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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**"

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"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

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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

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Rule #10

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

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Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

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  • #46
    Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

    Developments since I started this thread: the girlfriend I mentioned is now my wife, and Rexnom moved to yet another city that is not DC.

    I foresee myself changing jobs at the end of this year and am once again looking at Indy at least as a trial option. The "insert random social science" and law classes I have taken in graduate school have made me realize I should have considered law school more closely than I did, and I have some connections with local law firms and may try to use them to get a paralegal job to see whether or not law is for me. I have also made a couple of cuts and may get a chance to interview for a couple of really good government jobs here in DC, it will probably enable my wife and I to afford a much nicer place here if that actually works out.

    The problem is I know that if my wife and I bought a condo out here, space would always be somewhat limited and I don't know if we could afford to live in a decent place and send our future kids to a private school (DCPS is basically not an option). The other option is sending our kids to public school and living in the suburbs, but then you're stuck in commuting hell for the rest of your life.

    My wife and I want to start a family in the next couple of years, Indy is obviously better for that. We could live close to downtown/wherever we worked with relative ease and while traffic in Indianapolis can suck (I commuted from a doughnut county to a high school in Indy so I know) it is not like traffic in DC. My family is also in Indy which is a plus when you have kids. Living in Indy for a year or so to start may be good to see whether or not I like being close to my family, whether the city has enough cultural amenities for us (we are both quiet homebodies but still like to go out sometimes), and whether or not I can still take the winter. After looking at a couple of places in Broad Ripple and Fountain Square a few months ago my wife now actually wants to leave DC for Indy, but I am convinced she would need the "trial" period as well.

    As much as DC gets on my nerves, it would still be hard to leave though. I am reading through these posts again and the advice is still helpful and great, thanks guys.
    Last edited by idioteque; 04-27-2012, 08:38 PM.

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    • #47
      Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

      Keep in mind that if you lived in Broad Ripple or Fountain Square, those are in IPS School districts, so not good. I would imagine that private school here would be about the same % of your income as it would in DC. Believe me, if you are starting a family and you don't think you will have the money for private school, the location of the house you buy will absolutely be the single most important decision you will have to make. There's nothing worse than having to send your child to a school you hate. Our son starts Kindergarten this fall and we are desperately scrambling right now trying to get him into any neighboring school we can so that he doesn't have to go to the schools in our district. When we bought this house, we thought we'd have plenty of time and opportunity to move before our son was school age. Then the housing market bombed and we're still here. You never know what's going to happen. If family is your goal, and private school is not an option, really do your research on the schools and go where the ones you like are. This is solid advice no matter which city you choose to live in.
      Last edited by travmil; 04-27-2012, 09:28 PM.

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      • #48
        Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

        This threads cracks me up, and it is sad seeing ABADAys post in here.

        This thoughts of this thread runs through my mind 10 times a day. I hate Northern Virginia, and missing living in Florida, but I have a great job and I have got accustomed to the lifestyle of the DC metro area.

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

          I will ad to what Travmil says, stay the **** out of Broadripple and Fountain square area if you are planning on starting a family. IPS school system is terrible. If you want to live close to broad ripple. IE Walking or Biking distance. Then probably the best place to live is in Washington Township. Housing is still very affordable here. I bought my first house at the age of 26 here in Washington Township. Its smaller 3bed room home with a full unfinished basement for only 100K, that was 4-5 years ago. Great starter house for a young family, and these types of homes are plentiful in Washington Township. You are close to Broadripple, Castleton, and Nora communities. Nora has alot of eclectic food offerings and decent small shops, Broadripple has great bars and night life (though Broadripple is more hassle then its worth now-days, but I'm 30 years old now and settling down this year so that probably has much to do with it!) I'm also a 15 minute drive to Butler University and Clowes Hall and there are so many great concerts and productions put on there.

          Best of all I can make it to BLF in about 20 minutes.

          Low cost of living, property taxes in Washington Township are acceptable, good school system and best of all not in Carmel or Fishers where you can expect to spend an hour driving to and from work every day.

          Fountain Square is an interesting neighborhood, lots of cafes and antique stores, art galleries, you can literally ride your bike downtown from there. But the reality is that Fountain Square is about a 5 block radius if that, and everything outside of those 5 blocks is the Ghetto. Poor run down neighborhoods, bad schools lots of crime. I know this first hand as I grew up just East and South of Fountain square around English Ave and Southern Ave. - formerly know as IPS school# 21. Outside of Fountain Square those neighborhoods have not changed for the better in 30 years.

          There is probably only one city I would consider leaving Indy for and that would be the Seattle area, I visited family there a few years ago and I just simply loved it. But when I compare the cost of real estate, my house in Seattle would be around $300K!
          Last edited by graphic-er; 04-27-2012, 10:51 PM.
          You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

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          • #50
            Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

            Someone talk me out of my itch to move to NYC for a period of no longer than 2 years.

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

              Originally posted by idioteque View Post
              Developments since I started this thread: the girlfriend I mentioned is now my wife, and Rexnom moved to yet another city that is not DC.

              I foresee myself changing jobs at the end of this year and am once again looking at Indy at least as a trial option. The "insert random social science" and law classes I have taken in graduate school have made me realize I should have considered law school more closely than I did, and I have some connections with local law firms and may try to use them to get a paralegal job to see whether or not law is for me. I have also made a couple of cuts and may get a chance to interview for a couple of really good government jobs here in DC, it will probably enable my wife and I to afford a much nicer place here if that actually works out.

              The problem is I know that if my wife and I bought a condo out here, space would always be somewhat limited and I don't know if we could afford to live in a decent place and send our future kids to a private school (DCPS is basically not an option). The other option is sending our kids to public school and living in the suburbs, but then you're stuck in commuting hell for the rest of your life.

              My wife and I want to start a family in the next couple of years, Indy is obviously better for that. We could live close to downtown/wherever we worked with relative ease and while traffic in Indianapolis can suck (I commuted from a doughnut county to a high school in Indy so I know) it is not like traffic in DC. My family is also in Indy which is a plus when you have kids. Living in Indy for a year or so to start may be good to see whether or not I like being close to my family, whether the city has enough cultural amenities for us (we are both quiet homebodies but still like to go out sometimes), and whether or not I can still take the winter. After looking at a couple of places in Broad Ripple and Fountain Square a few months ago my wife now actually wants to leave DC for Indy, but I am convinced she would need the "trial" period as well.

              As much as DC gets on my nerves, it would still be hard to leave though. I am reading through these posts again and the advice is still helpful and great, thanks guys.
              Just a little info....I have been showing some new downtown condos for $300K +/-....I am also showing nearly 3000 sq. ft homes in the burbs for $150K....Cathedral High School (a private Catholic HS) is currently about $11,000 a year for tuition. There are cheaper ones but Cathedral is not supported by the diocese while the others are. Then there are the exclusive private schools that are way outta my league. There are beautiful places/neighborhoods north, northeast, and northwest of downtown. Nice areas exist all over town but especially as I mentioned. I love the downtown canal and what they are doing there.

              (small warning...be prepared for what your auto license plates will cost you. It can be hundreds of $$$ per year).
              Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

              Comment


              • #52
                Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

                Yeah, public schools are definitely an issue for me. My wife and I will never make a lot of money, but it is possible that we would be able to afford to send our kids to Catholic school in Indianapolis. Even the cheapest Catholic schools in DC tend to cost at least $20,000 a pupil, whereas Catholic schools I have looked at in Indianapolis tend to charge around that for two kids. So I think what we would probably do is rent downtown to begin with and pick the neighborhood we eventually move to (if we decide to stay) basically on the sole basis of whether we will have the cash or desire to send our kids to private school or not.

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

                  Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
                  Just a little info....I have been showing some new downtown condos for $300K +/-....I am also showing nearly 3000 sq. ft homes in the burbs for $150K....Cathedral High School (a private Catholic HS) is currently about $11,000 a year for tuition. There are cheaper ones but Cathedral is not supported by the diocese while the others are. Then there are the exclusive private schools that are way outta my league. There are beautiful places/neighborhoods north, northeast, and northwest of downtown. Nice areas exist all over town but especially as I mentioned. I love the downtown canal and what they are doing there.

                  (small warning...be prepared for what your auto license plates will cost you. It can be hundreds of $$$ per year).
                  Thanks for the info, we may be in contact in the future! Also I had no idea Cathedral was 11k a pupil, always thought it was way more than that.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

                    Originally posted by idioteque View Post
                    Thanks for the info, we may be in contact in the future! Also I had no idea Cathedral was 11k a pupil, always thought it was way more than that.
                    Brebuf would be higher (Jesuit Prep School on NW side) and then there is Park Tudor where the Lilly execs and such send their kids....that would be expensive.

                    Cathedral increases tuition about $500/year....and no longer gives academic scholarships nor do they give a break for more than one child.
                    Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

                      Heritage Christian is another good private school option. We went to their orientation events, did our research, and if it was feasible at all this is where our son would be going. Currently their tuition runs from $6600 for Kindergarten to $9300 for high school years. They also let you break your annual tuition fees up into 11 monthly payments.

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: Thinking about a move "back" to Indianapolis...should I or shouldn't I?

                        Originally posted by idioteque View Post
                        Developments since I started this thread: the girlfriend I mentioned is now my wife, and Rexnom moved to yet another city that is not DC.

                        I foresee myself changing jobs at the end of this year and am once again looking at Indy at least as a trial option. The "insert random social science" and law classes I have taken in graduate school have made me realize I should have considered law school more closely than I did, and I have some connections with local law firms and may try to use them to get a paralegal job to see whether or not law is for me. I have also made a couple of cuts and may get a chance to interview for a couple of really good government jobs here in DC, it will probably enable my wife and I to afford a much nicer place here if that actually works out.

                        The problem is I know that if my wife and I bought a condo out here, space would always be somewhat limited and I don't know if we could afford to live in a decent place and send our future kids to a private school (DCPS is basically not an option). The other option is sending our kids to public school and living in the suburbs, but then you're stuck in commuting hell for the rest of your life.

                        My wife and I want to start a family in the next couple of years, Indy is obviously better for that. We could live close to downtown/wherever we worked with relative ease and while traffic in Indianapolis can suck (I commuted from a doughnut county to a high school in Indy so I know) it is not like traffic in DC. My family is also in Indy which is a plus when you have kids. Living in Indy for a year or so to start may be good to see whether or not I like being close to my family, whether the city has enough cultural amenities for us (we are both quiet homebodies but still like to go out sometimes), and whether or not I can still take the winter. After looking at a couple of places in Broad Ripple and Fountain Square a few months ago my wife now actually wants to leave DC for Indy, but I am convinced she would need the "trial" period as well.

                        As much as DC gets on my nerves, it would still be hard to leave though. I am reading through these posts again and the advice is still helpful and great, thanks guys.
                        Wow. Just re-read my posts earlier in the thread. Yeah, broke up with my long-term gf (for what it's worth, she's now happily married in DC) that I was with at the beginning of this thread. Graduate school took me to Chicago and then New Haven. Trust me, if I had my choice of location, I wouldn't choose suburban Connecticut.

                        Congrats on all your family success, by the way. All the other stuff matters so much less in the big picture if you're happy at home.
                        Last edited by rexnom; 04-30-2012, 02:28 AM.

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