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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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The restaurant review thread

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  • The restaurant review thread

    I went to the new Scholars Inn on Mass Ave over the weekend. Wow that is the coolest, classiest restaurant I have ever been too. Won't be for everyone. It is pricey - with tip it was $112.00 (for two) and we didn't have desert, or salad and each of us had only 1 drink. But if you want to impress your date - it is a great place to go. I've never seen an interior like that - hard to describe - food was excellent also. If you want to have a dinning experience that you wont soon forget, I highly recommend it.

    http://www.scholarsinn.com/IndyLounge/index.html

    The pictures on the website give a decent idea of what the interior looks like -
    Last edited by Unclebuck; 07-23-2008, 09:43 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

    It's a chain - but Oceannaire is pretty freaking good too, as long as someone else is paying...

    Crabcakes are the real deal.

    Haven't been to the Scholars Inn on Mass Ave, but have been to the original one in Bloomington several years ago. It was great too, although I imagine the Mass Ave one is now better.
    Last edited by Spicoli; 07-21-2008, 10:12 AM.

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    • #3
      Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

      Had a great dinner Saturday.

      Went to Hudson neat Dupont for drinks and an appetizer while waiting for our 9:15 dinner reservations down the street.

      Then went to our dinner reservations at West End Bistro, a few blocks west of Hudson on M Street. Also pretty good - though the drinks and appetizer at the first place were actually better. Nothing a good bottle of wine didn't wash down though. Spending $300 on the evening was not ideal, but most of it wasn't my money, so I won't really complain.

      http://www.hudson-dc.com/

      http://www.westendbistrodc.com/

      Of course, this isn't in Indianapolis - but we seem to be in the spirit of talking about nice dinners we had this weekend here.

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      • #4
        Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

        Originally posted by Spicoli View Post
        It's a chain - but Oceannaire is pretty freaking good too, as long as someone else is paying...

        Crabcakes are the real deal.

        Haven't been to the Scholars Inn on Mass Ave, but have been to the original one in Bloomington several years ago. It was great too, although I imagine the Mass Ave one is now better.
        Yeah Oceannaire is really nice - that bill for me and my date was $145.00 and once again - no dessert, I don't think either of us drank any alcohol that night. Very good.

        But I liked the Scholars Inn more

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

          I have an admin request - can we just have one restaurant thread? I travel a lot and sometimes get the benefit of eating in some pretty classy places (and sometimes some amazing hole-in-the-walls as well). This might be a good place to check in if someone is travelling to the same towns.

          Maybe just change the title of this one to "The Restaurant Review Thread" or something?

          Just a thought ...
          “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

          “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

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          • #6
            Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

            The owners of St. Elmo's opened a new place right next door that I ate at, and thought it was great for lunch. Still wasn't cheap but you could eat there for a much more reasonable price.

            EDIT: It's called Harry and Izzy's. It's right next door. I had the prime rib sandwich and it was delicious.

            http://www.harryandizzys.com/

            Another real good place isn't dowtown, but I need to plug it here because it has such a horrible location is Z's Oyster Bar and Steakhouse. http://www.zsoyster.com/
            Good food, and probably the best service you will find anywhere in Indianapolis. It's location is so bad though that it never has anyone there. It is located in Castleton right where that old seafood place that turned into a mexican place used to be. You can see it if you are heading west on 465.
            Last edited by Trader Joe; 07-21-2008, 10:33 AM.


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            • #7
              Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

              Ah - St. Elmo's.

              A fairly standard steakhouse menu, and a cramped setting, but I've never had a bad meal there.

              Is the Indy restaurant called The Iron Skillet still open? From what I remember, that place was awesome.
              “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

              “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                Shapiro's

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                • #9
                  Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                  It's not downtown, but I love Italian Gardens on 8336 E Washington St. The whole place is kind of corny aesthetically but oh my, it is some of the better Italian food I've ever had outside of Italy.

                  A lot of the nicer decor restaurants in DC have great settings, but the food tastes like it came from a can. The ethnic food (Ethiopian, Indonesian) is really good but it's hard to find a place that serves good, standard, American fare.
                  Last edited by idioteque; 07-21-2008, 12:08 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                    I've been to most of the major steakhouses in Indy and for my money Broad Ripple Steakhouse is hard to beat. You'll spend $50 less than almost anywhere else and that's WITH drinks and desert. After that I really like Sullivan's on the northside. I've been to St. Elmo's a handful of times and while I agree that I've never had a bad meal there I never walk out feeling like it was worth THAT much more than any other steakhouse. Shula's is nice too. I've had a problem there one time, and the manager picked up the tab for our table of four and not just mine to the tune of nearly $200. I was impressed. That's the difference between high end places and everyone else. They don't want ANY bad press to get out because they KNOW you can afford to go anywhere. The Outback doesn't give a crap if you don't like your steak or not because they know if you could afford better you wouldn't even be there.

                    Tomorrow our boss is taking us to Fogo de Chao for a recognition dinner. I always look forward to trying new places. I've never been before. I don't know much other than it's all you can eat and that it just opened in May. I'll make sure to report back and let everyone know.

                    Props to DC for mentioning Italian. Whenever these types of threads pop up I always bring up my favorite Italian joint which is Mama Carolla's on 54th street right on the Monon. Just thinking about their Rosemary Chicken Lasagna makes my mouth water.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                      Mama Carolla is delicious. And her food is pretty fantastic too.

                      I'll be here all night, folks.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                        Originally posted by btowncolt View Post
                        Mama Carolla is delicious. And her food is pretty fantastic too.

                        I'll be here all night, folks.

                        Well if you're here, who's watching the basement?

                        Besides people with webcams?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                          Originally posted by travmil View Post
                          Tomorrow our boss is taking us to Fogo de Chao for a recognition dinner. I always look forward to trying new places. I've never been before. I don't know much other than it's all you can eat and that it just opened in May. I'll make sure to report back and let everyone know.
                          OK we went for our dinner today. I will say the food was very good. Was it good enough for what our boss paid for it? Probably not. For those that didn't check out the link, the place is an all you can eat brazillian style steakhouse. They grill the meat on a spit and bring it out tableside. They slice it off the spit right onto your plate. They have 15 various kinds to try, and you can try them all. The best cut that I tried was most definitely the leg of lamb, but they also had filet mignon, ribeye, top and bottom sirloin, and two kinds of ribs. We went for lunch, which was $25 per person. The waitress told us that Dinner is $50 but there is no difference, the same food is offered at both times. Atmosphere was great. They decorated very well, lots of hardwoods and modern fixtures, very masculine I guess you could say. Waitstaff was excellent. Great salad bar that came with the all you can eat price. Even though the meal was overall great, I would not say it would be worth $75 for two people ($25 each plus drinks, desert, tip). It certainly wouldn't be worth $100 plus for the dinner hour. I'm glad our boss picked up the tab. It was over $900 for 23 people.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                            Originally posted by dcpacersfan View Post
                            It's not downtown, but I love Italian Gardens on 8336 E Washington St.
                            I must've went on a bad night, I had the worst Fettucini Alfredo ever there. Ever eat at Salute at 10th & Post? It's kind of hard to recommend this place because the inside is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The owner is kind of my Grandfather (a long time family friend). He is very set in his ways and tight with money so he skimps on certain things. Like, heating and air, good lighting, fountain soda, etc. But his food stays very traditional and he can make some awesome pasta and sauce.
                            Originally posted by travmil View Post
                            Props to DC for mentioning Italian. Whenever these types of threads pop up I always bring up my favorite Italian joint which is Mama Carolla's on 54th street right on the Monon. Just thinking about their Rosemary Chicken Lasagna makes my mouth water.
                            I tried to go there on the 4th and they were closed for renovation or something. I have heard great things and definately plan on going. Just driving past the little outside dining area in the back makes me want to go. We went to the Aristocrat instead and it turned out to be a pretty cool place.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Your favorite downtown Indianapolis restaurant

                              Originally posted by Erik View Post
                              I tried to go there on the 4th and they were closed for renovation or something. I have heard great things and definately plan on going. Just driving past the little outside dining area in the back makes me want to go. We went to the Aristocrat instead and it turned out to be a pretty cool place.
                              Yes that's a good place to eat as well. I usually get the reuben sandwhich which rivals Shapiro's for best in Indy. They also serve an outstanding sunday brunch. We used to live at 56th and College so we know ALL of the best spots around there. Binkley's and of course Yats are other area standouts. I absolutely loved living within walking distance of Yats. Best cheap eats in the city hands down.

                              I wasn't aware that Mama's was closed for renovations. We haven't been since early in the year.

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