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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.

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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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BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

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  • BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

    In wake of "Inconvenient Truth," and Academy Awards, I was surprised to see this:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...Global+Warming

  • #2
    Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

    There is some interesting stuff in there, I dont presume to know the answer to why and how our climate is changing. The hegemony that climate change must be caused by humans isn't a good thing. We definately needed unbiased science and analysis on this topic.

    However, there seems to be some issues with that documentary. First of all it wasn't made by the BBC, it was made by Channel 4 in the UK, which although it is publicly funded like the BBC, is an independant entity as far as I can tell.

    Reading over the wikipedia entry details some of the criticism of how the doco was made.

    Some things that we do surely know about our situation regarding energy. Fossil fuels and nuclear fission technologies are unsustainable. Regardless of how much the waste byproducts of these energy production are damaging the environment, we can only use them for so long until we have used them up. The smog that surrounds the largest of the worlds cities is another undesirable effect. I walk to work and it troubles me to think how much cr@p I am breathing in on a daily basis.

    Developing sustainable energy technology should be space race of the decade. The side effect of ensuring our energy independence means we wont have to worry about maintaining an excessive flow of oil from the middle east through the support of friendly dictatorships and attempted nation building. If we had spent all the money that went to the War in Iraq on sustainable energy development we would be in a much better situation.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

      Originally posted by skyfire View Post
      Some things that we do surely know about our situation regarding energy. Fossil fuels and nuclear fission technologies are unsustainable.
      ???
      The poster formerly known as Rimfire

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

        Originally posted by DisplacedKnick View Post
        ???
        Agree.

        I mean, technically solar power's not sustainable, because in 4 billion years the sun is likely to go supernova, meaning we'll no longer be able to get solar power. But that's not going to keep me up at night.

        We're an awful long way from running out of fissionable material.
        This space for rent.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

          Originally posted by DisplacedKnick View Post
          ???
          I would replace that thought with the idea that higher dependence upon fission will make us reliant upon some nuclear fuel resources that are not totally under the control of the United States, or at least will not be, should demand and rate of consumption of nuclear fuel increase substantially.

          We should be using fission a lot more, but as a 20/30-year stopgap to more sustainable technologies.
          The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

            Originally posted by Anthem View Post
            Agree.

            I mean, technically solar power's not sustainable, because in 4 billion years the sun is likely to go supernova, meaning we'll no longer be able to get solar power.
            And then what are we going to do? I demand government fix this NOW, before it is too late! We cannot let the sun go out. I hate darkness most of the time anyway. What is congress doing about this? How long can they ignore it? When will the media wake up!?

            We must lead the charge to get the nations of earth to sign a treaty and begin implementing plans to both reduce our reliance on the sun as well as keep the sun burning. We cannot let it go out and we shouldn't take it for granted any longer!

            We can tax and regulate businesses as a way to both control and cap their abilities to darken the sun.

            I, for one, shall seek a grant to fund my research into this calamity that we are bringing on ourselves. Then I will make sure Congress hears about this impending doom that we are causing. Their arrogance must not allow the sun to go out! I may be one voice now, but soon I will be part of many.

            Save our sun! Keep the fire burning!

            -Bball
            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


            • #7
              Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

              Sure we could deplete oil/gas/uranium resources and then worry about replacements, but whether it is our generation, or 10 generations down the line, this stuff is going to run out. I agree with nuclear fission being used as a bridging technology where it is cost effective.

              Countless billions of dollars have gone into the development of the combusion engine, which hasn't majorly changed since its inception. The technology is as refined as it is likely to get. Making renewable technologies that will provide our needs for the present and the future is going to cost money in research and development.

              You guys can joke about the sun going supernova effecting our energy needs, but were talking billions of years as compared to hundreds of years.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                Originally posted by skyfire View Post
                Countless billions of dollars have gone into the development of the combusion engine, which hasn't majorly changed since its inception. The technology is as refined as it is likely to get.
                I completely disagree. IMO the point we need to get to is hydrogen combustion, which results in water dripping out of a tailpipe. That's a relatively simple adaptation of the internal combustion engine and right now offers far and away the best solution.

                Today you can purchase cars that run on natural gas. This is a far cleaner, cheaper fuel than petroleum products. Moving from that point to Hydrogen is relatively simple - once we get the H2 refinement process figured out.

                I find absolutely no validity in thinking that the internal combustion engine is a dead end.
                The poster formerly known as Rimfire

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                  Changing the fuel input to a combusition engine doesn't majorly change the design of the engine. Natural gas conversions that you mentioned use two fuels on the same engine.

                  I dont disagree that burning hydrogren would be a great fuel if it could be made safe and abundant. However creating hydrogren that can be burned takes alot of energy at present, so much more work is going to have to be done before that is really a viable option.

                  Edit: some estimates say a sustainable method for splitting hydrogen from sea water and developing it to the point where it is commercial is 10-15 years away. link

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                    Originally posted by skyfire View Post
                    Natural gas conversions that you mentioned use two fuels on the same engine.
                    Evidently you don't know what I'm talking about since that is untrue.

                    I'd suggest reading up on the NG-fueled Honda Civic.
                    The poster formerly known as Rimfire

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                      So, the whole point of the global warming scam is to get us focused on other forms of energy production? That is what has happened in this very thread. Interesting that the two have nothing to do with each other, but the Pro-global warming crowd will use one to push the other.

                      I am in no way stating that those proposing alternate fuel sorces in this thread are in the global warming is man's fault camp, just stating that theose that are will use it to push this agenda which should be more than able to stand on its own.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                        There are already Natural Gas stations in California.

                        Trouble is, you end up buying a car that is only useful locally. (no road trips, etc.)

                        Forget that! Cars are supposed to equate to freedom of movement.
                        “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

                        “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                          Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                          There are already Natural Gas stations in California.

                          Trouble is, you end up buying a car that is only useful locally. (no road trips, etc.)

                          Forget that! Cars are supposed to equate to freedom of movement.
                          Yeah - but when cars first got started there weren't filling stations - you better have a supply at home. Of course that goes back to the dual-fuel vehicles you were talking about.

                          But the stations won't get built until there's a market - so you have to bite the bullet at some point. Now it's easier for me - I happen to be a 2-car person so if I'm not driving within 200 miles I can take something else. But I haven't driven further than that in a while - I've taken much more to flying as I age.

                          The kicker is that the jump from NG to H2 isn't a big one (once the production process gets figured out). Should be able to adapt it. The shocker for me is that a NG-powered car isn't much more expensive than gas-powered once you figure in the rebates - and much cheaper to operate. And the idea of fueling at home while I sleep is sweet.
                          The poster formerly known as Rimfire

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: BBC Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

                            Originally posted by DisplacedKnick
                            Evidently you don't know what I'm talking about since that is untrue.

                            I'd suggest reading up on the NG-fueled Honda Civic.
                            I was getting confused between NG and LPG, for which conversions take place quite commonly in Australia, allowing you to run two fuels on the one engine.

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