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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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Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

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  • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

    I don't think we needed a song to remember 9/11 just like we didn't need a song to remember Pearl Harbor or D-Day or President Kennedy's assassination.
    “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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    • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

      Further, "shared cultural experience" has always been exclusive, and I mean that word in it's most negative light. The Beatles memory as the "biggest band ever" is a very white, middle class, Boomer generation memory. If you grew up in another setting with a different experience, you'll likely remember Frankie Valley, Run DMC, Santana, or any other artist that spoke to your "demographic".

      It's always been that way. We're finally at the stage where this shared artistic experience is finally revealed for what it always was: a fraud perpetrated by a very slight majority.
      “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


      • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

        Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post

        It's always been that way. We're finally at the stage where this shared artistic experience is finally revealed for what it always was: a fraud perpetrated by a very slight majority.
        Whoa, I don't know about that. The shared experience of Shakespeare's stuff is a real thing, even if many people haven't read him. Many have seen his plays, or heard snatches of his plays echoed, or been introduced to ideas/concepts/actions subtly influenced by his work, etc. Similarly the Bible (or nowadays the American/Quakerish twist on the Bible) constitutes shared experience, even if we choose not to read it, or even if we resist it. To a certain degree it's simply part of our language.
        You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

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        • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

          Originally posted by SoupIsGood View Post
          Whoa, I don't know about that. The shared experience of Shakespeare's stuff is a real thing, even if many people haven't read him. Many have seen his plays, or heard snatches of his plays echoed, or been introduced to ideas/concepts/actions subtly influenced by his work, etc. Similarly the Bible (or nowadays the American/Quakerish twist on the Bible) constitutes shared experience, even if we choose not to read it, or even if we resist it. To a certain degree it's simply part of our language.
          OK, you make a solid point.

          Still, I'm not sure the modern music industry creates this kind of experience.

          Perhaps movies do. Most people "get" Star Wars references or the "Shriek shriek shriek" sound from the Psycho shower scene.

          I had a co-worker/friend in Chicago that was very hip and urban. We liked a lot of the same stuff. Superhero movies, PS2 games, Basketball. He had no idea who Nirvana was. He was always a R&B, soul and hip-hop man. "White" music had passed him by entirely.
          “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


          • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

            Yeah, I agree. And that's an excellent point about movies—it's weird how dominant the screen has become in our culture. Is there a single American alive who would not recognize the "Jaws is coming to get you" music?

            In fact, maybe movie soundtracks is the only place where music achieves that kind of influence nowadays. The Stars Wars "March of the Empire" theme—would any single song be more recognizable??
            You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

            Comment


            • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

              Originally posted by Los angeles
              It's always been that way. We're finally at the stage where this shared artistic experience is finally revealed for what it always was: a fraud perpetrated by a very slight majority.
              You're being ethno-central, just by saying this. Listen to any of the Alam Lomax series of field recordings and you'll see a very high level of racial integration in most folk styles. Go back 40 or 50 years and you find Motown owning the pop charts. Go back 80 and you find Paul Robeson singing before presidents. Go back 100 and you find Stephen Foster's minstrel songs.

              Much of the stuff you read about how rock grew out of African music is nonsense. African music is determinedly poly-rhythmic, and the earliest roots of rock were already fixed on the 4-beats they heard from church. African music contributed tones and harmonies that were'nt in the church music, but not the rhythms. But not to get too mixed up in that, the experience has been shared since way back.

              Unless you can provide testimony from hundreds of minority who honestly don't know that " . . . Rock You" comes after "We Will, We Will . . ." when they hear it at a ball game, or who honestly feel slighted when they hear that rallying chant, I don't accept your claim of fraud.


              If you are saying that too much of the money has always found its way mostly white executive's pockets, I'll concede that.
              And I won't be here to see the day
              It all dries up and blows away
              I'd hang around just to see
              But they never had much use for me
              In Levelland. (James McMurtry)

              Comment


              • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                Let's not get carried away here.

                After I wrote that line, I seriously considered deleting it because it was over the top even by my own very soft standards. But then Soup replied to it, and gave it a little more grounding in the conversation, so I just left it.

                I think you're taking the word "fraud" a bit too literally and going somewhere that I didn't intend in my post. I know my messages have been mixed, I've mentioned both fraud and race, so It's natural for you to take a literal definition of the word and insert it into multiculturalism. For the record, I'm not talking about white people defrauding black artists. I didn't mean fraud in terms of stealing or even borrowing I REALLY did not mean fraud in terms of race relations or anything like that.

                We're talking about the supposed benefits of a homogenous popular music culture. One where we all share and understand each other's most basic music references. We'll call it the "Lowest Common Denominator"

                I've taken pains to detail the benefits of the reverse. I've told about an artist who has gained a benefit to his career by not being overexposed, and in so doing, developing artistically and surviving for a career that probably would have been cut short by a major label.

                I talked of the benefit of time and the benefit of musical exploration and the expansion of musical ideas and styles in the decades after the 60's.

                Now, I've misused the term fraud, but let's run with it.

                The fraud I'm talking about is a naturally occurring phenomenon.

                The fraud happens when the same artist is licensed for commercials over and over and over until Cool Whip is what we think of when we hear the song Whip It. The Fraud happens when white advertising executives choose the music THEY liked in high school to promote beer (using a white music act from the 70's to sell mexican beer to mexicans on Telemundo? Happens every day to the annoyance of many. George Lopez: "We don't listen to that ****!")

                The fraud happens in VH1's Behind the Music series. They ask contemporaries about the influence or popularity of an artist, and of course the interviewee declares that the subject was the biggest, most influential act you can imagine and that everyone liked them. I saw one about Bruce Springsteen where it was said that Bruce Springsteen single handedly saved Rock and Roll. I remember scoffing. "Maybe for YOU." (I think we can all agree that Bruce Springsteen did no such thing. There were lots of rock acts doing just fine without him.)

                I just don't think we all share the same soundtrack. And when we do, like any Queen song played at any sports event, It's mostly annoying. EDIT - If I hear Usher's "Yeah" anywhere on the planet, ever again, in my lifetime, it will be too soon. That song makes my brain hurt in ways that should be reserved for torture rooms. And NO, your pre-teen gymnastics group is not better off dancing to that song.

                And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
                Last edited by Los Angeles; 04-29-2010, 07:31 PM.
                “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


                • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                  OK. Thanks for that clarifying.
                  And I won't be here to see the day
                  It all dries up and blows away
                  I'd hang around just to see
                  But they never had much use for me
                  In Levelland. (James McMurtry)

                  Comment


                  • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                    Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                    It's always been that way. We're finally at the stage where this shared artistic experience is finally revealed for what it always was: a fraud perpetrated by a very slight majority.
                    How do you figure that?

                    *edit* I understand what is meant by fraud...the part I'm not getting is why we're finally at that stage. I'll re-read.
                    Last edited by imawhat; 04-29-2010, 11:34 PM.

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                    • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                      Ugh, I figure that was a poorly constructed and not well thought out statement that I'm really REALLY sick of explaining.
                      “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


                      • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                        Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                        Ugh, I figure that was a poorly constructed and not well thought out statement that I'm really REALLY sick of explaining.
                        But why?

                        Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                        If I hear Usher's "Yeah" anywhere on the planet, ever again, in my lifetime, it will be too soon. That song makes my brain hurt in ways that should be reserved for torture rooms.
                        Chappelle's Show
                        A Moment in the Life of Lil Jon - Flying
                        www.comedycentral.com
                        This is the darkest timeline.

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                        • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                          Originally posted by imawhat View Post
                          How do you figure that?

                          *edit* I understand what is meant by fraud...the part I'm not getting is why we're finally at that stage. I'll re-read.
                          We're finally at that stage because for the first time in history, the proletariat is afforded the opportunity for real participation and choice.
                          “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


                          • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                            That's the part I'm confused about. What has allowed real participation and choice that wasn't available 10 years ago?

                            Comment


                            • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                              Originally posted by imawhat View Post
                              That's the part I'm confused about. What has allowed real participation and choice that wasn't available 10 years ago?
                              Dude, THE INTERNET. That's what we've been talking about this whole time.
                              “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


                              • Re: Freeloaders are Ruining the Music Industry!

                                Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                                Dude, THE INTERNET. That's what we've been talking about this whole time.
                                I've heard about that thing, but don't really see what the big deal is.
                                This space for rent.

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