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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

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.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

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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Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

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  • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

    Originally posted by bellisimo View Post
    whatever it is - it has me second guessing any girl i meet these days...urgh
    All women are psycho. The best you can hope for is to find one who is only marginally insane.

    At least from the male perspective - I'm sure women say the same thing about us but, being single, I'm not required to talk about either of our feelings.
    The poster formerly known as Rimfire

    Comment


    • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

      Originally posted by DisplacedKnick View Post
      All women are psycho. The best you can hope for is to find one who is only marginally insane.

      At least from the male perspective - I'm sure women say the same thing about us but, being single, I'm not required to talk about either of our feelings.

      more proof:

      Woman blasts off boyfriend’s penis with firecrackers
      http://www.mosnews.com/weird/2009/05/25/1909/

      Comment


      • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

        Be carefull who you drink with.

        Comment


        • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

          Originally posted by Indy View Post
          This has been the worst summer in the history of summers so far. I think I'm going to go hide in a hole until a girl comes and finds me who doesn't have mixed signals and intentions. I may never see you guys again.
          Say hello to Bellisimo for me while yer in that hole.
          Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

          Comment


          • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

            Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
            Say hello to Bellisimo for me while yer in that hole.
            wait, what?
            I'm in no hole good sir! I might be afraid of commitment, but I'm still mingling

            Comment


            • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

              Originally posted by Indy View Post
              This has been the worst summer in the history of summers so far.
              That's pretty bad considering summer doesn't even start for (tries to calculate, gives up) at least 3 weeks anyway.

              I think I'm going to go hide in a hole until a girl comes and finds me who doesn't have mixed signals and intentions. I may never see you guys again.
              Have you thought about volunteering for a deep space mission? One that's organized by a bunch of monks? Maybe girls on Alpha Centauri don't send mixed signals but they make 'em that way here.

              Though Belli's firecracker girl proves there's an exception to every rule - I don't think she was mixed with her signal at all.
              The poster formerly known as Rimfire

              Comment


              • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                It's ok during the school year but now with school out there is no way in hell I can work from home.

                They seem to think I'm available to run them wherever they (read that as SHE) wants to go.
                Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                Comment


                • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                  Originally posted by Gyron View Post
                  This just in......A month in Asia did NOT help my golf game......As a matter of fact, it had no impact what so ever on my 1288 handicap.

                  > A husband and wife are on the 9th green when suddenly she collapses
                  > from a heart attack!
                  >
                  > "Help me dear," she groans to her husband.
                  >
                  > The husband calls 911 on his cell phone, talks for a few minutes,
                  > picks up his putter, and lines up his putt.
                  >
                  > His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him. "I'm dying
                  > here and you're putting?"
                  >
                  > "Don't worry dear," says the husband calmly, " they found a doctor on
                  > the second hole and he's coming to help you."
                  >
                  > "Well, how long will it take for him to get here," she asks feebly?
                  >
                  > "No time at all," says her husband. "Everybody's already agreed to
                  > let him play through."
                  > -------------------------------------------------
                  >
                  > A gushy reporter told Phil Michelson, "You are spectacular, your name
                  > is synonymous with the game of golf. You really know your way around
                  > the course. What's your secret?"
                  >
                  > Michelson replied, "The holes are numbered"
                  > -----------------------------
                  >
                  > A young man and a priest are playing together. At a short par-3 the
                  > priest asks, "What are you going to use on this hole my son? "
                  >
                  > The young man says, "An 8-iron, father. How about you?"
                  >
                  > The priest says, "I'm going to hit a soft seven and pray. "
                  >
                  > The young man hits his 8-iron and puts the ball on the green. The
                  > priest tops his 7-iron and dribbles the ball out a few yards. The
                  > young man says, "I don't know about you father, but in my church,
                  > when we pray, we keep our head down."
                  >
                  > ----------- ------- ------------
                  >
                  > Police are called to an apartment and find a woman holding a bloody
                  > 5-iron standing over a lifeless man. The detective asks,"Ma'am, is
                  > that your husband?"
                  >
                  > "Yes " says the woman.
                  >
                  > "Did you hit him with that golf club?"
                  >
                  > Yes, yes, I did.." The woman begins to sob, drops the club, and puts
                  > her, hands on her face.
                  >
                  > "How many times did you hit him?"
                  >
                  > "I don't know, five, six, maybe seven times.....just put me down for a
                  > five."
                  >
                  > ------------------------------
                  > A golfer teed up his ball on the first tee, took a mighty swing and
                  > hit his ball into a clump of trees. He found his ball and saw an
                  > opening between two trees he thought he could hit through. Taking out
                  > his 3-wood, he took a mighty swing. The ball hit a tree, bounced
                  > back, hit him in the forehead and killed him.
                  >
                  > As he approached the gates of Heaven, St. Peter asked, "Are you a good
                  > golfer?"
                  >
                  > The man replied: "Got here in two, didn't I?"
                  >
                  > ------------------------------
                  >
                  > The bride was escorted down the aisle and when she reached the altar,
                  > the groom was standing there with his golf bag and clubs at his side.
                  >
                  > She said: "What are your golf clubs doing here?"
                  >
                  > He looked her right in the eye and said, "This isn't going to take all
                  > day, is it?"
                  >
                  Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                  Comment


                  • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                    Two copies.....one works fine and one does not seem to work on the office computer. Something about it has to be converted to Windows Vista Color Scheme????

                    I'll try them again at home.
                    Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                      Originally posted by bellisimo View Post
                      i finally ran into this playboy girl at the club 2 weekends ago - damn she is a shorty for sure...she must be like 5' max...

                      So you can set your beverage on her head and still play with her titties.

                      Comment


                      • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                        My random, scattered and disturbed thoughts have me thinking about offing the neighbors dog today. The stupid thing barks and barks all day and night long. You would think that the dumb dog would know me by now, but he stupidly barks at me, my animals and the traffic that rides down the streets. U sed to be able to hold him at bay with tossing a firecracker at him, but he's gotten to know that trick and runs when he sees me **** my arm back. My neighbor shoots the dog with a pellet gun but I just can't get myself to do that. The owners don't give a crap and even though they have been fined several times they still ignore this obvious pain in the arse dog. We had a couple look at our house to buy and the dog ran them off. This has been going on for the last four years. Anyone have any ideas? I have heard castor beans can make a quick ending to a dog.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                          I have to say that Sierra Vista, AZ is a non-happening place. Rather than sit in my hotel room for another weekend, I went out to the 'World Famous Sorry Gulch Saloon' which advertises that they are open until 2 a.m. on Saturdays. By midnight, the bartender was stacking chairs. The patrons, when queried as to where the live music, happening bars, etc might be, referred me to a number of bars specializing in strippers and biker-friendly premises.

                          On the other hand, there are a number of quite decent taco / burrito joints in town.

                          P.S. When faced with the barking dog dilemma in Italy, I used the slingshot solution. I could see down into the neighbors' yard from my upper story, and whenever that blind, paranoid german shepherd got onto one of its 12-hour barking jags, I would bang a dry bean off its arse. "Bark." ping "Bark." ping...after a few beans, the cur would retreat to the other side of the house at least, minimizing the noise. Just a thought.

                          On the other hand, in your situation, a lawsuit in a small claims court might be the way to go. The dog's affecting your economic situation. Affect its owners economic situation. A ten thousand dollar settlement might make them wake up, as opposed to a 100-dollar fine.
                          Last edited by kester99; 05-31-2009, 04:18 AM.


                          [~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!

                          Comment


                          • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                            I'm with the lawsuit idea. You suffered a loss...if you can get a statement from the agent or the propspective buyers.
                            Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                              For the 2nd time since CHristmas my car has been broken into while sitting in my driveway.

                              This time they took all of the change I had in my ashtray (desperat huh?) and a Canon digital camera.

                              They left the laser "measuring tapes" and TI calculators this time. FOrtuneately the GPS was in the house.


                              I think I'll throw a sleeping bag out on the front porch and sleep with a shotgun. WHile committing a robbery, the sound of a 12 gauge being pumped can be very unnerving.
                              Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                                I heard a chainsaw revving can be unnerving as well. Or even a woodchipper.

                                Sorry about your luck geezer. Karma will catch up with those d-bags eventually.

                                Comment

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