Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Going, going, gone

An M* permablogger blogged his last earlier this week. It happens; they come, they go. To commemorate his voluntary passing, I'll appoint his highlighted article, Alternate Voices, an April 1989 General Conference talk by Elder Oaks, as my online essay of the week. The talk could be subtitled "Why the Whole Church Should Be Correlated." On the other hand, that was 1989, when GAs were really worried about these "alternate voices," whereas things have mellowed out a lot since then on both sides (except for our friends at FARMS, who still see anti-Mormons behind every tree). It's problematic to rely on dated counsel from the last century to guide current actions.

An Embarrassment of Riches

The "big box blogs" have really been hitting on all three cylinders this week. T&S rolled out a new guest blogger, who will be sharing the author's perspective on the hottest new Mormon book of the year. M* posted a "let's get to know each other" invitation, to which a couple of dozen commenters contributed wonderfully entertaining short bios. I read them all with considerable enjoyment. Good news: B'nacle visitors are bright and interesting. Dull and boring people must spend their online time somewhere else. Finally, BCC debuted its own Special Guest Blogger, who presented the Mother's Day talk that thousands of women who aren't yet (or may never be) mothers deserved to hear, but didn't. While you're there, don't miss my post A is for Agency, which spurred a long and continuing discussion with 68 comments and counting.

New Link

I notice that Dialogue added a weblog section to their links page and was kind enough to include a link to DMI — thanks! It's nice that By Common Consent caught their eye as well. For Bloggernacle trivia buffs, it's worth noting that DMI was doing the blogging thing for months and months before BCC arrived on the scene. Here is my post dated March 14, 2004 welcoming BCC to the Bloggernacle. For a short excursion into early Bloggernacle history, read this short summary by the talented folks over at T&S. And yes, I was around before T&S appeared, too — here's my post from November 20, 2003 welcoming Times & Seasons to the big show. How time flies.

JosephSmith.net

He's not just a prophet, now he's a website: JosephSmith.net. I haven't had much time to explore the site, but I've been pleasantly surprised by what I've seen so far. For example, click "First Vision" (on the "Mission of the Prophet" pop-up menu), and you get a screen that includes additional tabs. The "Questions" tab notes the four versions of the First Vision penned, at various times, by Joseph Smith, from the 1832 sketch (in the Kirtland Letter Book) to the 1842 Wentworth Letter account (the canonized version is from the 1838 account, part of the History of the Church narrative). The "Readings" tab provides straight links to several LDS publications on the subject (from the Ensign and CES manuals), but also a link to Dean C. Jessee's classic 1969 BYU Studies article entitled The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision. I'll designate that article my online essay of the week and invite you all to read it. Bottom line: the JS.net site seems to offer some nice material with pretty good navigation around the site (much better than the LDS.org site!).

Fun With Google

One of the fun things about running a blog is you get to see some of the bizarre Google searches that bring visitors to your website. Frankly, on occasion it makes me fear for the future of the planet. I've never bothered to post any of them before, but there's a first for everything. If you Google "Mormon stupid," I show up at No. 1 of 152,000 entries — an undeserved honor, I assure you. Not "stupid Mormons," or even "stupid Mormon," but "Mormon stupid," like it's describing a particular type of stupidity, similar to but distinct from Catholic stupid, atheist stupid, or European stupid. The no. 1 rating, by the way, is due to my post entitled Stupid Things, which garnered 24 comments so obviously wasn't that stupid a post. Here are a few other searches that have brought visitors to DMI within the last 100 visitors (which is as far back as my free URL log lists referral pages):

• polygamy stories sexual at no. 8 of 75,300
• the sociopath next door at no. 2 of 50,800
• mormon blog at no. 3 of 353,000 (trailing my second-favorite group blog by one spot!)
• Mormon Harry Potter at no. 4 of 195,000
• Southerland excommunicated, a typo special, at no. 2 of 42 thanks to a typo in this comment
• liberal Mormons at no. 6 of 114,000

The Pocket Muse

I've been running a lot of "heavy" posts lately; time to lighten up a bit. To this end, I picked up The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspiration for Writing (2002) by Monica Wood. It is just a collection of suggestive photos and queries designed to get writers thinking about new topics in creative ways. The standard B'nacle methods are okay: news stories, books, personal experiences, other blog posts. But a new approach goes a long way. Look how successful VSM has been with a few new ideas.

Bloggers Wanted

Well, it turns out my Dialogging post last week was well received and your comments got some attention. I received approval to collect and submit a list of names of bloggers who would be interested in being considered for a limited number of half-price Dialogue subscriptions to be made available to active bloggers. [That's the first year; after that you're on your own.] I guess you are just a desirable demographic: young, smart, educated, rich, clever, photogenic, humble. Or maybe you just like to read Mormon stuff.

Anyway, if you are interested and qualify (you run a solo weblog or permablog at a group blog and do not presently subscribe to Dialogue), send me an email with the following information: (1) your weblog name and URL; (2) your email address; and (3) why you want to subscribe, in 25 words or less (it's not a contest, but it helps to have some context). In a few days, I'll forward the requests I receive to my contact, and I'll report the results here in a few weeks. I don't need real names or addresses — you can work that out with the subscription people if you're a lucky winner.

Legal Guide for Bloggers

The Electronic Frontier Foundation posted its Legal Guide for Bloggers, giving general advice on everything you wanted to know about blogging (but were afraid to ask). The sections are presented in an FAQ format. This seems like a document every blogger should read. The introductory post gives the following comments:

There is still a lot of confusion about the legal status of bloggers. Are they journalists, due the protections of the reporters' privilege and heightened First Amendment analysis? Are they online service providers, who are generally exempt from liability for the postings of others? EFF's guide explores all of these roles and explains how the law may be interpreted in particular instances.

Blog Upgrades

I have uploaded my second attempt at a banner image (in case you missed it, here's the first attempt). I have managed to bend Photoshop to my will, but not without a fight. The term that leaps to mind is "counterintuitive graphical interface." I also patched in some code to give numbering and permalinks for individual comments, particularly useful when you want to single out someone's comment here for praise and honor (or for criticism and ridicule) in a post at your own weblog. Any resemblance to similar comment functionality at this blog is purely coincidental.

All About Sideblogs

I've been running the sideblog (on the left sidebar) for about a month now—what do you think? Do you find it useful, or annoying, or simply irrelevant? It took me a couple of tries to get the coding right, but the slick layout comes by first setting up an entirely separate blog under the Typepad domain (see Dave's Sidenotes), then bringing the body of the short posts from that site into my sidebar using a snippet of pre-formed Javascript code. Well, I like it anyway. As for content, I've settled down to just using it to post pointers to good posts at BT, at other Bloggernacle sites, or sometimes for a nice post elsewhere. It's nice for links worth highlighting but that aren't worth a full blog post.

Be Kind to Your Neighbor

Your Nauvoo Neighbor, that is. This is a new blog in an old shell, and the new editorial staff, emulating its new namesake, promises to "endeavor to cultivate a friendly feeling towards all, and not interfere with the rights of others, either politically or religiously." So do unto the Neighbor as ye would have others do unto thy blog: go read, and leavest thou comments!

A New Thing in the Land

The technical wizards of the Mormon Archipelago have devised a site that displays feeds and links for most Bloggernacle weblogs (grouped under various headings). It will only take you about six seconds to say, "Wow, this is cool." The whole interface is about five times slicker than any aggregator I've played with and will certainly change the way I read and visit the B'nacle weblogs I follow, as well as broaden the list of weblogs I review. This should get an award for "Best New Blogging Community Application." Very impressive. Well done, Archipelagans! Now someone explain to me ... exactly how did you do this?

Short Forms

I'm in the middle of Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life by Philip Gerard, a mercifully short and informative survey on writing as a craft. I've been blogging for a couple of years now and feel a sudden urge to figure out just what the heck I'm doing here. The writing, I mean. Blogging is nothing more than a steady, open-ended writing project that, hopefully, some people read over your shoulder. You might define it differently, but never-ending writing project really doesn't sound like something to get excited about, yet some of us do. So what gives?

Blogging at BYU

The Daily Universe ran an article on blogging yesterday, Bloggernacle Becoming a Hit for Mormon Bloggers. The article highlights three BYU profs who blog at T&S. It also features quotes and comments from established Mormon blogger David Sundwall of A Soft Answer.

The Soul of a New Machine

Once upon a time in graduate school, I read The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder. It was an account of how Tom West, a project manager and "a good man in a storm," assembled a design team and created a new personal computer -- "the machine." The soul of that machine, of course, is a much trickier concept, and one I don't believe I really confronted when I first read the book.

Nor will I confront it now -- you'll have to go read the book yourself, which I heartily recommend. This is just dramatic prologue to introduce a new weblog, The Bloggernacle Times, a joint creation of myself, co-editor Steve Evans, and a host of talented contributors. We are, I suppose, the soul of the new weblog, but we are attempting to represent the Bloggernacle as a whole in the enterprise. Furthermore, and contrary to early reports, this is not just another group blog but hopes to be something more. Of course blogs evolve quickly so there's no telling how this project will turn out, but the initial response seems promising. And just wait until you see the second issue! It will hit your virtual newsstand on Monday Feb. 21.

The LDS Blogging Community

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.

Blogs, Magazines, and Journals

The Bloggernacle is composed of a few dozen people who run weblogs that talk about “Mormon Studies” topics, plus a few hundred people who read the weblog content and sometimes leave comments. The two best-known publications that cater to that sector of the LDS audience that is interested in “Mormon Studies” topics, Dialogue and Sunstone, are likewise staffed and run by a few dozen people plus a few dozen authors, and read by a few thousand subscribers. You would think there would be a lot of overlap between these two communities, bloggers and subscribers, wouldn’t you? In fact, there is no one from the publisher/author side of the subscriber community (with the exception of BCC’s own John Hatch) who has taken an active role in the LDS weblog community, and precious few Bloggernacle regulars who appear to be subscribers or regular readers of Sunstone or Dialogue, much less authors (with the exception of BCC’s own Kristine Haglund Harris). Why is this so?

Blog Formations

After several months of little activity, there have been a flurry of promising blog formations recently, even since my post only two weeks ago highlighting several new Mormon-themed weblogs. In the even newer batch, first there is M$t@r or Millenial Star, snagging yet another unclaimed LDS periodical as a blog title (and looking good in blue). LDS Science Review goes for the simple, descriptive blog title -- I like that. Then there is Explorations, run by what appears to be a spirited and highly literate librarian (see here, same root URL, and here, praising librarians). That's okay, we like librarians. Finally, try trap, no trap for a walk on the wild side. I think TNT fills the void in the "raw, emotional, and brutally honest" niche left open by the recent change in focus at CitC.

All these are now on my bloated Second Twelve list, except M$t@r, which debuted in the Top Twelve.

A Star is Born

Yes, a Millennial Star has risen in the B'nacle, sporting 12 onymous bloggers and a funky new blog platform called b2evolution. Go pay them a "welcome to the neighborhood" visit, leave a clever comment, and see if you can become the first listing in their "Featured Comment" box. Here at DMI, of course, every comment is a featured comment! [edited 2/1/05 to read "Millennial Star"]

Support Your Local Blogger

IntelleXhibitionist is conducting what they call a Blogscar event, with various B'nacle blogs entered in a variety of categories. Feel free to drop by there and vote, especially in the Best Individual Blog category. Normally I would label the exercise a simple popularity contest and ignore it, except that I'm doing fairly well in the Best Individual Blog category . . .

You are, of course, limited to one vote. Per computer. Per day. ;-)

Sidebar Changes

Three new promotions to The Top Twelve list: Probative, billed as the musings of an LDS Libertarian law student. That's okay -- some of my best friends are libertarians. Next, Splendid Sun sports a logo that grows on you after awhile. I still expect to see a smiley appear inside the sun sometime. Finally, Various Stages of Mormondom offers personal blog posts that span the whole spectrum, and then some. Words fail me; must visit to grasp. If you like Catcher in the Rye, follow this blog for a few weeks. But there's more!

New Weblogs

I have added four five new blogs to my More Mormon Weblogs blogroll, listed below with an example from each. Let's hand it to David at A Soft Answer for keeping up the "official list". I got a kick out of his "Till We Meet Again" blogroll of dormant blogs, of which three belong to me (trial and error).

• Splendid Sun, with a recent post Genocide and Mormon Complacency.
• A Grain of Salt, with a recent post Mormon Women: Martyrs or Heroines.
• Probative, with a recent post on The Tsunami Problem.
• Various Stages of Mormondom (a group blog), with a recent post explaining why one of the group started blogging: I started blogging to keep up with the Joneses. Other people were blogging and so I thought I should too. And really that is all there is to it.
• Update: Late entry New Cool Thang also has a couple of Tsunami posts.

Blog Year 2004 in Review

What a year! In January, I was using Radio for the old DMIW; on March 8 I put up the first DMI post using Typepad, which has worked great for me. From September to December, blog traffic at DMI has roughly doubled, as shown in this Sitemeter chart. December saw some real spikes in volume following the Grant Palmer episode, which still brings in a dozen visitors per day from Google searches. Thanks to all those who join the dialogue by leaving comments. I am recognizing the top commenters for Dec 2004 in a new "DMI Troopers" blogroll on the sidebar, linked to the commenter's weblog or online bio if available. Yes, I'll update the list at the end of January 2005.

In a big move for the blog, Justin Butterfield came on board as the first DMI guest blogger on December 15 -- here is the category page of all his posts here at DMI. Nice work, Justin. His one month date comes up on January 15, so if you want him to consider "re-upping" for another month, this would be a good place to put in your request!

Holiday Blues

For no apparent reason, I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas last night -- the kid has issues. But it reminds me that holidays can be a downer for some as well as a thrill. To cleanse a bit, I logged in and slashed 9, count 'em 9 dying blogs from the More Mormon Weblogs blogroll, then added Dallas Robbins, Orson's Telescope, and Planet LDS (a handy Bloggernacle aggregator, check this one out!). Happy holidays to the survivors. In doing my inventory, I ran across a few touching "holiday blues" posts around the B'nacle. Someone go cheer these folks up!

Bloggernacle Gazette

There are times when it's nice to dodge the heavy burden of saying something interesting, insightful, or relevant in a post and just babble for awhile about what's going on in the neighborhood, who's coming or going, who spiffed up their blog, and so on. Feel free to add your own chatter in the comments.

Moving Up

Feminist Mormon Housewives jumped up to a spot in the Top Twelve, replacing the Sons of Mosiah who, after months of riotous living and online carousing, have reformed their ways and signed up with By Common Consent.  FMH maintains the only "Lady Bloggernackers" blogroll that I have seen and offers a striking color scheme (it's either pink or magenta or a funky shade of purple).

Mormon News

I added Mormon-News.com to my "Media" blogroll last week (see a few clicks down my right sidebar).  It's a media links site, providing links to most online newspaper stories on the LDS Church, categorized by state (say, Arizona) and by topic (say, Social Issues).  There's even an international list.  Darren, a regular visitor to this blog, runs Mormon-News.  No commentary, just links.

Personally, I find such media sites to be great sources for quick, interesting blog topics.  Group bloggers can sit back and cherrypick, but as a solo blogger I need to come up with at least one post per day, and media sites almost always offer at least one story on some interesting issue.  Other sites on my "Media" list that I find particularly useful are the LDS Newsline service of the Deseret News, the Religion News Blog, and BYU NewsNet.

Open House

Welcome visitors from the New Bcc (and anyone else who wanders in).  Here's a quick tour of my site with a few comments on Typepad posting.  I've been blogging at this Typepad site since March 2004.  Typepad features new to Blogger bloggers include:

1. Typelists: Pre-formatted blogrolls, termed "typelists," can display books and CDs as well as links.  See my right sidebar for a few book lists.
2. More . . . :  When posting, you can go down to the "Customize the display of this page" link and check "extended post" to open up the second box.  Only what's in the first box shows on the main page.
3. Comments: Typepad offers great comments management.  After a thread is started, you can access comments from the "edit post" screen for all your posts--they are all listed below the body of the post.  In addition, you can close comments on a thread at any point, if desired.
4. WYSIWYG: The new interface is kind of flighty, but it seems to work.

Expansion Draft

T&S picked up five new bloggers in the first round of the Bloggernacle Expansion Draft.  The new additions include a distinguished Euroblogger, a grad student in Philosophy, a smiling economist, a grad student in Religious Studies, and a newly-minted English PhD.   With such a diverse group of new arrivals, expect some new topics to show up at T&S in coming weeks.

Will competing blogs match this bold new move by T&S?  Persistent rumors of upgrades at Bcc suggest more changes will follow, although it's unclear whether the junior circuit will dip into the depleted expansion pool for new bloggers.  Perhaps Bcc will have to pick up an established blogger or two in the free agent market to beef up its lineup.  Any other rumors of impending additions, redesigns, or platform changes out there?

My Polling Results

I'm sitting here watching my CNN.com map of America slowly turn red--this looks like the election of 1800. Maybe we should rename the parties the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. If the Dems can't win against Bush the Younger, they are as dead as the Federalists in 1800! The winds of change they are a-blowin'. [Update: Okay, later in the evening blue scored in the West and the Midwest, but given Republican gains in the House and Senate in addition to Bush's win in the Electoral College and the popular vote, this is still being called a "realigning election."]

I DID MY OWN BLOGGERNACLE EXIT POLL, and have dropped two blogs from my Top Twelve for infrequent blogging, plus one more for lack of engagement with the blogging community. I am filling these open spots with: A Bird's Eye View, run by the Fowles brothers, who have been steady bloggers for many months now; Baron of Deseret, who has likewise been a steady blogger and who will no doubt resume that practice when he returns from his vacation trip to Asia; and the new blog United Brethren* (the * means one of the brethren is a sister), which shows a lot of potential and, for a bonus, managed to snag one of the Fowles duo as a "named blogger." I welcome these fine blogs to my Top Twelve!

Four New Weblogs

I added four new links to my More Mormon Weblogs list (look right, scroll down): Virtual Theology is the Wordpress successor to Technologic, a Blogger site. United Brethren consists of mostly brethren, with three guys and a gal listed as contributors. They put an asterisk in the blog title, which really bothers me for some reason, like one of those superfluous apostrophes that some writers throw in their prose from time to time. I did list them--no grammar prude am I--but I just had to drop the asterisk. The Peepstone has the good sense to me on its blogroll already. I will visit this blog regularly just so I don't miss the story of how Graham met Heather. Finally, Speak Up For Truth is making its voice heard. However, I didn't make PSC's list of gentle bloggers. Darn.

Who Are These Guys?

I discovered a cache of blogging Mormons hiding out at Let Your Mind Alone, a group blog with count 'em 25!!! members listed as posters [link from A Soft Answer]. The site has no outgoing links on its sidebar, which might explain how it has managed to keep such a low profile for three months. And none of the listed bloggers ring a bell as having been regular commenters at other Bloggernacle sites. Nevertheless, in belated recognition of its being the largest group blog in the Bloggernacle, I have given LYMA a pro tem spot on my Top Twelve list.

How on earth do 25 people with addresses scattered across the globe even get together to form a blog? Are they all related, third cousins by way of some prolific Mormon patriarch? Were they all enrolled in a Blogging 101 course at BYU last year and decided to keep the class project going? Perhaps a half-dozen of them can drop by and tell their story. There must be a story.

Tremor Shakes Bloggernacle

At approximately 11:00 a.m. PDT, a powerful cyberquake moved through the Bloggernacle as Times & Seasons' venerable MT blogware went into meltdown status. The Bloggernacle lurched noticeably to the left for a few short hours as By Common Consent was, for those precious minutes, the dominant group site in e-Zion and her e-stakes. But fast action by the T&S code warriors had the site back up and running in familiar format before sundown. Congratulations T&S--you guys move faster than the Bill Clinton spin police.

I was struck by the tragic thought that my prior post, entitled Coming Soon: The End of Civilization, might somehow have sent a ripple through cyberspace that actually started the process. I'm relieved we have at least a few more years to blog before The End.

Link Updates

I update my link lists on the right sidebar regularly--I think they are as important as content for defining a blog. I use my lists as a primary resource for finding material worth blogging about. I rearranged a bit, and my lists are now clumped into three groups:

LDS-Themed Blogs: I made a Top Twelve list (displayed alphabetically, I'm not ranking anyone, go here for that) for those that post daily (or at least regularly) on LDS topics. Some of these sites are specialized, such as A Soft Answer (which highlights new Bloggernacle weblogs and maintains a comprehensive list), A Motley Vision (covering LDS fiction, drama, and film), and Mormanity (apologetics); the rest are general interest group or solo blogs. I created a New Arrivals list, with the newest at the top, to highlight new LDS-themed blogs--these eventually either zoom up into the Top Twelve, gently drop down into the Mo Weblogs list, or just disappear if the author finds something else to do with their time. Finally, other selected blogs that regularly comment on LDS themes are in Mo Weblogs.

Resources: The next batch of lists give selected websites under Mormonism, Religion, Science & Philosophy, and the Media. I use these sites as places to go to find interesting things worth blogging on when I don't have anything in particular to say but need to do the daily post. I find the Media sites especially useful, although the SL Trib makes my browser crash lately, and LDS Newsline (a Deseret News site) won't load, possibly because of some new adware they seem to have installed.

Personal Blogs and Other Links: The last batch of lists include Reciprocity (sites that link to me but aren't linked in another list, mostly LDS blogs), Ecosystem (selected blogs I picked off the TTLB Ecosystem list), The Blog Club (kind of winding down these days), LDS Cases (which I'll expand someday), and Sponsors (for blogging tools and indexes I'm using or listed in). I use the Ecosystem (I'm an Adorable Little Rodent these days) and Technorati to keep track of sites that link to me and make sure they get a return link.

New Kid on Block

Nine Moons has been captured by the gravitational tug of the Bloggernacle and is now securely in orbit around Times & Seasons (and added to my Weblogs list). Go check out a blistering post on the absence of symbolism from contemporary Mormon art and architecture. The critique goes further than that: symbolism communicates insight, so the implied suggestion of the post seems to be that artists who lack symbolism have no insights to share and those who proscribe symbolism act to banish human insight from art. Mormon art bears some resemblance to Soviet art. Don't you think those posters of the New Soviet Man resemble an Arnold Friberg of Nephi or Mormon? No, way too much symbolism in that Soviet art.

Visitors Sign In Here

The Internet has made the global village a reality. My sitemeter data shows this weblog gets visitors from all over the globe: Brazil, Europe, India, Australia, Asia. Welcome you bloggers from afar. This thread is for you to leave a comment and say hi, from a simple "I'm a computer programmer in India" (which must have at least twenty million programmers) up to a few paragraphs on what it's like being a global blogger.

Canadians in Canada count, but Canadians in the US (green card or not) just aren't exotic enough to qualify. Alaskans, Hawaiians, and residents of a US territory count. US military overseas count. US tourists at Athens for the Olympics don't count (I'm not sure any went, so this might not be a problem). Let's even include US citizens serving abroad in embassies or consulates. Who are all you interesting people who have been silently dropping in to visit?

Bloggernacle Addition

A Bird's Eye View is a new weblog set up by a long-time Bloggernacker now turned blogger. Just for clarity, I would define "Bloggernacker" as one who frequents the Bloggernacle and hopefully comments from time to time, whether they host a blog or not. This appears to be one half of yet another pair of blogging brothers. There haven't been many new weblogs started lately, so this "new guy on the blog" should get plenty of attention. He plans to blog in six different languages. Well, that's different.

Small Triumphs

If you Google "Mormon blog" I come up at #1. Google "Mormon weblog" and my old blog comes up at #1. Not bad. Google da vinci code mormon I come up at #2. Whereas Google "Mormon heretic" and I'm way down the list at #7. Of course, Google is fallible: do "rich Mormon blogger" and I come up at #5. But Google "poor Mormon bloggers" and T&S comes in at #5!

In other weblog news, I'm now an Adorable Little Rodent in the Ecosystem, coming up at #1736. To show my thanks to all who link, I'll add a "Reciprocity" List for those I don't have linked somewhere already.

Honorably Mentioned

Merci to Heretic's Corner for the post and link. Mormon Inquiry is described as "a lively and occasionally irreverent commentary on the LDS world," which is much better than being described as an irreverent and occasionally lively commentary!

UU Humor

Q - What do you get if you cross a Jehovah's Witness with a Unitarian Universalist?
A - A knock at the door for no reason.

Borrowed from My Irony, a UU blog, which also had links to a somewhat toungue-in-cheek discussion about a new name to replace the ungainly "Unitarian Universalist" moniker. Best of the bunch: Church One. I like it, it's snappy, direct, and bold. I take it there's a theology subtext there (one god, one heaven for all) rather than the crassly competitive "We're number one" theme that leaps to mind for one accustomed to those who divide churches into two groups, the true and the not-so-true. I enjoy UU blogs--they are the only denomination I've come across besides Liberal Mormons whose bloggers are capable of self-analysis.

Anyway, we can't let a bunch of UUs take the high ground with "Church One." We need a new name. Embracing Bloom's vision of a post-Christian America, I would offer "Church of the Latter-day Saints," which also hearkens back to one of the official names of the Church in the 1830s, but I'm sure there are better options. Your suggestions?

Blogroll Updates

I try to keep my sidebar lists current, adding new and interesting weblogs under each category as I find them, and culling a few old ones too. For the definitive, lengthy Bloggernacle list, go to A Soft Answer, one of the very earliest Bloggernacle blogs. All ten Blog Club weblogs are listed there, for example. DS at A Soft Answer works hard to keep his list up to date--nice work.

Weblogs: I added IntelleXhibitionist, still going strong after three weeks. Amazing how many bloggers start with a flash of promise then die quickly.

Religion: I added Parablemania, an interesting theology and Christian apologetics blog that's already a Large Mammal in the Ecosystem. Try the KJV-Onlyism post. I also added its sister blog, Prosblogion (a cool neologism that could be pronounced ten different ways) under Science & Phil. I'm hoping for two clicks--I am going to be a Flappy Bird before you know it. I want my wings.

Media: Get Religion is a religion news and analysis blog run by two veteran Christian journalists with 30 years of experience between them. See their career notes here. This has great promise for some interesting stories I think, especially with religion being an election issue this year.

Blogging Tools

For the benefit of Blog Club members (or any other bloggers), here are a couple of blog tools I've found useful for squeezing a little more fun out of my weblogs. First, Technorati is a free site that allows you to quickly identify the sites that have posted links (either within a blog post or a permanent link) to your site. It's great for identifying new sites linking to your weblog--just type or copy in your URL and hit "Search." For example, Technorati tells me that three days ago this site linked to me (he appears to be an ASU student as well as a gentleman and a scholar). It's nice my site appeals to a broad spectrum of readers.

The other tool I actually use is Sitemeter, a traffic meter that provides a running count of visitors, as well as partial information on the URL addresses, domains, and referral sources of those who visit your site. You can make your site info open for public viewing or keep it for your eyes only. Just for fun I'll open my site info up to public viewing for a few days--go click on the Sitemeter logo at the bottom of the left sidebar and you can view my site statistics. I know a few Blog Club sites have this or another sitemeter installed already.

What other blogging tools have your found useful (tools you actually use)?

Martha, in the Kitchen, with a Knife

Congratulations to Kristine, who was awarded the Bloggernacle April 2004 Post of the Month for her post Laundry, Lizards, and the Sisters of Lazarus. Marvelous that a Bcc post came out on top. The banner on top of the site is actually a subliminal message implanting the command "vote for Bcc" in the minds of potential judges.

Efficient Blogging: The Three-Paragraph System

Our Fearless Leader recently encouraged BCC bloggers to step up and blog a bit more. So I’ll pitch in by sharing my patented “3 Paragraph System” for pasting together a friendly blog post in ten minutes or less. Para. 1: “There’s a short article over at Site X talking about this interesting new idea blah blah blah.” Para. 2: “Which makes me think of this clever idea, blah blah blah.” Para. 3: “So there you have it: Might work, might not. What do you think?” Let’s give it a whirl on the story of the week.

Recruiting for Zion's Camp

I posted a short preview of the Zion's Camp expedition over at Joseph's Journal. The first group left Kirtland for Missouri on May 1, 1834 (which will post May 1, 2004, this Saturday). Joseph departed on May 5, 1834 (which will post on May 5, 2004, next Wednesday). Come follow the cross-country adventure of this intrepid band of brothers.

Blogroll Adjustments

Keeping my link lists up to date: I added Doctrinal:Net back to the Weblog link list (without putting it through a Battle of the Blogs) in view of dp's recent return to commenting and dp's consistent participation in the Bloggernacle (note my acquiescence in this now-official term). I also replaced Life According to Jordan (his law blog) with The Book of Jordan (his LDS blog), but I do tip my hat to a fellow practitioner of polybloggery. A couple of other underperforming blogs were dropped from Weblogs (really my Bloggernacle list).

I moved a few others down to Media, and I'll highlight them as media blogs that follow religion on the web are great sources: Religion News Blog (no commentary) and Bartholomew's Notes on Religion (a Salon Radio blog featuring bloggish commentary with many links). The Revealer, another religion and media site I picked up from an earlier reference at T&S, was added to my Media list earlier.

Battle of the Blogs - You Choose

Two new finds lurking in the Oort cloud of weblogs circling the Mo-Blog. Vote for the one you want me to add to my list of Weblogs on the link list to the right.

Choice Number One: Latter Gay Saint Blog offers impeccably presented posts, pictures, and commentary by a gay man in SLC. I especially like the magenta links. Actually, it's fairly prosaic stuff--maybe just Utah gays sound that way, or maybe all gays, when you get past the bluster, are actually worried about the same things everyone else is--staying healthy, finding their next job, saving for retirement. But you absolutely must see the humor section.

Choice Number Two: Latter-day Blog, which actually got the hyphen in the name, suggesting the blogger has an eye for detail. I saw a site pitch this as the only existing Exmo weblog, but the posts, such as the post discussing LDS activity rates, supported by statistics from LDS data, are fairly good. And this post giving a link to an article suggesting 8% of Raelians are Mormons or ex-Mormons is kind of fun.

So: Choose ye this day the new blog for my link list.

Update: From this and other links, the Latter-day Blog got too much traffic and is temporarily offline--it should be back up in a few days. In the meantime, you may access an online synopsis of one of that blogger's articles, entitled Latter-day Saint Social Life: Social Research on the LDS Church and Its Members. Furthermore, despite the comments I referred to above, that site does not self-identify as Exmo or state the author's present stance vis-a-vis the Church.

Weblog Open House

Joseph's Journal is now up and running--stop by for a visit. It is a serialized, day-by-day posting (with little or no editorial comment) of selections from Joseph Smith's journal as published in the 7-volume History of the Church. It is keyed to the present date minus 170 years, so as today is April 15, 2004, the posting at Joseph's Journal will be for April 15, 1834. Incidentally, there was no Internal Revenue Code in 1834, so Joseph's April 15, 1834 entry does not read, "Scrambled around like a crazy man trying to get my taxes done by midnight." Instead, he hauled a load of hay, and the next day helped a neighbor, Brother Williams, plow a field and sow crops.

The Bushman Cometh

Barry Bonds isn't the only one hitting home runs this week. T&S stunned the Mo-Blog by signing up a franchise player from the vast Mormon free agent pool, the eminent LDS historian Richard L. Bushman. He may be only a pinch-blogger, but he delivers--his first post, Capitalism and the Gospel, goes platinum (100+ comments) on the first day! Wow--this kid can blog.

Seriously, I think the entire Mo-Blog is a little honored to have such a noted visitor among us for a few weeks. Special thanks to the Big 4 at T&S for making things like this happen.

Update: This just in: By Common Consent added John Hatch (first post here), a guest blogger with impressive Mormon Studies credentials, to bolster their lineup. It's still spring, but this promises to be an exciting season of MLB (Mormon League Blogging). Several franchises have yet to be formed: we could use a West Coast team, a Utah team, and (of course) Satan's team (aka the bloggers from hell, red font, flaming logo, smooth talkers, the wicked wordsmiths).

Beta Site - Your Opinion Requested

When I signed up for the middle-tier service with Typepad a month ago, one of the perks was that you actually get three weblogs, not just one. How silly, I thought; like what would I do with three weblogs?

Over the last couple of days, I have set up weblog number three, Joseph's Journal. Go take a peek and tell me if it's worth the effort.