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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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Plan my Vegas trip for me...

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  • #16
    Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

    I'M GOING TO VEGAS NEXT WEEK! WOOT!

    I think of all the places in Vegas, the classiest place is the Wynn (note: saying anything is vegas is classy is an oxymoron) Yes the servers wear short skirts and all, but they are at least wearing something that doesn't look like underwear or a tropical bird. It's just a dress. Finally.

    My #1 thing to do in Vegas (other than dress nice, eat well, gamble a little, drink great scotch, and smoke a good cigar, in that order) was to go to Gilley's for bikini bull riding and mud wrestling. You literally couldn't see that anywhere else on the planet. I took two of my ultra-feminist liberal friends there once (under tremendous protest) and they had the greatest time EVER. They couldn't fight how fun it was.

    For all of Vegas' abject misogyny, the Gilley's experience was quite empowering. Those women were riding and fighting to WIN.

    Sadly, they tore the New Frontier down a few years ago, and Gilley's is no more.
    “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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    • #17
      Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

      Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post

      For all of Vegas' abject misogyny, the Gilley's experience was quite empowering. Those women were riding and fighting to WIN.

      Sadly, they tore the New Frontier down a few years ago, and Gilley's is no more.
      I would certainly agree that while in Vegas you need to go see or do something you would never have the opportunity do or see else where. If I went a second time I would probably spend less time gambling and more time getting out there and living it up.
      You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

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      • #18
        Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

        Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
        I would certainly agree that while in Vegas you need to go see or do something you would never have the opportunity do or see else where. If I went a second time I would probably spend less time gambling and more time getting out there and living it up.

        That is my biggest thing about Vegas. Do things you can't/wouldn't do at home!! Make it memorable.

        And along those lines, I gotta tell ya my pet peeve, Peck.

        I HATE when people go to Vegas and eat at McDonalds/Panda Express/Chain Restaurant You Have At Home. WHY in the freaking world would you travel across the country to eat something you can get on the way home from work. Drives me insane!

        Stop and try a Pink's hotdog at Planet Hollywood.

        Grab a burger at Stripburger (One of my favs)

        Get a gourmet sandwhich at 'wichcraft

        Grab a couple of gourmet cupcakes at the Cupcakery

        Years ago, I took a group of about 5 guys and a girl to Vegas. They were in their twenties, so I know age is a factor, but every meal was pizza at the food court or a McDonald's hamburger. I was like, "'Are you kidding me?"

        LA, I missed out on Gilley's. I meant to go with my wife, one trip and we got sidetracked the nite we were going to go.

        Then I went to vegas with a group of guys and two of them turned into "'that guy." They got kicked out of Mirage AND Casino Royale within 1/2 hour of each other. It was funny and spectacular and annoying. By the time we got the party regrouped enough to see the bikini wrestling, the line was crazy busy to get in and we just couldn't hang just to get packed in.

        Always hated that I didn't make it into Gilley's. Now Gilley's is back at T.I., but it's not the same. I liked how scary and dirty and old school the Frontier was.
        Last edited by Skaut_Ech; 08-30-2010, 12:18 PM.
        Hey! What're you kicking me for? You want me to ask? All right, I'll ask! Ma'am, where do the high school girls hang out in this town?

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        • #19
          Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

          In the 4 times I've been out to Vegas, we'd usually have a nice Buffet Breakfast, maybe McDonald's or something light for lunch, and then go big with Dinner.

          I still say the Burger I had in July 2005 at the Hard Rock Cafe (The one off-strip by the casino, not the new one in front of Monte Carlo) was the greatest Cheeseburger I've ever had. Better than any In-N-Out I've had out there.

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          • #20
            Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

            Originally posted by Peck View Post
            Looks like right now it will be the first week of November.

            Harrahs is giving us 5 nights free at any one of their resorts, I think they have 7 differant ones so any suggestion would be great.
            Harrah's owns several different casinos/hotels on the main strip...Caesars Palace, Paris, Harrah's ( itself ), Bally's and probably another that I forget.

            Do you have the option to actually choose any one of them?

            Also, are you going by yourself or with family ( with wife, kids, either or none )?

            You can mostly go to buffets that cost anywhere between $15 to $40. Heck, you can easily have a 5 star dinner where it costs you $150 a person. What you do usually boils down to what you like to do and how much you want to spend.

            As you can tell, I ( much like Skaut_ech ) go about 1 to 3 times a year with my wife and kids. In fact, the weekend before Thanksgiving...I'm going with my wife with the kids staying over at Grandma's.
            Last edited by CableKC; 09-02-2010, 06:33 PM.
            Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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            • #21
              Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

              Originally posted by Suaveness View Post
              Make sure you see a couple shows if you can. I saw Cirque du Soliel's Ka at MGM and Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian...both were fantastic.

              And I just went around to all the hotels and just looked at the structures...some were great. The themed hotels are the better ones...Caesar's and Venetian were the best. Paris, NY NY, MGM were all good.
              +1 with Ka at MGM.....if you can only go to one of the shows....GO TO THAT ONE. By far...one of the best Cirque Du Soleil shows that I have seen. Most of the Cirque Du Soleil shows ( with the exception of the adult-themed Zumanity ) have a minimal age requirement of 5 years old. The only show that doesn't is Mystere at Treasure Island. There are other Broadway style shows like Lion King along with the Blue Man Group. Heck, if you're old enough...you can go see Donnie and Marie.
              Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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              • #22
                Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                Originally posted by imawhat View Post
                My main recommendation is to have breakfast at the Bellagio at least once. They have great Belgian waffles.

                Also, check out the dam while you're in the area; it's amazing.
                I'd also suggest the buffet at Wynn, Paris and Rio ( they have 2 ). IMHO....Bellagio and Wynn are the best but most expensive ( I think about $35-40 per person for dinner FRI to SAT ) with Rio having a very large variety of slightly above average buffet.
                Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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                • #23
                  Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                  Originally posted by Skaut_Ech View Post
                  And if you stay at Ceasar's do NOT eat at their buffet, unless you like Golden Corral type food. Despite being such a posh place, their buffet has always sucked.
                  You couldn't tell me this the last time I went to Vegas?

                  I went with my wife there...thought it would be good and high end since it was at Caesar's Palace. Turned out to be a very small buffet that was pricey.
                  Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                    Just got back after two days there. Spent $180 on hotel (MGM Grand) $100 (roughly) on drinks, $400 on food (yes, two days only) and nothing else.

                    I decided that I was only willing to lose $1000 gambling (Set a limit and hold to it). I swung wildly from $600 up to $700 down and at 3:30am yesterday morning I changed out my chips to $150 worth of "quarters" ($25 chips). I quickly turned that into $600 at the roulette table, which put me at dead even. I stood up and thanked my lucky stars that I played for hours and didn't lose anything.

                    Slept for a few hours, got breakfast and went to the pool for a few hours. About an hour before we were supposed to leave, I got a wild hair and returned to the roulette tables and went on a TEAR! Gained $900 in less than an hour, and drove away.

                    What does all that mean? Free trip to Vegas including gas! YEAH!
                    “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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                    • #25
                      Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                      Roulette's the only game I play. I miss Vegas!

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                      • #26
                        Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                        Originally posted by imawhat View Post
                        Roulette's the only game I play. I miss Vegas!
                        Did you know I have a small roulette table in my house?

                        Make sure to look for european roulette tables next time you're in Vegas. They are the ones with only one green 0. the house still has a slight advantage, but it is cut in half compared to the American 0/00 tables. The catch is usually they have a larger minimum in order to play on them.
                        “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


                        • #27
                          Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                          Do you just bet red or black every time?
                          Play Mafia!
                          Twitter

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                          • #28
                            Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                            Originally posted by Pig Nash View Post
                            Do you just bet red or black every time?
                            Other people might want to chime in, but this is my take on it:

                            Absolutely not.

                            I have a complex method that might take a little time to explain, but for SOME reason, when you look at lifetime earnings and losses, I'm definitely 'up'. The strange thing is, this is the one game that is not supposed to have a "skill" advantage. It's totally random every spin. Statistically, if you bet the same way for long enough time, you will consistently lose, but not much.

                            Once I developed my method, one that combines inside and outside chip placement, stakes fluctuation, and movement based on recent number history, I've had a fairly lucky go. I don't know why, but it's been a decent run.


                            If anyone is serious about making any money gambling, there are only three real methods to follow:

                            1) get extremely lucky early and then know when to walk away before you **** your earnings away. Good luck!

                            2) learn to count cards at blackjack and pray you don't get caught. Now that there is facial recognition software and open sharing of information between casinos, getting caught counting at one casino would likely result in a ban at nearly every other casino.

                            3) Prey on human frailty. See: Poker. See also: bookkeeping/loan sharking.

                            Everything else is just paying to feel a thrill. It should be no different than paying $100 for a day of food and riding rides at Disneyland. Only instead of roller-coasters, you stare at a spinning wheel.
                            “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


                            • #29
                              Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                              Didn't notice the roulette wheel. We'll have to play/discuss strategies.

                              Well, couldn't resist. On my way to Vegas now. I'll take some pics of my Bellagio breakfast.

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                              • #30
                                Re: Plan my Vegas trip for me...

                                What's your guys take on craps? Do you like it or not?

                                Used to only play blackjack but lately have taken to rolling the dice and I am just learning the finer points of the game.


                                Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

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