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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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Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

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  • Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

    I was going to post this in the long ago Spierer thread but it was locked.

    http://www.lohud.com/story/news/loca...erer/15910395/


    Also, Holly Bobo's(disappeared around the time of Lauren) from Tennessee remains were found and two guys are being charged with her murder with possible death penalty. Let's hope the Spierer family eventually gets answers as well.

  • #2
    Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

    Anybody want to comment on their own personal theory as to what happened to Lauren Spierer?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

      She was out with someone that wasn't her boyfriend. These type of things typically are committed by boyfriends or husbands....
      Jealous boyfriend would be a legitimate motive.

      Without more information, it's not that far-fetched to think it could've happened that way.

      I've always thought he quickly jumped to the conclusion she was missing and needed police involved. Especially when you consider nothing has ever been mentioned how he knew she hadn't been back to her apartment, slept, and left for the day? Once he found out her phone had been lost at the bar it easily explained why she wasn't answering it. How'd he know she wasn't out looking for it that afternoon? Or out to lunch or a late breakfast? Or shopping for a new phone..... Or getting some hangover meds.... visiting with friends.... etc..... His timing seemed odd to me.
      Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

      ------

      "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

      -John Wooden

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

        Originally posted by Bball View Post
        She was out with someone that wasn't her boyfriend. These type of things typically are committed by boyfriends or husbands....
        Jealous boyfriend would be a legitimate motive.

        Without more information, it's not that far-fetched to think it could've happened that way.

        I've always thought he quickly jumped to the conclusion she was missing and needed police involved. Especially when you consider nothing has ever been mentioned how he knew she hadn't been back to her apartment, slept, and left for the day? Once he found out her phone had been lost at the bar it easily explained why she wasn't answering it. How'd he know she wasn't out looking for it that afternoon? Or out to lunch or a late breakfast? Or shopping for a new phone..... Or getting some hangover meds.... visiting with friends.... etc..... His timing seemed odd to me.
        I forget all the particulars. Is the boyfriend one of the people that is lawyered up and refusing to talk? Pretty hard to dispose of a body in that area without anybody seeing you isn't it?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

          Originally posted by presto123 View Post
          I forget all the particulars. Is the boyfriend one of the people that is lawyered up and refusing to talk? Pretty hard to dispose of a body in that area without anybody seeing you isn't it?
          It looks to me like the boyfriend has had the least cooperation of anyone. Everyone close to the case lawyered up. While the parents keep saying the boys she was with have not cooperated and painted them as refusing to talk, it's clearly not 100% the case because one of them allowed a meeting to be set up with parents (and I think private investigators too) and did meet with them (this being the last one to claimed to have seen her). Then you read the civil suit arguments and it becomes even clearer that they've talked because there are accounts only they could have given. Now, obviously the parents don't believe them but them not saying what the parents want to hear (admitting guilt) doesn't mean they haven't cooperated or told the truth.

          As for disposing of a body (or taking her alive) without someone (or a camera) seeing it happen.... I have no idea how hard it would've been but apparently it happened without a witness or being caught on camera or otherwise this case would be solved.
          Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

          ------

          "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

          -John Wooden

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

            Originally posted by Bball View Post
            She was out with someone that wasn't her boyfriend. These type of things typically are committed by boyfriends or husbands....
            Jealous boyfriend would be a legitimate motive.

            Without more information, it's not that far-fetched to think it could've happened that way.

            I've always thought he quickly jumped to the conclusion she was missing and needed police involved. Especially when you consider nothing has ever been mentioned how he knew she hadn't been back to her apartment, slept, and left for the day? Once he found out her phone had been lost at the bar it easily explained why she wasn't answering it. How'd he know she wasn't out looking for it that afternoon? Or out to lunch or a late breakfast? Or shopping for a new phone..... Or getting some hangover meds.... visiting with friends.... etc..... His timing seemed odd to me.

            Bball, IIRC, the boyfriend didn't report her missing until the afternoon - roughly 12 hours after she was last seen. First, he called her cell phone and was no doubt surprised when an employee of the bar answered it and said that it was left behind. Then he got an apartment key from her roommate and obviously didn't find her at the apartment. After talking with friends of hers who hadn't seen her either, he filed a missing person's report.

            http://truecrimezine.com/lauren-spierer-missing/

            I don't think that his behavior was particularly odd. The first thing that a college aged girl is going to do is try to get her cellphone back. Since he was able to call it and talk to the bar, then it stands to reason that she should have been able to do so too. The bar likely told him that she hadn't yet called to inquire about. Also, getting hangover meds or a new phone shouldn't take that long, plus getting a new phone wouldn't have seemed like something that she'd be doing considering how easy it was for him to locate the phone. Add all of that to the fact that she wasn't at home, and I'm sure that he was starting to get pretty worried by the afternoon. I think that his behavior was pretty normal.

            The guys who last saw her will always be a little suspicious. But if they had anything to do with it, then they literally (so far) pulled off the perfect crime. It means that they would have had to dispose of her in a way that no one has been able to find her for three years, not leave behind any substantial incriminating evidence, AND keep their stories straight for all of this time without a single one of them cracking. I just have always found it a bit hard to believe that these guys could be such great criminal masterminds. Say she OD'd at their house. Then couldn't they have just flushed any drugs down the toilet before the authorities got there? No one could have ever proved that they gave her drugs (if they in fact did - just speculating).

            The girl was obviously extremely intoxicated. She would have been an easy target for a random creep who found her to be the perfect opportunity. It's disturbing to think about, but that's what my hunch has always been.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

              Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
              She would have been an easy target for a random creep who found her to be the perfect opportunity. It's disturbing to think about, but that's what my hunch has always been.
              With some of the young women around her age that have disappeared in the state lately, I've wondered if there's a serial killer running around...
              "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. "

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

                That white truck has never sat well with me either. I remember that they initially thought the white truck circled the block twice, but then they said that didn't happen. The mix up was blamed on the cameras having different time stamps. So my question is, did any other cars appear on the tape and look as though they circled the block twice because of the time stamp issue? I know that it was the wee hours of the morning, but I have a hard time believing that no other cars drove by during this time. That is one of the most used roads in the city.

                Something about the white truck really stood out to them initially.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

                  BTW the civil suit has been tossed out by a judge. ...Which was the proper move legally IMHO. It simply had no basis and was a fishing trip. Worse, the parents had made several published comments that basically said exactly that (fishing trip) thereby weakening their own legal argument for the standing of the case in the first place.
                  Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                  ------

                  "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                  -John Wooden

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

                    Possible new break in the case. Police search Martinsville house:

                    http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/29/us/lau...ent/index.html

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

                      Anybody catch the 20/20 special tonight on ABC? Glad they are keeping this case alive. It was interesting to see different areas of Bloomington and the campus(and places of interest) for those of us that don't visit there often. Rossman still acting rude and suspicious and Bloomington Police are a bunch of morons. Investigator seems to think he is one interview away from breaking the case open, but I wonder. Hoping the parents get closure at some point.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Missing UVA Student Echoes Lauren Spierer

                        Yes, saw it last night. I thought they wasted some broadcast time chasing down dead leads. Not that there was anything wrong chasing down the leads, but since they basically didn't go anywhere I don't think we especially needed the dramatic polygraph video and the like. A summary would've sufficed.

                        The Bloomington PD came off as bad if not inept. They have the most information, and most access to information, don't 'seem' to be close to solving the case, yet seem totally uninterested in the public's help.
                        They are basically letting all PsOI flap in the wind by not raising or lowering suspicion on them or narrowing their focus. They refuse to release any of the video which could jar a memory somewhere (although that potential would've been particularly true year's ago now).
                        They refused to arrange a meeting with a legitimate reporter on a national stage with 20-20 and instead sought to avoid them. And in the process wasted the possibility of free national media exposure for the case and an opportunity to update and clean up the official narrative.

                        Let's just say the police focus is not as high as speculation leads us to believe on the last 3 publicly known to see her last alive, for instance. Possibly someone with questions about someone they know might be inclined to believe they are just being overly paranoid and silly and not want to cause trouble "since it's clear the 3 boys last known to have seen her 'did it'. They were even sued over it".
                        But that could totally be wrong and if that person was to learn in fact those 3 aren't seen as all but guilty by law enforcement then they might come forward with some key information.

                        Or maybe a cleaned up, updated, and filled in timeline with witness quotes and video would have someone saying "What? That can't be right because....." after assuming something they know about a witness was the same as what the police knew.

                        Which leads me to believe the Bloomington police must think they know what happened and don't need the public's input. Which is weird since apparently they can't close the circle to make an arrest, and since they were off in Martinsville or wherever this winter to some sex offender's family land based on some type of tip (which sounds like they are still wide open to all possibilities and needing more info).
                        Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                        ------

                        "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                        -John Wooden

                        Comment

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