Ok.
I’m going to think out loud and publically.
Why am I hesitant about this UK web aggregator that is garnering publicity?
What is this strong sense of caution I’ve been experiencing?
Dr. Adrian Warnocks Blogdom of God got a mention at Gospelcom.net’s Internet for Christians over Christmas. It’s been paired up with NZ Bear’s Ecosystem to push god-blogs into the mainstream and up toward the A list. There are now six alliances over at the Bear’s.
Blogstreet maps your ‘neighbourhood,’ and is harmless fun.
There is a semi definitive portal or two, and now an aggregator. Seems like a relatively natural cyber-evolution.
In my earlier post about the aggregator I mentioned that the rules for it’s marriage with Warnocks ‘Alliance’ had been removed. I currently don’t understand the Alliance, and haven’t done much research, all I know is that it declares itself as openly evangelical as St. Blog’s is Catholic. Big deal.
The aggregator now allows the blogger to be self-defining, so we can assume Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants are welcome.
It appears to be merely another tool to come along.
The rules were/are essentially operational for Warnock, not doctrinal.
It isn’t really much different than the organizing that is going on at e-church run by Tim Bendar, just a bit quicker out of the gate.
I read a fair number of blogs, so what is my problem with this?
Am I stuck in the past, and set in my cyber-ways?
Am I hyper-sensitive to strong self-promotion?
Am I thinking there is some hidden agenda because it got off to a shaky start?
I’m not the only skeptical blogger, and I find that a bit odd too.
The idea of pushing God blogs into the mainstream is a poorly thought out idea. Sites like Blogdom of God and blogs4God and JesusJournal may help blogs get some more traffic but don’t move blogs into the mainstream because the starting point for most of those blog tools is rooted in the Christian culture. It’s funny that throughout church history that most movements of God have happened on the fringes of culture and most movements to move Christianity into the mainstream have failed and hurt the faith more than helped it.
The idea of a Christian “Instapundit” or “Jason Kottke” seem to be more rooted insecurity of who we are. It kind of reminds me of those Christian athelete magazines that profile Kurt Warner or some other QB who is Christian.
The desire to be an a-list blogger seems to be odd to me. Just as the desire to create a Christian a-list blogger is. It seems to be based insecurity and wanting to join a club and denying the fact that maybe the entire world doesn’t want to read out blogs like they do Andrew Sullivan’s.
Just rambling.
Ramble away, I did.
JesusJournal didn’t do well because it followed a commercial concept.
Blogs4God isn’t going anywhere, it’ll hold, but I think a lot of it’s potential has passed.
The Blogdom will probably do ok as an aggregator, but pushing into a mainstream audience probably won’t stick.
Pride? Insecurity? Grand expectations? Idealism? Don’t know. Things that perhaps aren’t easily definable on first thought. There is too much diversity, too many people willing to hurt others to get to where they are supposedly going. Faith doesn’t work that way.
You both raise good points. If we increase communication and fellowship between Christians in different locales and from different faith traditions by increasing traffic, then that would be a good thing. But if all we’re doing is getting our own float in the parade, then you’re dead on. As a member of The Blogdom, I hope that’s the outcome. It costs me $5.00 a month to do my blog, and I cannot envision EVER putting a tip jar on the site. Thus, I can see no reason other than the sharing of ideas that would motivate me to do this.
After reading this post and the one over at Rev. Mike’s site, I felt the need to add my two cents in. I chose to link to this and and Rev. Mikes posts over at Certus Veritas and add a different twist related to how we as Christians might want to consider our blogging. Keep up the good work Bene Diction!
I found Rev. Mike’s site by reading the posts on The Blogdom of God and now subscribe to it directly. (and indirectly through his, I discovered this site).
The aggregator serves a good purpose. It might be compared to a directory of churches that a new person in the community ( a visitor, a new resident, a new convert) might look through to find a church suitable for his tastes.
Have tried to answer some of the criticisms of a few over at my blog.