McDojo Locator

**bupkis** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 5:47pm

So, here I am: a scrawny, navel-gazing milquetoast with minimal MA experience who, after spending all day reading Bullshido and getting educated, aspires to become a foulmouthed badass like Omega.

But, I don't know where to go to get started. I was about to make a post like this one but then had a constructive thought: why don't we create a McDojo/RealDojo (is there a pithy term for that?) Yellow Pages/Locator? Something like the Martial Arts Schools Database or Dojo Reviews but using Google Maps to geographically pinpoint all the particularly good/bad places on a nation-wide map. It would be a great help to clueless noobs like me and seems in line with the Bullshido mission of exposing McDojos.

I have the technical know-how to do this (5th degree blackbelt in web development) and am willing to give it a go. But, for it to be useful, people would need to contribute, and there would have to be some kind of review process.

If I created such a website, do you think people would contribute enough for it to be useful? Would you contribute?

UPDATE: looks like a step in this direction was made in this thread -- could be a useful starting point.

**Kistrael** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 5:59pm

The problem with that is, that might be liable to get Bullshido in trouble for libel or somesuch. People don't like it when you say their dojo sucks and tell them to avoid it.

Welcome to Bullshido.

**bupkis** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 6:11pm

Telling people that certain dojos suck seems to be Bullshido's M.O.. They already do it with Dojo Reviews -- all I'm proposing is to expand it and put it on map.

If the McDojos get pissy, maybe we could hire Leonard Crabs to help defend us.

**Sam Browning** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 6:15pm

If you wanted to compile a list of all schools that had been discussed either negatively or positively that would help. I do not suggest labeling a place a McDojo without having visited in person. I do think that we can discuss the warning signs at a particular school with little risk.

**Kistrael** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 6:22pm

Yeah, basically we have to hide their suckage under the label of constructive criticism.

**Sam Browning** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 6:29pm

If the signs are overwhelming then by all means call a mcdojo a mcdojo, however in the interest of fairness one shouldn't use the term lightly.

**bupkis** · Posted On: 7/03/2005 6:39pm

Sounds reasonable. I think the main goal should be giving infoless newbies (hi) leads so they can make better decisions, whether that means giving props to reputable establishments, bashing the frauds, or somewhere in between.

**Rashomon** · Posted On: 7/04/2005 1:22am

First, props to Kistrael for using "liable" and "libel" correctly in the same sentence. :)

Second, are you referring to McDojos or to dojos that teach bullshido?

Correct me if I'm wrong, you "old timers", but McDojos are dojos that are very commercialized. They are heavily into marketing and often have long-term contracts.

Dojos that teach bullshido, however, are dojos that teach ineffective crap. These schools usually have little-to-no sparring, and many have "mystical" / "spiritual" overtones.

Now, a dojo can be a McDojo and still teach "legit" stuff.

Likewise, a dojo can be bullshido, but not a McDojo. (I think bullshido dojos are more likely to be McDojos, though.)

So, if we make a list, I think it is important that we use the correct terminology.

**fanatical** · Posted On: 7/04/2005 3:23am

At any rate, I'd rather have a list of GOOD schools, than of McDojo's.

**Aristeia** · Posted On: 7/04/2005 3:44am

Are we not simply talking about a Rotten Tomatoes site for dojos here? Provide a searchable database where people can review schools, via an understood rating system wich may have a number of different metrics (commercialisation/value for money, art effectiveness, culture) etc?