As the dad of a senior outfielder, agree that a shoestring catch is not ordinary, but keeping the ball in front of him and holding the batter to a single is. IMO - missed diving catch to the side (touch or not), no error; missed diving catch in front, no error on the hit, but score any extra bases on error. I agree there is confusion on this and believe most scorekeepers score error if touched.
Regardless of the execution, the decision of how aggressively to play a ball in the outfield depends on a lot of factors - game situation, trajectory (i.e. "drive" or "fly"), location (in the gap - you have help, down the line - no help). There are many great major league outfielders who demonstrate this everyday and a few who would catch heck on my son's team for poor decisions - but of course these guys more than make up for it in the batters box.
