New: Shmiras Halashon Voting
This morning, my Google Alert picked up a news article posted on a purportedly Orthodox website about the Conservative Movement’s purportedly ethical Heksher Tzedek. Turns out the article was just a repost from the Forward, but the comments beneath it were homegrown, and ranged from embarrassing to atrocious.
Without a doubt, there have been a couple shameful comments posted on this blog. Rather than censor comments any more than I have to — I do draw the line somewhere — I’ve decided to trust the wisdom of crowds. Now, each comment features two buttons: a green “Lashon HaTov” button, and a red “Lashon HaRa” button. Use the prior to give kudos to the commenter for something helpful or insightful, and use the latter to gently scold someone for name calling, generalization, or useless bickering about the legitimacy of a hechsher. The numeric tally next to the buttons should indicate how much or how little our readers appreciate any particular comment.
Next step: a picture of the Chofetz Chaim next to the comment form!
The “legitimacy of a hechsher” is a legimate issue. Some hechsherim are illegitimate; they cause unsuspecting people to be lead astray. The people who put forth a bogus certification should be called to task for soing so; drawing attention to such is *not* to be construed as lashon hara.
Indeed, there is a difference between “calling to task” and “useless bickering.” Take a look at most discussions on this site (or throughout the Internet), and you’ll see that very little constructive (and respectfully delivered) information is conveyed.