WHAT: This is a Chrome browser extension that can help readers avoid encountering the word "Mormon" in their web browser, following the announcement by the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that use of the common nickname for the church and its people "was a major victory for Satan."
This browser extension replaces various uses of the word "Mormon" with alternative phrasing. For example, "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" is replaced with "Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square," and "Mormons" (plural) is replaced by "members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." It doesn't replace all instances of the word "Mormon." For example, "Book of Mormon" and the prophet named "Mormon" are still acceptable uses according to the Church's style guide.
WHY: Mostly for fun. I initially made a more tongue-in-cheek version, but some folks didn't like that so I've made this somewhat serious version.
HOW: To manually install from this GitHub repo, follow these steps:
- Note: enabling "developer mode" extensions in your browser--as needed for manual install--is risky. Chrome may remind you to be worried about that. As a conscientious computer scientist, I feel obligated to tell you that, in general, installing random things from unknown sources like this is a bad idea, even if they insist (as I do!) that this doesn't do anything nefarious. Caveat emptor.
- Download this git repository to your computer by clicking "Clone or Download" and then "Download ZIP."
- Unzip/extract the ZIP on your computer.
- Go to this URL in your Chrome browser: chrome://extensions/
- Click to check the box for "Developer mode."
- One of the new buttons that should appear is "Load unpacked" (or, in older versions, "Load unpacked extension"). Click it.
- Choose the folder that the unzipped/extracted files are in (probably called "mormon-style-guide-updater").
- The extension should now appear and the "Enabled" box should be checked. Start browsing religious news websites.
Special thanks:
Thanks to Tom Maxwell for the tutorial and template code for this project!
Enjoy!
-CBL