Improving Church websites

I frequently meet faithful Latter-day Saints, including long-time "seasoned" members, who have no idea what the prophets have taught about Cumorah.

Seasoned members who attended seminary or institute learned at least some of what the prophets have taught because some of the materials were included in the lesson manuals. Some even remember President Romney's talk about Cumorah in 1975. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1975/10/americas-destiny?lang=eng

But that was eons ago for most current Latter-day Saints. 

Young and new Latter-day Saints have virtually no chance to learn about Cumorah.

This is why I put "clarity" as the first element of "no more contention" when I refer to the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding.

Clarity enables people to make informed decisions. Clarity avoids the misunderstanding and mistrust that results from conflating assumptions and inferences with facts. Clarity shines a light on truncated and altered quotations.

That's why I appeal to everyone interested in these issues, including both apologists and critics, to focus on clarity. The FAITH model (Facts, Assumptions, Inferences, Theories, and Hypotheses) eliminates any basis for contention, all with the goal of No More Contention.

But as we'll see, clarity remains elusive...

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/locations/hill-cumorah?lang=eng

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One reason why Latter-day Saints are both confused and ignorant about Cumorah is the way the topic is presented by the Church History Department.

The Church History Department is awesome. They are world-class historians, preservationists, authors, etc. The Joseph Smith Papers, the Church History Museum, the Church History Library, and everything else they do are easy to access, transparent, accurate, and outstanding in every way.

In some cases, however, narratives written by the historians are guided by unstated narratives that lead to unfortunate and unnecessarily incomplete and even misleading material.

In the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, and with the objective of "no more contention," I occasionally offer suggestions for improvement. Among the materials I've suggested improvements for are the Saints books, the Joseph Smith Papers, and various Church websites with content from the Church History Department.

While I recognize that many of these projects were completed in the past and have no staff currently assigned to them, I hope that someone at the Church History Department will take the time to correct the obvious errors for both (i) current members and (ii) future generations.

Even though printed materials cannot be revised, digital materials can (and should) be improved whenever errors are noted.

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Regarding Cumorah specifically, the entry on Cumorah on the Historic Sites page, which I linked to with the photo above, has lots of problems. I discussed that website here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2025/06/improving-church-websites-cumorah.html

The censorship of Cumorah in Saints, Volume 1, is well known. One example is my discussion here: https://saintsreview.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-historians-explain-censorship-in.html

Then there is the editorial content in the Joseph Smith Papers.

https://www.academia.edu/67756647/Agenda_driven_editorial_content_in_the_Joseph_Smith_Papers