Bloggernacle Back Bench: A roundtable discussion

Welcome to the first ever Bloggernacle Back Bench Roundtable! Up for discussion is the following question:

"How well does the Bloggernacle represent Mormon thought and the Mormon people?"

"Personally, I think the 'Bloggernacle' is a good reflection, or at least gives a good cross-section of Mormon thought and Mormon people. As you may have noticed, some bloggers and commenters tend to represent a more orthodox (or conservative) approach to Mormonism, while other bloggers and commenters tend to be more liberal. I have also found this to be true within the Church of Jesus Christ as it relates to the members. The 'Bloggernacle' often resembles a chaotic Sunday School class." — Brian Dufflin

"I happen to feel the blogs show the range of ideas one can have and remain faithful and committed to Mormonism." — Bored in Vernal

"I think that the 'nacle represents fairly well Mormon intelligentia, but does not do a good job of representing mainstream Mormons. The posts that I see and write would be very different if my parents had written them." — David G.

"My answer would be no; if the members I know are representative, then most members of the Church don't feel comfortable discussing their religion with the kind of frankness we see in the bloggernacle." — Dan

"I think the BloggerNacle represents a strong (and multidimensional) cross-section of Mormons and Mormon thought, including plenty of disaffected (in various ways) and ex-Mormons as well as a smattering of non-Mormons. As such, it's probably a good representation of all those who are or were on the LDS Church membership rolls, rather than just the active members." — Bruce Webster

"I think the only way to answer your question about blogging representing Mormonism and Mormons would be to poll all Mormons. I bet 50 percent of them would respond, 'What's a blog?' 30 percent might say, 'What do you mean, do Mormons blog? There are Mormon blogs?' 10 percent might say, 'I've heard of them, but I've never read them, so I don't know.' 8 percent say, 'I've blogged a little, but who has the time. I (like or dislike) blogging.' 1.5 percent would say, 'I know about it, I know some bloggers, it sounds interesting, but I'm busy with my website, etc.' .5 percent do blog and there's a tiny .000001 percent who would say, 'That mean old bat Arlene Ball said my husband was fat in her blog and I don't think she could represent Mormonism if it bit her in the butt.'" — Annegb