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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.

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Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

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  • Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

    I am just about to enter into an agreement to purchase a brand new Pulte home and I have heard some good and some bad on Pulte. Anyone here have any recent experience? Anything specifically to watch out for.

    Thanks

  • #2
    Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

    Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
    I am just about to enter into an agreement to purchase a brand new Pulte home and I have heard some good and some bad on Pulte. Anyone here have any recent experience? Anything specifically to watch out for.

    Thanks
    Same here... I've heard it both ways... but really cannot recall details.

    Have you ever had a home constructed? If not, one of the most important issues is the punch list and how it will be handled. Additionally, things that you might overlook like paint quality and when/how the concrete is poured.

    Nearly all contractors sub out things like painting, drywall, roofing, etc. Make certain that your contractor does NOT use contractor grade paint. For example, if they use Porter products, your contractor will default to a line called Hi-Hide flat. You will never be able to wipe it down, it will come off on the cloth you use. I love Porter products, but like any other line of paint you have to know what you are getting. You be the one to make that call; don't just default to whatever your contractor suggests. An extra 500 for the paint will go a long way in meeting the wear and tear of kids and normal cleanings.

    Same thing is true for concrete. Contractors will tell you that they can pour it just fine even in freezing weather, but the more anti-freeze they use in their mix, the less integrity and the more likely popping/spalling is to occur.

    To me, building a home is about the little things that are often overlooked and just taken for granted.

    All I would suggest is that you drive the contract and that you specify anything that is important to you. Sweat the small stuff; take nothing for granted.

    But sorry, I can't really help regarding Pulte's rep.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

      Generally speaking from my conversations with brokers in the residential business, Pulte is one of the more respected mass home builders around Indianapolis along with Drees homes.


      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

        Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
        I am just about to enter into an agreement to purchase a brand new Pulte home and I have heard some good and some bad on Pulte. Anyone here have any recent experience? Anything specifically to watch out for.

        Thanks
        We have Pulte here in GA too. While I'm not a fan of their designs and being cookie cutter, they do have a good reputation from what I've read for a mass producer of homes.

        My wife and I are trying to get a home that is more eco friendly, and I don't think Pulte goes out of their way for that. I'll have to check at home cause I have a nice Firefox Favorite folder for home builders, so I'll see if I have them in there.
        First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

          I am worried because they assure me that they can start the house in the middle of January and work straight through the winter - makes me fear that the foundation might not be as solid as if it were built in the middle of summer.

          One idea I've heard that sounds like a good idea to me - instead of having our home inspector inspect the home once it is complete, have them inspect along the way, 3 times along the process and again at the end. I am going to do that for sure

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

            Inspecting is good, generally though at this point in a home builders evolution, these guys know how to build in any weather. They have to in order to put up the number of homes they do.


            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

              TJ's right about building thru the weather, although I cringe when I see roofing going on in the freezing winter. I like to see the tabs seal down. Now, from my perspective it often has been the Pulte homes that people seemed to really like when looking at an existing property. I guess what I'm saying is they seem to have great resale value. My buyers seem to appreciate the amenities and quality of the home, generally without knowing who the builder was. Are they problem free? No home is problem free but they seem to be among the better of the mass produced homes and many of the custom builds too.

              EDIT...what do they say about inspection during the construction phase? Will they make changes if your inspector doesn't like something or do they say that your inspection comes prior to closing during final punch-out?
              Last edited by indygeezer; 11-16-2011, 04:01 PM.
              Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

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              • #8
                Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                I haven;'t told them about the inspector meeting with the builder. They have it built in that I meet with the builder I think twice during the building process to show me how "good it is, so I figure I can have the inspector with me then.

                good to hear about Pulte.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                  Looked at my list at home. I don't have Pulte in my favs.

                  Some eco builders I was looking at are Brock Built and Summit Homes. I don't know if they are outside Georgia. Sorry that wasn't much help.

                  I wouldn't be worried about a builder building homes in the winter. They know what they are doing. I'd be worried if it was some no name company though.
                  First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                    I've heard Pulte has a fairly high post-construction incident rate for poltergeists and/or trans-dimensional portals. I suggest you verify your building inspector has a paranormal inspection certification, preferably with the haunting specialization. Don't forget to request the standard Indian burial screening for your property with the county planning office.
                    You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
                    All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song

                    - Jimmy Buffett

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                      I don't have any personal experience with them, but i did look this up after remembering a retaining wall fell in one of their build sites, but the wall was not built by them. Every company has people that have issues with them.

                      http://www.kens5.com/home/Problems-w...-83208397.html

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                        Sorry I'm late to the thread. I've been busy lately because I just recently closed on a Pulte home. Centex was my builder, and I couldn't be happier with them. Craftsmanship is very good and the house was finished ahead of schedule. Everyone was friendly and helpful, and communication was very good. But I'm sure that depends mostly on your local building crews.

                        I can, however, tell you all about Pulte, if that's who you are going with for your mortgage.

                        Dealing with Pulte was the complete opposite of Centex. My realtor recommended we go with his guy at Metlife to handle our loan. Ultimately, we opted to go with Pulte because they will pay up to $2000 of closing costs. If I could do it over again, I would gladly pay the extra $2000 myself and go with Metlife.

                        Pulte's office is in Colorado, so all communication was done by phone (apparently only if they need to call you), mail, and email. It was so impersonal that they never gave any explanation of documents, even when we asked for additional clarification. It was always "I just need this document on file". At one point, we sent an email asking a question and received an automated response saying something like "we are experiencing high volume, we will review your email and get back to you within a week." ...three months later, I end up calling several times trying to get ahold of someone because no one was answering my questions. Everytime I called for the representative, an operator answered saying "i see you're trying to reach ..., this is 'whatever her name was', is there something I can help you with?" I'd finish my question, and the operator would say "oh, that's definitely a question for ..., I'll have her give you a call back." And I quickly learned that the only way they actually call back is if I'd call at least 2 or 3 times that day, and only would get straight answers if I'm lucky.

                        As if I wasn't irritated with them enough already, the night before closing, at around 5:00, I called them. I CALLED THEM, to make sure everything was in order, and was informed that they might have to push back our closing date. First of all, when were they going to let me know? I was scheduled to close at 11:00 the next morning. We ended up closing really late the next night, but almost didn't make it because they waited until the very last minute to submit paperwork. The really irritating part of that is we gave four extra months for Centex to build the house, and we pushed back closing about three weeks once the house was finished, so we could close around the time our lease was up at our apartment. We pretty much gave them an extra five months to work with, and we still almost didn't make it on time. The worst part was I told my realtor about all of this in front of one of the representatives for Centex, and the representative was not even remotely surprised, like none of this is new to him.

                        So that's been my experience with them. Couldn't be any happier with my house or the builder, but the mortgage company was a complete nightmare. If you are going with Pulte, you need to really stay on them to make sure they're doing their job and meeting deadlines.
                        Last edited by tsm612; 11-30-2011, 12:52 AM.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                          When I looked at the various builders several years ago, Pulte stood out in terms of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and flexibility. But they were slightly out of our price range in locations we wanted to build in.

                          We settled on Centex, and had more problems with them than I care to mention. Most of the folks in our development have had some major issues, conveniently a lot of them occurring right after the warranty period ended. We had problems upon moving in. Keep in mind that a lot depends on the construction foreman you end up with. We initially had a good one. He left, and then we inherited a walking disaster who didn't even know the building codes. The company fixed a number of problems (albeit poorly) but basically ignored many other issues. So make sure you get a foreman you trust (ask around in your desired subdivision) and if there are any changes in supervision, make sure you take daily or almost daily visits to the homesite and document any issues you might have. If I had to do it all over again, I would have found a way to go with Pulte, even if it meant waiting. IMO, you should avoid Centex at all costs.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                            Originally posted by joeyd View Post
                            When I looked at the various builders several years ago, Pulte stood out in terms of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and flexibility. But they were slightly out of our price range in locations we wanted to build in.

                            We settled on Centex, and had more problems with them than I care to mention. Most of the folks in our development have had some major issues, conveniently a lot of them occurring right after the warranty period ended. We had problems upon moving in. Keep in mind that a lot depends on the construction foreman you end up with. We initially had a good one. He left, and then we inherited a walking disaster who didn't even know the building codes. The company fixed a number of problems (albeit poorly) but basically ignored many other issues. So make sure you get a foreman you trust (ask around in your desired subdivision) and if there are any changes in supervision, make sure you take daily or almost daily visits to the homesite and document any issues you might have. If I had to do it all over again, I would have found a way to go with Pulte, even if it meant waiting. IMO, you should avoid Centex at all costs.
                            Just curious, what area was this where you had this experience, if you don't mind sharing? Because where I just built my house, Pulte and Centex are affiliated. Centex is the builder and Pulte is the mortgage company they have an agreement with.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Anyone have any experience with Pulte Homes??

                              According to he story I linked to above, Pulte bought Centex in 2008. They must be running the two divisions under seperate names.

                              Comment

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