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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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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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Coldpocalyse 2014

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  • #76
    Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

    Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
    I think the same jerk passed me on Washington yesterday afternoon. Jackass even cut me off because I couldn't go faster than 20 without losing control out there.
    Was it a white truck? He cut the mini van off and all I could do is shake my head at the guy. Washington St was not in good condition and I was not going to go over 20 either. Sure I was late to work, but at least I was in one piece.

    Comment


    • #77
      Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

      Originally posted by neosmndrew View Post
      I'm heading back to the Cleve this weekend. Hope it won't be as bad there!
      Originally posted by cdash View Post
      Not sure about the Land of Cleves, but Toledo is supposed to hit +40 degrees on Saturday, which is going to feel like freaking spring compared to this onslaught of misery.
      Yup, supposed to be back to 40ish Saturday. It got very cold, but we got little to no additional snow during this coldpocalypse thing.

      Comment


      • #78
        Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

        Originally posted by thewholefnshow31 View Post
        Was it a white truck? He cut the mini van off and all I could do is shake my head at the guy. Washington St was not in good condition and I was not going to go over 20 either. Sure I was late to work, but at least I was in one piece.
        I honestly couldn't remember now (I was more worried about keeping the car on the road than noting the color of a truck that cut me off ), but I don't think it was white. Must have been his brother Darryl. Or maybe his other brother Darryl....
        "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

        "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

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        • #79
          Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

          A warm and snug 21 degrees right now. I could almost go tan.

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          • #80
            Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

            I have a 4x4 truck, and even though I get plenty of roadrage I don't drive like a dick, but one thing that kills me is when two cars both are going slowly right beside each other. I get going slow, but at least move over and go slowly behind each other letting others get through that are more capable of handling the conditions.

            On the flip side though, we drove down to Lawrenceburg to go skiing 1/2/14 when the snow first came down, wasn't in my big ol Dodge but we were in my GF's Jeep. It was really bad going down SR3, I got a little uneasy going any faster than 45. Quite shocking to watch this little Prius blow by me doing close to 60. Kept waiting to come up on them on the side of the road, but never did. They weren't the only ones, but it's crazy to see jackasses fly up and tailgate you only to jerk their car into the other lane with 5-6 inches of snow coming down at you.

            First day back to work since 2:30pm on New Year's Eve. Really bad case of cabin fever.
            Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

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            • #81
              Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

              Originally posted by Hicks View Post
              A warm and snug 21 degrees right now. I could almost go tan.
              Bit cooler here, 16, but tell me about it. Went to get lunch and thought about not even taking my coat. Did of course, I'm not a moron, but seriously felt like I didn't need it.

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              • #82
                Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                There is a comfortable medium to the snow driving dance if people just respect lanes. The issue is that a lot of slower drivers or cars that cannot easily handle the weather choose to drive in the fast lane and it is beyond frustrating. Especially when the road finally clears up and yet they still drive 30 under the speed limit. It is just as dangerous as driving way too fast but for different reasons.


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                • #83
                  Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                  I'm starting to feel like:

                  Comment


                  • #84
                    Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                    Lost power on Sunday at 2PM around 71st and Keystone. Waited a couple of hours and decided to pack up what we needed and headed down to Parents house in SouthPort. The drive was white knuckle. People are crazy. I can't believe anyone would tailgate another car in this kind of weather rather than going around. Its not like there wasn't room.

                    Power came back on Tuesday at 4PM, our neighbors across the street had power by 4 AM Monday morning. Why IPL would leave the other side of the street with out power is mind boggling. I think its has to be that our Lines are behind the house across a creek and the service techs didn't want to have to bring a ladder out, said screw it. let some other crew deal with it.

                    We put our food in the garage and came home to frozen blocks. But better than spoiling.

                    Tip for the wise. If your power goes out like this and you abandon ship. Turn on the faucet farthest away from your main water shutoff valve and then shut the water off. This should relieve enough pressure and empty out the pipes enough so that the freezing expansion doesn't burst your pipes, and if it does atleast the water is off and you don't come home to a flood zone. Never leave your water just trickling if you are leaving the house for several days.

                    My Subaru WRX is monster in the snow though, it feasted plenty. First big snow storm with this car and I have to say it is most impressive with AWD.
                    You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

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                    • #85
                      Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                      I've been playing basketball outside in shorts and a T-shirt...

                      Comment


                      • #86
                        Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                        Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
                        Lost power on Sunday at 2PM around 71st and Keystone. Waited a couple of hours and decided to pack up what we needed and headed down to Parents house in SouthPort. The drive was white knuckle. People are crazy. I can't believe anyone would tailgate another car in this kind of weather rather than going around. Its not like there wasn't room.

                        Power came back on Tuesday at 4PM, our neighbors across the street had power by 4 AM Monday morning. Why IPL would leave the other side of the street with out power is mind boggling. I think its has to be that our Lines are behind the house across a creek and the service techs didn't want to have to bring a ladder out, said screw it. let some other crew deal with it.

                        We put our food in the garage and came home to frozen blocks. But better than spoiling.

                        Tip for the wise. If your power goes out like this and you abandon ship. Turn on the faucet farthest away from your main water shutoff valve and then shut the water off. This should relieve enough pressure and empty out the pipes enough so that the freezing expansion doesn't burst your pipes, and if it does atleast the water is off and you don't come home to a flood zone. Never leave your water just trickling if you are leaving the house for several days.

                        My Subaru WRX is monster in the snow though, it feasted plenty. First big snow storm with this car and I have to say it is most impressive with AWD.

                        I live near there that would probably explain why my power went out for 5 seconds and then came back.

                        Comment


                        • #87
                          Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                          Here is a great read. Indystar reporter's 24 hour drive from Chicago to Indy. Never been through anything like this, but have a few times felt the fear of driving on an interstate with blowing snow and not being able to see the road you are driving on at all, not being able to see the lines. it can be very scary. Can't even see well enough to pull over. Next scariest thing is feeling like you have no control of your car while a semi passes you on the left and thinking you are about to get crushed.

                          http://www.indystar.com/story/news/c...hours/4365013/

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                          • #88
                            Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                            Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                            A warm and snug 21 degrees right now. I could almost go tan.
                            it is amazing how much warmer today feels than Monday. But then Monday was almost 40 degrees colder with a wind chill probably 60 degrees colder.

                            Comment


                            • #89
                              Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                              Originally posted by ilive4sports View Post
                              I've been playing basketball outside in shorts and a T-shirt...
                              Die


                              Comment


                              • #90
                                Re: Coldpocalyse 2014

                                Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                                Here is a great read. Indystar reporter's 24 hour drive from Chicago to Indy. Never been through anything like this, but have a few times felt the fear of driving on an interstate with blowing snow and not being able to see the road you are driving on at all, not being able to see the lines. it can be very scary. Can't even see well enough to pull over. Next scariest thing is feeling like you have no control of your car while a semi passes you on the left and thinking you are about to get crushed.

                                http://www.indystar.com/story/news/c...hours/4365013/
                                I've never had a terrifying experience in the snow, but 2 years ago I did a summer road trip with two buddies. We borrowed my dad's car (an A8) and set off to meet a friend in Sacramento then hit Portland and Seattle and come back. So we leave on a friday around noon and hit Iowa right around 6 or so I can't rmemeber exactly. We knew there was rain coming, but being from the midwest and driving through plenty of rain storms in my life time, I thought nothing of it....BIG MISTAKE. The next 45 minutes were the most white knuckled driving experience of my life. It shoudl have been a clue when literally everyone in front of me pulled off at a rest stop right as we were about to the edge, but like I said, I thought no big deal and plowed forward down I-80 in the middle of butt**** nowhere Iowa.

                                Immediately as we hit the edge of the storm I knew I had made a mistake, rain was thick and the wind was heavy visbility was literally zero. A few times in front of me I could see the rain begin to rotate and I thought we were all goners. At this point we were committed to getting through the storm in the vehicle because we were toast if we got out, it was that bad. I will love that A8 til the day I died because with the roads being cleared I put that V8 to the ground with Quattro and got our asses through the storm as fast as possible. On the other side we saw at least 6 semis that had not just been over turned but were tossed off the road. Huge swaths of trees destroyed. Checking the news the next day before we took off from our hotel in Wyoming we learned we had driven through at least three touchdown tornadoes. I don't know how close they were to us, but based on one of the instances of rotation I would guess one crossed about 100 yards ahead of us at one point. Thank god for a ton of German steel and 360 horsepower going through the world's best 4 wheel drive system. But needless to say I am now much more careful when approaching a storm front on the open road. The most terrifying experience though of the whole thing besides the fear of a tornado going all Oz on our asses was that out of nowhere a car had stopped in the fast lane, not even under an overpass. Just sitting there stopped on the fast lane. There was semi stopped in the slow lane. They hadn't collided. I think the car was attempting to wait out the storm in the shadow of the semi, but I nearly hit them and then I laid on my horn and made their *** move out of the way because I was extremely concerned someone would hit me since I was now stuck behind this dumbass.

                                Granted it's kind of fun to think about now, but I about **** my pants driving through it.
                                Last edited by Trader Joe; 01-09-2014, 03:03 PM.


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