the single most educational and enlightening experience I have had as far as Mormonalia goes. No hyperbole there, I'm being honest. Long live the 'Nacle!!
Posted by: Ronan | Feb 11, 2005 at 07:22 AM
It is rare that one could have the type of candid discussions at Church that occur in the 'Nacle. And the diversity of viewpoints and arguments that are made is also unique. I love the 'Nacle.
Posted by: danithew | Feb 12, 2005 at 07:58 AM
All these things are true. I would only add that for me, blogging is also a means to feeling less guilty for not keeping a traditional journal.
Posted by: Ian | Feb 12, 2005 at 06:18 PM
The bloggernacle has allowed me to "plug in" with Mormons on my own terms, again, after about a year playing almost exclusively in the DisAffected Mormon Underground. I think my whole attitude toward the church is much healthier now - I see more good than I did just a year ago. I hold Dave personally responsible for this, because this blog (the best of the bunch, I testify!) is so even-handed in its discussion, and thus led me to examine other places where he blogs (and then, where he doesn't). The intelligent, thoughtful, and kind people I've found here have renewed my "faith," if not in the church, at least in the Mormons.
Posted by: Ann | Feb 13, 2005 at 11:57 AM