5% create
15% interact
80% view and enjoy

A combination of the 80/20 rule, and the 95/5 rule.

Really, that is a great comment and perspective. Some of my favorite people around are “lurkers” and it is fun to have off-line discussions of the online content.

I met Julie Smith in person for the first time last week, while she was in Utah. She is as funny, articulate, interesting, classy, and brilliant as she “appears” online. I had actually “met” her on a homeschooling message board a few years back when she was writing her book and before she even guest-posted at T&S, and we’ve had several email exchanges. Even though she is among the 1% here and I am among the 89%, we were still able to discuss specific posts and ideas *in the celestial room of the Logan Temple*, no less. I guess what I am saying is that those of us who are the 89% in the Bloggernacle are not necessarily passive onlookers, but participators in another, but just as real, sense–we take the things we learn from the 11%’s exchange and discuss, dissect, and apply it in other, real-life fora. To clarify, I’m not saying that the 11% DON’T apply the ideas, I’m just saying that we can’t assume that lurkers don’t feel or act engaged, as well. As one who takes a long time to put ideas to paper, I am impressed and mystified how you 11% manage to maintain your level of participation day in and day out. In fact, I think each blog’s participants should post a “day in the blogging life” hourly play-by-play so the rest of us can see how you get it all done.

I don’t think analogies comparing the Church to the set of blogs make much sense — the Church actually accomplishes work, while posting, commenting and reading doesn’t feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the moving or provide jello and potatoes to funerals. The amount of hours in a day are finite, and there comes a point where an hour on a blog is an hour less service to be rendered. OTOH, an hour on a blog can also be an hour less TV watched, or an hour less porn viewed.

I don’t think I’m apt to get burned out. If I don’t have time to read blogs, I don’t read them. I’ve found a few posts that were informative, but most of the ones such I’m recalling come from Kevin and I’ve already read them (or earlier versions of them at least).

I just come here for some interesting topics and a chance to talk about them with folks I haven’t already talked to — maybe to make a point somebody hasn’t already heard, and to see somebody make a point I haven’t already heard. It’s neither rocket science nor brain surgery, and it’s not the hardest hitting place to hang out that I’m on online.

It really is just another set of forums to me.