Re: [AML] AML Discussion Board

Wow. Go out of town for a week and the world explodes.

Two questions--

First, how do I find out if I'm an AML member? I think I am. I receive
Irreantum, and I got the direct email from the AML on the new forum in
addition to the one posted here, but when I signed up on the new forum a few
minutes ago it listed me as a visitor.

Second, is there such a thing as too much diversity? I honestly think the
new forum is so subdivided and categorized that it intimidates more than it
invites. Of course I can't post anyway...I'm just a visitor.

Interesting new world. I hope it works out. It feels like the small,
coherent community we had built here is fragmenting into a series of
microcommunities that will be increasingly disconnected from each other, but
that's the trend these days. After an initial downturn I suspect the forums
will pick up with new people and new personalities.

Which, I suppose, is one of the goals of the venture. To make room for new
voices some of we old voices have to either shut up or go away.

It's been coming for a while. The AML has always been an academic
organization and the fact is that this largely social list has been a
sidebar to that core mission. I think a more gradual shift might have
facilitated a gentler transition, but that's water under the bridge.

For example, I think bringing back the AML-Magazine columns like Benson
Parkinson used to drive would have been a good starting point. Do three
months of weekly (or even semi-monthly) columns on a series of topics here
on the email list to encourage focused discussion, then move the column over
to the forum as a topic heading. Work with the overhead of maintaining two
separate venues for a while in order to encourage the transition of the old
participants into the new forum.

On payment for participation...whatever. If the goal of AML is to faciliate
discussion of Mormon letters with the larger community, it seems like there
ought to be an open discussion led by AML members (columnists) but open to
all to contribute to. If the goal is to facilitate effective study of Mormon
literature within a selected academic setting I think closed membership is
good, but I would tend to separate the closed forum from an open forum and
mark them appropriately.

Many like to listen to others speak, and the view-only public forum is good
for that. But for those of us who only feel engaged by the illusion that we
can participate in the discussion, that move will tend to shift us away from
participation.

We had stagnated and something needed to be done to breathe new life into
the discussion. Birth (and death) is always a painful process, and this is
no exception. But transition is both good and necessary.

Good luck with the new AML and your new forums. I will be interested to see
how it works out and who your new voices will be.

Scott Parkin