Is StayLDS at its end of life?

[Anonymous]

I’d keep the forum going a while longer. For what it is, it’s curious that it isn’t garnering a larger following. There’s certainly plenty of need.

I recently started posting but then stopped as our household escalated from busy to busy+crisis. Otherwise I probably would be posting semi regularly.

Is covid responsible for the site slowdown? I think so. I know I’m less stressed when I’m less involved in my ward. (clarify: my issues have always been with my ward, not the Church). Less stress means less need to vent.

[Anonymous]

I do hope the site continues as I think it has a niche. Like SamBee has said, the anonymous nature of this forum allows those just dipping a toe into the less than fully TBM world is important.

My participation has dropped way off for 2 reasons. One that had started before Covid was with my relation with the church. I emotionally am kind of done with it. I do attend, but that is because I want to support my wife and don’t want her to have to go to sacrament meeting alone. So I was kind of at a place where I am not really trying to “StayLDS”. So many of the topics are of less interest to me now. It reminds me of that saying, “The opposite of love isn’t hate, it is indifference.” I went through my anger (hate) stage and once I got that out of my system, I just done care as much engaging in the subject. The second issue is related to Covid. I have been working from home for 234 days (started a timer on my phone!). For a few weeks it was nice in that I had lots of time to get stuff done around the house. But very shortly after, work ramped up and has been very busy. I probably look at this site once a month and when I do I see a whole page of topics and I think, “I don’t have the time to look through all of those”, so I just “mark all as read” and move on.

For several years I have contributed $ to keep the site up and I am probably willing to do that again for those that come after me. But I don’t expect to be posting much in the future. But I would like to thank those on this site that have helped me on my journey. I do appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

I believe what we are seeing on this site is the same thing that is occurring throughout the church as a result of the pandemic.

For example, I like family history & temple work. I can generate reports that show the activity of our ward members doing Indexing &

Reviewing of records. Activity has reduced dramatically since the onset of Covid. And, getting worse. We see fewer batches of records

being submitted for members to index as well. With temples being closed & slowly opening for live ordinances only there really is no

demand for the records to be submitted for ordinances for the dead.

There are fewer members participating in Sacrament meetings, etc whether in person or virtual. I’m sure there are fewer members

contributing financially as well. There are probably fewer Missionaries going into the field. Fewer Service projects, etc. It doesn’t mean

there isn’t a need that needs to be filled.

If a program is perceived to be at the “end of life” and turned off, it will be difficult to turn back on when the pandemic goes away.

There are still needs that need to be filled. This site has helped me a lot too. Don’t be afraid of the ebb & flow of activity. FWIW.

[Anonymous]

I hope not. This is the only board that I participate in. I don’t post much but I do read. Now, I have to admit that I haven’t read much in the past month. I’ve been recovering from my own bout with COVID that started mild and then turned into pneumonia. Luckily, I didn’t have to be hospitalized but I’ve definitely been down and out for the last four weeks (basically October 2020 is a blur). But I’ll keep checking and posting as long as the board is here. So thanks to the moderators and contributors! I’d be sad to see the Board “deactivated.”

[Anonymous]

Gerald, I’m sorry to hear about your bout with Covid. I’m glad you’re doing better.

[Anonymous]

Gerald wrote:

I hope not. This is the only board that I participate in. I don’t post much but I do read. Now, I have to admit that I haven’t read much in the past month. I’ve been recovering from my own bout with COVID that started mild and then turned into pneumonia. Luckily, I didn’t have to be hospitalized but I’ve definitely been down and out for the last four weeks (basically October 2020 is a blur). But I’ll keep checking and posting as long as the board is here. So thanks to the moderators and contributors! I’d be sad to see the Board “deactivated.”

Yuck! I know someone who was hospitalized for several weeks with it, plus the pneumonia. I’m glad to hear you’re back.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

I’m glad you’re doing better.

Quote:

I’m glad to hear you’re back.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

DarkJedi wrote:

And to the lurkers – we know you’re there and you’re most welcome. we don’t want to lose you either. I often lurk myself, I check the site several times per day, depending on the day, but I don’t sign in every time.

I’m one of those lurkers who does greatly appreciate the site. I rarely feel like I have input worth sharing myself, but I love reading the discussions. It’s nice being able to come to this site and be in a place where it’s okay to have views and beliefs that aren’t in lockstep with TBMs.

[Anonymous]

Gerald wrote:

I hope not. This is the only board that I participate in. I don’t post much but I do read. Now, I have to admit that I haven’t read much in the past month. I’ve been recovering from my own bout with COVID that started mild and then turned into pneumonia. Luckily, I didn’t have to be hospitalized but I’ve definitely been down and out for the last four weeks (basically October 2020 is a blur). But I’ll keep checking and posting as long as the board is here. So thanks to the moderators and contributors! I’d be sad to see the Board “deactivated.”

Wow, sorry to hear your COVID troubles. I have had a family member and a couple co-workers deal with it and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. My understanding is pneumonia is very common with the disease and is actually responsible for the majority of deaths.

[Anonymous]

People come and go all the time, that’s just the way things are here. Some find their middle way/own path and don’t really need the help and others end up not staying LDS which usually seems to be the right path for them. Fortunately we don;t have this issue, but for those who leave all we ask is that you respect those who choose to stay (for whatever reason) as we’ve respected your choice.

Back to the aggravation point. This Sunday was our third time back on the every other week plan (previously it once a month). Each time has been a little bit “worse” for me. Yesterday it was an unannounced testimony meeting (we’d been doing those on Zoom separate from SM and I have chosen not to participate). The meeting was only 15 minutes longer (45 vs 30) but it was the idea of the whole thing – longer meeting without announcement and more chance of spreading the disease because of being together longer and more people talking. You could stay in the audience if you spoke loud, but isn’t that the whole reason we don’t sing? Few people actually bore testimony (girl leaving on a mission, her dad, a couple others). Anyway, if I’d known I don’t think I would have come. It was also announced that we were having an area-wide video devotional with apostles this month, also not very exciting to me and it means that it’ll be my group’s turn again next fast Sunday. 🙄

[Anonymous]

I hope you don’t shut this down. I would feel a gaping hole in my life if the site shut down.

I think one reason there is less traffic is that church isn’t as much of an issue any longer since meetings are not being held. You aren’t forced to confront questionable beliefs or the culture or anything– life just ticks along with your work and time at home.

I would look at this as a down-period and keep the site going.

I personally don’t post as much as I guess I’ve made my peace with the church so far. My Ward leaves me alone, my family leaves me alone, and with COVID there isn’t much to interact with regarding the church. Before, when I was raising kids, attending church, trying to figure out how to StayLDS this was a great place to post and help me formulate my own way within the church. I expect stuff will flare up in the future and I will be back again with questions….

Then, you never know how much of an impact you’re having with the lurkers. I remember lurking for a while before I started with this site some 5-10 years ago, so having all of our musings up here is of value even if there isn’t as much activity as there once was.

[Anonymous]

Minyan Man wrote:

I believe what we are seeing on this site is the same thing that is occurring throughout the church as a result of the pandemic.

For example, I like family history & temple work. I can generate reports that show the activity of our ward members doing Indexing &

Reviewing of records. Activity has reduced dramatically since the onset of Covid. And, getting worse. We see fewer batches of records

being submitted for members to index as well. With temples being closed & slowly opening for live ordinances only there really is no

demand for the records to be submitted for ordinances for the dead.

This is interesting to me because our stake leadership would have us believe the opposite. They claim indexing, particularly, but also family history submissions have increased during the pandemic. I am not privy to the stats any more and they may just be blowing smoke to try to convince people to do it. Honestly it doesn’t make much sense to me to be submitting names that we can’t do right now and won’t that make the backlog (if there is one) even bigger? It could also be a regional thing, I suppose, but again it makes little sense to me that people here would do it over people in other areas. I’m honestly kind of sick of hearing about the temple (I think that’s also regional, but RMN does seem to bring it up with some frequency as well).

Full disclosure: I have not submitted names in many years although I do on occasion do some family history work. I have to be in the mood to do it and I’m not frequently in the mood. I have never done indexing and don’t think I’m likely to try it in the near future.

[Anonymous]

I think this forum has a lot of potential. I think it could help a lot of people if they new about it and gave it a chance. I fear that the people who need it the most don’t know about it and/or are afraid to look. I don’t know if its the same for others but for me sites like this, and especially mormon stories, were viewed in the same light as anti-mormon media. Acknowledging doubts and views that run contrary to taught doctrine is taboo. I don’t know how to help more people find this. Updating the home page with new information would help. As it is now it does give the sense that its not very active. Most of the links have dates that are 10 yrs old; that is ancient as far as technology is concerned.

Here are some things that I think would help new people (like me) feel included

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the help and input from this group. I think as I am not at church regularly my questions and oppositions to what I see and hear are minimized. There is not as much I feel I need help with but it will certainly return. Even so, I have some current topics I need help on. I’ll work out how to to express my thoughts and come back.

[Anonymous]

I think this place us a lot better than social media. There is a tendency to move everything over to Facebook etc, which tends to be a lot more aggressive and superficial. At least this place tends to be friendly, although there are some members I miss such as cwald.

[Author]

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