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Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Did your college degree help?

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  • Did your college degree help?

    As a college student working towards my degree I always here the horror stories of people who went to school, got degrees, and proceeded to go work in a job that kids in high school could be doing.

    I heard one yesterday from the person who was selling me my books for college. She had graduated and worked in the field for a year and now she was selling my books and going back to school for something else.

    I've constantly got this fear going that I'm wasting valuable years of my life going to school. I work really hard at school (Dean's List every semester), have a full-time job, and am trying to plan a wedding. Needless to say my life gets pretty stressful when school season is in full swing.

    So what about you guys/girls? When you graduated college what happened? Did you get a job that pertained to your study?

    I'd like to hear some good stories to combat all the tragedies.
    House Name: Pacers

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  • #2
    Re: Did your college degree help?

    DD, there are no promises you'll be working in the field your major points you to. What it WILL do for you is give you a major leg up on the competition by drawing the attention of potential employers. Believe me it will mean something when Human Resources breaks down that pile of resumes and aps to the three stacks of "interview, maybe, and no way in hell".
    You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

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    • #3
      Re: Did your college degree help?

      RWB hit the nail right on the head. There are many, many, many jobs out there that they won't even read your resume once they see you don't have a college degree. Which, personally, I think is ****. I've got two bachelor's, and I have yet to use one ounce of what I was taught in college. The foundation of everything I do is built on what I learned at the summer jobs I had.
      Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

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      • #4
        Re: Did your college degree help?

        Originally posted by btowncolt
        Not in the slightest.

        Anyone have a job for me?
        Okay, but if you could do it all over again would you still go to college? For something different? Or would you gone to a trade school? Or just said it, I'm going to get life on now.
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        • #5
          Re: Did your college degree help?

          Then their is this next quandery. Which is more attractive to employers? Degrees or expireince. Everytime I go onto Monster.com just to see what jobs are out there some don't require expirience, but the majority ask for anywhere between 3-7 years of expirience in that field.
          House Name: Pacers

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          House Words: "We Kneel To No King"

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          • #6
            Re: Did your college degree help?

            I was an art major so of course not. But I think the college experience was worth it and i could do what I am doing now without a degree of some sort.
            "They could turn out to be only innocent mathematicians, I suppose," muttered Woevre's section officer, de Decker.

            "'Only.'" Woevre was amused. "Someday you'll explain to me how that's possible. Seeing that, on the face of it, all mathematics leads, doesn't it, sooner or later, to some kind of human suffering."

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            • #7
              Re: Did your college degree help?

              Originally posted by Arcadian
              I was an art major so of course not. But I think the college experience was worth it and i could do what I am doing now without a degree of some sort.
              See thats the thing for me. I don't get the college experience, but then again I really wouldn't want too. I commute every day (a long way), come home go to work, do homework, do it all over again.

              So I'm really in this for some career benefit. I really don't want to go through all this expensive hard work if I'll be back at stage one when its over.

              I know RWB and Kegboy are right, its just so frustrating that my studies may prove fruitless.
              House Name: Pacers

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              • #8
                Re: Did your college degree help?

                I agree with Kegboy and RWB, degrees are a qualifier when sorting through a pile of resumes.

                I've met people in my industry (computer software) that don't have them, but they are the exception rather than the rule. And honestly, their quality of work seems more unstructured than most of the other folks.

                My brother-in-law is in a similar line of work, but without a degree. He's a contractor and I think it hinders his ability to get contracts.

                I'd say the type of degree doesn't matter, once you have a fair bit of experience - one of the best computer people I know has a degree in Spanish. But it will be much tougher to get that experience without a degree in your field.
                You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
                All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song

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                • #9
                  Re: Did your college degree help?

                  Undergrad - accounting - yes since I was an accountant it was worthwhile, even though I hated the work.

                  MBA - finance - this was clearly a pre-requisite for what I do now.

                  You and Btown have each hit the nail on the head - your degree will be more beneficial if you know exactly what you want to use it for. I think we - as a society - push too many people into college right away when they really haven't figured out what they want to do yet.
                  Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                  Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                  Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                  Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                  And life itself, rushing over me
                  Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                  Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

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                  • #10
                    Re: Did your college degree help?

                    Originally posted by Diamond Dave
                    Then their is this next quandery. Which is more attractive to employers? Degrees or expireince.
                    I wouldn't worry about that too much right now. That will depend entirely upon the needs of a particular company and you have no control over that. If, when you graduate, you find that companies in your chosen field tend to require more experience, you have options such as internships or taking a job in a closely-related field or starting at the bottom in the mailroom, etc. The bottom line is: If you're smart, ambitious and persistent, you'll find your way around any obstacles that might get in your way. And don't let other people's tales of woe bring you down. They're not you. Oh, and never underestimate the power of connections. Use them as much as you can. They can break down doors for you. What are you studying and what do you ultimately want to do?

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                    • #11
                      Re: Did your college degree help?

                      Originally posted by Harmonica
                      the power of connections.
                      That is really the best way to get a job.
                      "They could turn out to be only innocent mathematicians, I suppose," muttered Woevre's section officer, de Decker.

                      "'Only.'" Woevre was amused. "Someday you'll explain to me how that's possible. Seeing that, on the face of it, all mathematics leads, doesn't it, sooner or later, to some kind of human suffering."

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Did your college degree help?

                        Originally posted by Harmonica
                        I wouldn't worry about that too much right now. That will depend entirely upon the needs of a particular company and you have no control over that. If, when you graduate, you find that companies in your chosen field tend to require more experience, you have options such as internships or taking a job in a closely-related field or starting at the bottom in the mailroom, etc. The bottom line is: If you're smart, ambitious and persistent, you'll find your way around any obstacles that might get in your way. And don't let other people's tales of woe bring you down. They're not you. Oh, and never underestimate the power of connections. Use them as much as you can. They can break down doors for you. What are you studying and what do you ultimately want to do?
                        Well I just changed majors. Not really because both are catergorized under the giant umbrella of communications. I was studying TV, and that was the clearest choice for me. I had been studying it in high school, I was good at it, and I really enjoyed doing it. Well this was all before I knew I'd be getting married.

                        The TV lifestyle of the crazy hours and routine moving cities became un-appealing. Now I have changed over to public relations. Which, at least in the way it is handled at my college is like changing majors.

                        I had seriously contemplated changing to a business major, and honestly thats what I should do, however I only came to this revelation about 2 weeks before school starts back up again. I knew it would be impossible to change everything so quickly so I adjusted a few courses and got into the most business like part of COMM there was, public relations.

                        Now I've been checking on Monster.com to see the jobs available and many of them look enticing, however there is that expirience thing thats got me thinking I'll be 35 before I get these jobs. However I'm sure you're correct about the expirience thing.

                        My strategy will be to apply to as many places as I can find, just hoping that one of those who say needs "5+ years expirience" is bluffing.

                        I saw what on paper looks to be a sweet gig, it was a public relations specialist for the Indiana Department of Adminstration. A government job would be sweet, considering I've grown up with parents knowing that there is no retirement plan for them. I'd love to have some government benefits, even for less pay.

                        However, I'm open to different types of jobs. I really just want to walk away from college with a job that I know wouldn't have been there had I not gone. It costs my parents and myself a lot of money to go, so I don't want it to be for nothing.
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                        • #13
                          Re: Did your college degree help?

                          Originally posted by Diamond Dave
                          Well I just changed majors. Not really because both are catergorized under the giant umbrella of communications. I was studying TV, and that was the clearest choice for me. I had been studying it in high school, I was good at it, and I really enjoyed doing it. Well this was all before I knew I'd be getting married.

                          The TV lifestyle of the crazy hours and routine moving cities became un-appealing. Now I have changed over to public relations. Which, at least in the way it is handled at my college is like changing majors.

                          I had seriously contemplated changing to a business major, and honestly thats what I should do, however I only came to this revelation about 2 weeks before school starts back up again. I knew it would be impossible to change everything so quickly so I adjusted a few courses and got into the most business like part of COMM there was, public relations.

                          Now I've been checking on Monster.com to see the jobs available and many of them look enticing, however there is that expirience thing thats got me thinking I'll be 35 before I get these jobs. However I'm sure you're correct about the expirience thing.

                          My strategy will be to apply to as many places as I can find, just hoping that one of those who say needs "5+ years expirience" is bluffing.

                          I saw what on paper looks to be a sweet gig, it was a public relations specialist for the Indiana Department of Adminstration. A government job would be sweet, considering I've grown up with parents knowing that there is no retirement plan for them. I'd love to have some government benefits, even for less pay.

                          However, I'm open to different types of jobs. I really just want to walk away from college with a job that I know wouldn't have been there had I not gone. It costs my parents and myself a lot of money to go, so I don't want it to be for nothing.
                          Funny, I have a nearly identical degree: BFA in Theater Arts with minors in broadcast production and public relations. You know the Pacers offer internships in media relations, right? Seems like something you'd really enjoy and should check into. It would look great on your resumé, too.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Did your college degree help?

                            Originally posted by Harmonica
                            Funny, I have a nearly identical degree: BFA in Theater Arts with minors in broadcast production and public relations. You know the Pacers offer internships in media relations, right? Seems like something you'd really enjoy and should check into. It would look great on your resumé, too.
                            Yeah, I knew they had something. And actually my school has internships set up with them and the Colts, being as my college (University of Indianapolis) is 10 minutes from each facility. However, as you can imagine, those internships are highly sought after.

                            Oh well, I guess I'll just have to be better than the competition.

                            Seriously though, I'd have to evaluate my status at that point. I am 99.9999% sure that those internships are unpaid. I'm not all about the money or anything, but it would depend on the hours necessary for the internship, because I'm not sure I could afford to go to school and spend 35 hrs a week at a place were I'm not getting paid. I would not want my wife to have to completely support our life for that amount of time. I'd just have to see.

                            Other than that, of course I'd love to intern with the Pacers. For all the obvious reasons and the fact that I'm sure I would get plenty of connections that way.
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                            • #15
                              Re: Did your college degree help?

                              Originally posted by Diamond Dave
                              Yeah, I knew they had something. And actually my school has internships set up with them and the Colts, being as my college (University of Indianapolis) is 10 minutes from each facility. However, as you can imagine, those internships are highly sought after.

                              Oh well, I guess I'll just have to be better than the competition.
                              Or you could PM rabidpacersfan and see if he could make an introduction for you. I believe he did or is doing an internship there. Use your connections.


                              Originally posted by Diamond Dave
                              Seriously though, I'd have to evaluate my status at that point. I am 99.9999% sure that those internships are unpaid. I'm not all about the money or anything, but it would depend on the hours necessary for the internship, because I'm not sure I could afford to go to school and spend 35 hrs a week at a place were I'm not getting paid. I would not want my wife to have to completely support our life for that amount of time. I'd just have to see.
                              That's noble and everything, but surely you could swing it for a few months. Try to look at the long-term benefit versus the short-term sacrifice. I imagine it would open up some doors for you.


                              Originally posted by Diamond Dave
                              Other than that, of course I'd love to intern with the Pacers. For all the obvious reasons and the fact that I'm sure I would get plenty of connections that way.
                              PM rabidpacersfan. Or that pb777 guy.

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