The redesigned Mormon.org site has received a lot of comment at LDS blogs, most recently this post at Mormon Matters. The new site is simply unlike anything the Church has tried before. It certainly signals a willingness to embrace the social media approach. Here are three comments on the new site.
First, the range of acceptable responses to profile prompts that get published at the site. The range itself is noteworthy -- diversity of opinion is not a hallmark of public LDS discourse. Reflection on what does or doesn't make it past the reviewers who approve profiles and responses before posting has also been a subject of continuing discussion as observers try to reverse engineer the guidelines that tell reviewers what can or cannot be posted at the site.
Second, check out the FAQ section that provides all profile responses to one specific question. There's a new addition (at least I think it is new), an "official answer" displayed along with the profile responses. It is actually titled "Official answer from the Mormon Church." Paste all those snippet answers together and you have an official guide to Mormon doctrine, it seems.
Finally, there are the thousands of profiles themselves. I mean the ones behind the front page, the rank-and-file Mormons like you or me, not the five-language, 35-country types that make it to the front page. Click "Our People," then "more options" under the search box, and you can parse the profiles using a wide variety of demographic slices. Want to relate to white female ex-Evangelical Mormons age 25-34 in North America? 13 profiles. Previously agnostic guys who are 18-24? About 20 assorted faces pop up in the graphic cloud. Guys named Jason? About 30. People living in or with some link to Nebraska? 15. People who use the word "patriotic" somewhere in their profile? 14. "Blog" brings up about 50. "Glenn Beck" gets you 3. "Palin" gets 0. "Obama" returns an error message.
I don't know what non-LDS visitors think of the site, but it's certainly a lot of fun for curious LDS visitors.
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