(In)Frequently Asked Questions About This Website
Q: So...who are you, and what are you doing here?
A: I'm a 30 year old BYU graduate working both in the game industry and in the ITS software industry who occasionally has thoughts to share on a variety of topics, from current events, entertainment, religion, and philosophy in general.Q: Sounds pretty self-indulgent...
A: Welcome to blogging... All blogs are self-indulgent by definition. I founded this website primarily as a hobby; something different to focus on when I'm not at work.Q: You work in software? I don't remember seeing any computer-related entries on your blog...
A: I said something DIFFERENT to focus on when I'm not at work. I think about computer stuff all day, I don't feel the need to write about at night, too...Q: How long have you been 'on the web'?
A: "The Baron of Deseret" was started in February 2004, after feeling the urge to tell people what I think about things...in a non-obtrusive way.Q: The title says "...from a Latter-Day Saint perspective". I'm assuming then you're...
A: LDS...obviously. This isn't necessarily a 'church blog', although everything will be written from the LDS perspective as mentioned. One of the key tenets of the LDS faith is that it is not a 'one-day-a-week' religion, but a 'seven-day-a-week' religion--one that affects your life regularly outside of Sunday. Using spiritual principles to endure and succeed in secular life is one of the primary goals of LDS faith--and naturally any thoughts I share on current events and entertainment will be influenced by LDS beliefs.Q: Do you have to be LDS to understand the blog entries?
A: No--although it might help. Much of the pure LDS doctrinal essays are posted at M* (see below) nowadays, and this site tends to be more general. The blog isn't especially aimed at an LDS audience (although that is generally what has developed). Ideally, I should be able to present my opinions on any issue in an organized and logical enough manner so that they will make sense to people of any religion or political leaning without having to know any such underlying doctrine beforehand. I won't guarantee I won't say things that will go over the head of the non-church member, though, and you're welcome to email me for a better explanation of a blog entry.Q: What's "M*"?
A: That's Millennial Star (www.millennialstar.org)--a group blog started in January 2005 by me and many of the other LDS bloggers in the online community. Started in part as a conservative reaction to the more liberal Mormon sites out there, and part just for a greater sense of community and discussion among people of a (mostly) like mind, M* has grown rapidly into one of the Big Three LDS group blogs around. While many of my M* co-bloggers have abandoned (or never started) individual sites, I feel my personal site still has a purpose and in the end I will be contributing mostly here, with an article once or twice a month to M*. All M* articles are posted and indexed here as well, so anyone paying attention to this site won't miss anything. (Wouldn't want that, now would we?)Q: What's in the Movie Analysis section?
A: Just what it sounds like, essays analyzing a particular movie. I'm a software engineer, not a movie critic, so don't look at this website as a movie review site (I don't see nearly enough movies in the course of a year to even remotely qualify). Still, I enjoy movies...and enjoy writing about them, so this will always be a major focus for the site. For more information on how the movie analyses are structured see Movie Analysis FAQ.Q: And the Essay section?
A: Self-explanatory. Blog entries are normally small and concise, but sometimes I want to expand on a particular topic to some length. These 'essays' (and the occasional multi-part essay series) will be stored here for future reference. Most were posted originally as blog entries, but a few (usually due to length) were posted separately on their own pages. Those outside pages don't have the niceties of automated comments, which is too bad, but you can always email me if you feel compelled to share your opinion about something in them.Q: I notice your posts don't attract many comments... Why is that?
A: Because people don't like me... (*sniff* *sniff*).Actually, it's hard to say. Part of it is that the people who read my site are few in number (and splitting time with M* doesn't help...) But more fundamentally, I generally don't tend to write in a style that suggests a topic for discussion and lets people share their thoughts. Blog posts by me tend to be in full-fledged essay form with introductions and conclusions, and don't necessarily leave much room for discussion (although people are always free to say they agree or disagree). Even my M* posts--seen by a greater number of people--don't tend to elicit much comments and discussion in comparison with my other co-bloggers writings either.
I welcome comments and discussion, but in the end that was not the primary purpose of starting the site anyway, so it really doesn't matter. I'll be sharing what I want whether anyone else chimes in afterward or not...
