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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.

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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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So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

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  • So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

    Never dabbled with this before, but since I'm now flirting with dropping cable TV (gasp!) for at least a little while, I'd like to pick up a 'decent' antenna that would allow any one of my 3 HDTVs (One big one, two little ones) to at least catch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS over the air and in HD.

    I live in New Castle, IN, so I'm not exactly close to a big city. That's about 45 or so miles away from Indy.

    What would be the "right" antenna for me given where I live?

    What should the price for said antenna be?

    Thanks for anything you can help me with!

  • #2
    Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

    I bought the cheapest thing they had a Best Buy a few years back. I think it was about $25 or so. I'm on the west side of Indy and I get 14 different channels or so. I'm not sure the antenna makes that much difference (could be wrong here) since we're dealing with digital as opposed to analog - so I'm not sure spending a lot of money will be worth the difference. Even when the dish goes out during storms, the antenna still works fine.

    antennaweb.org will help you figure out where the different transmission towers are and how to point your antenna. Great website.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

      What channels do you get?

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

        4, 6, 8, 13, 20, 59. And a few offsprings of each.

        29-2 (THIS), 8-2 (weather) 13-2 (weather), 13-3 (some sort of sport-ish station) and a some others that I've deleted from the list.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

          Bigger the better... If you live near the transmitters that's not always true but once you get down the road you need the bigger antenna. MAYBE an antenna booster as well but your mileage may vary there since you aren't THAT far away. Remember, the booster goes OUTSIDE -very- near the antenna. That way it's boosting signal and sending a hotter signal down the coax, not boosting the weaker signal after it's already been degraded by 100' of cable length.

          You can probably point your antenna towards Indy and get the networks fine without a motor... But you might have other stations you could pick up if you had a rotor for it. And it's possible you might be unlucky and need to point the antenna slightly different even for different Indy stations. That's one of those things you won't know until you try. Personally, I'd get the rotor anyway so I could try and get other stations. I'm thinking you'd be on the fringes of some Ohio channels. You might wonder why that would matter since they might be the same networks as the Indy channels... BUT that could mean different NFL games and maybe some different college basketball or football options.

          Also, higher the better too. 40' tower is great.... 20' is better than 10'... an antenna on the ground is better than no antenna... and so on...

          Most stations are broadcasting on UHF now but I think Indy has at least one that is on VHF. So make sure your antenna is capable of both VHF and UHF reception.

          If the antenna has to go INSIDE (like in the attic) then not only do I recommend the biggest you can get but also I'd recommend the booster for sure at that point).

          Even with digital TV the antenna matters. It's the same as always. The closer to the towers, the smaller you need. Really, nothing has changed with any of that. Obviously, snow is a thing of the past but if the signal isn't strong enough instead of a snowy picture you just won't get ANY picture. Or on the fringe it will break up and go in and out of lock (as to be basically unviewable).

          As for antennas that call themselves "HDTV Antenna" that is snake oil. As long as it's VHF/UHF and the proper size for your distance then you are as good as it will get (other than tweaking ant height). Any antenna is capable of HDTV reception... although some might just promote the HDTV aspect not so much to lure unsuspecting buyers but to just make sure uninformed consumers don't overlook their antenna...
          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


          • #6
            Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

            Sorry, I should have clarified that I'm looking for an indoor antenna only.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

              Okay, using the AntennaWeb site, after entering in my information, the channels near me are:

              (Antenna type, Call Sign, Channel, Network, City/State, Compass Heading, Miles From, RF Channel)

              Code:
              *	red
              uhf	WIPB-DT	49.1	PBS	MUNCIE, IN		360°	12.1	23
              *	blue
              uhf	WRTV-DT	6.1	ABC	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	43.9	25
              *	blue
              uhf	WHMB-DT	40.1	IND	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	44.2	20
              *	violet
              uhf	WFYI-DT	20.1	PBS	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	43.9	21
              *	violet
              uhf	WXIN-DT	59.1	FOX	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		272°	44.0	45
              *	violet
              uhf	WDTI-DT	44.1	DAY	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	44.2	44
              *	violet
              uhf	WTTK-DT	29.1	CW	BLOOMINGTON, IN		272°	44.0	29
              *	violet
              uhf	WNDY-DT	23.1	MNT	MARION, IN		303°	33.9	32
              If that means anything to anybody.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                Not to scare you completely away from it but it may or may not be as simple as just throwing up an antenna on a tower with a rotor to point it at whatever broadcast tower you want to receive broadcasts from.

                Keep in mind that the broadcast sites are different geographically, and that you will need the ability to basically point at roughly the Verizon Wireless (Deer Creek) area for some, North Meridian for others, and a little to the south side of Indy for still others, and that is just for Indy, and every time you change a channel that is broadcast from another tower you may have to use the rotor to tune in your signal (could prove maddening if you want to record things while you are away that would require rotating your antenna to tune in the desired channel). Also, keep in mind that digital signals behave more similarly to satellite signals and can be more susceptible to fade from heavy rain, wooded areas in your near vicinity in line of sight with the transmitters (though only being roughly 40 to 50 linear miles you should have the towers at a more favorable angle than I have between New Castle and Muncie almost in Mt. Pleasant over by Randolph county an average of more like 50 to 60 miles), hills in the way (depending on how far north you are in the New Castle area that might be an issue) or other obstructions.

                I actually went to the trouble of moving my antenna to higher ground and buying an Archer antenna supposedly designed to have a longer reception range. However, where my antenna originally was actually had an advantage over where I moved it to due to reflectivity from the aluminum siding on my house that apparently helped to focus the digital signal. Unfortunately for me, the amplifier up on the actual antenna (my system has both one on the antenna and a second one in the house) went bad (we think) quite a while ago, and we haven't gone to the trouble of renting a lift to get up to the antenna to change it (40' antenna tower).

                Also, apparently it is possible to get too much signal strength and losing reception due to that as well. So, for some channels the signal may actually need to be attenuated (reduced) as opposed to amplified depending on your situation, which would then require other equipment and possibly a second antenna or more depending on your situation.

                Also, many stations have had to adjust their broadcast patterns due to the digital format and its different behavior and the potential for interferring with other stations with nearby fringe areas, so who knows, you may be able to get some Dayton channels (I could for a while, but not as well as I did when things were analog).

                It is no longer quite the same as the good old analog days from what I have learned so far...

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                  Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                  Okay, using the AntennaWeb site, after entering in my information, the channels near me are:

                  (Antenna type, Call Sign, Channel, Network, City/State, Compass Heading, Miles From, RF Channel)

                  Code:
                  *	red
                  uhf	WIPB-DT	49.1	PBS	MUNCIE, IN		360°	12.1	23
                  *	blue
                  uhf	WRTV-DT	6.1	ABC	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	43.9	25
                  *	blue
                  uhf	WHMB-DT	40.1	IND	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	44.2	20
                  *	violet
                  uhf	WFYI-DT	20.1	PBS	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	43.9	21
                  *	violet
                  uhf	WXIN-DT	59.1	FOX	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		272°	44.0	45
                  *	violet
                  uhf	WDTI-DT	44.1	DAY	INDIANAPOLIS, IN		273°	44.2	44
                  *	violet
                  uhf	WTTK-DT	29.1	CW	BLOOMINGTON, IN		272°	44.0	29
                  *	violet
                  uhf	WNDY-DT	23.1	MNT	MARION, IN		303°	33.9	32
                  If that means anything to anybody.
                  Yep, they are showing you what direction you need to point your antenna from your geographic location to receive each individual channel listed, as well as basic recommendations for antenna types that would, in general, be applicable for each channel (I think that is what the colors mean, and I assume there is a legend that shows that), as well as the actual location on the "dial" that each channel now resides at (very different from the analog days).

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                    I'm just a few miles closer to most of those towers and I receive everything just fine. I put the antenna where I had a spot for it - not according to the website.

                    I just don't think it's that complex. Get an el-cheapo, put it inside somewhere, scan, see what you get. If it works - cool. If not, move it around a little. Fine tune it. If it still doesn't work, return it and buy a better one and repeat the process. Everyone that I know that has messed with one has had zero problems getting the cheap stuff to work just fine.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                      And you're talking cheap and indoor-only?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                        Hicks... Define "Indoor" for us a little. Are you looking for rabbit ears type of 'indoor' antenna or something that goes in the attic? ...Or something else?
                        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: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                          Something that just sits right near the TV, doesn't need to be mounted, doesn't need to be in another room. So I guess "rabbit ears" to answer your question.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                            Years ago, before i got my cable hooked in my new house. I bought some simple RCA Rabbit ears that were made for HD signals, and it worked amazingly well. Though I live in Indy. I was also able to steal wifi signals from the neighbors router, once that ended I finally decided to get the cable hooked back up.

                            If I were you I'd head over to the local radio shack or best buy and just buy a set top HD Antenna. The great thing about digital is that its either all there or not. So you don't get any fuzz. You might get your picture cutting out intermittently though.
                            You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: So I'd like to buy an HDTV over-the-air antenna; what do I need to know?

                              Actually, instead of the typical "rabbit ears", where the "ears" were primarily for VHF, get a UHF antenna. That is where the signals are. Even though a number of companies like to put "HD" on everything, there is not really an HD antenna. Rather, they are UHF antennas simply labeled HD.

                              If I remember correctly, a number of years ago, there was an antenna called the Silver Sensor that had pretty good reviews for an indoor antenna. Whatever you buy, try to buy from a store with a good return policy. If the one you pick out doesn't do the job for you, simply return it and move up to the next level.

                              Do I remember right, that you are north of Indy? Maybe New Castle or Muncie? If so, it should not be too difficult. There is mainly flat land between you and the towers. That helps a bunch, right there.

                              I would even go so far as to call one on the stations engineers and ask for advice. Couldn't hurt, right?

                              Comment

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