The Peril and Promise of the Internet Within Mormonism

1. The Peril and Promise of the Internet Within Mormonism John Dehlin

2. Explosion of Digital, Online LDS content

3. LDS stuff you can get online for FREE…

4. Church Sponsored Content • Hymns and primary songs both in MP3 format, and printable (sheet music) • Complete PDF and HTML versions of all the scriptures, manuals, and church magazines from 1972 forward • All of the above in mp3 format for listening • Much of the above in Spanish and French • Tons of stuff for Palm or PocketPC devices • Past and current General Conferences in video and audio format (lds.org and BYU Broadcasting) • A redesign of lds.org, which includes a “special topics” section

5. Unofficial LDS-related content • Past issues of Dialogue and Sunstone online • Past Sunstone symposium presentations in MP3 format • MHA and BYU Studies journals online, MHA in MP3 • Past Utah newspapers online (dating back to the19th century) • Updated Mormon Studies and Mormon History databases from BYU • The entire Journal of Discourses • The entire LDS temple ceremony (past and present) in both text and audio formats

6. And most importantly….. Tom Trails!!!!!!

7. Identity Matters

8. Why does identity matter? • Allows reputation to be a potential asset for increasing quality of contribution • Lets readers quickly decide who to pay attention to, and who to ignore • Personalizes the conversation • Provides the building blocks of relationships and community

9. Identity Matters • Some use real names: Dan Peterson, Lou Midgley, Nate Oman, Kaimi Wenger, Tal Bachman, Bob McCue, Mike Norton • Some use “aliases”: RoastedTomatoes, SerenityValley, WattMahoun, Polygamy Porter, Hyrum, Mental Gymnast • Increasingly, many seem to be “coming out” and revealing their real name • In my mind, this is only goodness

10. “Bannergate”: A case study in the down side of aliases • “Under the Banner of Heaven” blog formed, led by a set of “real people” as permabloggers • A healthy readership developed • In-depth conversations and strong relationships blossomed • Very personal stories were shared that included things like sexual struggles and miscarriages. • It turned out that all of the main participants and the shared stories were fake (in at least one case a male assuming a female identity)

11. Privacy is Dead…Get Over It

12. Who knows me in Sioux City Iowa?

13. City, State, Country, IP Address Pages visited Date, Time Duration of visit Country Referring Link, Search String Domain Name/Company Entry and Exit Pages

14. Google Search Terms Referring Folks to Mormon Stories (or “Privacy is Dead…Get Over It”)

15. The Personal • “John Dehlin” • “John Dehlin Mission President” • “single dallas robbins”

16. The Strange • “Jim jones survived” • “How to mold football mouthpiece” • “Jones jello cult” • “Joseph smith vs. l. ron hubbard”

17. The Curious • “do lds believe in creation”

18. The Sexual • “LDS Whores” • “gay mormon studs” • “extreme mormon girl videos” • “mormon boys sleeping naked on mission experience” • “mormon elder homosexuality” • “open marriage stories” • “was joseph smith gay” • “slept with a married woman Mormon” • “mormon missionaries gang raped names”

19. The Struggling • “Conflicted with Mormon faith and now in love with non-mormon” • “Mormon used to agree” • “Mormon leaving church telling TBM parents” • “Suicide in the lds community”

20. Google Trends

21. Google Trends(Top 10 world cities Googling “Pornography)

22. Moderation wins over open dialogue

23. The Idealistic Values I Started With… • Free expression • Open and respectful dialogue • Diverse points of view • Honest, objective analysis of the facts • Everyone’s comments are of equal value • Tolerance • Acceptance • Marketplace of ideas Correlation = Bad

24. My bursting onto the scene • I wrote “John Dehlin’s Thoughtful Faith Modern Mormon Manifesto” (a la Ted Kazinski) • Created my own blog and Podcast (Mormon Stories) • Started commenting on LDS Blogs • Came in more with an agenda than to engage on topic, and become part of the community • Wanted to promote my manifesto • Wanted to promote my blog and podcast • Wanted to exhibit “leadership” on the Mormon internet

25. The Result? • “Who the heck is John Dehlin, and who does he think he is?” • A few isolated supporters among the “establishment” • A somewhat tentative, if not cool reception from some LDS blogging notables • Some of my comments held in the moderation que (IP blocking?) • Overall…..a resounding thud

26. So I go on an “Openness Jihad” • Add a tagline to my blog that reads, “Open, Honest and Respectful” • Criticize some of the big LDS blogs for “censorship” • Puff with pride that true believers and the disaffected can engage respectfully on my blog--without a need to moderate • Experience some success

27. Fast forward 6 months after steady growth…. • Apologists and anti-Mormons begin frequenting my site • Raging battles ensue • I don’t have time to follow and moderate all the threads • People from both sides start telling me that they are losing interest in my blog because of the tone • I have to start moderating folks, and putting some into the “penalty box”

28. 2 final observations on moderation…. • Even exmormon.org HEAVILY moderates(virtually any/all positive stuff about the church is removed) • Ironically enough, one of the few places for relatively unmoderated discussion is…..FAIR! • (And they’re really struggling with it)

29. The Desperate Need for Ratings

30. The life of a blog post • Thoughtful blog post is made • Responses ensue, comments grow • Conversation begin to flow off topic (thread jacking) • Polar debates begin to rage • Conversation grows to 100+ comments, often times w/ 3 or 4 conversations going on simultaneously • Thread is often relegated to name calling • Rinse and repeat

31. Blog Aggregators: A step in the right direction

32. Blog Aggregators: A few challenges Who gets the prime real estate? Who gets relegated below? Who gets left off completely?

33. 2 models for a solution • http://www.slashdot.org • http://www.digg.com • A combination: • http://www.diggdot.us

34. Cool stories and posts submitted Log in Filter based on ratings Ratings

35. How do these sites work? • Readers (not permabloggers) submit or nominate interesting articles and posts • Other readers rate the submissions • The higher the rating, the higher the visibility of the submission • Comments are made per submission • Comments are rated just like submissions • Over time, you develop “karma”, where good submissions and good comments provide you more influence within the community • Readers can set a filter to ignore the lame posts/comments based on karma and ratings

36. The LDS Internet DESPERATELY needs a community-driven aggregator that has equivalent functionality to Slashdot and Digg (ratings and filters)

37. Audio is Great(Podcasts)

38. Sunstone Podcasts

39. GA Speeches Podcasts

40. Anti- or Ex-Mormon Podcasts

41. Personal Podcasts

42. Potential Podcast Reach • Mormons and Masons w/ Greg Kearney 3,512 • New Order Mormons Pt. 1 (Ann) 2,983 • Polygamy with Todd Compton Pt. 1 2,729 • Kiddie Baps – My Mission Story in Guat. 2,683 • Grant Palmer Pt. 4 2,486 • Stages of Faith Pt. 3 2,435 • Interview with FAIR 2,247 ~2,500 downloads per episode on average

43. Video is Greater

44. Google Video “Mormon”Anti-Stuff

45. Google Video “Mormon”Pro-Stuff

46. Youtube Video: Mormon Mash Ups Almost 100,000 views!!!! Up to 7800 views!!!!

47. Youtube Video: Mormon Porn Over 28,000 views

48. Youtube Video: Mormons & Popular Culture Over 28,000 views

49. Digg meets Youtube Labeled as inaccurate By the faithful Google laughing all the way to the bank 653 Diggs 354 comments Over 35,000 views almost overnight!!!!

50. Youtube Video: Church Content 2,656 Views