Editorial

Some folks, no doubt, believe that we are ruthlessly offensive and should immediately repent. That’s ok, we don’t have to agree. But we thought you might want to know some of our guidelines.

Q: Does The Hing really have guidelines?

A: Believe it or not, we do. But mostly they’re vague. For example, we generally don’t use names. It’s funnier to make up names (which, in sanskrit have some double meanings). Also, when names start to be used, it’s a rather slippery slope to just being jerks. We’re not jerks.

Remember the The Bhaktivedanta Memorial Home for Retired Sannyasis? It was clearly written because of the “retired sannyasi” thing. But we thought that using names here would be a really bad idea. We weren’t really worried about offending anyone specifically or even ISKCON, we were more worried about crossing the line between satire and reality.

In ISKCON, this line is fuzzy at best, often times we are our own satire. But here the line was using names. So we didn’t cross that line.

However, in ITV Announces New DVD Series: Memories of Memories of Srila Prabhupada, we had no problems using names. Why? Not really sure. Well, the Harley Flannigan joke wouldn’t have made sense without his name. Same with the Vraja Kishor joke.

Also, more recently with the Ravindra Svarupa prabhu article, it just wouldn’t have made sense without a name attached to it.

So yeah, things aren’t always black and white as far as the guidelines go. Mostly, we try not to be too mean.

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Commentary

As of Sept ‘08, The Hing will be using a moderation policy when it comes to comments on articles. Below is a FAQ describing the policy, which will, no doubt, be ever-shifting. That’s kali-yuga for ya.

Q: Why does The Hing have to moderate my posts?

A: We don’t have to. We choose to. Most larger blogs have such a policy. It’s also a good way to weed out spam and trolls, which we seem to get a lot of.

Q: The Hing didn’t allow a comment I made because you disagree with me!

A: That’s possible, but not likely. It was probably because you were angry. And while you certainly have every right to be angry about anything you want to be, we at The Hing feel that anger and comedy, while close cousins, shouldn’t be in the same room together.

Also, if your comment really has nothing to do with the article, there’s a very good chance it won’t be approved.

Q: What the crap?! All the vowels are missing from my comment!

A: Ahh, you’ve been “disemvoweled”! This happens when you say something that is pretty over the top, but not worth deleting. Your over-the-top point can be deciphered, if people really care to do so. But usually they won’t. Take it as a warning.

Q: Does this mean we can’t fight with each other? C’mon! Fighting on the internet is fun and productive!

A: Yes. That’s basically what it means. You can’t fight here. Seriously, is that how you really want to spend your time?

Q: Do you edit out the stuff you don’t like in a comment?

A: Sometimes. If there’s a full paragraph that doesn’t belong here (meaning that it’s got nothing to do with the article), we’ll toss it and make a note of it. We do not ever edit anything and not make a public note of it in the comment itself. If we edit, you’ll know about it.

Q: But you allowed a post that was angrier/more offensive/more annoying than mine! That’s not fair!

A: True, it’s not. But sometimes these things happen. If you feel you were treated unfairly, feel free to drop us a line. But seriously, it’s not nearly as big of a deal as you’re making it.

Q: How long will it take for a comment to be approved?

A: Hopefully not too long. It depends on several things, but mostly understand that it’s at our earliest convenience.

Q: How will I know if my comment is not approved?

A: You’ll know. If you were all ranty or off topic, chances are it wasn’t approved. If you feel slighted, drop us a line.

Q: This is censorship! What happened to freedom of speech!?!

A: The Hing most certainly supports and uses/abuses “freedom of speech.” We’re big supporters of it. But that freedom of speech doesn’t force us to publish your rants. Quite the opposite, it gives us the right to refuse to publish your rants. That freedom, however, gives you the right to post it on your own webpage. Go for it!

Q: The Hing had a forum at one point, what happened to that?

A: Oh that’s a long story. Prior to August 2008, comments were unmoderated and appeared on the main Hing site. Before too long, comments no longer reflected what the original articles were about. Some were viciously angry, others were merely lame and pathetic.

The thought was to move all of the commenting to a PHPBB forum. On that forum, people could not only continue to comment upon the articles, they could engage freely in other discussions.

That, however, quickly turned from tiny snippets of anger into full on flame wars and character assassinations.

It was then at we were reminded that The Hing is a satirical site. At least it tries to be. And with satire, you are dealing with specific real topics that are often times very serious and need to be discussed.

But The Hing isn’t really set up to facilitate this discussion. There are other places on the net where devotees can get together and verbally tear each other to pieces. This isn’t one of them.

So back we go to the comments appearing on the main Hing site. Only this time, we are taking a bit of precaution.