Catholicculture Gives Us A Yellow Rating :(

[dUSt]

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=1952&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=625968

Here's my letter to them. Please let me know if I was off base.

[i]
My site gets a yellow rating because a few members posted their personal opinions about movie? I understand that what is in your review is just an example, but I don't think it's entirely fair to judge a fidelity of a site based on personal opinions of it's forum members. Especially when we have a member label system that distinguishes Catholics from non-Catholics, and faithful orthodox members from non-orthodox members. Our phorum gives special labels to priests, nuns, and Catholics who have proven their fidelity to the church: "Clergy, Church Militant, and Church Scholar." We have also labeled members as being non-faithful to the Church: "I do not rep pope". We have developed this system for the very reason of allowing our members to have a clear understanding of who should be trusted in regards to the Church's stance and who should not be.

Your review says that we allow these types of comments in an attempt to be "too relevant". This is completely untrue and unfounded. We allow these types of comments in an attempt to evangelize and dialogue with lukewarm and non-Catholics--with the mission of bringing them fully in line with a devout, orthodox, Catholic faith, in full communion with the Magisterium.

Please consider a clarification on your review. Having a green fidelity rating from CatholicCulture has always been something I've been extremely proud of, ever since you guys were Petersnet.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
dUSt - phounder, phatmass.com[/i]

[Maggyie]

I think their whole rating system is ridiculous anyway. They are the penultimate example of trying to (tm) Catholic orthodoxy - THEIR version of orthodoxy. So there is only one opinion Catholics are allowed to have about movies like "Get Him to the Greek"? Nah, don't think so.

[Guest KevinSymonds]

Maggie with all due respect, with regards to faith and morals, every single Catholic ought to have the same opinion of "[i]Get Him to the Greek[/i]".

I knew it would be an O just from the trailers.

-KJS

[Era Might]

[quote name='dUSt' date='05 June 2010 - 11:52 AM' timestamp='1275753173' post='2124078']Here's my letter to them. Please let me know if I was off base.
[/quote]
I understand why you want a good rating from them. But personally, my letter would be as follows:

[i]Dear sirs,

I laugh in your general direction.

Regards.[/i]

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The Magisterium of Catholic Culture has spoken.

Phatmass is shark bait. Hoohaha!

Of course they should change their rating because everyone who runs this site in any capacity is solidly orthodox and CC has made clear before that they're okay with our having Protestants and others here commenting, so long as we distinguish carefully for users.

They should also change their rating because, well, it's impractical if not impossible to enforce the changes they'd like to see. They're like the federal government trying to tell the Mayberry PD they need to hire 10 more cops so they can have enough folks to fill X, Y, and Z positions (which aren't necessary in such a small town). The only difference is that Catholic Culture has no authority over you. The only reason people cower before them is that the have muscled their way into power, which is quite a different thing from authority.

In short, though, here's the deal: Catholic Culture is over-rated and puffed up with self-importance. They get a lot right, but every so often the act a bit Phariseeical. No one is going to leave over this.

[Vincent Vega]

Dust, I think your letter was more than appropriate.
Charity is not my forte, but my letter would have started with "Yeah? Well..." and continued to words filt[i][/i]ered by this forum.

[zunshynn]

Truthfully, I have a hard time taking things on CatholicCulture seriously. More than a few times I've seen news that was just poorly reported and articles about faith that were... iffy, at best (and I don't follow it regularly, for that, among other reasons). And I think requiring a donation to participate in comments is absurd. Given that that is their policy, I think it's kind of funny, to say the least, that they're reviewing and "giving stars" to other Catholic websites in the first place.

But yeah, I don't think you were out of line... I do think, though, that the points system is getting in the way of really showing who is orthodox and who is not. Points are given out for saying nothing, even for rude and sarcastic comments, and then you go to that person's profile and it says they're a saint? The problem is that the flags, (other than the do-not-rep flags which are pretty obvious) are easily overlooked by a newcomer I think, who might not notice them, or if they do notice them, might not know what "church militant" means. The points system gives a much more obvious label, and, unfortunately, the way it is used, is often not accurate.

Edited June 5, 2010 by zunshynn

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Era Might' date='05 June 2010 - 12:04 PM' timestamp='1275753880' post='2124084']
I understand why you want a good rating from them. But personally, my letter would be as follows:

[i]Dear sirs,

I laugh in your general direction.

Regards.[/i]
[/quote]
+1. Ditto. PM doesn't need CC. They can say what they want. Anyone who visits can plainly see they're wrong.

[Winchester]

[quote name='dUSt' date='05 June 2010 - 11:52 AM' timestamp='1275753173' post='2124078']
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=1952&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=625968

Here's my letter to them. Please let me know if I was off base.

[i]
My site gets a yellow rating because a few members posted their personal opinions about movie? I understand that what is in your review is just an example, but I don't think it's entirely fair to judge a fidelity of a site based on personal opinions of it's forum members. Especially when we have a member label system that distinguishes Catholics from non-Catholics, and faithful orthodox members from non-orthodox members. Our phorum gives special labels to priests, nuns, and Catholics who have proven their fidelity to the church: "Clergy, Church Militant, and Church Scholar." We have also labeled members as being non-faithful to the Church: "I do not rep pope". We have developed this system for the very reason of allowing our members to have a clear understanding of who should be trusted in regards to the Church's stance and who should not be.

Your review says that we allow these types of comments in an attempt to be "too relevant". This is completely untrue and unfounded. We allow these types of comments in an attempt to evangelize and dialogue with lukewarm and non-Catholics--with the mission of bringing them fully in line with a devout, orthodox, Catholic faith, in full communion with the Magisterium.

Please consider a clarification on your review. Having a green fidelity rating from CatholicCulture has always been something I've been extremely proud of, ever since you guys were Petersnet.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
dUSt - phounder, phatmass.com[/i]
[/quote]
Let them know I will fight their boss in unarmed combat.

[Norseman82]

[quote name='dUSt' date='05 June 2010 - 11:52 AM' timestamp='1275753173' post='2124078']
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=1952&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=625968

Here's my letter to them. Please let me know if I was off base.

[i]
My site gets a yellow rating because a few members posted their personal opinions about movie? I understand that what is in your review is just an example, but I don't think it's entirely fair to judge a fidelity of a site based on personal opinions of it's forum members. Especially when we have a member label system that distinguishes Catholics from non-Catholics, and faithful orthodox members from non-orthodox members. Our phorum gives special labels to priests, nuns, and Catholics who have proven their fidelity to the church: "Clergy, Church Militant, and Church Scholar." We have also labeled members as being non-faithful to the Church: "I do not rep pope". We have developed this system for the very reason of allowing our members to have a clear understanding of who should be trusted in regards to the Church's stance and who should not be.

Your review says that we allow these types of comments in an attempt to be "too relevant". This is completely untrue and unfounded. We allow these types of comments in an attempt to evangelize and dialogue with lukewarm and non-Catholics--with the mission of bringing them fully in line with a devout, orthodox, Catholic faith, in full communion with the Magisterium.

Please consider a clarification on your review. Having a green fidelity rating from CatholicCulture has always been something I've been extremely proud of, ever since you guys were Petersnet.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
dUSt - phounder, phatmass.com[/i]
[/quote]

Or, you could just respond, "Sorry, I do have my hands full with some unruly know-it-all kids that do not respect their elders. Please pray for me."

[BG45]

Very nice response Dust, very charitable. My letter would have begun, "Haven't you tried to do this to us before?" Because if I recall, didn't they once try to give PM a red?

[zunshynn]

Ummm... I ran a search for those posts about the movies and I couldn't find them anywhere.

Edited June 5, 2010 by zunshynn

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Maggie' date='05 June 2010 - 10:58 AM' timestamp='1275753502' post='2124082']
I think their whole rating system is ridiculous anyway. They are the penultimate example of trying to (tm) Catholic orthodoxy - THEIR version of orthodoxy. So there is only one opinion Catholics are allowed to have about movies like "Get Him to the Greek"? Nah, don't think so.
[/quote]
Penultimate means "second last".

[quote name='Winchester' date='05 June 2010 - 11:13 AM' timestamp='1275754429' post='2124090']
Let them know I will fight their boss in unarmed combat.
[/quote]
I'll be your second!

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

Consider this a badge of honor. CC went off the deep end a long time ago and their rating system has too much of a subjective component. Debating doctrine could be considered unfaithful since they could consider any kind of questioning of Church orthodoxy to be schismatic. This site allows non-Catholics to have a voice because there are genuine concerns in the real world that need addressing. Severely limiting the types of comments may get phatmass their green rating back, but it will cease to be relevant, and relevance is a good thing.

[dUSt]

I think it would be hilarious to create a "Site review" section on phatmass and give CatholicCulture a yellow rating for "improperly rating phatmass as yellow". It would be our only site review.