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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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In Loving Memory

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  • #16
    Re: In Loving Memory

    I'm gonna make sure to spend alittle more time snuggling with my dog when i get home tonight. For Jack.
    You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: In Loving Memory

      Really sorry to hear it, I got teared up just reading your post and some of the others here. My parents' dog, which they had since I was a teenager, is 9 years old now and I know she doesn't have a whole crap ton of years left. The dog basically was always there for me during my crappy teenage years and when she's gone it will suck and I'll be a wreck.

      I am a huge animal and especially dog lover, but am somewhat afraid to get a dog just because I know I will be crushed when it is gone. Instead, I am thinking about just donating to rescue organizations. RIP Jack.

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      • #18
        Re: In Loving Memory

        Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
        . I almost didn't watch "Marley and Me" for that reason.
        I still won't watch it.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: In Loving Memory

          Originally posted by idioteque View Post
          I still won't watch it.
          I have never cried so hard in a movie. I didn't know it was coming...(Well..I figured it was coming about midway through the movie..)

          So sorry about your loss. So hard to lose a pet.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: In Loving Memory

            Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
            ...just cant take things for granted ....gotta cherish all the good times with your best friend because life is short.
            This is so true, and it applies to other things as well, like aging parents. And life-long people friends, who one day may not be there to receive the phone call that I should be making to them. It's late tonight, but I will be making some calls tomorrow.

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            • #21
              Re: In Loving Memory

              Originally posted by idioteque View Post
              I am a huge animal and especially dog lover, but am somewhat afraid to get a dog just because I know I will be crushed when it is gone.
              I used to think that way when I was younger, but there's that saying "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." I've found it to be true. The passage of time ensures that the many years of great times and happy memories overshadow the pain.

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              • #22
                Re: In Loving Memory

                I lost my little Sheltie and my Calico cat last year. They had been with me for 17 years, since I had been in high school. They were part of my family. It's hard to say good bye to the ones we love. Sorry for your loss man.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: In Loving Memory

                  I'm sorry for your loss, and I know how you feel.
                  I had a female labrador who was always in good shape. She was 11, but people always thought she's around 6-7 years old because she was always so active and happy. One day she started limping but it didn't look that bad. When we noticed she's in pain (took a few months actually before it actually affected her..) we took her to the vet and he said that it's something related to her bones and it could be fixed with surgery. So we decided we go for it and he said "well, let me run just a test before I do it". Me and my family were thinking she'll be fine now and will be able to walk freely again and all that. Apparently she had cancer and not that "bone thing", and the vet said we should pull the plug immediately... which we did the day after.
                  The thing that devastated me isn't the fact she died, but the fact it happened so fast. We were sure that worst case, we'll have a few weeks, maybe months with her. Not a night...
                  Anyway... It happened a year ago or so, and you know, life goes on...
                  Originally posted by Piston Prince
                  Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
                  "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"

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                  • #24
                    Re: In Loving Memory

                    Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
                    I'm gonna make sure to spend alittle more time snuggling with my dog when i get home tonight. For Jack.
                    I want to thank everyone again for sharing their stories and showing such respect to my best friend. And thank you very much, that meant alot to me.
                    Follow me at @Bluejbgold

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: In Loving Memory

                      Sorry for your loss.

                      My rabbit, Doug, had to be put down today. (My other one, Pants, died on New Year's Eve.)

                      R.I.P. Doug

                      Play Mafia!
                      Twitter

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                      • #26
                        Re: In Loving Memory

                        Since we're sharing pet horror stories, I thought my cat was going to die right in front of me about a couple months ago. My g//f and I moved in together and we were trying to introduce our two cats.

                        They got into a fight but it just so happened my cat went under the couch during. I heard this God awful scream I'd never heard from her, but my g/f's cat wasn't under the couch with her anymore. So I just chalked it up as her giving an unhappy, and threatening howl at first. The second time, I knew better. I ran over to the couch and looked under thinking she got caught up in under the couch, but as I looked, everything looked fine. Her legs, and tail and everything I could see was free and able to move, but she couldn't get detached from the couch. I was thoroughly confused. So I grabbed a flashlight and .... this is hard to explain. I held my cat, while I lifted the couch because she seemed attached to it. As I slid under the couch, I let my cat lay on my stomach so she wasn't dangling by whatever she was attached to on the couch.

                        So, I'm under the couch using my cell phone flash as a flashlight looking for why she can't move. Then I realized one of the hooks that holds up the coils under the couch had come detached. She had somehow during the fight backed up into this 'S' hook under my couch. If you're standing behind the cat, the hook went into her one inch to the low, and left of her b-hole. It was so far into her that the other end of the 'S' hook came out of her right side of her body by her hip.

                        So there I am, realizing my cat is bleeding and for the next 15 minutes I'm under the couch trying to figure out how the hell to get her off of this thing to get her to the vet, but I can't. Everytime I touched it or tried, understandably she freaked out and started biting and scratching me and losing it. Remember, she is lying on my chest. I didn't even realize it until the next day, but she tore me the hell up.

                        Keep in mind, I just moved that week, I didn't know where a lot of things were, but I had a friend that lived just a couple of blocks away. I slide out from the couch and decided to call him for some bolt cutters so I could cut the hook off and take her to the vet. Turns out as I made the call my cat got so fed up she started flopping around and freaking out, and by some miracle she got herself unhooked. I threw her in her cage and ran to the vet. Somehow she missed puncturing her colon or anything else. Several hundred dollars and 2 weeks of vet visits later she was finally acting normal.

                        That was a horrific 20 minutes though. The howling and screaming and freaking out. I really don't know how she didn't hit anything important. I never want to go through that **** again as long as I live. Ugh.

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                        • #27
                          Re: In Loving Memory

                          Sorry to hear about your rabbit Mr. Nash.

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                          • #28
                            Re: In Loving Memory

                            Originally posted by Hibbert55 View Post
                            Just wanted to thank everybody for their concerns and sharing their losses as well.

                            Jack was so special to me. I was lucky to have owned him, he really was amazing. I still get teared up thinking about him. I have his collar on my key-chain and it gets me every time.

                            I just remember hugging him the last time and him looking up at me with that "What's wrong" face. I just can't take the feeling that when he knows he's going into the vet, but he just doesn't know that he isn't coming out... I'll miss hearing his collar jingle when he's making his rounds in the house. I'll miss being in the kitchen grabbing some chips or some bag that makes a ripple noise and instantly I hear the plop of him jumping off the bed and coming to raid the kitchen for scraps. I'm gonna miss his scared faces when I'm yelling at the T.V. during Pacers games. I'm gonna miss him scratching the front door when he needs to go out.

                            He will be missed deeply.
                            Those feelings ring very familiar to me. Just a couple years ago my pooch passed away. Had him for a bit over fifteen years. All those feelings you have..........let's just say you're not alone in having them. It is heart-wrenching.

                            So sorry about your loss.

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                            • #29
                              Re: In Loving Memory

                              At least Jack's last Pacer season they were in the playoffs...
                              Follow me at @Bluejbgold

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