Talk:Cult Information Centre

Neutrality tag
This article is one-sided and ignores the criticism of the group that is included in the very sources it cites. For instance, on the talks to sixth formers, the articles includes criticism that they are "talking absolute nonsense" and "scaremongering" but that is not included. Please balance. --Justanother 12:22, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you for noting your opinion in a polite manner on the talk page. I have added the info you requested on the quote "absolute nonsense".  However, your use of the word "scaremongering" is incorrect.  The article used the word "scaremongering", referring to Scientology publicist Graeme Wilson's mother's initial worry when he joined Scientology, which Wilson felt had been caused by "scaremongering" in the media.  The word "scaremongering", was not used in reference to the Cult Information Centre.  Sixth formers on cult alert, BBC News.  Smee 18:59, 20 May 2007 (UTC).

I would broadly agree with Justanother. This article still needs balance. It achieves the appearance of balance by quiting detractors within the cults it attacks, however it misses the fact that the CIC was also criticised by academics. I feel my own name is used out of context in this article, implying that I benefited from the Cult Information Centre's expertise in my book on cults but reached different conclusions. Anyone reading the book would know I was explicitly critical of CIC's methods and the reliability of its research throughout the book. --William1shaw (talk) 22:19, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

GA comment
Inline citations go directly after the punctuation with no space in between. Be sure to fix these before somebody reviews the article. --Nehrams2020 23:27, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Moved inline citations after punctuation, as requested. Smee 05:08, 26 June 2007 (UTC).

GAN review comments

 * It looks odd that the founder of CIC doesn't have a wikipage. Create a stub page (prefered) or remove wikilink in template
 * "as well as affected family members,[1] members of the press and scholarly researchers." - phrase incomplete
 * "leadership structure.[11] This high level of adherence helps to reinforce authority, as well as belief in the leader's doctrine, which may involve his own personal delusions.[11] According to the Cult Information Centre, these individuals are prone to suffering from forms of mental illness.[11] The organization cites twenty-six key forms of mind control, which includes hypnosis, peer pressure and groupthink, love bombing, the rejection of old values, confusing doctrine, use of subliminal messages, time-sense inhibition, dress codes, disinhibition, diet, confession, fear, and chanting and singing.[11]" - why use the same reference in multiple sentence across one para. use it once after the last sentence
 * what is "codified belief struture"? need info on the same
 * The Cult Information Centre has estimated that there are approximately 2,500 cults operating within the United States, as of 2007" - any data on how many cults are operating in UK? I find it strange that you have data for US but not for UK
 * "Intelligent students that are intellectually and/or spiritually curious were described as prime recruitment targets for cults, according to the Cult Information Centre" - why? any reasons provided?
 * "The organization has stated that these religious sects are limited by very strict rules in Britain as to how they can fundraise and advertise in recruitment of new members." - please elaborate
 * The entire para looks like a summary from the org report in 2007. needs elaboration
 * "Some of the groups that the Cult Information Centre analyzes have criticized their methods." - you have given 2 instances and no info on CIC's response

The article is brief and needs coverage on the activities of CIC. Please address the comments and i shall revert on the GA rating for the article. --Kalyan 10:14, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

The website http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/ redirects to https://www.cultinformation.org.uk/ which consistently fails SSL handshake with "error:14094410:SSL routines:ssl3_read_bytes:sslv3 alert handshake failure:../ssl/record/rec_layer_s3.c:1399:SSL alert number 40". I could not access it with any browser. The site might be unmaintained or even the organization is dead. Rklmm (talk) 12:24, 13 April 2019 (UTC)


 * There seems to be no response/action on the GA comments. Hence marking the article as "Failed GA"--Kalyan 08:11, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Analyzed in Secondary Sources?
What an odd section heading. Why isn't this scholarship simply integrated into the entry? I believe this entry suffers from POV issues. The Methodology section is close to an advertisement for the organization, and language describing the organization seems to be toned down to remove classification as a British Anti-cult movement group.PelleSmith (talk) 18:33, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Added a reference which puts them in the ACM. The general tone still needs a lot of work.PelleSmith (talk) 02:29, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

News articles mentioning CIC


I didn't review them to see which ones are mentions and which have meat. AndroidCat (talk) 10:49, 26 August 2009 (UTC)


 * There will be more some meat in scholarship and they are mentioned in a few books. Unfortunately much of it is published by European publishers and is not readily available online, which means I'll have a harder time tracking it down.PelleSmith (talk) 10:58, 26 August 2009 (UTC)