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Blogs are a great communication tool. The immediacy and individuality evident in blogs are, I believe, part of their draw. They allow individuals of all stripes to share ideas and generate discussion.

There is an interesting side effect to blogs, however: They attract lightning. When a high-profile individual thoughtfully shares his or her ideas and feelings on a blog, it is only a matter of time before people comment and a sort of “organized chaos” takes place. Some call such chaos an example of “community,” but often the divergence in views is anything but communitarian in nature. Indeed, some commenters have more in common with vandals, thugs, and despots than they do with respectful dialogue.

Take, for example, Mike Otterson’s blog at On Faith. The sponsors of the blog (The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine) invite people from various religious backgrounds (Mike is only one of many) to post answers to specific questions that they pose. The posts are to be short, preferrably about 250 words. In participating, Mike doesn’t speak officially for the Church (even though he works for the Church’s Public Affairs department), and simply offers his own ideas and feelings. It is my experience that his posts are thoughtful, concise, and reflective. They are enjoyable to read and to contemplate.

It is my observation that Mike’s posts invariably serve as a lightning rod. The comments that follow each of his posts, almost without exception, devolve into a “shouting contest” among people concerning the truth of the Church, the supposed evils perpetrated by the Church, and (from time to time) how Mormons aren’t Christian and barely rate as humans.

As an example, it is not unusual for commenters to accuse Mike of lying (”…misinformation is put out by PR hacks like Otterson that lie about the past history of the LDS church” and “Otterson’s column is a bunch of lies”), being inaccurate (”Each response Mr. Otterson has posted is full of inaccuracies if not outright lies”), lacking integrity (”Mr. Otterson, the problem is your lack of candor and integrity when it comes to the beliefs of your organization”), and–when Mike fails to respond to the liking of the gainsayers–he is despicable (”Otterson is despicable to not respond…”). These are not all of them; the lightning-rod effect of blogging is in full force in Mike’s postings at On Faith.

It is interesting that the nasty, visceral and totally unwarranted attacks on Mike led the Producer of the On Faith blog, Caryle Murphy, to interject himself into the “discussion” on January 20. In part, she said “some comments posted to the site have been otherwise. Some have been insulting and abusive to panelists. It is one thing to disagree with and critique another person’s views. It is quite another to personally attack that person or a group of people with insulting words.” It is disheartening to see Mike Otterson’s thought-provoking posts (and Mike himself) become the targets of such disrespectful behavior.

But, there is a way to help counteract the lightning-rod effect. It obviously isn’t productive to argue with those who are so disagreeable in their comments, and such behavior doesn’t lead to “more good” content on the Internet. (Paraphrasing my dear old dad, “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.”) It is, however, beneficial to comment thoughtfully and—where appropriate—supportively of the issues that Mike raises. Surely there has to be more sane voices of reason than those that normally rally ’round the lightning rod. If you let your voice be heard, you are doing your part to help support civil discourse and dialogue.

I don’t mean to single out Mike Otterson as the only lightning rod in Mormondom; there are unfortunately many out there. Let’s all try a little hard to make our reasonable voices heard in support of those (like Mike) who are reasonable in what they post and share.