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Shirley Ricks, I presume, finds her place in the FROB through the usual nepotistic practices. But she's most certainly taken note of the "tactics" and lives up to the publication's now famous arrogance. She follows the well-established "A-B-A" structure of reviewing "friendlies" that resist assimilation by Internet Mormonism.

A- Write one or two sentences patronizing an effort to help the church.
B- Fill 97 percent of the review with put-downs and "straining at gnats" as Gee self-describes.
A- Close with a quick insincere compliment, though sometimes quickly summerize the criticism.

http://farms.BYU.edu/publications/revie ... um=1&id=57

Recently, these tactics by FARMS have stirred controversy, see for instance, here.

Shirley Ricks, apparently, holds a doctorate in Family Sciences from BYU, but you'd think her specialty is Manufacturing Engineering, I mean, listen to these petty gripes:

Shirley wrote:The major complaint I had with the volume was the difficulty in extracting the pages at the perforations without tearing into the pages

Well, perhaps the average player is better coordinated? Do these apologists ever consider their own limitations?

Shirley wrote:I would recommend laminating the game pieces for future use. Prior to laminating the appropriate pages and cutting them with a paper cutter, I would also label envelopes (preferably on the back flap) in which to place and store the game pieces. I, for one, would rather tackle the laminating, cutting, and labeling all at one time to reduce preparation time later

Sweet Mother of God, by the time the reader has finished this review, she will have done more work than had she just taken the one or two extra steps to set up her game the *slow* way.

But the critique of engineering materials and processes hasn't finished,

Shirley wrote:In my opinion, the following pages should be laminated before the pieces are used...
Treasure Hunt Clues, p. 7
Happiness Game, p. 9
Numbered Squares, pp. 11, 13
Message Code, p. 17
Eighteen Letters, pp. 25, 27
Beat the Devil Cards, pp. 33, 35
Character Cards, pp. 37, 39
Objects from Lehi's Vision, p. 45
Books of the Book of Mormon, pp. 49, 51
Prayer Game Squares, pp. 67, 69
Service Game, p. 77
Tic Tac Toe Markers, pp. 91, 93
Word Squares (stop, look, listen), p. 101
Concentration Cards (for shoot-out), pp. 123, 125
Statement Sheet 1, p. 147
Statement Sheet 2, p. 149
Family Bingo Cards, pp. 163, 165, 167, 169
Concentration Game Squares (Jesus Visits America), pp. 197, 199

Christ Almighty! Pardon my language, but at this point is it even a possibility that anyone, anyone could make a more informed choice about purchasing or playing this game having first read the review? I mean, why not laminate page 148, 198, or 92 ? Why not just laminate all of one's posessions, just to be safe?

Shirley wrote:In order to preserve the masters, I would recommend copying the following pages in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of the group:

Category List, p. 23
Hidden Word Mazes, p. 55
Secret Message Squares, p. 57
Family Unity Score Sheet, p. 61
Top Dog Certificate, p. 73
Twenty Statements, p. 81
Latter-day Prophets, p. 87 (or 89)
Tic Tac Toe Game, p. 95
Statement and Scripture, p. 99
Hidden Word Game, p. 105
Baptism Contract, p. 107
Price Is Right Lesson, p. 111
Morse Code Activity, p. 113 (or 115)
Alma the Younger Story, p. 119
Secret Question Game Sheet, p. 131
Statements about Story of Ammon, p. 133
Scripture Blanks Game Sheet, p. 137
or alternate activity for younger children, p. 139
Activity Sheet (Lamoni and Ammon), p. 143
Secret Code Activity Sheets, p. 157
Family Bingo Statements, p. 161
Secret Message Squares, p. 179
Story Title Strips, p. 183
Hidden Message Square, p. 187 (or 189)
Answers to Concentration Game, p. 195
Prayer Sentences, p. 203
Word Search Squares (Brother of Jared), p. 207
Olympics Unscramble and Lists, p. 215
Olympics Matching, p. 217
Olympics Word Search, p. 219
Olympics Crossword, p. 221 (or 223)

Can you imagine buying the game, and then carefully going through this list and making the recommended alterations? It's outrageous!

Shirley wrote:Item 3 in the advance preparation section for Lesson 35 mentions six strips that show answers, but there are only four. One of my pages for the Happiness Game was smudged in the printing,

Perhaps most humorous about this review is the disclaimer attached by FARMS at the top,

FARMS wrote:The views expressed in this article are the views of the author and do not represent the position of the Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Important, that. Because the Maxwell Institute and the Church surely have an official position on "Fun For Family Night"

Gad, you have the Scartcholeptic approach down to a formula.

It's uncanny, even eery.

And demonizing Shirley Ricks? Fabulous!

Gadianton wrote:Why not just laminate all of one's posessions, just to be safe?

Oh man, I am LOL over here! That's definitely the funniest sentence I've heard or read all day.

[T]he Maxwell Institute and the Church surely have an official position on "Fun For Family Night"

And that would be the second funniest sentence I've heard or read all day. :-)

Thanks again Shades!

You're pulling out a 17 year old review to mock? Sad.

skippy the dead wrote:You're pulling out a 17 year old review to mock? Sad.

Hmmm... Have I changed any at all in the last 17 years? Has our society changed at all in the last 17 years? Can I cut some slack to someone who wrote something 17 years ago, who might, in the current year, not be at all inclined to write the same thing? Or if they were so inclined, would not write it in precisely the same way?

Of course.

skippy the dead wrote:You're pulling out a 17 year old review to mock? Sad.

Gad has nothing better to do with his time than mimick Scratch. Give him a little slack......lol.....

Hmm, some interesting comments here. I didn't know that books and articles were beyond criticism after 17 years. I'd think scholarship would stop dead if this were the case. More reviews of these oldies are on the way. : )

It's just silly that you're hopping into the wayback machine to find some obscure article on some marginal issue to bring here to ridicule. I change my mind, though - it's not sad. It's pathetic.

to find some obscure article on some marginal issue to bring here to ridicule

It's interesting how the FROB mastered this craft, is it not? I mean, who else would have thought of criticizing a game in a supposed scholarly venue? Or tearing into the many other well-intentioned books on Church topics?

You, Harmony, and the others who count themselves among the "holier-than-thous" are free to speak your mind as always. But don't think for one second that the rest of us don't know that you come here to watch the blood flow along with everyone else. :)

But I, for one, forgive you.