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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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Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

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  • Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

    I've thought about doing this for about a year off-and-on.

    When I got this PC about 16 months ago, it was mainly for school/work, and it's not really a gaming machine because of it's poor graphics card.

    These days I'm a console gamer again, but I used to be a PC gamer years back, and due to this machine having a pretty good processor and RAM, I quickly got the itch to upgrade, but never did for a variety of reasons.

    The only reason that remains is what's keeping me hesitant now: The power supply is only about 300W. To add a good mid to high end graphics card, I would need something closer to 450-600W to have plenty of juice.

    I'm not really here to hammer out exactly how much W I need, but simply this:

    1) How hard is it to replace the power supply?

    In past computers, I've done-it-myself to replace processor fans, harddrives, ram, graphics or other cards, but never the power supply. I'm assuming that due to my other experiences, I shouldn't have much trouble, but then again I've never done it so I wanted to hear from someone who has.

    2) Will Vista or other hardware (than the power supply) in the tower freak out with the boost in power, or will it be smooth? Any horror stories or cautionary tales I should hear in that regard?

    That was my other unknown. I didn't know if, for God knows what reason, upping the W's would make Vista bulk or other hardware pieces screw up.

    Everything I know says it shouldn't do anything bad at all, but again, never done it, don't really know.

    Thanks in advance.

    I'd eventually like to do this if I'm convinced I can do it myself and without risking the PC. I can't afford to have this PC stop working because my current job involves typing up depositions. That's why I'm playing it extra safe.

    Given the fact that I have a (now outdated, but still) quad-core intel processor (@ 2.4Ghz) and 3GB or RAM, I'm confident I could get some good gaming out of a nice graphics card.

    If the feedback I get sounds good and reassuring, the final hurle will simply be my willingness to spend.

  • #2
    Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

    Not sure about the specs and stuff, but from my experience it's easier then changing a CPU, I swop my power supplys now and then because they get noisey and it annoys me...

    I'd check the box for specific watts n ra ra, but I have found it easy when I have done it..

    Just a matter of making sure the Power Supply connector matches the MoBo, open the case unclick it from the mobo and all ya drives and then remove and replace...

    Don't hold me to it, but the actual physical part is easy, the technical part, well thats more for the Watt Gurus..
    Ya Think Ya Used Enough Dynamite there Butch...

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

      One thing, if your PC happens to be a Dell, you can only use a Dell power supply. I have changed a power supply on two different machines and it's not a big deal.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

        This one is an HP.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

          An older HP at work used to run an instrument had a power supply fail. I got a new one, called an IT person, and she thought she could do it quickly. It was a little more complicated than she expected, but in an hour it was up and running. I think she had to look up an online manual because the connections were different than she expected.
          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


          • #6
            Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

            As long as the PS isn't proprietary you'll have no problem. Just go slow to make sure you don't miss a screw or wire. It should be obvious what you need to unplug and it also should be fairly idiot proof for connecting.

            You asked: 2) Will Vista or other hardware (than the power supply) in the tower freak out with the boost in power, or will it be smooth? Any horror stories or cautionary tales I should hear in that regard?

            It doesn't work that way. Think of it as beers in the fridge. If you only have a 6 pack in the fridge then you can only go to the fridge 6 times before you run out of 'juice'. If you have 24 beers in the fridge you can drink all 6 and keep going back for more until you use all 24.

            The new PS will work the same way. It'll have extra power just waiting for your computer to ask for it. When it does need more power, it's there. It's not going to be sending extra power to your existing components. It'll give them exactly what they ask for now. Instead of thinking of the power supply as SENDING power (to components), think of it as the computer components PULLING power from the PS. They only pull what they need and as long as your PS can supply what they need, everything is fine.

            That said, there is nothing to be gained with a new power supply if everything is working fine right now and you aren't adding any power hungry peripherals.

            -Bball
            Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

            ------

            "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

            -John Wooden

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

              HP's power supplies are not difficult to replace. Please be sure to get a compatible power supply. I've changed out TONS of them in recent years at my previous job and they are pretty much self-explainatory.

              If you need any help, let me know.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                Propriety? I bought it at Best Buy. Don't think that's an issue.....

                duke, what do I need to do to ensure it's compatible?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                  When it comes to power supplies, don't be tempted by a cheapie brand, go for a known brand, such as Antec, Enhance or Enermax. Generally, a heavy power supply is better than one that is light. The weight is a sign of reliability. Oh wait, that last sentence is from Snatch, but it's true. If you check the weight of power supplies, usually the more expensive ones will cost more than lighter ones.

                  Reduce the chance of zapping your system by using an electrostatic strap (or by grabbing the case to discharge any static electricity before you poke around the motherboard,) and you should be able to swap power supplies in and out of your computer all day long without harming it.


                  You'll have one big plug that plugs into your motherboard, probably at least one more smaller (usually 4 port) that also plugs into the motherboard. Note those and keep track of where your fans are plugging in, and you'll be OK. Plugging in the hard drives and CD/DVD drives is usually pretty obvious.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                    Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                    Propriety? I bought it at Best Buy. Don't think that's an issue.....

                    duke, what do I need to do to ensure it's compatible?
                    Contact HP with the model number of your PC, and ask what kind of PS is compatible with it. (And that may be the easiest way if the brand/info of the power supply is not listed on the side of the PS enclosure.)

                    Your motherboard may only be able to handle a certain wattage, too.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                      Oo. Hadn't thought about motherboard compatibility.

                      Thanks for the tips, Dabney

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                        Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                        Propriety? I bought it at Best Buy. Don't think that's an issue.....

                        duke, what do I need to do to ensure it's compatible?
                        Some manufacturers use power supplies that won't necessarily interchange with after market PS's. I think someone has already mentioned Dell. That's one of the reasons I always build my own machines so that I don't have to wonder if this or that piece will work/fit in my case/computer.

                        But you should be able to Google the model of your computer and "power supply" and find out if there's any issues with compatibility. Or just Google "HP" in general and "Power Supply".

                        I'm not as confident as Dukie that a call to HP would get you the right answer. I'd be afraid their answer would be skewed towards selling you something of their's (at twice the street price) or them giving you the easy answer of 'no' instead of actually knowing the answer or bouncing you up the tech foodchain.
                        Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                        ------

                        "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                        -John Wooden

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                          Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post

                          Your motherboard may only be able to handle a certain wattage, too.
                          I don't understand this statement?

                          -Bball
                          Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                          ------

                          "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                          -John Wooden

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                            I swapped out my power supply in my Gateway just a few weeks ago after my old one (the one shipped with my PC at purchase in 2002) gave out. That power supply was 160 watts; the one I replaced it with is a 430 watt Antec. Two weeks later and all is well. That's the second PS I've replaced, the other was in my mom's computer a few years back. It's a simple process, just be sure to know what plug goes where when you're doing the replacement.
                            Take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Is it risky to replace my PC's power supply by myself?

                              Originally posted by Bball View Post
                              I don't understand this statement?

                              -Bball
                              Some motherboards and processors are designed to take as little power as possible to run (low-end machines).

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