Mary Jones and Dennis Fangg look at movies from 1979 to 1990....most are forgotten unless you grew up in the 1980s or early 1990s.
Mary Jones and Dennis Fangg look at movies from 1979 to 1990....most are forgotten unless you grew up in the 1980s or early 1990s.
Back near the ragged end of the Bush II era there was Stuff White People Like, a satire blog about the interests of white city people. Darrel Dow, a graduate of Pensacola Christian College, decided to make his own blog about Fundamentalist Christian insanity, Stuff Fundies Like, which ran from 2008-2015 with an epilogue post in 2018. Its attached message board is deeply missed. Here are "The Rules" of Fundamentalism.
1. I am right and you are wrong. Always.
2. Unity Means Agreeing With Me That My Pastor Is Right.
3. The less certain something is, the more certain you must appear to be about it.
4. If you cannot win an argument with logic you must simply outlast your opponent. Once he gives up, declare victory.
5. There is no fight that is not worth fighting.
6. The less fun it is the godlier it must be.
7. Women’s primary purpose is to serve as a temptation to men. They are also somewhat useful for housework.
8. All God’s people shall say “amen.” This is never an inappropriate response.
9. If it is new it is bad. If it is old it is good. (with the exception
that if it is really, really old then it is likely to be Catholic)
10. There is no situation that a good dose of ministerial yelling can’t fix.
11. Old Testament rules about sex, tattoos, women in pants, and the
death penalty still apply. Old Testament rules about lobster don’t.
(That is why we call this the Age of Grace)
12. Invitations shall continue until the Spirit is satisfied that enough
people have come to the altar as revealed to the pastor. The Spirit
shall be extra hard to satisfy on any Superbowl Sunday.
13. ON THE INTERNET, BIBLICAL TRUTH IS BEST COMMUNICATED VIA CAPSLOCK
14. Mormons are considered to be Christians for the following purposes:
a) National Elections
b) Political Talk Shows
c) Songs for God and Country Sunday
15. Neither this nor any other list of rules can be considered
exhaustive; a majority shall always be unspoken, arbitrary, and subject
to change at the whim of the authority.
16. It’s much better to have an innocent person die than to tell a lie to a Nazi.
17. A man is to be as much of a leader of his own house as his pastor will let him be.
18. Thou shalt not speak out against other fundamentalists on any
subject that really matters. Keep disputes as trivial as possible lest
you risk having your own dirty laundry exposed.
19. Spare the rod and spoil the child. (A “rod” being defined as a
paddle, stick, belt, spatula, wooden spoon, rubber hose, truncheon,
flail, or anything else that happens to be handy)
20. A man may not wear glasses connected by a chain for if they should
slip off his nose and dangle about his neck, someone may be made to
think that he is wearing a necklace and that is the appearance of evil.
21. Pastors should preach as frequently as possible on sin — preferably the sins of other people
22. Gays are responsible for pretty much every bad thing that happens in America. Africans are responsible for the rest.
23. We reject the authority of the Pope to speak ex cathedra on matters of doctrine. That’s what local church pastors are for.
24. We believe in individual soul liberty — although we’ve never seen a good reason for anybody to actually use it.
25. Dancing is an abomination unless it takes place in a classic film or
on the stage of a Gilbert & Sullivan musical at a fundamentalist
college.
26. The joy, joy, joy, joy must reside down in your heart. (Where? down in your heart!)
27. In movies sex is bad but violence is fine. (The Bible contains both but we’d rather you didn’t mention it)
28. Prayers must be said before all meals, ball games, and road trips.
As long as you’re not using the Lord’s Prayer this is not considered
vain repetition.
29. When swimming, a woman shall wear enough layers of clothing to double her weight when immersed.
30. A Christian taking government aid is a sure sign they are not
trusting God. (Not that our church is going to start paying its
employees enough to live on, mind you. )
31. If you send your child to public school you may as well brand 666 on
their forehead and get it over with. No child can emerge from that den
of liberalism anything other than a Gay Satanist Democrat.
32. There are not two sides to every story. There is only the truth and
the lies made up by those liberal compromisers who Satan is using to
attack our ministry.
33. We deny the mysticism of the Catholics and the signs and wonders of
the charismatics. We do, however, have a litany of strange coincidences
to get us totally stoked.
34. When a pastor gets caught doing wrong his job is to deny, deny, deny. Your job is to back him up to the bitter end.
35. “Fellowship” = “Food”
36. In a business meeting all in favor of the pastor’s motion shall
signify by saying “aye.” All opposed shall shut up if they know what’s
good for them.
37.If there’s hair touching your ears, there’s sin in your heart.
38. Anything that annoys the pastor annoys Jesus too.
39. Any church members who is not “here and in their place” during
special meetings will be punished by being used as a sermon
illustration.
40. Nobody is allowed to criticize our ministry unless they have gone
out and built a ministry of equal size. (Then we’ll ignore them because
they’re liberal)
41. Microphone feedback during a sermon is a sure sign of satanic attack against the preacher.
42. The truth shall not be allowed to get in the way of any good sermon illustration.
43. Any growth in our church is a sure sign of God’s blessing on our
ceaseless soul winning efforts. Any growth in your church is due to
seeker sensitive gimmicks and soft preaching on sin.
44. Alcohol is allowed in your home if 1. It is hidden in cough syrup 2.
You pretend not to like it 3. You consume no more than 4 bottles a
week.
45. Context? Our proof texts don’t need no stinkin’ context!
46. The moving picture house is a bastion of wickedness. Watching the same (G Rated) movies at home is just fine.
47. If you can’t find a Scripture verse that proves your point,
substitute a quote from another fundamentalist instead. It’s practically
as good.
48. The only proper color for a man’s Bible is black. Men who choose any
other color are likely to be the sort who also part their hair in the
middle and enjoy cooking a little too much.
49. Every date is a potential mate. Not that we’re trying to put pressure on you or anything.
50. As much as we dislike Muslims, we do admire the way they keep their women in line.
51. Bad things that happen to me and mine are persecution and attacks of
Satan. Bad things that happen to you and yours are God’s judgment for
your sinful ways.
52. The King James version was written to bring the Bible into the
language of the common man of the 1600’s. If today’s common man can’t
understand it that’s his own stupid fault.
53. Adding even one word Bible is sacrilege of the worst kind. Unless,
of course, your pastor told you to write it in the margin. Then it’s all
good.
54. When you really want to be taken seriously, use lots of Comic Sans. This goes double for your church website.
55. The fact that toddlers will instinctively dance to music with a beat is evidence of their Adamic nature.
56. Rock music is perfectly acceptable to play in church so long as the
person doing it is an evangelist who is demonstrating exactly how wrong
it is to play rock music in church.
57. All families must have as many children as physically possible. This
will only lead to economic hardship if you lack sufficient faith.
58. Halloween is a demonic holiday wherein people dress up in costumes
and beg for candy on the 31st of October. Harvest Festival is a
God-honoring event wherein people dress up in costumes and beg for candy
(by complete coincidence) also on the 31st of October.
59. While we believe that no good Christian should ever go to a godless,
atheist, state-run university, that does not stop us from proudly
rooting for their godless, atheist football team.
60. Gluttony is barely a sin and only worth mentioning from the pulpit in the context of a joke.
61. Always assume your fellow fundamentalists have the best possible
motives for their actions. Always assume everyone else has the worst
possible motives for theirs.
62. You talking about my church’s scandal is gossip and backbiting. Me
talking about your church’s scandal is instruction and warning.
63. Body piercings, tattoos, and unnatural hair colors are
counter-cultural and therefore evil. Culottes and arranged marriages are
counter-cultural and therefore required.
64. If something is unfamiliar or difficult to understand, it’s best to
take a stand against it by default. Reasons can be invented later.
65. Anything that becomes popular with more than 70% of fundamentalists
must both be made obligatory and used as a test of fellowship.
66. The only emotions allowed to be displayed in a church service are
anger, guilt, and sorrow. All others are likely to be caused by latent
charismatic tendencies.
67. Not only is privacy not a right, it’s strongly discouraged. The only
people who have the right to keep secrets are the pastor and his
mistress.
68. Anything can be rationalized if you claim that doing otherwise will
cause souls to end up in hell (no matter how illegal, immoral, or
downright silly that thing may be).
69. Every character in any Christian book or movie must act like a
Christian. Even the murdering, raping, and pillaging villains must never
be seen to curse or fornicate.
70. When you pick on our guy for something stupid he did, it’s
judgement. When we pick on your guy for something stupid he did, it’s
discernment.
71. Lying in a sermon is perfectly acceptable as long as it is done with
really good intentions. (Such as proving how awesome the speaker is)
72. If the barn needs painting, paint it. (Your pastor or his chosen
delegate will be happy to let you know if you are in fact such a barn.)
73. The only people allowed to criticize us are us. And we think we’re just fine.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rebuilt_Wikimedia
Posted by: User:Grandmaster Huon
After years of contributing across Wikimedia platforms, I have come to a hard truth: Wikipedia and Commons are no longer modern, inclusive, or balanced. What began as a groundbreaking knowledge-sharing movement has calcified into something resembling a fandom wiki held together by aging software, outdated priorities, and fragmented editorial cultures.
The platform hasn’t aged well. Interfaces are dated, policies are stuck in the past, and Wikimedia's governance remains insular. There has been little meaningful structural reform since the late 2000s.
Over-detailed anime episode guides, full-length articles on Pokémon species, minor characters, fan mods, and obscure console variants—this is not what the world's encyclopedia should prioritize. The result is a bloated, uneven content landscape dominated by niche interest groups.
Commons needs AI tools that pre-screen uploads for copyright violations and quality *before* they go live. The current human-patrolling system is inefficient and demoralizing. We also need AI-assisted edit filtering on Wikipedia to reduce vandalism before it appears.
Wikipedia is flooded with stubs, trivia dumps, and fan-written cruft. Every article should meet a baseline of general interest, global relevance, and quality. Inclusion standards must be dramatically raised to prevent content bloat.
For example, Final Fantasy is rated as Level 4 Vital, while Super Mario—a global icon—is only Level 5. That’s backward. Pokémon and Mario are cultural giants. Final Fantasy, though notable, is genre-specific and should not be elevated above more universally known franchises.
Touhou Project is rated "mid-importance" on WP:VG despite being niche even among gamers. Retro gaming and animanga fandoms exert outsized influence simply because they are persistent and loud—not because their topics have mainstream weight.
Separate Wikipedias in every language result in massive duplication and inconsistency. We need a single multilingual Wikipedia and Commons with shared templates, unified article structures, and cross-language AI-assisted translation.
ArbCom, Ombudsmen, and entrenched admin groups often resist change and enforce legacy policy for its own sake. Meanwhile, many blocked or disillusioned editors walk away—or worse, turn into long-term abusers. There’s no effective channel for internal accountability when you're shut out of the system.
Wikipe-tan, a maid-themed loli anime character, belongs to a different era and subculture. She should be retired. Wikimedia must present a mature, inclusive image if it wants credibility with educators, journalists, and institutions.
To prevent bribery or editorial bias disguised as financial support, donations must be anonymized through a secure third-party processor. Public trust requires financial neutrality.
I say all this because I still believe in the Wikimedia vision. But to keep it alive, we must be willing to reboot what no longer works.
The proposed Wikimedia overhaul requires significant enhancements to the existing MediaWiki software, as current capabilities are insufficient to support the envisioned modernization. Key new features and extensions needed include:
A robust AI-powered system integrated into the editing and upload workflows to automatically screen new edits and media uploads for copyright violations, vandalism, spam, and policy compliance before content goes live. This would involve real-time content analysis with machine learning models specialized in text, images, and metadata.
Development of a centralized multilingual content management system that allows articles to exist as a single entity with multiple language versions linked and synchronized. This requires new architecture supporting cross-language templates, consistent data structures, and seamless AI-assisted translation workflows.
An extension for secure third-party identity verification to tie user accounts to verified real-world identities (while preserving privacy), thereby reducing sockpuppetry and malicious multiple accounts. This system must be modular, respect user privacy, and integrate with Wikimedia’s existing user management.
New extensions to enforce article quality thresholds automatically—flagging or restricting publication of articles that do not meet minimum standards (e.g., notability, sourcing, length). This may include AI-assisted article scoring and automated suggestions for improvement.
Improvements and simplifications to the editing interface to reduce complexity and lower barriers for new and existing contributors, including context-sensitive help, guided editing workflows, and smarter template management.
Integration with third-party financial anonymization services that process donations securely and anonymize donor identities before funds reach Wikimedia, ensuring transparency of funds without compromising contributor anonymity.
Implementing these features will likely require developing new MediaWiki extensions, significant backend architectural updates, and close collaboration with AI researchers and privacy/security experts. These enhancements are critical to transforming Wikimedia into a modern, inclusive, and sustainable platform.
Comments welcome.
Grandmaster Huon
Retains same domains as current projects.
In the interest of focusing our resources and attention on the platforms with the greatest global impact and sustainability, I propose that all Wikimedia projects other than Wikipedia and Commons be retired or consolidated.
Projects such as Wikibooks, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikiversity, Wikinews, and others have struggled with fragmentation, inconsistent quality, low active participation, and limited visibility outside niche groups. Maintaining these multiple parallel projects:
Divides community efforts and technical resources.
Creates confusion and duplication across related content.
Hinders unified growth and modernization.
By concentrating on Wikipedia and Commons, we can:
Invest more effectively in core infrastructure and innovation.
Build a more coherent, accessible knowledge ecosystem.
Improve editorial quality and community engagement.
I invite discussion on this proposal with an open mind towards what best serves Wikimedia’s mission and long-term viability.
-Grandmaster Huon (talk) 17:14, 2 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Discussion open until at least 14 July 2025 (UTC)
Baseless proposal, mostly written with the help of an LLM. Proposed by a user blocked on enwiki and frwiki for disruption. Not a single proposal suggested on this page aligns with what Wikimedia projects stand for, so it should be deleted to save editors' time. – DreamRimmer ■ 12:07, 6 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]