Saskia, that sound like a good use of blogs. I imagine it gives you a useful window into this world.

Thanks Ryan.

I guess my concluding thought would be that as with any new tool, it can either be used in useful ways or it can become the latest toy. Toys have their place, but wise people will learn effective uses. I’m curious to see what the future holds for all of this.

As for anonymity, there are important issues there. I used to blog under my full name, but then shortened it to “Ben P” for primarily pragmatic reasons: I didn’t want blog comments to show up on the first page when people google my name.

One other thing: I think it is healthy to blog under your own name. It disciplines you a bit in what you say. Also, too often anonymity on the internet is an illusion and folks will find out who you are. Best not to live in that illusion.

Once I got an academic job my blogging fell off. In addition to T&S, I use to blog at a relatively big academic law blog called Concurring Opinions. I eventually with drew from that blog because I felt like if I was taking the time to write something on law that I wasn’t embarrassed to have my academic colleagues read that I was spending enough time on it that I should probably just be working on an article.

My blogging at T&S fell of for related but slightly different reasons. The most important was time. I simply needed to be putting that effort into writing publishable material for tenure. I also wanted to be careful to show that my interest in Mormonism was a “real” academic interest as opposed to an intellectual hobby, so I tried to focus on publishing in ways that would “count” for my tenure file.

I also think that blogging can breed bad intellectual habits. It gives you a kind of instant gratification, which is fun but potentially dangerous. Also, extensive participation in the comments section is sometimes a very bad idea, as your smartest readers and your most vocal readers are not always the same group. I remember going to an MHA meeting and having lots of people come up to me and mentioned that they had read my posts at T&S and liked them. Initially, this was really flattering and my ego basked in the attention. Then, however, I started thinking, “You know, I don’t think that my big ambition in life is to be know as a blogger and I don’t seem to be know for anything else. This is not good.”

Still, blogging is a lot of fun and at times the discussions are really good.

Gary, I think the bloggernacle is a love/hate relationship for most people (just hate for some). All those things you mention do happen. Some people find it worthwhile anyway, lots of people get tired of it and quit. But it’s always here to lure new people in like a glorious train wreck.

Ben and David such conversations really are valuable. To be able to have them at your fingertips is really nice in grad school, which can feel a little isolated at times. Thanks for having me.

To me, I approach blogs as a digital version of graduate seminars and/or intellectual discussions over lunch. JI provides a forum in which we could discuss issues as if we were all in the lobby of MHA. Every once and a while it could be more than that–our various roundtables are an example–but for most of the time, I think we should remember blogging for what it is: digital discussions with limited academic merit.