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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 PacerDude View Post
    You may need to diddle around with your antenna.

    Ewwwwwww
    Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

    Comment


    • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

      Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
      Ewwwwwww
      Well, if ones antenna isn't aimed in the proper direction, such antenna may produce unexpected results when such antenna is put to use. If it is properly aimed, the results will be great. If not, a brown-out could occur.

      Comment


      • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

        Originally posted by PacerDude View Post
        Check this place out: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

        You may need to diddle around with your antenna.
        Yes, because after 22 years of receiving broadcast TV via rabbit ears I never figured that I might need to adjust it.

        Unless "diddle around with your antenna" is a euphimism for something else in which case, you're probably right - gotta do something to replace the lost channels.
        The poster formerly known as Rimfire

        Comment


        • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

          Originally posted by DisplacedKnick View Post
          Yes, because after 22 years of receiving broadcast TV via rabbit ears I never figured that I might need to adjust it.
          Well, if you'd take the time to look at the site, you might find that different stations broadcast from different areas - different from their analog signals. At this site, you can actually figure out where to aim your antenna. Therefore, some 'adjustment' of your new antenna may be necessary to get all the available stations.

          But in your 22 years of infinite wisdom with broadcasts, antennas, analog, HD and the like, you already knew all that.

          What ya get just fer tryin' to lend a hand .................

          Comment


          • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

            Originally posted by PacerDude View Post
            Well, if you'd take the time to look at the site, you might find that different stations broadcast from different areas - different from their analog signals. At this site, you can actually figure out where to aim your antenna. Therefore, some 'adjustment' of your new antenna may be necessary to get all the available stations.

            But in your 22 years of infinite wisdom with broadcasts, antennas, analog, HD and the like, you already knew all that.

            What ya get just fer tryin' to lend a hand .................
            I had been to that site well over a month ago - which happens to be completely irrelevant to this situation because anyone who knows anything about it will realize that when you live 50 miles away from most transmitters it's not a matter of just pointing the antennae - you basically have to move it all over the place and experiment. From that distance trees, power lines, houses all impact the signal.

            After having already done that my firm opinion is that the old rabbit ears are better than the new flat antenna the Best Buy guy recommended I get. I suppose I could buy 200 feet of coax and hang it in my kitchen or from the shower rod or something but I'm not going to do that.

            The only thing that site's any good for - at least in my case - is so you can manually enter stations into the set in case you do find you can point the antennae in a certain direction and get one of them. Of course since most stations have the same default channel as they used for analogue, it doesn't provide a great bonanza of information even then.
            Last edited by DisplacedKnick; 06-14-2009, 05:25 PM.
            The poster formerly known as Rimfire

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            • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

              Originally posted by PacerDude View Post
              And has towns named Intercourse, Fertility and Blue Ball. Gotta give PA its props.
              Those Amish have dirty dirty minds.

              Too bad only one of those 3 teams I support. I dont hate the other two and actually wanted them to win their respective championships once my teams were out of it.

              Comment


              • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                Originally posted by DisplacedKnick View Post

                After having already done that my firm opinion is that the old rabbit ears are better than the new flat antenna the Best Buy guy recommended I get. I suppose I could buy 200 feet of coax and hang it in my kitchen or from the shower rod or something but I'm not going to do that.
                DK,

                I was in Indiana in March and spent some time setting up my Dad's digital boxes. Years ago his antenna got struck by lightning and was fried and he went to rabbit ears. He lives near Seymour, so he is 50 miles from Louisville and 60 miles from Indy. With analog he could get 2 or 3 Indy stations and most of the Louisville stations. With the old tower (before the lightning) everything had come in fine, but it wasn't fixable and he didn't want to replace it. Going to digital, the signals (particularly VHF) apparently don't travel as well and he gets no Indy stations at all.

                I bought a flat indoor HDTV antenna for him ($40 or so from Walmart), but it wasn't really any better than the rabbit ears except that it doesn't need repositioning.

                I've been periodically looking into "deep fringe" antennas for him. People seem to love the high-end Winegard ones like the HD8200U: http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD820.../dp/B001DFS4BI

                People out west in remote places claim well over 100 miles in reception and good reliability. It's directional, so you may need a rotor too or may get lucky pointing it in one spot to get most of what you want at once.

                I don't know when I'd be back in Indiana to install it for him, but he is 88 and doesn't get out, so TV is kinda important to him. That price point is kinda steep, though. An e-bay retailer has them for under $160 shipped:

                http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Winegard-HD8...3A1%7C294%3A50
                Last edited by Slick Pinkham; 06-15-2009, 08:45 AM.
                The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                Comment


                • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                  Originally posted by pacertom View Post
                  DK,

                  I was in Indiana in March and spent some time setting up my Dad's digital boxes. Years ago his antenna got struck by lightning and was fried and he went to rabbit ears. He lives near Seymour, so he is 50 miles from Louisville and 60 miles from Indy. With analog he could get 2 or 3 Indy stations and most of the Louisville stations. With the old tower (before the lightning) everything had come in fine, but it wasn't fixable and he didn't want to replace it. Going to digital, the signals (particularly VHF) apparently don't travel as well and he gets no Indy stations at all.

                  I bought a flat indoor HDTV antenna for him ($40 or so from Walmart), but it wasn't really any better than the rabbit ears except that it doesn't need repositioning.

                  I've been periodically looking into "deep fringe" antennas for him. People seem to love the high-end Winegard ones like the HD8200U: http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-HD820.../dp/B001DFS4BI

                  People out west in remote places claim well over 100 miles in reception and good reliability. It's directional, so you may need a rotor too or may get lucky pointing it in one spot to get most of what you want at once.

                  I don't know when I'd be back in Indiana to install it for him, but he is 88 and doesn't get out, so TV is kinda important to him. That price point is kinda steep, though. An e-bay retailer has them for under $160 shipped:

                  http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Winegard-HD8...3A1%7C294%3A50
                  Part of my problem is I have hi-tension lines a quarter mile north of me (I have to point the rabbit ears East to get WLFI out of Lafayette, which is NW of me - I assume the signal "bounces" off the power lines) and I have a lot of trees around my house with woods to the south.

                  This is all OK - I know I'm not getting much TV and I don't watch it much anyway. I'm just PO'd I spent $50 for nothing.

                  I am going to check out Hulu though. I fully expect that eventually that'll be a pay to play service which I'm fine with if it isn't too much - I just need to enhance the comfort factor.
                  The poster formerly known as Rimfire

                  Comment


                  • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                    All Hulu does is take TV programs that are already available from the networks, and place them at one site. If it's not streamed online from the respective network it airs on, then it won't be on Hulu, so aslong as they stay free, then Hulu should as well.

                    With all traffic it gets, I bet they're getting a pretty penny from sponsorships.
                    Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                      My poop was quite scattered today. However, it was not random.

                      Comment


                      • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                        Originally posted by Spicoli View Post
                        My poop was quite scattered today. However, it was not random.
                        Were you disturbed by it ??

                        Was anyone else ??

                        Comment


                        • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                          I was disturbed by the tattoo I put on the porcelain. I'm certain the subsequent pooper in Stall #2 was also disturbed.

                          Comment


                          • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                            I'm never quite sure about what to do about leaving skid marks on the porcelein. A second flush helps some, but you just have to trust that some of it will soak off over time.
                            The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                            Comment


                            • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                              Originally posted by DisplacedKnick View Post
                              I had been to that site well over a month ago - which happens to be completely irrelevant to this situation because anyone who knows anything about it will realize that when you live 50 miles away from most transmitters it's not a matter of just pointing the antennae - you basically have to move it all over the place and experiment. From that distance trees, power lines, houses all impact the signal.

                              After having already done that my firm opinion is that the old rabbit ears are better than the new flat antenna the Best Buy guy recommended I get. I suppose I could buy 200 feet of coax and hang it in my kitchen or from the shower rod or something but I'm not going to do that.

                              The only thing that site's any good for - at least in my case - is so you can manually enter stations into the set in case you do find you can point the antennae in a certain direction and get one of them. Of course since most stations have the same default channel as they used for analogue, it doesn't provide a great bonanza of information even then.
                              Where you (we) got burnt was the number of stations that did return to the High VHF band instead of sticking with the UHF side. I've been watching HD/DT content since 2002 with not a problem with a nice outdoor UHF antenna only. After the switch our local CBS affiliate switched from (24-1) UHF to 10-1 VHF and all went kaput for me. It would have made it easier for folks if they just needed one type of antenna.
                              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....

                              Comment


                              • Re: Random, Scattered Disturbed Thoughts

                                I'm pretty sure you'll need a couple of Midol after eating one of these:

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