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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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Back to School

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  • #16
    Re: Back to School

    Originally posted by Steagles View Post
    I am awful with math, but I'm starting precalculus this year, and calculus next year. I am not happy... However, I think the shorter summer will help a little bit with retaining the information. Now if only I could get the teacher that teaches the way I need to be taught. Right now, I'm stuck with the teacher that can't teach for her life when it comes to me.
    That was my issue with every school until I got to go to Warren Central Travmil is dead wrong about Warren Schools. They are really good if the student wants to learn they will get a great education. This coming from someone forced into private school by parents getting kicked out of the private HS was the best thing that every happen too me. Only problem is 40-60%% of the kids don't care and they get published instead of all the others who want to get taught and get taught.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Back to School

      Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
      ...Travmil is dead wrong about Warren Schools...
      No I'm not. I also have a 17 year old daughter. She went to Warren Schools. Don't come in here and act like I don't know what I'm talking about because I do. All we ran into were teachers who wouldn't control the kids in their classroom, teachers who wouldn't answer messages or return phone calls or e-mails, fights at the bus stops or on the bus, administrators who wouldn't do anything about the sexual harassment my daughter endured, the list goes on and on. I'm glad you enjoyed it but our experience was not pleasant at all.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Back to School

        Originally posted by travmil View Post
        No I'm not. I also have a 17 year old daughter. She went to Warren Schools. Don't come in here and act like I don't know what I'm talking about because I do. All we ran into were teachers who wouldn't control the kids in their classroom, teachers who wouldn't answer messages or return phone calls or e-mails, fights at the bus stops or on the bus, administrators who wouldn't do anything about the sexual harassment my daughter endured, the list goes on and on. I'm glad you enjoyed it but our experience was not pleasant at all.
        I do agree that controling the classroom was a major issue but there isnt much you can do. I was in a class where they would sell weed everyday and I did see 3-4 fights in my classroom and at least 1 a day outside of it really if I am a teacher I dont know what you do with thoes kids (because half the school is like that they dont care and just act out)


        Last part im really sorry to hear it seemed like every year the football team or swimming team would have a sick child molester. If what you are saying is true about not doing anything that is pretty disgusting.


        But as far as the teaching I got their it was so much better than I received at other schools.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Back to School

          What is school?


          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Back to School

            Work>school

            In most jobs, you have little to no homework (although I do read some work-related stuff at home most nights). I get to travel for my job too, which is interesting.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Back to School

              I know at least in the 80's, Warren was a good school. My dad went there and he was a genius. My mom went to Greenfield. By the way, Travmil, who is your daughter? I might know her, I know a lot of Warren students.
              Senior at the University of Louisville.
              Greenfield ---> The Ville

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Back to School

                My mom went to Greenfield back in the 80's, what year did your mom graduate????
                Turner and Young are THE FUTURE!

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Back to School

                  Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
                  I do agree that controling the classroom was a major issue but there isnt much you can do. I was in a class where they would sell weed everyday and I did see 3-4 fights in my classroom and at least 1 a day outside of it really if I am a teacher I dont know what you do with thoes kids (because half the school is like that they dont care and just act out)


                  Last part im really sorry to hear it seemed like every year the football team or swimming team would have a sick child molester. If what you are saying is true about not doing anything that is pretty disgusting.


                  But as far as the teaching I got their it was so much better than I received at other schools.
                  Good night! I am glad you got a good education, but it seems like you just proved travmil's point. Sounds like a madhouse based on what you have described. As a teacher I lose respect for a colleague that does not return calls, emails etc. Communicating with parents is paramount to the job IMO.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Originally posted by DangerGranger3pointranger View Post
                    My mom went to Greenfield back in the 80's, what year did your mom graduate????
                    1985 I think.


                    Sent from #ColtsNation using Tapatalk
                    Senior at the University of Louisville.
                    Greenfield ---> The Ville

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Back to School

                      Originally posted by Steagles View Post
                      By the way, Travmil, who is your daughter? I might know her, I know a lot of Warren students.
                      I doubt if you know her, we sent her back down to Terre Haute to live with her grandparents and she's getting ready to start her Senior year at Terre Haute North.
                      Last edited by travmil; 08-05-2012, 10:00 PM.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Back to School

                        Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
                        Good night! I am glad you got a good education, but it seems like you just proved travmil's point. Sounds like a madhouse based on what you have described. As a teacher I lose respect for a colleague that does not return calls, emails etc. Communicating with parents is paramount to the job IMO.
                        Yeah I was gonna ask how on earth that made it look like I was dead wrong. Sounds like I'm right on. What can you do? Besides remove your child from that environment and place them in a school where those things aren't considered normal? I guess not much.

                        Unfortunately P4E is indirectly demonstrating part of the problem. The people in this area DO consider the situation he's describing to be normal. I complained about it at one of our HOA meetings and the parents there said the exact same thing. They said "What can you do? You'll have that everywhere". I say bull****, you can do plenty and it's NOT like that everywhere.
                        Last edited by travmil; 08-05-2012, 09:59 PM.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Back to School

                          Originally posted by travmil View Post
                          Yeah I was gonna ask how on earth that made it look like I was dead wrong. Sounds like I'm right on. What can you do? Besides remove your child from that environment and place them in a school where those things aren't considered normal? I guess not much.

                          Unfortunately P4E is indirectly demonstrating part of the problem. The people in this area DO consider the situation he's describing to be normal. I complained about it at one of our HOA meetings and the parents there said the exact same thing. They said "What can you do? You'll have that everywhere". I say bull****, you can do plenty and it's NOT like that everywhere.
                          It's scary that there are communities that support that kind of an environment at school. Schools can improve themselves, but the biggest problems in public schools start with the homes these kids come from. The sooner the parents clean up their acts, the sooner the public schools get better.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Back to School

                            Originally posted by travmil View Post
                            Yeah I was gonna ask how on earth that made it look like I was dead wrong. Sounds like I'm right on. What can you do? Besides remove your child from that environment and place them in a school where those things aren't considered normal? I guess not much.

                            Unfortunately P4E is indirectly demonstrating part of the problem. The people in this area DO consider the situation he's describing to be normal. I complained about it at one of our HOA meetings and the parents there said the exact same thing. They said "What can you do? You'll have that everywhere". I say bull****, you can do plenty and it's NOT like that everywhere.

                            I can't tell you this is a perfect method or it would work there or anything. But let me preface by saying I am teaching at one of the worst performing schools in one of the worst performing states in the entire nation. Needless to say for the most part many of the kids I teach are not exactly cream of the crop. Whenever a student is running their mouth or being disruptive I hit the call button to remove them. If they do the same thing tomorrow I will hit the button tomorrow. I am not worried about annoying an administrator or doing any of that.

                            Finally, if kids are running their mouths or fighting a grade of F sends a loud message. If kids start to understand you will not pass them if they come in to class and try to destroy things then word will eventually get around and kids will get the message to act right.

                            Who knows if this stuff would work at Warren Central, but I can honestly say my classes after the first two weeks are well behaved and I have never ever had fights or other BS arise such as what has been described.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Back to School

                              Wait, wait, P4E kids were selling weed in your school, fights every day and you thought this was a good environment? Going to Brebeuf I got to go to a lot of Indy area schools to play basketball. Warren Central always gave me the heebie jeebies, I did not feel comfortable there on more than one occasion. Never felt that way at Pike or heck even Arsenal Tech (though maybe I should have). I have never heard a single good thing about Warren Central or the Warren schools.


                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Back to School

                                Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
                                I can't tell you this is a perfect method or it would work there or anything. But let me preface by saying I am teaching at one of the worst performing schools in one of the worst performing states in the entire nation. Needless to say for the most part many of the kids I teach are not exactly cream of the crop. Whenever a student is running their mouth or being disruptive I hit the call button to remove them. If they do the same thing tomorrow I will hit the button tomorrow. I am not worried about annoying an administrator or doing any of that.

                                Finally, if kids are running their mouths or fighting a grade of F sends a loud message. If kids start to understand you will not pass them if they come in to class and try to destroy things then word will eventually get around and kids will get the message to act right.

                                Who knows if this stuff would work at Warren Central, but I can honestly say my classes after the first two weeks are well behaved and I have never ever had fights or other BS arise such as what has been described.
                                I'm glad you found something that worked for you.

                                But let me ask you this: You teach secondary ed, right?

                                I was in elementary ed. (I've been out of that field for 3 years now). At that age range, you can't just threaten to flunk them or just keep kicking them out like that. If you kept kicking a kid out like that the administrator would bite your head off because they expect you to figure it out yourself and assume you were the problem if you failed to handle it. It's a different mindset with those grade levels; there's a lot more pressure to take care of things on your own and to make sure kids pass on at what felt like almost any cost. It's a troubling thing. I think part of it is there's worry about the kid's social wellbeing and growth if they're held back, but I sometimes wonder if it's a number game as well (looks bad to have failing students; someone's head eventually rolls).

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