Today is the six-month anniversary of The Millennial Star’s online debut. Yes, and it’s also director Kevin Smith’s birthday, so what? Okay, so it’s not the biggest event in the world, but I thought it bore mentioning.
Anyway, in honor of this milestone, and in recognition of our continuing commitment to dialogue with our readers, we at M* thought it might be nice to hear from you about what you think of our site. No, this is not a stunt to get you to say things that we can put on the back of the M* book when it gets published. We’re interested in hearing anything you want to say about what we like to refer to as “The M* Experience.” That’s right, tell us if you think Davis Bell is just too darn snarky, if the star in our banner hurts your eyes, or if you have a theory on why M* bloggers are so much more fertile than other groups around the nacle. Got an idea for a feature or a nifty addition to our interface? Input on our tone or volume or content or roster? Criticism, obeisance and indifference are all welcome. For now. So let us hear it, we’re all ears.
I think you’re a godsend compared to some of the group blogs that try so very hard to be liberal, erudite, and edgy. I don’t find myself wondering why any of you remain members of the church.
On the other hand, I think some of your commentors and one or two of your posters sound like a ventriloquist act with Limbaugh at times. That’s annoying. But hey, it’s so much better than the alternative group blogs and there’s enough moderate sane voices in posting and comments that it is all worth it to come and read.
You guys are Awesome!
Davis Bell is Too Snarky.
Dittos, Rush!
Sorry, I meant:
Mega Dittos, Rush!
Adam, I’m sure Adeline meant me, but I am sorry to say I never get to hear Rush because he’s on in Miami from noon to 3 p.m. when I am slaving away at my desk or looking at blogs, as the case may be. But Rush is usually right, so to speak…
The reason I spend time in the bloggernacle is that I occasionally find real insight on the scriptures that goes well beyond what I am able to get in Sunday School. For example, I love the fact that the Bloggernacle has people whose studies include scriptural languages and share the insights they have gleaned with those of us not so fortunate. Similarly, Jim Faulconer’s Sunday School lessons have been a real boon to my personal scripture study, as they have asked me to ponder questions that go well beyond those I would typically ask myself. Ben’s temple pages and related comments here have opened new avenues of scriptural exploration that have proven fruitful. This is what I am looking for. I don’t need political strife, SSM, debates on the merits of particular legislation, etc. Give me a doctrinal discussion that actually refers to the scriptures and the prophets and I’m a happy guy. To those on M*Star and elsewhere in the bloggernacle who provide such, a hearty thank you!
Hush, Ryan, hush. M* is perfect. You had me at “today.”
WARNING… Some versions of M* have been known to cause seizures in Japan. Viewing should be done at your own risk.
Other than that its my favorite group blog in the nacle.
I come for the content, but I stay for Adeline’s relentless positivity.
If anniversary is created from ‘annus’ meaning ‘year’ and ‘versus’ meaning ‘to have turned’, how can you have a six-month anniversary?
Kim, Maybe they just have half an annus.
Happy Anniversary!
This is not specific to M*, I’ve noticed this in several blogs, but it seems like someitmes the author of a post publishes his/her post and then sort of disapears and lets the commenters take it away. I really enjoy it when those of you perma-bloggers post and then host. I understand time doesn’t permit to personally respond to each and every comment especially on some of the bigger threads, but it is nice to hear your responses to at least some of the comments regarding your original post.
I’m still relatively new to the bloggernacle so maybe that’s just not hip, maybe someone should do a post on blogging etiquette.
Anyway, I really enjoy this blog, so keep up the good work!
You can’t, Kim. Are you happy?
Steve, NFlanders, and Charles, you guys all made me laugh.
Andrea– I think you’re right. For me, the problem is that I invest so much of my limited free time in writing the dang post that I then feel guilty spending more time in discussions. But I agree that the joy of blogging is more to be had in interacting than in preaching. More dialogue is always a better thing. Thanks for a constructive comment.
Okay, maybe Davis is too snarky. 🙂
Ryan, I understand that it is definitely much harder done than said. I just wondered if that approach is a universal ideal or just my preference.
Geoff, I didn’t name any names. If it was just one person, I probably would have. People can draw their own conclusions. Criticism was asked for.
As for nflanders, with each successful comment you show you are veritable urn of warmth, humility, charity, compassion and an example to us all. Thank you so much.
I’m pretty sure this is my favorite LDS group blog, but I get you guys all confused, so who knows for sure.
Geoff,
What Adeline means is: it’s not just you. It’s Adam, too.
Also, Davis Bell is too Eastern.
And now lol to Davis and Adam (G.) too.
I am some one who just recently discovered this site and had no idea so many mo-bros were busy blogging. I have to say I expected this to be a battlegroud of same-sex marriage debates and negative ‘this is what the brethern are doing wrong’ type posts. However, like someone previously mentioned, it is actually a great site that is more about discussing doctrine and applying it to the mundane, which I think is something members rarely get to do as sunday school is hardly the place to open up the can of worms so to speak. I think the reason it is succesful is that it isn’t a political blog, but a doctrinal one (please keep it that way!)
I also appreciate that its a blog where church members with testimonies can comment positively about the gospel.
Happy 6 months! I am glad that I was given the link to this place by one of the bloggers here around February. So I guess, I have been with all of you from about the onset. I think that people here for the most part try to heed the advice to stay close to the center of the Church. I love the different angles that the bloggers here take. Well, I may fade into the background and not comment so much, but I will definitately be keeping up on things here.
Happy Birthday Kevin Smith!!!
Oh, I went to the link. I thought Kevin Smith was the director here. Well, I hope he had a great B-day at any rate!!!
The rank apostasy of this group is shocking, but somebody’s got to go to Outer Darkness I guess, and better you all than me.
I usually disagree with most of the M* posters, but usually see the original posts as thought-provoking. Even when I disagree, there’s something nice to talk about.
The layout of the site is terrific. Easy to navigate and easy on the eyes.
The only quibble I’d have is one that probably can’t be fixed. Discussions often break down after the original posts and don’t really address the key issues that the authors were raising. Such is internet arguing. I have no solution, except to say that this is probably a cost of actually having a lot of readers.
Oh yeah. I’m a big Ben Spackman fan. His stuff is always great.
I prefer the term gay, Davis.
Nice work, M* crew. I really didn’t think you could pull it off — a conservative group blog, I mean. I figured Day One would be “The Church is true and we follow the Prophet.” Day Two: “The Church is still true.” And so on. But you have managed to come up with interesting things to say on a daily basis. And the layout and fonts are primo.
If I had a suggestion for improvement: you need a go-to humor guy, sort of a conservative Steve Evans who could be depended on to lighten up those threads that start to take themselves a little too seriously (yes, I have seen it happen). Think of it as a beneficial touch of loud laughter and lightmindedness. Maybe you could run an audition thread …
Dave, you don’t think Ryan and Davis are filling that role? Hmm, tough audience.
M* is a great blog. My only suggestion for improvement is that you make Prudence McPrude a permablogger.
Wow, now I’m a funny-guy lightweight, by association, huh, Geoff? 🙂
Special points to Adeline, MDS, Andrea, D-train, and Dave for constructive comments.
MDS, thanks for your point that you want doctrine and scripture here. I think we overlook that stuff too quickly, but I’m glad to have some that really know their stuff here. I’d mention Ben, of course, but I don’t want to leave out how good Christopher, Clark, and Kevin can be on that stuff too. Anyway, that’s a focus we ought to do even more of.
D-train, your comment is similar to Andrea’s, and I agree. I think we could do with a lot more real discussion, instead of posting some interesting thoughts and letting people respond before moving on to the next post. I’m going to try to foster more dialogue after my posts, but that will only solve a small part of the problem, since my posts aren’t the most interesting ones to discuss.
And Dave, you make a good point. The problem is, on a conservative blog, lightmindedness and humor are impossible. We’d have to break with our mission to draft a go-to humor guy, as none of the obvious candidates (Aaron B., Steve, Brian G.,) meets our self-righteousness standards. Of course, Davis doesn’t either, but he was grandfathered in from the pre-standards days. It’s much harder now.
Did you hear the one about President Hinckley?
I was hoping to have been banned by now. Thanks for nothing, guys.
Maybe we could honorarily ban you 🙂
Just the other day ago, I discovered there’s a link to “Recent Comments.” That’s a pretty nifty feature I haven’t seen anywhere else. Makes it easy if you’re following a number of different discussions.
Eric Russell, I have seen that a BCC as well. I do not think Times and Seasons has it though. Did you not notice when your quote was there on the side bar for several days, which was an excerpt from the depression thread? Speaking of which, I wrote a letter to the editors about my opinions about that blog once upon a time. Upon consideration, I think that I have come to realize that there are more levels of truth to that blog than I previously thought. Well, I am glad that this blog is pretty open to participants. Although if it were to become an elitist community, I hope that I could somehow swing an honorary membership. 🙂
Snarky mode = ON
If this blog became an elitist community, I hope that I could somehow swing a baseball bat at the host server.
Snarky mode = OFF
Sorry, I don’t know what got into me. I just couldn’t resist. My three favorite Mellinniums – The Star (M*), this last dispensation, and the Falcon.
Davis Bell is not the only one of you that I think is pretty awesome. All of you are awesome! And I do not mean this because you are all intellectually gifted. It is because of what you seek to do with your abilities. Thank you for all that you give me to think about.
I gladly accept danithew’s invitation to guest-blog here. Just tell me when. I was already courted by T&S and BCC, but I politely informed them to suck it.