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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.

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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.

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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Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

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  • Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

    http://www.jsonline.com/features/rel...114843759.html

    Busy Super Bowl Sunday, Pickett tapes video for anti-porn service
    Church plans National Porn Sunday to fight addictions
    e-mail print By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
    Jan. 28, 2011 |(21) Comments

    enlarge photo


    Mark Hoffman
    Packers defensive lineman Ryan Pickett supports National Porn Sunday but has a Super Bowl conflict. .
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    . Mark HoffmanPackers defensive lineman Ryan Pickett supports National Porn Sunday but has a Super Bowl conflict.Close
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    next Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett had hoped to attend National Porn Sunday, a Feb. 6 religious service whose anti-pornography message will be broadcast to 300 churches across the country on Super Bowl Sunday.

    But, it turns out, he has a conflict.

    Pickett will be suiting up with hopes of taking down the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium, about 30 miles from the service in nearby Addison, Texas.

    "I would love to have been with you guys today. But fortunately, I'm a little busy," Pickett tells viewers in a video that will be played in the churches as part of the national outreach. Then he adds, grinning: "Go Packers."

    Pickett and his wife, Jennifer, who also appears on the video, sit on the board of directors of xxxchurch.com, a Las Vegas-based Internet site that bills itself as the largest online resource for people struggling with pornography addiction and workers in the sex trade.

    "We just hope the day is a blessing to you as much as the ministry has been a blessing to us," he says.

    Pickett said in an interview Friday in Green Bay that he personally hasn't struggled with pornography but is troubled by its prevalence.

    "It's just everywhere. I just felt like it was a good thing to jump on board with," he said of the ministry.

    Players tout ministry
    The video includes personal stories of other current and former NFL players, including quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks and Jon Kitna of the Dallas Cowboys. They're seen touting the ministry and its software, which tracks a user's Internet movements, sending a weekly list of sites visited to the user's "accountability partners" - say, friends or a spouse.

    Hasselbeck says it's strengthened his marriage and gives his wife "a lot of security."

    Josh McCown, who spent seven years in the NFL before signing on with the United Football League, tells viewers he began to deal with his porn problem because he feared it was "taking me someplace I didn't want to go."

    "It's a whole lot easier to tell your wife you're struggling with it than to have her walk in on you," he says in the video.

    Craig Gross, the founder of Triple X Church, as they call it, won't say whether any of the featured players struggled personally with pornography, though the video suggests some have.

    "Not everybody's addicted," said Gross, who presided over the Packers' chapel service on the eve of this month's rout of the Falcons. "And the guys who are really struggling are probably not the guys we could get to be in the video."

    Gross will say, though, that NFL players may be more at risk than the average Joe.

    "NFL athletes are some of the most disciplined in the world . . . but this stuff is being thrown at them more than most people, so they have to work that much harder.

    "The bigger issue," Gross says, "is that these guys have money and time, and they're away from their families."

    Players offer strategies to block sites
    Also on the video, players talk about their strategies for staying on the straight and narrow. Hasselbeck, for example, says he still bunks with a roommate. Kitna explains how, each time he enters a hotel room, he videotapes himself turning off the TV porn channels and sends the clip to his accountability partners.

    "We try to do stuff when we travel so if players do have the temptation to watch certain things, we call," Pickett said Friday. "We have a thing where we're trying to set up a block of hotel rooms so you can't order certain movies and see certain shows. It's just kind of like we're building a network."

    Statistics suggest as many as 40 million Americans - that's about one in eight people - regularly view pornography online, and that the average age of first exposure is 11.

    Among the myriad arguments over the effects of pornography, Gross said that it distorts viewers' perceptions of sex and discourages them from true intimacy.

    "It's not enhancing their sex life, it's keeping them from the person they love. And there's the progressive nature of it," he says.

    "What you're looking at online can take you offline - to strip clubs, extramarital affairs."

    'The elephant in the pew'
    Faith communities almost universally condemn pornography. But it's rarely a subject for the pulpit, Gross says.

    Just this week, he said, he had 40 cancellations for Porn Sunday, including apparently two of the four Wisconsin churches that had signed up.

    The issue, says Gross, is just too controversial for some congregations to speak about publicly - though pastors themselves also struggle: A 2001 survey by Christianity Today found that 33% of pastors had visited porn sites; 18% of them did so regularly.

    "It remains the elephant in the pew. The stats are overwhelming, nobody is immune to this," Gross says. "But there's still a huge obstacle to talking about porn. And a lot of pastors just aren't willing to do it."

  • #2
    Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

    Maybe the anti-porn crusade is why Dallas is supposedly short 10,000 strippers for Super Bowl week.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

      Originally posted by Basketball Fan View Post
      Pickett said in an interview Friday in Green Bay that he personally hasn't struggled with pornography but is troubled by its prevalence.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

        There should be good officiating for the game then.


        [~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

          It may be obscure, but I think it's honorable. For a lot of people, pornography is a struggle, an addiction. Not to mention the objectification and denigration of the "stars" of the industry. It affects everyone differently, but there is most certainly a lot of harm done emotionally to many of the people in the industry.

          And of course, it's being put on by a church, so it's driven by faith and beliefs (that I share), and I think it's commendable. Kudos to the players who are willing to put themselves out there and support this, that takes guts. Also, kudos to xxxchurch.com for admitting that even ministry workers are not immune, that also takes courage. And in the face of the numerous GoDaddy commercials we'll see during the game, this is a nice rebuttal to the "sex sells" mantra.
          It's a new day for Pacers Basketball.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

            Originally posted by pizza guy View Post
            It may be obscure, but I think it's honorable. For a lot of people, pornography is a struggle, an addiction. Not to mention the objectification and denigration of the "stars" of the industry. It affects everyone differently, but there is most certainly a lot of harm done emotionally to many of the people in the industry.

            And of course, it's being put on by a church, so it's driven by faith and beliefs (that I share), and I think it's commendable. Kudos to the players who are willing to put themselves out there and support this, that takes guts. Also, kudos to xxxchurch.com for admitting that even ministry workers are not immune, that also takes courage. And in the face of the numerous GoDaddy commercials we'll see during the game, this is a nice rebuttal to the "sex sells" mantra.

            I agree not everyone is into porn(like myself) or sex for that matter its not a bad thing for them to have a voice as long as they respect the fact that others may not agree.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

              I'd support this ministry.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Super Bowl Sunday is also National Anti-Porn Sunday

                I kinda feel like go daddy has become a parody of the sex sells idea. Their ads seem more about the weird hype surrounding the idea of sex appeal than they are the actual appeal.

                Edit - re porn, I understand how many people struggle w/ it, and I've witnessed personally how that struggle can tear apart a relationship, but let's be fair here. Porn ain't all bad. I think it has made the digital native generation considerably more open about sexuality. I'll take the general ickiness of mainstream porn if it means sex is no longer The Thing We Do Not Mention. And for those concerned about mainstream porn's distorting effect, there are healthier options available. Amateur file-sharing sites show "real people," and erotic literature is hugely available.

                It'd be nice if the porn discussion were a little more nuanced. Instead of being strictly pro- or anti-porn, let's talk about the different kinds of porn--whether we find any of them acceptable and why--, about how we relate to it, and about how to tell when one's viewing habits have become unhealthy.
                Last edited by SoupIsGood; 02-07-2011, 08:23 PM.
                You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

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