Article about "Mormon Scholars Testify"

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

I'm sure people are interested. I'm just wondering how many and whether it will remain interesting in the future. It may or it may not.

Just curious, how many hits do you get per week? How many new arrivals per week? How many requests for new testimonials per week?

And, as a side note, how do you screen testimonials? Do you edit them or provide comments that go back to the contributor before posting online?

I'm just curious. Thanks!

Your wasting your time.

If one person benefits from teh site then it is a success. And I have a feeling that many poeple have benefited from taht sight. Mission accomplished.

[Daniel Peterson]

Heck, I've had the people who've written for the site tell me how much the exercise of writing up their testimonies has benefited them. And I've had some tell me how much they were benefited by reading the testimonies of other contributors, either before or after submitting their own. And some have told me that it's a good way of putting something up for their family, friends, and colleagues.

So I have good reason to believe that the effort has been worthwhile even for that relatively small group -- to say nothing of people who have written to me and commented to me and posted elsewhere about their positive feelings concerning it. And what about the people who've communicated nothing with me? Presumably at least some of them have benefited from the site, as well.

So the notion that it's a failure strikes me as just about as sound as the weird notion that it's dying a slow death because its pace of posting new entries has declined from one every other day to only . . . one every other day.

.

[zeezrom]

Your wasting your time.

Come on. The LDS church likely has critics (better than me) telling them what is wrong with www.lds.org all the time.

I am not criticizing the people bearing their testimonies.

[Daniel Peterson]

Ah, but one of your fellow critics over at The Great and Spacious Trailer Park has now revealed her conviction that "the motives" of those who've put the site up (and, presumably, of those who've contributed to it) "are suspect."

It fairly makes yer flesh creep, don't it? Very sinister.

[Calm]

My big complaint is that it is boring.

Is it typical for you to find others' spiritual witness boring? (serious question, not a jab)

[zeezrom]

It fairly makes yer flesh creep, don't it? Very sinister.

LOL. Yeah, I don't know much about that. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Except I am wondering about Sidney Rigdon's possible conspiracy.... That is for a different thread of course!

[Calm]

But there must be something you can do with a bunch of static testimonials... I don't know what it is. The only reason F&TM would be interesting to me is because it is in real time. Listening to some guy's testimony from last year is not so amazing- then adding 30 more testimonies from last year is grueling.

Do you have this problem with scripture as well? It's tends to be rather static and is a lot older than just last year. (again serious question, I am trying to understand your POV about spiritual writings and what purpose you see them serving.)

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

Come on. The LDS church likely has critics (better than me) telling them what is wrong with www.lds.org all the time.

I am not criticizing the people bearing their testimonies.

Tell me do you think the site is a waste? It is not my argument that you are criticizing the people that bear their testimony on taht sight. It is that you think the site is not useful.

[zeezrom]

Is it typical for you to find others' spiritual witness boring?

Real time witnesses are usually much better - like during F&TM. Some are great and some are utterly boring. It depends. Some are hard to listen to because my kids are fighting over paper airplanes or something.

If a loved one were to send me a written testimonial, I would love to read it.

I may find Hugh Nibley's testimony interesting and plan to go to MST someday and read it.

I can't put my finger on it. I've got this bug in me saying there must be a way to spice up MST! I'm sorry if my criticism is offending in any way. I may be the only one that thinks it's kind of boring (doughboy for one, agrees with me I think).

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

Except I am wondering about Sidney Rigdon's possible conspiracy....

Oh come on..... You should start a thread about it.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

Ah, but one of your fellow critics over at The Great and Spacious Trailer Park has now revealed her conviction that "the motives" of those who've put the site up (and, presumably, of those who've contributed to it) "are suspect."

It fairly makes yer flesh creep, don't it? Very sinister.

Really? As Alice said, "Curiouser and curiouser".

you mean like that you guys have some niferious reason for doing that web site and it is all just a ploy to dupe us dummies?

[Mortal Man]

It can't fail now.

You might even say, it's too big to fail.

[doughboy]

Real time witnesses are usually much better - like during F&TM. Some are great and some are utterly boring. It depends. Some are hard to listen to because my kids are fighting over paper airplanes or something.

If a loved one were to send me a written testimonial, I would love to read it.

I may find Hugh Nibley's testimony interesting and plan to go to MST someday and read it.

I can't put my finger on it. I've got this bug in me saying there must be a way to spice up MST! I'm sorry if my criticism is offending in any way. I may be the only one that thinks it's kind of boring (doughboy for one, agrees with me I think).

Well I did get bored of some of them pretty quick. Maybe it was just the mood I was in. I do plan on going back and reading some more.

There are some testimony meetings that are very boring and there are some that are really enjoyable. I think most members feel this way.

[Nathair/|\]

I hope someday I will be qualified to contribute. (As anyone who reads anything I have wrote on this site will attest, I am nowhere near there yet!!!)

[zeezrom]

Tell me do you think the site is a waste? It is not my argument that you are criticizing the people that bear their testimony on taht sight. It is that you think the site is not useful.

I do not think the site is a total waste of time. It is a bunch of people bearing their testimonies.

Am I going to wake up each thursday morning and read through the week's new entries forever? Likely not.

Am I going to use this as a reference for teaching GD class? Likely not.

If I'm questioning LDS, am I going to go here for help? Likely not. I'm going to be looking for facts - is x, y, and z true? Do I have the context of so-and-so's journal writings correct? You know, historical stuff. That is what a questioner is after. maybe I'm mistaken?

[zeezrom]

Oh come on..... You should start a thread about it.

Really? I fear anger from others. I would like to ask though...

[volgadon]

Heck,

Proof positive that you are frothing at the mouth. Purple rage. Incandescent. Huge vein in the forehead.

[J Green]

We've been putting up new entries every other day. That was our goal. However, since the time that the Stalker first noticed our decline and impending death, we've been reduced to posting new entries only every other day.

This one made me laugh out loud.

Thanks for starting the site, Dan. I've shown it to a few colleagues and family members over the past month. It's doing a lot of good. Even those who profess to find it "boring" can't seem to leave it alone. Must be working.

Regards

[zeezrom]

Well I did get bored of some of them pretty quick. Maybe it was just the mood I was in. I do plan on going back and reading some more.

There are some testimony meetings that are very boring and there are some that are really enjoyable. I think most members feel this way.

Sorry to put words in your mouth.

I should have asked you first.

Well, I might be standing alone on this issue: I think it is kind of boring and may not last very long. Hopefully nobody holds that against me.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

I do not think the site is a total waste of time. It is a bunch of people bearing their testimonies.

Am I going to wake up each thursday morning and read through the week's new entries forever? Likely not.

Am I going to use this as a reference for teaching GD class? Likely not.

If I'm questioning LDS, am I going to go here for help? Likely not. I'm going to be looking for facts - is x, y, and z true? Do I have the context of so-and-so's journal writings correct? You know, historical stuff. That is what a questioner is after. maybe I'm mistaken?

This may or maynot be true. It is certainly true for you. You do not represent everyone else that is struggling. The site was not set up to answer historical issues or the context of so and so's journal writings. Did you think it was set up to do that?

Non the less it appears that the site is a success.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

Really? I fear anger from others. I would like to ask though...

What? Fear? On a message board? I say do it brother. Question with boldness.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

You might even say, it's too big to fail.

Are you willing to wager for a government bail out?

[doughboy]

Sorry to put words in your mouth.

I should have asked you first.

Well, I might be standing alone on this issue: I think it is kind of boring and may not last very long. Hopefully nobody holds that against me.

No problem

[Daniel Peterson]

J Green: Now just talk to you-know-who and get him to contribute.

I think it is kind of boring and may not last very long.

We know you think it's boring and that you don't much care for fast meetings.

Personally, I really like getting to know people and, among other things, understanding some of the reasons behind their faith.

Incidentally, what would constitute its not lasting very long? Do you imagine that we'll take it down?

We haven't been discouraged when the site dropped precipitously from posting an entry every other day to posting only an entry every other day. I'm reasonably sure that, even if it were to stop growing altogether -- as, according to the Stalker, it pretty much already has -- we wouldn't feel any need to remove it from the Web. Having ninety or a hundred or whatever number of Mormon testimonies up on line would be -- is -- an intrinsically good thing. (And, besides, we wouldn't dare face The Packer Faction© under such circumstances, since they ordered us to do this. Or something like that. Or, to be more precise, nothing like that.)

[J Green]

J Green: Now just talk to you-know-who and get him to contribute.

That will mean logging him off of PAF for a few hours, and I might need backup to make that happen. But I'll give it a shot.