And as everyone knows–and Oscar Wilde exemplifies–it’s much easier to be brilliant, thoughtful, witty, etc., at the expense of other people’s nostrums than in generating and defending one’s own.

“I think that blogging probably is a good medium for trying out rough drafts of half baked ideas, but I am skeptical about its ability to do much more than that.”

Absolutely. As we’ve discussed before, it does take time that could perhaps be spent on more formal, substantive work. But before I began blogging, I wasn’t doing much writing anyway. The beauty of blogging is that it keeps me engaged with my field and sometimes even helps me generate ideas — half-baked though they may be — for projects that I may engage in someday. Indeed, I feel like I’ve made some progress in some of my thinking on Mormon aesthetics and the Mormon market over the past 10 months.

In all, it’s perfect for someone with a little bit of experience who is just starting out thinking and reading about Mormon issues. Others are different, but I personally need a lot of time to mull things over before I can get a clear vision I’m *reallly* interested in. Or at least interested enough in to do the hard work.

Of course, blogging is also a nice fit for me because I’m more familiar with short-form writing and because I’m naturally superficial what with being a pr flack and all. :-)

But seriously. Even if no one ends up turning their blogging into more *serious* work, then it’s still worth the investment. There’s something to be said for popularizing and validating this type of discourse and these issues. As we know, the Internet is already saturated with LDS-related content. LDS bloggers provide a valuable counterweight to anti-LDS stuff as well as balance out (and overlap with) apologetics and official discourse.

And to be honest, I’d say that the Bloggernacle’s contributions to the Mormon personal essay has already earned it a significant place in Mormon letters. Indeed, if we produce as many over the next year as we have over the past, then I think we should start talking about putting an anthology together.

Nate also writes: “If it has any real value, I suspect that it comes by lowering the costs of finding and interacting with like minded individuals.”

This is something that I value highly. Although I enjoy my interactions with many of the members of my ward [something that isn't the case with every ward I've been in], they aren’t necessarily interested in all of the things that I am and/or are able to or want to spend their time differently.

So thanks everybody.

You forgot to mention offending people. That really drives up the traffic. People who are offended often come back to defend themselves and offend others. Of course, they may never come back to the site again, but at least they pumped up the thread comments–woo-hoo!

danithew: I wish that I had something as grand or well thought out as a personal policy on blogging. My involvment is largely driven by my work schedule. I actually seldom have time to closely follow comment threads, so I am not as engaged as I could be. (Given the quality of my comments this is all for the best.) I am still trying to figure out what sorts of things work well in this medium and what sorts of things do not. I think that William Morris and Justin Butterfield do a great job of pulling together genuinely substantive posts. I think that blogging probably is a good medium for trying out rough drafts of half baked ideas, but I am skeptical about its ability to do much more than that. If it has any real value, I suspect that it comes by lowering the costs of finding and interacting with like minded individuals. I am still not quite certain about what it is all for.

Anyway, Nate has a fine ear for whining and I think he is dead on that there is a strong tendency to criticism, only some of which is helpful.