Is StayLDS at its end of life?

[Curt Sunshine]

I am a good example right now of greatly reduced participation over the last few months.

I have been crazy busy at work, for a number of reasons I can't get into here. I have been working a lot of overtime hours, so my "free time" has had to be focused on staying in touch with family and close friends. I simply have not had much time after that for anything else. Add oral surgery and recovery, fatigue from the long hours, and a general lack of church participation even when meetings restarted (due to work-related precautions), and I simply have not been active here for quite a while.

(For context, I have nearly 17,000 posts over the last 11 years - but this is my first day of commenting in almost two months.)

I believe we still have an important purpose to fulfill, and I appreciate DEEPLY the time and effort the other admins and moderators have put in here while I have been absent. I also appreciate deeply everyone else who has continued to participate in whatever way has been best for you - even if that simply is lurking.

[TinSoldier]

I sincerely hope this forum is not nearing its end. What I do see is people losing their connection to the church to a greater degree with the shutdowns and distancing. Even if participation here is reduced, I feel this forum is definitely as important as ever. I haven't seen many other members of our ward over the past year. I have gotten a few text messages from my home teacher (or whatever they're called these days), but that's been very limited and not even on a monthly basis. There was another couple we reached out to earlier in the pandemic and at the time they acted very glad to hear from us and when we visited several times, but they became increasing hard to reach. They wouldn't answer their phone unless we tried from something other than our regular number so they didn't have our name pop up when we called, or they started coming up with more excuses about it being a bad time to visit. Eventually we just gave up, which is sad because we really wanted to be closer friends with them.

In short, a lot of members are losing their connection to the church, which makes this forum as important as ever.

[Minyan Man]

I'm beginning to believe that with the pandemic, StayLDS is at the end of it's useful life.
We don't go to church. We rarely come in contact with other members. We rarely listen to the virtual services.
We do read on our own with little or no gospel discussion. The big thing is: there is not indoctrination and no propaganda
that puts me into a turmoil. In many respects, this has been a nice lull.

I do like & miss the social aspects of being in the church.
The last one out turns off the lights.

[DarkJedi]

I'm beginning to believe that with the pandemic, StayLDS is at the end of it's useful life.
We don't go to church. We rarely come in contact with other members. We rarely listen to the virtual services.
We do read on our own with little or no gospel discussion. The big thing is: there is not indoctrination and no propaganda
that puts me into a turmoil. In many respects, this has been a nice lull.

I do like & miss the social aspects of being in the church.
The last one out turns off the lights.

Call me an optimist but I see light at the end of the tunnel. I agree that the current situation has brought about less aggravation for many of us and when we return the aggravation will return. I already get some in the limited stuff we currently do (even in our "Christmas program"). So light at the end of the tunnel may be a misnomer, I see an end to restrictions and fear of the virus, but a renewal of issues many of us have taken a break from.

[Limhah]

I post very rarely these days, haven't been active at all in any sense since probably '10-'12 when I still had a few tenuous family connections to the church which inclined me to try to strike a balance, futile in the end as it turned out. Geography and career changes (AZ to Hollywood and back more than a few times) eventually just did me in and I already had too much stuff to keep up with. Now even those family connections have gone, to the point that it's basically just me.

Like many people I still took an interest when an important new message came out or especially when the Presidency changed; Nelson's presidency has been like a shot in the arm for many people and the changes he's bringing even caught my attention, for good and ill, so I'd think more people would take an interest in forums like this. (By the same token, when the Presidency changes again I imagine there could be another uptick in interest, again both positive and negative.)

The massive flowering of temple building is another noteworthy phenomenon that I can't help but take note of, as temples and their history have long been a major interest of mine, one of the main things that first piqued my interest in the church in fact back around '91. As time went on and I studied more and more of history and doctrine (all very fascinating, probably deadly dull to most people) I tended to drift off onto by-paths and nearly got sidetracked by some problematic if well-meaning folks in Manti at one point.

The last quasi-church activity I participated in, if these sorts of things count, is the Tucson Temple open house in 2017; before that it was the Phoenix and Gilbert Temple open houses in 2014. It seems that at some point they ended the customary cookies given in the reception area at the end of the tours, or maybe it was just a temporary oversight.

I'd've thought that the Covid lockdowns would have increased people's participation in forums, them having more time to spend at home, as it's certainly been that case with me. It could be a great opportunity for a renaissance in dialogue and conversation if we can get off of the snappy one-liner aphorism addiction that social media has inculcated. (tbh, I'm as given to telegraphic gnomic utterances as anyone)

tl;dr ... I hope the forum continues since it seems you can never have too much useful communication and there aren't a lot of options out there.

Edit: fwiw, I had to look up the meaning of the BoM name Limhah tonight after I logged on because I realized I'd forgotten completely in the interim

[SamBee]

I've probably said this before, but I FAR prefer this format to Social Media for a variety of reasons. There is a much better atmosphere on here and I find it easier to search through and read.

[DarkJedi]

I've probably said this before, but I FAR prefer this format to Social Media for a variety of reasons. There is a much better atmosphere on here and I find it easier to search through and read.

I concur. I don't do social media for that very reason.

[QuestionAbound]

Please stay.

[DarkJedi]

Please stay.

That is our plan.