Here’s the best of what bubbled up in the Bloggernacle this last week, culled from the boxes at Mormon Archipelago and beyond.

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Here are some of the notable posts from the past week, drawn from the 7 display boxes at Mormon Archipelago. Plus a couple of extras.

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This feature had short runs at DMI and at BCC in 2005. Wow, time flies. The resurgent BT seems like the right place for a reboot. So here are some of the better posts from last week, drawn one each from the 7 display boxes at Mormon Archipelago.

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2005 was a break-out year for the Bloggernacle. The Mormon Archipelago was born, first as an association of small blogs then the Portal of Choice for the Bloggernacle; Banner of Heaven imploded and was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune; BCC joined forces with Dialogue; FMH found its way into the New York Times; and Snarkernacle began satirizing the whole project. Oh, and the Niblets appeared like lightening from heaven:
Nominations; Run-off election; Best post links.

NibletCast:

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Kaimi’s Weirdness:

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It is terribly uncool to invite weighty discussions of internet nomenclature. Who’d be a navelgazer when we could be out training for a marathon, offering micro-loans, keeping bees, or “doing our hometeaching”?

It’s also a dangerous discussion, one certain to inflame passions and hurt egos. Attempts have already been made, feelings bruised. But definitions do matter, and for that, The Bloggernacle Times is going to forego Mormon Nice. Here’s why:

In many senses the Bloggernacle remains a fragile thing, one heresy trial from implosion and a saturation of family blogs away from irrelevance. The open forum once envisioned by Bushman is difficult to navigate in a religion which heralds freedom and the intellect but has not always had an easy relationship with the same. Certainly there are some Mormons who will never step outside of the bounds of Intellectual Reserve or Deseret Book. The Bloggernacle was never for them but it is for a decent number of Mormons curious to explore all facets of Mormonism in independent venues, happy to confront doubt and disagreement but not happy to revel in it. The Bloggernacle needs to be a safe and welcoming place for such people, which is why it is important that the Bloggernacle “brand” polices its own borders.

So, what is the Bloggernacle? This is not a question of size but of style. In other words, while it is true that many more blogs now inhabit this space, their basic “feel” has not changed since circa 2003. In that sense — and here we offer no apology — the Bloggernacle qua Bloggernacle is centered on Times and Seasons and By Common Consent. These blogs represent the core of what the Bloggernacle was originally defined to be; any Mormon blogger who has not read and mentally engaged with these blogs is not part of the Bloggernacle. Call it the “Who is Nate Oman?” test.

Note: this is not to say that T&S and BCC are the Bloggernacle, nor that they are even its best blogs, but that they symbolize the core values of the Bloggernacle phenomenon. And what are these values? Open intellectual enquiry tempered by faith and hope; and a willingness to acknowledge the human hand in Mormonism without denying the holy. No attempt is made to welcome those not interested in upholding these values. Bloggernacle blogs ruthlessly wave sticks at apostasy-accusing Mormons and their trollish DAMU counterparts.

Of course, any definition will ultimately provoke disagreement, so perhaps we should not attempt continental-style codification but rely instead on the Anglo values of tradition and common sense. Those active Mormon bloggers who have been around since the beginning will easily recognize Bloggernacle from non. It is — more or less — what you find at the Mormon Archipelago. The MA in all its oligarchic glory can smell “family blog” and “DAMU” (= not Bloggernacle) a mile away. Typically they get it right. (Again, this is not to disparage either community but let it be understood: they are not bloges blogernacules.)

Throughout 2010 the rebooted Bloggernacle Times will feature the best posts, blogs, and bloggers of the Bloggernacle as chosen by a representative group of Bloggernacle elite bloggers. We will not post very often but enough to herald and attempt to better define this wonderful communuity. No doubt this venture will irritate the heck out of a lot of you. Nevertheless, we hope you will join us.

Coming soon…