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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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Words We Wrote

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  • #46
    Re: Words We Wrote

    Like a Dutch Bob Dylan. Nice collaboration guys.

    Comment


    • #47
      Re: Words We Wrote

      I decided to starting writing poetry once.
      I lost my "journal" halfway though my first attempt at a poem.
      I took that as a sign that it was not to be.
      You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
      All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song

      - Jimmy Buffett

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: Words We Wrote

        Originally posted by Doug View Post
        I decided to starting writing poetry once.
        I lost my "journal" halfway though my first attempt at a poem.
        I took that as a sign that it was not to be.
        When I saw 3 lines I thought for sure it was going to be another hiku.

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: Words We Wrote

          Originally posted by grace View Post
          When I saw 3 lines I thought for sure it was going to be another hiku.
          Nah, I don't consider my haiku to be real poetry anyway, more like engineering. Not to say that I haven't churned out a few reasonable ones.
          You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
          All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song

          - Jimmy Buffett

          Comment


          • #50
            Re: Words We Wrote

            Originally posted by kester99 View Post
            I like Trapped Now and Leonard Cohen a lot. It's all good, but those were my favorites. Thanks for spelling my name right.
            -- Insert smiley thing here --
            Thanks for the comments Right now, my personal favorite's Bored in the gourd, because of the lyrics, and because of the fun guitar riffies I put in there. Really pleased with the result I gotta say. I think, of all songs, it sounds most "finished". Sorry I didn't send it to you like I said I would.....it's just that I never really got to it and then yesterday it sounded immediately right with the single notes added....

            Originally posted by LoneGranger33 View Post
            Like a Dutch Bob Dylan. Nice collaboration guys.
            Thanks, but please don't call me Dutch....
            Word on the street is he doesn't want your money, he only wants to please your ears...
            Bum in Berlin on Myspace

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: Words We Wrote

              Here's what a fellow musician I met in NY had to say about my songs...well, mainly about kester's words

              Nice tunes on your myspace BTW. I think my favorite is Bored in the Gourd. May be the first time I've ever heard the word "lassitude" used in a song. Awesome job!
              "Just don't care about nothin' since I cared about you"... That's a damn good lyric.
              PS She's quite hot
              Word on the street is he doesn't want your money, he only wants to please your ears...
              Bum in Berlin on Myspace

              Comment


              • #52
                Re: Words We Wrote

                I like her a lot. Sight unseen.


                [~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Words We Wrote

                  I'll post the song later...for this one the lyrics came first. Usually it's the other way around, which is quite hard sometimes.

                  tired

                  gonna sleep a bit now
                  in the grass like a cow
                  maybe chew on some abstract question
                  one that's tasteful and light
                  every answer is right
                  no need to worry about the digestion

                  looking back on what I've done with my life
                  at the age of 25...makes me very

                  tired of being optimistic sometimes
                  tired of being lost but never found
                  tired of all the wordplay and the rhymes
                  tired of being pushed around

                  gonna crawl into bed
                  a depression ahead
                  and embrace it like an old lover
                  well her name was Suzanne
                  and she said yes we can
                  find our way to a four-leaf clover

                  feel so empty don't wanna do anything
                  and I don't wanna talk about it...why I'm so

                  tired of being optimistic sometimes
                  tired of being lost but never found
                  tired of all the wordplay and the rhymes
                  tired of being pushed around

                  and maybe it's time to finally grow up now
                  give up on that secret crush

                  but the dreamer keeps on dreaming the dream
                  the dreamer keeps on dreaming the dream

                  gotta stop playing it safe
                  and come out of my cave
                  maybe go on a crazy journey
                  but got no energy left
                  it's a scandalous theft
                  gonna go talk to my attorney...cause I'm so

                  tired of being optimistic sometimes
                  tired of being lost but never found
                  tired of all the wordplay and the rhymes
                  tired of being pushed around
                  Last edited by Raskolnikov; 05-01-2009, 06:54 AM.
                  Word on the street is he doesn't want your money, he only wants to please your ears...
                  Bum in Berlin on Myspace

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: Words We Wrote

                    Nice, Rasko!

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Words We Wrote

                      Wrote this in Iraq during a difficult time.

                      THE UNLIKELY JOURNEY

                      Twilight comes to all of us, sooner rather than later
                      And through unforeseen fate, necessity can become a part.
                      The horizon is not distant anymore and Hope nothing but a mist

                      A calling not my own beckoned me to a foreign land.
                      To serve fathers, mothers, sons and daughters and forgive a void long ago.
                      But the Cradle of Civilization not what was expected.

                      I see them so young - a need to lift their hearts.
                      But cannot replace the comfort of the home they left behind.
                      Still, the father in me is to care for the warriors of many places

                      I see those so different and have the wisdom to know
                      Man is man, woman is woman and child is child - I can make a difference however small.
                      The bounty is not my own, it is for the good of one and all.

                      Chaos creates chaos, conscience guides my path.
                      Death lies in wait for some – a truth that cannot be denied.
                      Embrace the opportunity to make the right decision

                      But Evil comes from “friends”. They test the simple intent
                      The test of what is meant. I do not pass their test.
                      Results are unexpected, the return is so confused.

                      The heart and mind are injured and the Soul has been destroyed
                      What was the meaning of all of this I ask?
                      St.Jude I need your help to find my Father’s ear.

                      I do not know the answer of the road you led me to.

                      My mind carries the load of time and trials away from one protected.
                      I await the answer to my prayers with belief I am not wrong.
                      In His own time, with deepest hope, my prayers will be answered.

                      Now I am the professional. Knowledge replaces the heart.
                      Experience and words replace spirit and the Soul.
                      He says, “It is now meant for you.”

                      Last edited by ABADays; 04-30-2009, 07:13 PM.
                      The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

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                      • #56
                        Re: Words We Wrote

                        Waiting to hear the tune, Rasko!

                        ABA...seems like those words were hard-won. Welcome back.


                        [~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: Words We Wrote

                          tired on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video....?v=75639849122

                          or megaupload: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=67H7KLY2
                          Word on the street is he doesn't want your money, he only wants to please your ears...
                          Bum in Berlin on Myspace

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Words We Wrote

                            One more -- what the heck.

                            Feels like a holiday
                            though it's not,
                            it does, in some way.
                            Feels like a timeless night
                            even though
                            I have to get up, at daylight.

                            Seems like the rain that fell up north
                            has made it here and let forth.
                            Feels like there's no one else around.
                            The rain on the trees is the only sound.

                            Just the porch chair and me,
                            with a beer that I like,
                            for company.


                            [~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Re: Words We Wrote

                              Monkey Heaven and this Mortal Coil
                              ---------------------------

                              Can we think or conceive without physical structure?
                              Can we make our way forward without feet in the picture?
                              The spatial is there as you travel through time.
                              The physical's here as I wrestle this rhyme.

                              Monkeys past made my only palette of words.
                              My spine and upright gait limit my world.
                              I say higher or deeper as if my brain
                              were a vertical axis stuck up from a plane.


                              Monkey Heaven's up high where the bugs have to fly.
                              Monkey Hell's down below where the ooky things go.
                              I can see the great heaven from the top of my tree,
                              and pray those who've fallen can rise and join me.


                              Do you see what I did there? But pardon you me,
                              how did my eyes or my hands enter this screed?
                              If things I believe are what I stand for,
                              Could I not say the same laid out on the floor?

                              So wrong, say they some, for we know what we know.
                              To discredit our logic, what lengths will you go?
                              What depths will you sink to? (Logic's muddy down there.)
                              What terms would you use when you want to split hair?


                              Should we go back to Latin, which an ape never shat in?
                              Should we coin esperanza to spruce up our stanza?
                              Monkey Heaven's up high where the bugs have to fly.
                              Monkey Hell's down below where unpleasant things go.


                              On the one hand, it's sweet to point out the basis
                              of right "thinking" that's left so much egg on our faces.
                              On the other, our senses make us reason through pictures.
                              and it's senseless to try and break out of these strictures.

                              So confine your thinking to the old ties that bind,
                              just let the preconceptual color your mind.
                              If it's pithy and juicy, it's so good to know.
                              If it stinks or it's awkward, just let it go.


                              Monkey Heaven's up high where the bugs have to fly.
                              Monkey Hell's down below where the snakey things go.
                              I can see the great heaven from the top of my tree,
                              and those who fell (or were pushed) can rise and join me.


                              Doesn't Blake's immortal hand or eye
                              which framed our bilateral symmetrie,
                              want us to be balanced, upright, even-handed?
                              That's the posture to take.
                              It's the way that He planned it.

                              But these terms are the termites that are bothering me
                              as I climb round my cozy evolutionary tree.
                              As I wonder how long, how high, and how wide,
                              please don't bug me on monkey matters of pride.


                              Monkey Heaven's up high where the bugs have to fly.
                              Monkey Hell's down below where the ooky things go.
                              I can see the great heaven from the top of my tree,
                              and pray those who've fallen can rise and join me.


                              -- kester 2010


                              [~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!

                              Comment

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