After four years of blogging here at Mormanity, I’ve just hit my 1000th post. Happy birthday! If you’re new to Mormanity (mormanity.org or mormanity.blogspot.com), this is a solo blog on LDS themes by someone who really enjoys being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more often known to the media by nicknames such as “the Romney religion” or occasionally “the Mormons.”
Thank you to my readers for visiting and also for actively participating in the comments of my posts. For your information, this blog currently gets about 38,000 page views per month. On a typical day, the 1,200+ page views include per day include about 800 to 1000 “unique visitors” according to StatCounter.com, and about 250 returning visitors. Good bloggers and Webmasters don’t share stats, I’ve been told.
While the traffic for this blog is much smaller than for my Website, I’m finding that I’m spending more time working on the blog than the Website, leaving me with even less time to answer the flood of email my Website generates. It’s largely because blogging creates much more of a sense of a living community. Things change daily. The conversation in the comments area is more dynamic and certainly more public than what happens via email. Gaffes get immediately pointed out. Good writing gets immediately ignored (so I’ve heard from those who write that way). All told, it’s a much more engaging medium for an author than Webpages or the two books I’m working on. And did anyone say obsession? No, I’m not that weak. It’s an intelligent choice, not an addiction, right?
As a quick review, here are some of the topics I’ve been covering, with a few sample posts listed (several links are based on search terms and will return a collection of related posts):
1. Book of Mormon: Insights and Evidences for Plausibility
- Evidence from the Arabian Peninsula: Which of the Two Good Candidates for Bountiful is Best?
- Other Posts on Bountifu1 and the Arabian Peninsula
- The Book of Mormon and Meso–america
- Genetics and the Book of Mormon
2. Social Issues and LDS Religion
- T0rture: An Inspired Practice?
- Moral Issues such as Ab0rtion and the Plague of P0rnography
3. Responding to Critics on Doctrinal Issues
Well, that’s just a handful, but perhaps it gives some idea.
Again, many thanks for reading! Hope I’ll be around for a few more thousand of these.
Thank you for your blog. I hope to emulate it in my own.
Congrats! Thanks for your blog. I’ve got a long way to go on my blog! Stop by when you get a chance. I think you’ll enjoy my latest post about my email debate with a fundamentalist anti-Mormon pastor.
Thanks again for all your hard work!
Happy 1000th post! =D
Yes, may there be MANY more!
Jeff, I wanted to thank you for your blog – you’re one of my favorite bloggers, mostly because you interact with your readers by following up on their blog posts, basing new posts on emails you’ve received, and being flexible in what direction you take.
I’m subscribed to another (non-religious) blog that I’m about to dump because the author is more like a guest columnist who doesn’t even acknowledge those who leave comments. It’s infuriating to see him repeat the same mistakes over and over, as if he doesn’t even read the comments where people plead with him to address their concerns.
So yeah, I think you’ve got it down.
I just really need you to start video casting, or at least podcasting now. 🙂
Hello,
I arrived at this blog by accident while looking up an article about Mitt Romney (hope that poor guy can see that his bid for the White House is over and stops wasting his money).
I’ve read a few things here and have to admire the time that Mormons put into their religion. In fact I’d say it’s more of a lifestyle than a religion.
I had a brief association with Mormonism after leaving Christianity when I was 20 but found the Book of Mormon to be as dull as the Bible so I left it alone (sorry to be so blunt, but all that “came to pass” stuff put me off). Also, I don’t think I could have had 7 kids and remained sane. 🙂
While Mormonism wasn’t for me, I say if you believe in it, then live it and don’t pay attention to what others say. I couldn’t stand spending 3 hours every Sunday in any church, but if it makes you happy, then go for it!
Also, sorry about your loss of Mr. Hinckley. At 97 I guess it was just his time to go since he lived a full life.
Namaste!
Jim
Hi Jeff,
I wanted to thank you for your dedication. I remember finding this blog when I was searching for something to do with Noah’s Ark. I have since found out whatever I wanted to know, or at least decided it wasn’t that important at this time.
I am not really sure if I want to wish you many more, but as long as your happy I’ll be lurking around here somewhere.
Thanks for all your great information and tireless work.
Peter
Hey, thank for the kind words!