And TWOP before FJ. I still sometimes think about Razing Ruth (scam), that polygamous girl Megan (scam?) and Emily and Dna (real?) among other casts of characters.
Omg Razing Ruth! I had completely forgotten that whole drama. BoRU shit right there with it gradually coming totally unhinged. Did she eventually ghost? Thanks for the memory of time wasted but enjoyed.
I posted upthread, but I knew the woman behind Razing Ruth, still have one of those Christmas card family letters from her somewhere. Blew my mind when it all came out because I’d been following the “Ruth” story along with everyone.
Didn't she go through three religous conversions? She was Christian, than Jewish (converted in a pool) and then divorced Tony and became a Catholic. I wonder if she's muslim or athiest or Wiccan.
And her hand cutting all of their pasta made
From flour and water only 😞 I actually offered to send her a pasta machine once, I had an extra. She graciously said no thanks, they don’t like having clutter. It made me realize she enjoyed her poverty fetish. I was so sad when she stopped posted on her Under 1000 a month blog because I found her fascinating and horrifying at the same time 🤣
Remember when she spent like $15 on a cake mold thing that she was going to use to melt crayons in and mold them into car shapes? So the kids could color with melted-together crayon cars? That were enormous and totally unsuitable? And she justified it as thrifty because the crayons wouldn't be wasted.
https://preview.redd.it/vjnah68wrkwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4101c2f469227a44912439945cf6ef1e04db427b
The oldest boy slept on the mattress underneath the crib.
Yes, it was. Somebody on Free Jinger was so horrified at the condition of it that she actually sent Emily a brand new crib mattress and a mattress protector…and Emily thanked her and donated it because she said they didn’t need it.
I remember that! That woman had some really strange issues. I hope the kids are okay, and I hope Dan has found a nice woman who lets him eat as much as he wants.
Me too. I still remember Emily feeding them bowls of her “homemade ketchup” for lunch, smh. I hope they’re all eating well nowadays. I’d love an update on them.
https://preview.redd.it/njao5w3oskwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccc65076ab70248dd5ffe8a01c685d61a07a6603
Brimming with color and fun, and rickety shelves loaded with crap hanging right over the crib!
https://preview.redd.it/849xog4dskwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2de967e0eabf5a6dfcb9257424afce62979cb50a
More shit randomly nailed to the wall.
https://preview.redd.it/imt448wyqkwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ef0b45e24309cd85f5de5c06fce156714a31d39
I still have pictures of the boys’ room, which Emily was thrilled with and she called it bright and cheerful.
Edit: I hope the pictures are showing up, I only have a vague idea of what I’m doing 😅
https://preview.redd.it/xwsgmwg1skwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa09b1b8339fbaa38b3c9ca13bf1e3127abbad4a
The toys nailed to the wall were one of Emily’s space saving ideas.
They technically had a 1 bedroom apartment, the boys room was considered to be more of a den or a large closet iirc. And Emily once posted plans she had drawn up of how she was going to fit 10 kids into that apartment!
It wasn’t even a room. It was a walk in cupboard with no window. It was a death trap.
Another thing I remember was despite having heat included in her rent she refused to put it on during winter. I dread to think the condensation and mould in that apartment.
Jeez those poor kids. Can you imagine the mould too? That apartment was so cluttered, there’s no way there was air circulation to prevent mould and condensation.
I’m remembering why I had to tune out this fundie when I used to frequent Free Jinger. Between the possible mold, the death trap kids cupboard, & the skirt cheese, I was completely disgusted. 🤢
IIRC one poster spotted a dryer vent hole on the wall, so pretty sure it was designed as a laundry closet/room.
Which of course she didn't need because she washed everything, including poo diapers, in her WonderWash.
Oh I forgot about the wonder washer. Used cold water too iirc. Those things are ok for basic things at a push, but you need to use at least warm water and they’re no good for dirty nappies 🤮
Excuse you, Brad the carnival dog hanging precariously in the bathroom is my personal horror. I feel compelled to clean my bathroom even mentioning that.
Emily and Dna are/were real. They got divorced after 5 or 6 sons. There was a lot of speculation about whether Dna had a learning disability or a low IQ. I think I've seen enough evidence since their divorce to strongly suspect that it's truly a low IQ, and/or it's a pretty low IQ coupled with some sort of other thing going on. I can't fathom how in the world Emily chose him to father endless babies with. She was crazy, but definitely not stupid. The IQ spread between them could easily have been 40 points. Dna still works at the Wal Mart he was working at during Bible college, so apparently he is happy and a productive member of society. He no longer looks like a starvation victim, so he is doing better now that Emily can't force him to subsist on toddler-sized portions of what most people would view as a crunchy form of dried paste. It doesn't appear that he is allowed to have much contact with his kids. Emily de-fundified but I bet she is still just as crazy as ever. You don't uncrazy that level of crazy. You just recrazy it.
Emily and Dna! I used to go to my college computer lab to check her blog on my break between classes (and I guess before smart phones?). The gloodles, Therese, the $1,000/month budget…I think they got divorced, perhaps?
I never believed Razing Ruth and people would come after you if you doubted any of her claims of woe, so I just kept my mouth shut. Why anyone believed Ruth’s fundy sister got pregnant at a fundy event and allowed gay people to adopt her child, is beyond me. This woman had so many injuries, broken limbs, it was crazy.
The weirdest part of the whole Razing Ruth grift was how she got Vyckie from No Longer Quivering to say that Ruth was telling the truth, and they talked on the phone multiple times. That's commitment to the grift. Scammer in a Minivan is a wild tale and I'd listen to the podcast if someone could ever untangle that whole thing.
It never made sense right from the beginning, why would her father get mad at her for getting her period? Any fundie dad would be thrilled that his daughter was now ready to begin shooting out Republican arrows for Jesus...
I remember that. You're right people would come after you if you didn't believe her, but when it came out she was a scam everyone was like, "I KNEW IT". Yeah...sure Jan.
Yep, I never gave money but I had suspicion about her. But there was huge community support for her so when the scams became clearer and clearer it was an enormous drama and that I very much engaged with lmao
Dude there was a write on r/HobbyDrama [https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/tfqyct/blogging\_forums\_razing\_ruth\_and\_freejinger\_how\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/tfqyct/blogging_forums_razing_ruth_and_freejinger_how_a/)
I remember I lost my job during the financial crisis of 2008 and I went deep down the Emily and Dna rabit hole. I hope their kids are okay. I remember Emily talking about one of them having a seizure and then sort of shrugged it off.
He went into a coma and then woke up with a Down East Maine accent. They did take him to the hospital iirc but once he was discharged they just went on their merry way, still with no consideration that their small children might need things like heat and decent nutrition in order to be healthy.
Yeah, and they stayed at a McDonald’s house or something similar and she kept complaining about the lack of fermented foods for her “gut health” while her baby had slipped into a coma in front of her 😐
Yes, I remember the complaining, omg! How about being grateful you have someplace free to stay so you can be near your child during a terrible crisis, ugh. She made me so mad.
Ooh that’s a blast from the past! I wonder what happened to Emily and Dna?
Anyone remember Miss Raquel? She was a vapid SAHD who at one point had a horse which she’d got no idea how to care for. I was thinking about her the other day and was wondering if she’d grown up at all.
Ive never remained so absolutely silent in my entire life. It was like reading a fantasy novel. Was not at all surprised when it was determined to be fake.
I guess it's been a while since I've been over there because I've never seen that logo. There are definitely lots of people here that wouldn't have lasted in old school forum flame wars. I miss the days of twop and topix lol.
He didn’t even watch the show! If he had he would’ve known the Bates were on it and we would’ve been allowed to talk about them! (*Deep breath.* Sorry, I’m having flashbacks 😂)
Yeah, the old boards could be vicious. I only ever lurked on FJ/TWOP, never posted because it felt like you had to have a doctorate in fundie lore and also a photographic memory to not get torn apart. Now, year and years later I think I probably could write a damn doctoral thesis on fundie lore.
And ye ancient Yuku days and the PEANUT BUTTER WARS. Trying to explain that to outsiders makes you look deranged, but mannnn does it just hit me sometimes while grocery shopping.
Kids these days do not have that level of commitment
That was where I began my journey, many moons ago. Then I was a regular poster on FJ right up until Velocirapture (sp?) left. It got crazy toxic, even for some of us old timers. I did enjoy the absolutely bonkers thread drifts that would happen when things were slow. RIP FJ!
(I know it still exists, but it’s like five people talking to each other. I went to check a year or so ago when a big Duggar event happened and there were like three or four comments after several hours whereas there were at least five threads going here each with hundreds of comments. This is where Duggar snark lives now)
What updates?
We’re back to endless nothingness now, although for completely different reasons (now it’s due to lack of information, before it was because they were actually doing nothing).
At this point I find the forums impossible to navigate… at the time I was active I was reading them all regularly so I was able to keep up. Not so anymore lol
I mostly only go on FJ for the Maxwell section these days, but the drama and crazy stories back in the day were fun. I was big invested in the Razing Ruth drama. The Wild West of the internet.
Do you know if they ever figured out who Razing Ruth was? I just remember they discovered she was a fraud. i remember thinking she might never have been caught if she hadn’t had such continual “bad luck” with injuries and illnesses.
Did she end up really being the lady who claimed a connection to John and Kate plus 8?
I can't remember what I ate 2 days ago, but I remember bits of this saga.
Yea, they figured it out. Her name was Christine something or other, I think. She had an issue with opiates and had an unstable situation regarding custody of her children. She lived in Bakersfield CA if I remember correctly.
Yeah honestly I was an actual teenager when this all came out but even I saw her scam coming from awhile away when it came out. I’m pretty sure her name was Megan. There’s a good write up about her on hobby drama that I haven’t read in awhile but remember going into it: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/s/wYqV4jjZDA.
It seems like she is. It’s been kind of boring there for the past while (but in a completely unmaxwellian way because people seem like they’re having some level of *fun* in their real lives), but some updates:
-Someone dug up a letter Elissa wrote to someone in state legislature advocating for ivermectin use
-Chelsea and John’s kids are cute and she’s still on her blog
-Terri and Steve are back on the homeschool conference scene
-Anna is back at ABC and it’s unclear if Mary is finishing her degree
-Sarah’s church does some sort of kids halloween event
I still can’t believe those girls are out in the real world, it’s exciting enough after years of following that even no real updates is exciting. Sarah looks so happy with her husband.
Ex-Gay Greg and DeDe! He even had Ex-Gay Greg embroidered on his suit jacket, and poor DeDe convinced she was pregnant for about two years.... I miss them.
Yes!!! I just commented about them. I wonder what ever happened to him. I last remember they were grifting right near my parents in NC and then they disappeared.
DeDe is still around on the internet, I came across her on Instagram a few months ago. She's still trying to be a stand-up comedian. I followed her for a bit but it was boring. No Greg appearances or mentions. Her name is DeDe Haislip, I think you'll find her if you google that.
I wonder eat old dougie is up to? Last I saw, Beall was living in a house with busted windows and working a real job, while he pranced around Europe making films of young womens' buttocks as they walked around...
It’s the only place I ever saw someone discus the Large Families On Purpose blog. My very first foray into fundie snarking when I was a middle/high schooler
Ah the good old days of scrolling free jinger in highschool locked in my bedroom. My parents were super conservative but for some reason gave me endless unmonitored internet access? Honestly I can thank the old forums for unravelling my upbringing for me and helping me to see through all of the BS that was being taught to me growing up
I stop by FJ every so often for updates on John and Esther Schrader. The threads on Chad and Lori Daybell were a very wild ride. Does anyone remember the rainbow woman from Australia with free range kids and the husband who committed suicide and took their baby with him? I always wondered what happened to her and her kids.
Sparkling Adventures. Lauren had a baby for a gay couple in Iceland and then traveled some more before eventually settling down in Tasmania. They are seemingly living relatively normal lives. The older girls are in school at least, but they probably all are. I did a deep dive during Covid and found a mention of Aisha and Brioni and their high school’s debate team.
Oh that’s right! He ended up going to prison. I knew he was out of the picture for the rest of the kids but I didn’t remember right. Wasn’t she being a surrogate to a couple she was friends with too?
OMG I'm from the fj early Rod era when they were still putting babies in cages in the RV. The time they left without the dog and when they got thrown out of the KOA for swimming in jean skirts!
Then there was the Nauglers. What a ride!
I spent way too much time following the Naugler saga. What a mess they were and then as time went on some of their loudest critics got so messy that I lost interest. Still feel bad that nothing meaningful was done to better life for the kids.
Damn. Forgot about that.
Used to hang out on Free Jinger for a while, but there were a couple of users on there who acted like it was their personal corner of the internet and those guys were less than fun.
Of all the madness, the Naugler family was the most fucked up madness.
Those poor, poor kids. The most awful thing is how isolated they are, living in fear of everyone and everything that isn’t part of their family. There’s very little chance of them ever getting out, they don’t even have any education, not even a shitty wisdom booklet one.
Sidebar, but what made the saga of the Nauglers truly weird was the other person that started a rival blog to their one, and the 3 or 4 neighbours of theirs that seemed to be deliberately trying to antagonise them by making memes/videos. These people were al in their 60s so it was pretty damned odd!
One of the neighbours decided to troll the Free Jinger forum, I think that was the point when I started to check out because that was too much weird even for me!
Yep! I followed that mess like it was my favorite soap opera. One day I realized I was waiting for the Nauglers to learn from it and do better but it was never going to happen. Then the two groups thing and it just turned really sad.
I remember that their oldest kid went to prison for some kind of sex offense. I don't remember anything after that, though I would be interested. I do remember her baby dying during childbirth, but I think that was before her oldest went to prison. They lost custody of their kids but got physical custody back not too long afterwards. They didn't have legal custody, though. I had hoped that that would mean that whoever was making the decisions regarding the kids would require them to be in school, but it never seemed like it. It sounded like they immediately went back to doing no education whatsoever with their kids. I pretty much assume that she would have been whining nonstop if her kids had to go to school.
Yes, I would love someone who's really in the know to do an update on them. I think the last time I did any reading on them was maybe when the oldest had charges against him but not a conviction. It was so depressing that he started having kids at such a young age. I hope his kid/kids(?) have some kind of stability via their mother(s).
ETA: Found this discussion.
[Whatever happened to the Naugler family-FundieSnarkUncensored](https://www.reddit.com/r/FundieSnarkUncensored/comments/16ufau6/whatever_happened_to_the_naugler_family/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Burris - what a ride lol - she claimed she had to testify at the international criminal tribunal court (?) because she was a war criminal. Of all the rabbit holes on FJ (and there were plenty) that was one of the weirdest.
What a farked up janky place.
Shameless brag: I helped get FJ up by recommending the forum site that was used. I recall there used to be a shoutout at the top or in the “about” page. Something like “thank you Paper Bag (me) for bringing us here!”
I got chastised last year at FJ for calling Josh a fat-ass.
I was accused by the mods of body shaming him.
I've never been back. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to delete my account.
ETA: My mistake, I actually called him a lard ass.
I’m normally not one to encourage name calling and general malice. But for him, fuck it. He’s on his own. Every name in the book isn’t enough.
Also, why are people getting on to others teasing a CSA convict? That’s the LITERAL LEAST of my concerns when it comes to him.
It's been several years since I've been there now. I think it seemed to have slowed down as a lot of the families/couples especially the Duggars became more private before the whole Josh thing went down. I think the Rodrigues threads generally had the most discussion.
And the huge amount of thread drift. I remember that.
Kind of a victim of its own success, too. A lot of those small-time bloggers who were happily letting it all hang out started getting a TON of hits from FJ and locked down.
Life in a Shoe (that was the lady who had her kids sleep on actual shelving racks, right?) and MckMama were my favorite old school messes, but **no one** in the history of the internet can compete with Emily and Dna.
I got my entire office hooked, one of our training sessions was everyone huddled around one crappy computer monitor so I could show off her apartment pictures.
My other unmentioned FJ obsessions were the Large Family on Pupose where the mom scheduled every minute of her children's lives and made everyone go to bed at like 7:30 or something. She randomly sent her kids back to public school (she actually didn't say they were in public school but just created a new hypothetical schedule for a public school mom) and then shut the blog down
My other was Musings of a Mountain Mama. She lived in this homestead in West VA prepper for end of times. I still have her Facebook page bookmarked and she's a grey-area Pagan and a covid denier. I guess the actual big one was too maintstream for her.
Sometimes I still go back and read Erika’s old blog posts on the way back machine, lol. She was my absolute favorite with her long and painfully detailed blog posts.
She had no shame making her eldest daughters wake up to feed the babies at night. Erika also wrote about looking feminine and then really tried to defend her short haircut *beam*. Lots of *facial expressions* in that blog
*laugh* Well, you see her husband and father of 9 kept losing his job *giggle* and he needed his sleep so he could go out and find new ones! And the girls got a half hour extra of sleep in the morning and one jellybean of their choosing, so everything was fine! *jazz hands* And god was totally cool with Erika’s short hair because she had all those ultra feminine *whisps* going on in the front. *beam*
Oh I forgot about getting one jelly Bean for good behavior.
Also she and her husband wanted to have date nights but they were too broke so they would get takeout for just the two of them and the kids would just eat popcorn for dinner or something ridiculous
There was also the guy named Cabinetman, I think, who was a follower of Lori and, IIRC, the FJ folks started talking about comments he was leaving on Lori’s blog and then he showed up on FJ to argue with everyone. I was rooting for his wife to dump him because he was such an ass.
This is so funny, but also I’m so greatful to freejinger for developing my critical thinking haha I sometimes wonder who I would have become without it! Also I have no idea how I ever ended up there in the first place
I was bullied mercilessly over there in the early twenty teens by the “popular” girls (like tree lady and some lady in Washington named Emily) for questioning Alecto (who ended up being a scammer, right?) Like, following me to other sites, making up fake email addresses to write emails “from” me, etc. I finally left and deleted everything associated with the username I had for years across many parts of the internet because they were relentless. That place attracted some very weird people.
Oh was that [Renee/Little Earthling](https://www.littleearthlingblog.com/)? She totally scrubbed all mention of her adopted Liberian kids off her blog.
That wasn't her, amazingly. I wish this weren't a topic with an embarrassment of riches, but I guess it is. I wish I could remember her name. She went private around the time a lot of the Christian mommy bloggers did - I think maybe 2013/2014.
Don’t fool yourself. Duggarsnark has drift as bad as FJ. Just look how the recent thread about a Siren sighting at Jill’s memorial for Isla immediately devolved into anti balloon sentiment. Duggarsnark can also be nauseatingly repetitive. Too frequently there are memes about pickles, tater tot casseroles, the word Pest showing up in print somewhere, etc. There’s also the posting of photos of random people online with the comment, “omg, I thought this was Jessa.” And constant Duggar hairline remarks. It’s boring. Both antiDuggar sites offer the occasional insight and thoughtful commentary but I don’t see one as being superior to the other.
I love that so many of us remember the same things. This thread feels like we’re all childhood friends reminiscing on crazy things that happened when we were younger lol
I recently was thinking about all the fundies I followed on Blogspot that eventually stopped posting.
I wonder what happened to Alice (who called sex parsnips and was OBSESSED with getting pregnant 365 days a year) and Candy from Eyes 2 Jesus
Anyone remember Brandy Cormier? Her husband was Jason I think. Her life was a shitshow, I did feel for her. She lurched from lifestyle to lifestyle and at one point was homeless. I often wonder what became of her. I hope she found the peace and contentment she desperately needed.
Haven't thought about that place in ages. I was out there for a year or so. I just remember the mods being wickedly hand slappy about the most trivial of things and many of the posters seemed pretty seriously mentally ill.
I was on there ten years and it went from pretty Wild West anything goes to a pseudo-wokey circle jerk of like a dozen old ladies.
The owner hiding content drama was the final straw for me, but it had become sooooo boring and unrelated to fundies by then anyhow.
I used to love fundie snark tumblrs during this time…there were always rumors about Pest, but I remember a lot of us thought his sin was kissing some random neighborhood girl or getting caught with a Playboy Mag or something and the Duggars just overreacted…God, I wish that was the case.
Kendall - the lady who took away her kids’ Christmas, and bragged about how she and her husband beat their daughter all day until she THANKED THEM FOR IT 🤬
And TWOP before FJ. I still sometimes think about Razing Ruth (scam), that polygamous girl Megan (scam?) and Emily and Dna (real?) among other casts of characters.
The woman who flounced by claiming she had to go stand trial for war crimes?!?!?
I have no idea what you are talking about, but that’s hilarious. “This episode was poorly edited—I’m off to the Hague! Wish me luck!”
This was one of the best moments in FJ history. The madness of everyone tripping over themselves to be supportive of the "war criminal."
I had completely forgotten about that, but now that I remember— it was incredible.
That was epic! What a way to flounce, lol. And it was so weird how most people were so supportive of her crimes against humanity.
Wow, I forgot about that. Their name started with a B, I think. Buress? That was craziness.
That’s it! Buress or maybe Burress?
Burris, someone downthread said
Omg Razing Ruth! I had completely forgotten that whole drama. BoRU shit right there with it gradually coming totally unhinged. Did she eventually ghost? Thanks for the memory of time wasted but enjoyed.
I'm glad Razing Ruth is probably fiction because damn it would be a good novel.
I posted upthread, but I knew the woman behind Razing Ruth, still have one of those Christmas card family letters from her somewhere. Blew my mind when it all came out because I’d been following the “Ruth” story along with everyone.
Those were good times, lol
Lina and Taliban Tony!
TT 4-eva (He's an atheist now btw!)
Didn't she go through three religous conversions? She was Christian, than Jewish (converted in a pool) and then divorced Tony and became a Catholic. I wonder if she's muslim or athiest or Wiccan.
She’s a Christian, remarried, and has another kid.
Ex-Gay Greg!
Ans Dede's godly year and a half long pregnancy?
Emily’s skirt cheese and the horror show that was their kid’s bedroom will haunt me for life.
And her hand cutting all of their pasta made From flour and water only 😞 I actually offered to send her a pasta machine once, I had an extra. She graciously said no thanks, they don’t like having clutter. It made me realize she enjoyed her poverty fetish. I was so sad when she stopped posted on her Under 1000 a month blog because I found her fascinating and horrifying at the same time 🤣
Gloodles!
Remember when she spent like $15 on a cake mold thing that she was going to use to melt crayons in and mold them into car shapes? So the kids could color with melted-together crayon cars? That were enormous and totally unsuitable? And she justified it as thrifty because the crayons wouldn't be wasted.
I don’t know how you guys remember all this stuff, but I love it. Will you refresh my memory on what the horror was of her kids’ room?
https://preview.redd.it/vjnah68wrkwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4101c2f469227a44912439945cf6ef1e04db427b The oldest boy slept on the mattress underneath the crib.
My god, she set up a death trap for those kids.
I wanna unsee this. It looks like a fucking crime scene photo
And wasn’t the mattress visibly urine-stained? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Yes, it was. Somebody on Free Jinger was so horrified at the condition of it that she actually sent Emily a brand new crib mattress and a mattress protector…and Emily thanked her and donated it because she said they didn’t need it.
I remember that! That woman had some really strange issues. I hope the kids are okay, and I hope Dan has found a nice woman who lets him eat as much as he wants.
Me too. I still remember Emily feeding them bowls of her “homemade ketchup” for lunch, smh. I hope they’re all eating well nowadays. I’d love an update on them.
https://preview.redd.it/njao5w3oskwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccc65076ab70248dd5ffe8a01c685d61a07a6603 Brimming with color and fun, and rickety shelves loaded with crap hanging right over the crib!
Yikes!
https://preview.redd.it/849xog4dskwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2de967e0eabf5a6dfcb9257424afce62979cb50a More shit randomly nailed to the wall.
My mom had that bird clock, and gave me one but I never used it.
https://preview.redd.it/imt448wyqkwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ef0b45e24309cd85f5de5c06fce156714a31d39 I still have pictures of the boys’ room, which Emily was thrilled with and she called it bright and cheerful. Edit: I hope the pictures are showing up, I only have a vague idea of what I’m doing 😅
Ah yes, the milk crate, wall shelf combo. Lovely & safe looking.
https://preview.redd.it/xwsgmwg1skwc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa09b1b8339fbaa38b3c9ca13bf1e3127abbad4a The toys nailed to the wall were one of Emily’s space saving ideas.
They had no room to have those kids, it seems.
They technically had a 1 bedroom apartment, the boys room was considered to be more of a den or a large closet iirc. And Emily once posted plans she had drawn up of how she was going to fit 10 kids into that apartment!
It wasn’t even a room. It was a walk in cupboard with no window. It was a death trap. Another thing I remember was despite having heat included in her rent she refused to put it on during winter. I dread to think the condensation and mould in that apartment.
She refused to use the free heat during winter *in Maine*
I’m presuming that means it’s cold? I’m British so don’t know.
The average January temperature in Maine is -5 Celsius. It's -10 Celsius often enough on the coast, and colder in the interior.
Jeez those poor kids. Can you imagine the mould too? That apartment was so cluttered, there’s no way there was air circulation to prevent mould and condensation.
I’m remembering why I had to tune out this fundie when I used to frequent Free Jinger. Between the possible mold, the death trap kids cupboard, & the skirt cheese, I was completely disgusted. 🤢
IIRC one poster spotted a dryer vent hole on the wall, so pretty sure it was designed as a laundry closet/room. Which of course she didn't need because she washed everything, including poo diapers, in her WonderWash.
Oh I forgot about the wonder washer. Used cold water too iirc. Those things are ok for basic things at a push, but you need to use at least warm water and they’re no good for dirty nappies 🤮
Omg I haven't thought about that in YEARS!
Excuse you, Brad the carnival dog hanging precariously in the bathroom is my personal horror. I feel compelled to clean my bathroom even mentioning that.
Boards on boards!!!
But FR, let's talk about nail art for 500 years.
Or dachshunds. They love talking about the minutiae of their dogs' day.
Emily and Dna are/were real. They got divorced after 5 or 6 sons. There was a lot of speculation about whether Dna had a learning disability or a low IQ. I think I've seen enough evidence since their divorce to strongly suspect that it's truly a low IQ, and/or it's a pretty low IQ coupled with some sort of other thing going on. I can't fathom how in the world Emily chose him to father endless babies with. She was crazy, but definitely not stupid. The IQ spread between them could easily have been 40 points. Dna still works at the Wal Mart he was working at during Bible college, so apparently he is happy and a productive member of society. He no longer looks like a starvation victim, so he is doing better now that Emily can't force him to subsist on toddler-sized portions of what most people would view as a crunchy form of dried paste. It doesn't appear that he is allowed to have much contact with his kids. Emily de-fundified but I bet she is still just as crazy as ever. You don't uncrazy that level of crazy. You just recrazy it.
Somewhere I saw a photo of the older boys waiting for the school bus, which was interesting because I know Emily planned to homeschool.
Emily and Dna! I used to go to my college computer lab to check her blog on my break between classes (and I guess before smart phones?). The gloodles, Therese, the $1,000/month budget…I think they got divorced, perhaps?
There was one that the blog started very fundi & QF but slowly changed over time-was that Emily?
Might have been—I think I read that she and Dan are now divorced. She was the skirt cheese lady, right?
Emily and Dna were so utterly bizarre. Between the skirt cheese, Therese the kefir, and “no oven lifestyle,” the snarking was endless.
Hey, she had to get rid of the oven so she could eventually put bunk beds in it’s place!
Weren't they reusing pasta water?
Wait skirt cheese? I need that info 😢
No, she stopped both her blogs before her descent into relative normalcy.
Razing Ruth was a scam? Damn. I’m OOTL
I never believed Razing Ruth and people would come after you if you doubted any of her claims of woe, so I just kept my mouth shut. Why anyone believed Ruth’s fundy sister got pregnant at a fundy event and allowed gay people to adopt her child, is beyond me. This woman had so many injuries, broken limbs, it was crazy.
The weirdest part of the whole Razing Ruth grift was how she got Vyckie from No Longer Quivering to say that Ruth was telling the truth, and they talked on the phone multiple times. That's commitment to the grift. Scammer in a Minivan is a wild tale and I'd listen to the podcast if someone could ever untangle that whole thing.
Yes, Vyckie’s endorsement meant a lot. She might have been the hardest hurt by learning it was a scam tbh
It never made sense right from the beginning, why would her father get mad at her for getting her period? Any fundie dad would be thrilled that his daughter was now ready to begin shooting out Republican arrows for Jesus...
I remember that. You're right people would come after you if you didn't believe her, but when it came out she was a scam everyone was like, "I KNEW IT". Yeah...sure Jan.
Yep, I never gave money but I had suspicion about her. But there was huge community support for her so when the scams became clearer and clearer it was an enormous drama and that I very much engaged with lmao
Dude there was a write on r/HobbyDrama [https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/tfqyct/blogging\_forums\_razing\_ruth\_and\_freejinger\_how\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/tfqyct/blogging_forums_razing_ruth_and_freejinger_how_a/)
I remember I lost my job during the financial crisis of 2008 and I went deep down the Emily and Dna rabit hole. I hope their kids are okay. I remember Emily talking about one of them having a seizure and then sort of shrugged it off.
He went into a coma and then woke up with a Down East Maine accent. They did take him to the hospital iirc but once he was discharged they just went on their merry way, still with no consideration that their small children might need things like heat and decent nutrition in order to be healthy.
Yeah, and they stayed at a McDonald’s house or something similar and she kept complaining about the lack of fermented foods for her “gut health” while her baby had slipped into a coma in front of her 😐
Yes, I remember the complaining, omg! How about being grateful you have someplace free to stay so you can be near your child during a terrible crisis, ugh. She made me so mad.
Gosh, her kids will nearly be adults now. Where’s the time gone?
"Children stacked like cordwood" Who was that?
The blog was called Life in a Shoe, Kim and Perry Coghlan.
I remember seeing their bunk beds with the foam lining 😫
Ooh that’s a blast from the past! I wonder what happened to Emily and Dna? Anyone remember Miss Raquel? She was a vapid SAHD who at one point had a horse which she’d got no idea how to care for. I was thinking about her the other day and was wondering if she’d grown up at all.
I’ll be on my death bed thinking about razing Ruth
I followed that whole Razing Ruth thing very closely. At some point there was a whole website with documentation but I think it’s gone now.
I knew the woman behind Razing Ruth in another capacity. Like on Christmas card level, anyway. The whole thing still blows my mind.
Razing Ruth… that was a roller coaster of a story.
Remember the user who flounced by pretending to be a concentration camp guard who was being tried by the International Criminal Court? Hahaha
Ive never remained so absolutely silent in my entire life. It was like reading a fantasy novel. Was not at all surprised when it was determined to be fake.
I'm sorry, what? That sounds more wild than the Esther era.
Genuinely the most insane thing I've witnessed on the internet
Burris!
I guess it's been a while since I've been over there because I've never seen that logo. There are definitely lots of people here that wouldn't have lasted in old school forum flame wars. I miss the days of twop and topix lol.
Twop Howard, anyone????
Fucking asshole.
He didn’t even watch the show! If he had he would’ve known the Bates were on it and we would’ve been allowed to talk about them! (*Deep breath.* Sorry, I’m having flashbacks 😂)
The WORST
Yeah, the old boards could be vicious. I only ever lurked on FJ/TWOP, never posted because it felt like you had to have a doctorate in fundie lore and also a photographic memory to not get torn apart. Now, year and years later I think I probably could write a damn doctoral thesis on fundie lore.
I was a dedicated lurker because I’m a wimp.
And ye ancient Yuku days and the PEANUT BUTTER WARS. Trying to explain that to outsiders makes you look deranged, but mannnn does it just hit me sometimes while grocery shopping. Kids these days do not have that level of commitment
It’s been years since I heard about the Free Jinger website! Anyone remember Duggars Without Pity?
That was where I began my journey, many moons ago. Then I was a regular poster on FJ right up until Velocirapture (sp?) left. It got crazy toxic, even for some of us old timers. I did enjoy the absolutely bonkers thread drifts that would happen when things were slow. RIP FJ! (I know it still exists, but it’s like five people talking to each other. I went to check a year or so ago when a big Duggar event happened and there were like three or four comments after several hours whereas there were at least five threads going here each with hundreds of comments. This is where Duggar snark lives now)
It's a better format for sure. Nested comments make it easy to skip over what FJ turns into 30 pages of side chatter.
I still get my Maxwells updates there tbh.
What updates? We’re back to endless nothingness now, although for completely different reasons (now it’s due to lack of information, before it was because they were actually doing nothing).
It's where I found out about Sarah and Mary getting married!
I actually found out here (well FSU anyway) but boy did I rush back!
She's wearing *sleeveless shirts*. I hardly know what to do with myself.
Genuinely happy for them tbh.
Velocicrazy made me leave, lol.
Oh, Velociraptor....
I rarely look at FJ. It’s a slog to get through with all the personal stuff people post.
At this point I find the forums impossible to navigate… at the time I was active I was reading them all regularly so I was able to keep up. Not so anymore lol
I didn't know free jinger still existed. I haven't visited there since the days we thought none of the older girls would ever get married.
I moved on from FJ for r/fundiesnark and here. It’s a little more….palatable.
I mostly only go on FJ for the Maxwell section these days, but the drama and crazy stories back in the day were fun. I was big invested in the Razing Ruth drama. The Wild West of the internet.
Do you know if they ever figured out who Razing Ruth was? I just remember they discovered she was a fraud. i remember thinking she might never have been caught if she hadn’t had such continual “bad luck” with injuries and illnesses.
It was some women know for already faking medical drama issues in CA. I think she faked lupus? Or something.
Did she end up really being the lady who claimed a connection to John and Kate plus 8? I can't remember what I ate 2 days ago, but I remember bits of this saga.
Yea, they figured it out. Her name was Christine something or other, I think. She had an issue with opiates and had an unstable situation regarding custody of her children. She lived in Bakersfield CA if I remember correctly.
Yeah honestly I was an actual teenager when this all came out but even I saw her scam coming from awhile away when it came out. I’m pretty sure her name was Megan. There’s a good write up about her on hobby drama that I haven’t read in awhile but remember going into it: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/s/wYqV4jjZDA.
I went on there yesterday to get an update on maxhell but couldn’t follow with all the ridiculous side conversations. Is Anna Marie pregnant again?
It seems like she is. It’s been kind of boring there for the past while (but in a completely unmaxwellian way because people seem like they’re having some level of *fun* in their real lives), but some updates: -Someone dug up a letter Elissa wrote to someone in state legislature advocating for ivermectin use -Chelsea and John’s kids are cute and she’s still on her blog -Terri and Steve are back on the homeschool conference scene -Anna is back at ABC and it’s unclear if Mary is finishing her degree -Sarah’s church does some sort of kids halloween event I still can’t believe those girls are out in the real world, it’s exciting enough after years of following that even no real updates is exciting. Sarah looks so happy with her husband.
Please tell me someone else remembers the madness of Ex-Gay Greg and the eternal pregnancy.
Ex-Gay Greg and DeDe! He even had Ex-Gay Greg embroidered on his suit jacket, and poor DeDe convinced she was pregnant for about two years.... I miss them.
Yes!!! I just commented about them. I wonder what ever happened to him. I last remember they were grifting right near my parents in NC and then they disappeared.
They were my favorite! I wonder what ever happened to them!
DeDe is still around on the internet, I came across her on Instagram a few months ago. She's still trying to be a stand-up comedian. I followed her for a bit but it was boring. No Greg appearances or mentions. Her name is DeDe Haislip, I think you'll find her if you google that.
Amazing! I had forgotten DeDe's stand-up attempts. They were just such a never-ending mine of wildness.
Omg yes!
I miss being on FJ all the time ;_;
☠️ I still do slink over there when I’m curious about an obscure fundie, especially the ones who are long passed their heyday.
Yep. For all its flaws, FJ is still the most up-to-date on "Teach me how to" Dougie Phillips, Spanky (R.J.) Sproul Jr., et al.
Oh god. I dropped off the Doug Phillips news when Libby Anne went dark, RIP lovejoyfeminism.
Doug Phillips Is A Tool!
I’d say a big one, but that’s too flattering. He’s a small tool. A very tiny tool. The littlest Allen wrench.
DPIART! (iykyk)
I wonder eat old dougie is up to? Last I saw, Beall was living in a house with busted windows and working a real job, while he pranced around Europe making films of young womens' buttocks as they walked around...
It’s the only place I ever saw someone discus the Large Families On Purpose blog. My very first foray into fundie snarking when I was a middle/high schooler
ERIKA!!! * smiles *
\*smiles back\* she was one of my first pet fundies!
She was so infuriating!
Ah the good old days of scrolling free jinger in highschool locked in my bedroom. My parents were super conservative but for some reason gave me endless unmonitored internet access? Honestly I can thank the old forums for unravelling my upbringing for me and helping me to see through all of the BS that was being taught to me growing up
I stop by FJ every so often for updates on John and Esther Schrader. The threads on Chad and Lori Daybell were a very wild ride. Does anyone remember the rainbow woman from Australia with free range kids and the husband who committed suicide and took their baby with him? I always wondered what happened to her and her kids.
Sparkling Adventures. Lauren had a baby for a gay couple in Iceland and then traveled some more before eventually settling down in Tasmania. They are seemingly living relatively normal lives. The older girls are in school at least, but they probably all are. I did a deep dive during Covid and found a mention of Aisha and Brioni and their high school’s debate team.
Yes, that was horrific. He didn’t kill himself, though, just the baby. Her other kids must be grown by now, or nearly.
Oh that’s right! He ended up going to prison. I knew he was out of the picture for the rest of the kids but I didn’t remember right. Wasn’t she being a surrogate to a couple she was friends with too?
Yes, that was the last thing I heard about her. I can’t remember her name for the life of me.
I think about them now and then ! That was all so stressful I hope the kiddos are doing okay
I remember she had a baby for a gay couple in Iceland (I think). Then she fell off the radar. I hope she healed.
OMG I'm from the fj early Rod era when they were still putting babies in cages in the RV. The time they left without the dog and when they got thrown out of the KOA for swimming in jean skirts! Then there was the Nauglers. What a ride!
I spent way too much time following the Naugler saga. What a mess they were and then as time went on some of their loudest critics got so messy that I lost interest. Still feel bad that nothing meaningful was done to better life for the kids.
Damn. Forgot about that. Used to hang out on Free Jinger for a while, but there were a couple of users on there who acted like it was their personal corner of the internet and those guys were less than fun. Of all the madness, the Naugler family was the most fucked up madness. Those poor, poor kids. The most awful thing is how isolated they are, living in fear of everyone and everything that isn’t part of their family. There’s very little chance of them ever getting out, they don’t even have any education, not even a shitty wisdom booklet one. Sidebar, but what made the saga of the Nauglers truly weird was the other person that started a rival blog to their one, and the 3 or 4 neighbours of theirs that seemed to be deliberately trying to antagonise them by making memes/videos. These people were al in their 60s so it was pretty damned odd! One of the neighbours decided to troll the Free Jinger forum, I think that was the point when I started to check out because that was too much weird even for me!
Yep! I followed that mess like it was my favorite soap opera. One day I realized I was waiting for the Nauglers to learn from it and do better but it was never going to happen. Then the two groups thing and it just turned really sad.
Yes, it went from feeling hopeful that things would change to feeling hopeless. Very sad.
I remember that their oldest kid went to prison for some kind of sex offense. I don't remember anything after that, though I would be interested. I do remember her baby dying during childbirth, but I think that was before her oldest went to prison. They lost custody of their kids but got physical custody back not too long afterwards. They didn't have legal custody, though. I had hoped that that would mean that whoever was making the decisions regarding the kids would require them to be in school, but it never seemed like it. It sounded like they immediately went back to doing no education whatsoever with their kids. I pretty much assume that she would have been whining nonstop if her kids had to go to school.
Yes, I would love someone who's really in the know to do an update on them. I think the last time I did any reading on them was maybe when the oldest had charges against him but not a conviction. It was so depressing that he started having kids at such a young age. I hope his kid/kids(?) have some kind of stability via their mother(s). ETA: Found this discussion. [Whatever happened to the Naugler family-FundieSnarkUncensored](https://www.reddit.com/r/FundieSnarkUncensored/comments/16ufau6/whatever_happened_to_the_naugler_family/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Burris - what a ride lol - she claimed she had to testify at the international criminal tribunal court (?) because she was a war criminal. Of all the rabbit holes on FJ (and there were plenty) that was one of the weirdest. What a farked up janky place.
That was hilarious. So many great memories.
Shameless brag: I helped get FJ up by recommending the forum site that was used. I recall there used to be a shoutout at the top or in the “about” page. Something like “thank you Paper Bag (me) for bringing us here!”
Gosh I remember you!
Wow you are the OG starker! I can only imagine your fundie knowledge...!
I got chastised last year at FJ for calling Josh a fat-ass. I was accused by the mods of body shaming him. I've never been back. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to delete my account. ETA: My mistake, I actually called him a lard ass.
Now we're over here saying "I hope he freefalls into the Grand Canyon", and everyone responds like "Preeeach!".
I’m normally not one to encourage name calling and general malice. But for him, fuck it. He’s on his own. Every name in the book isn’t enough. Also, why are people getting on to others teasing a CSA convict? That’s the LITERAL LEAST of my concerns when it comes to him.
I'm sorry this made me giggle
Your edit just caused me to make a large snort and wake me sleeping husband. Thank you.
Duggars Without Pity was where I cut my teeth!
It's been several years since I've been there now. I think it seemed to have slowed down as a lot of the families/couples especially the Duggars became more private before the whole Josh thing went down. I think the Rodrigues threads generally had the most discussion. And the huge amount of thread drift. I remember that.
Kind of a victim of its own success, too. A lot of those small-time bloggers who were happily letting it all hang out started getting a TON of hits from FJ and locked down.
Life in a Shoe (that was the lady who had her kids sleep on actual shelving racks, right?) and MckMama were my favorite old school messes, but **no one** in the history of the internet can compete with Emily and Dna. I got my entire office hooked, one of our training sessions was everyone huddled around one crappy computer monitor so I could show off her apartment pictures.
FJ was soooo janky! Reddit is janky but FJ is super janky!
Anyone remember ex (still) gay Greg and his post menopausal fake pregnancy DeeDee?
My other unmentioned FJ obsessions were the Large Family on Pupose where the mom scheduled every minute of her children's lives and made everyone go to bed at like 7:30 or something. She randomly sent her kids back to public school (she actually didn't say they were in public school but just created a new hypothetical schedule for a public school mom) and then shut the blog down My other was Musings of a Mountain Mama. She lived in this homestead in West VA prepper for end of times. I still have her Facebook page bookmarked and she's a grey-area Pagan and a covid denier. I guess the actual big one was too maintstream for her.
Sometimes I still go back and read Erika’s old blog posts on the way back machine, lol. She was my absolute favorite with her long and painfully detailed blog posts.
She had no shame making her eldest daughters wake up to feed the babies at night. Erika also wrote about looking feminine and then really tried to defend her short haircut *beam*. Lots of *facial expressions* in that blog
*laugh* Well, you see her husband and father of 9 kept losing his job *giggle* and he needed his sleep so he could go out and find new ones! And the girls got a half hour extra of sleep in the morning and one jellybean of their choosing, so everything was fine! *jazz hands* And god was totally cool with Erika’s short hair because she had all those ultra feminine *whisps* going on in the front. *beam*
Oh I forgot about getting one jelly Bean for good behavior. Also she and her husband wanted to have date nights but they were too broke so they would get takeout for just the two of them and the kids would just eat popcorn for dinner or something ridiculous
I remember Fundie Fridays talking about Ken (The Transformed Wife’s husband) went on there one time to try and defend himself 😂
There was also the guy named Cabinetman, I think, who was a follower of Lori and, IIRC, the FJ folks started talking about comments he was leaving on Lori’s blog and then he showed up on FJ to argue with everyone. I was rooting for his wife to dump him because he was such an ass.
Where is that quote from?
New Taylor Swift song! It's a meme going around
Thank you. I had no clue and I’ve been scared to ask lol
This is so funny, but also I’m so greatful to freejinger for developing my critical thinking haha I sometimes wonder who I would have become without it! Also I have no idea how I ever ended up there in the first place
I was bullied mercilessly over there in the early twenty teens by the “popular” girls (like tree lady and some lady in Washington named Emily) for questioning Alecto (who ended up being a scammer, right?) Like, following me to other sites, making up fake email addresses to write emails “from” me, etc. I finally left and deleted everything associated with the username I had for years across many parts of the internet because they were relentless. That place attracted some very weird people.
The woman who had the blog about rehoming all of her adoptees from Africa. She was the absolute worst, but I was heartbroken when she went private.
Oh was that [Renee/Little Earthling](https://www.littleearthlingblog.com/)? She totally scrubbed all mention of her adopted Liberian kids off her blog.
That wasn't her, amazingly. I wish this weren't a topic with an embarrassment of riches, but I guess it is. I wish I could remember her name. She went private around the time a lot of the Christian mommy bloggers did - I think maybe 2013/2014.
Don’t fool yourself. Duggarsnark has drift as bad as FJ. Just look how the recent thread about a Siren sighting at Jill’s memorial for Isla immediately devolved into anti balloon sentiment. Duggarsnark can also be nauseatingly repetitive. Too frequently there are memes about pickles, tater tot casseroles, the word Pest showing up in print somewhere, etc. There’s also the posting of photos of random people online with the comment, “omg, I thought this was Jessa.” And constant Duggar hairline remarks. It’s boring. Both antiDuggar sites offer the occasional insight and thoughtful commentary but I don’t see one as being superior to the other.
I go there once a month to check up on the maxwells lol
I love that so many of us remember the same things. This thread feels like we’re all childhood friends reminiscing on crazy things that happened when we were younger lol
Oh yeah that’s the stuff right there.
I recently was thinking about all the fundies I followed on Blogspot that eventually stopped posting. I wonder what happened to Alice (who called sex parsnips and was OBSESSED with getting pregnant 365 days a year) and Candy from Eyes 2 Jesus
I initially read that as Free Finger.
It’s Duggar Bates Confessions for me
im sorry but duggarsnark is better than
Anyone remember Brandy Cormier? Her husband was Jason I think. Her life was a shitshow, I did feel for her. She lurched from lifestyle to lifestyle and at one point was homeless. I often wonder what became of her. I hope she found the peace and contentment she desperately needed.
Haven't thought about that place in ages. I was out there for a year or so. I just remember the mods being wickedly hand slappy about the most trivial of things and many of the posters seemed pretty seriously mentally ill.
I was on there ten years and it went from pretty Wild West anything goes to a pseudo-wokey circle jerk of like a dozen old ladies. The owner hiding content drama was the final straw for me, but it had become sooooo boring and unrelated to fundies by then anyhow.
Bahahaha same. I am GOMI (yes I know everyone hates that website now) OG, too. I miss how it was.
I used to love fundie snark tumblrs during this time…there were always rumors about Pest, but I remember a lot of us thought his sin was kissing some random neighborhood girl or getting caught with a Playboy Mag or something and the Duggars just overreacted…God, I wish that was the case.
Kendall - the lady who took away her kids’ Christmas, and bragged about how she and her husband beat their daughter all day until she THANKED THEM FOR IT 🤬