The Biblical Studies Carnivals

Doug Chaplin asks us to reconsider our approach to the Biblical Studies Carnivals. He suggests two alternatives to what we've been doing for the last four years: have the host rely entirely on (mainly self-)nominations that are sent in, or have the host do a general theme post with others commenting (Doug seems fond of the latter idea).

I agree with Tyler Williams that anything close to the latter option means we're not talking carnivals anymore, so in my view it should be discarded. But I don't necessarily agree with Tyler that relying on submissions alone "is the only real option", though one could follow this procedure (and I'd be surprised if some carnival hosts haven't already). For myself, I enjoy combing through blogs and feeds as much as (if not more than) relying on what's simply handed to me as a host. Relying on submissions means that quality posts could easily be missed simply because no one takes the trouble to nominate them. Yes, it's more work for the host, but if that's a concern, you shouldn't be signing up to do a carnival more than once a year (maybe even every two years). I suppose that's easy for me to say, since I've only done one carnival so far...

Nor do I like the idea of increasing the frequency of the carnivals. If anything, I would have suggested going in the opposite direction (bi-monthly or quarterly), though I think monthly carnivals are just fine.

In other words, I like the carnivals as they now stand, as both a (monthly) reader and (one-time) host.