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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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I need help buying a new PC

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  • I need help buying a new PC

    Hi all.

    I have recently been offered by my folks to get a new PC as a college graduation gift.

    However, here's where it gets trickier and left me unsure how to approach it:

    1) It needs to be pre-built (like from Dell or Alienware, or whomever)
    2) My price range isn't totally clear, but I'm thinking it needs to be either not much more than $2000, or if I'm lucky, no more than $2500
    3) This cost limit also must cover a new monitor (I'm thinking a flat-panel, 19" non-widescreen)

    Also, please note that due to being a Ball State student, I already have a free copy of Vista Ultimate that I could use to upgrade from a fresh copy of XP that would come with this new PC, and also Office 2007.

    With those things established, what's my best bet to get the most bang for my (folks') buck in this scenario? I know it's cheaper to buy separately and build it here, but that's not on the table this time. I'm positive it can cost $2000 or slightly more (within $100), so I definitely would like to know what my best options are there, but it's somewhat likely I could justify going up to $2500.

    With all that established, could any of you please help me see what's the best PC I can get in this scenario? THANK YOU!

  • #2
    Re: I need help buying a new PC

    I don't have the time to look right now, but you could configure a pretty rocking Dell for well under 2K.
    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: I need help buying a new PC

      No joke.

      What are you going to be doing that requires a $2000 machine?

      EDIT: I just spec'ed a pretty screamin machine at $1,958. 22" widescreen, CPU upgrade, extra 250GB hard drive (in addition to the 250gb drive it comes with). Pretty much the works. Hypothetically, you can get machines that are more expensive, but why? You won't be able to tell the difference. You're pouring your money down the drain.

      My advice, get a $1000 machine that's almost as good, and ask your parents for the extra $1,000 in cash. You can get a lot with $1,000.
      This space for rent.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: I need help buying a new PC

        I'm looking at a gaming PC, so in turn that includes getting "the best" processor, ram, and graphics card as possible. Not to mention high-quality power and cooling.

        If I just wanted something to type with and surf the internet on I wouldn't even be thinking this high.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: I need help buying a new PC

          Mal,

          I've had some experience in this field so here are my thoughts.
          Alienware is probably the most well-known brand of the type of prebuilt gaming-pc you're thinking of. And they used to be good, damn good. I think Dell owns them now and a lot of my friends that and people in general have noticed a decline in quality as well as customer service from them recently. During the last year I went to a lot of gaming conferences and got to play and "study" some of these systems and if you're looking for a prebuilt one I'd recommend Falcon Northwest and the Voodoo systems before the Alienware or a stock Dell. The Dells are nice but overpriced compared to the performance they put out.

          Let me know if you have any more questions.

          P.S I love your avatar, what a great movie.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: I need help buying a new PC

            I've heard of both Falcon Northwest and Voodoo, good picks; I'll check out their websites.

            If you, efx, or anyone else (Kegboy?) has time, I'd appreciate if you'd experiment piecing together the best setup you can with the price range I've mentioned. It would help confirm/deny what I think might be best. I'm not as in-touch with the latest stuff (processors, RAM, video cards, etc.) as I was 5 years ago. That would help me out considerably, actually!

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: I need help buying a new PC

              Ok, I'm still at work so I'll have to be kind of brief but I'll give you the lowdown on what I think "PC Gaming" needs right now and where it's heading.

              It seems that for now DX10 is not going to be used as quickly and by as many as MS had hoped, though it still makes the choice of videocard an important one.

              How soon do you need to get this? The reason I'm asking is that Nvidia is sort of owning the market right now because ATI hasn't offered up their equivalent offer just yet. Based on some early tests though they are going to be somewhat faster than the nvidias offering. What I'd do if I could would be to wait until they come out (probably in june/july) because you'd see some pricedrops from nvidia pretty quickly. But if you need a card right now I'd say the 8800GTS 640mb one is your best bang for the buck right now.

              For memory settle for nothing less than 2gigs. Games are eating memory nowadays and the demand is only going to get higher. Plus, if you're running vista you'd need it too.

              One of the biggest changes in game reqs that I've seen recently is the need for cpu power. The last few years have been dominated by games that rely very much on the power of your videocard and you'd be able to get away with a wider range of cpus. More and more games are taxing the cpu though. Good examples are Supreme Commander for example. For this, the speed isn't as much an issue as it used to but developers are looking to optimize more for the amount of cores. Right now, pretty much any system you'll buy will have a dual core. But I know certain companies (Like Valve) are now optimizing for hte new quad core systems that intel are pushing out. Dual cores are still fine of course but if I could swing it I'd aim for one of the cheaper quad cores from intel. And that bears mentioning again, intel. AMD has slacked off horribly recently. Intels are now cheaper and run cooler than AMD. It may change in the future (it usually does heh) but for now I'd stick with intel.

              Those are pretty much the important parts I think. I know it's not exactly a specific recommendation for you but it might give you some insight where the tech is now and where it might be heading.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: I need help buying a new PC

                Can you get discounts through Ball State?
                Narf!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: I need help buying a new PC

                  Maybe, but I'm not aware of any discounts. They gave me a discount for the iBook G4 I'm typing on right now, but I think their deal is just with apple. I could be wrong though. Good idea; I'm actually having my last class right now in the same building as their dept. that deals with these types of questions; I'll go ask on my way out. Thanks!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: I need help buying a new PC

                    Yeah, no problem. I have to get a new laptop this summer for law school and I know I can get a deal on a bunch of different PCs or an apple (although, oddly, I can't use an apple because it's strictly not allowed for exams). Thought you might be able to in case. If you find out, let us know.

                    However, most schools just purchase a whole bunch of 4 or 5 computers at the beginning of the year and offer a discount on those. And it's unlikely any of them would be useful gaming PCs, but it's worth a look.
                    Narf!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: I need help buying a new PC

                      BSU apparently has a deal with apple and Gateway. The girl I talked to believed that if I got an order in before I graduate next Saturday, I should be able to get an undisclosed discount on my purchase. I haven't checked the site yet.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: I need help buying a new PC

                        Does Gateway build anything that could constitute a gaming PC?

                        Maybe you could at least get an Apple monitor on discount?
                        Narf!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: I need help buying a new PC

                          Well, I got a Gateway PC as half of a Christmas gift (the other half I saved for) for Christmas '99, and I still use the monitor from that setup, but of course not the PC. At the time though, it did the job just fine.

                          What I'd like to do, if I could convince them to do it, is to assemble a custom PC from alienware or falcon NW or wherever, right down the parts, and then find them online to buy them for less money. That's exactly what I did three years ago, and it worked more than it didn't. The catch is a got a bad harddrive in the process, and the power supply on the case I still use is a hairdryer in terms of noise. So I was stuck with that, and I'm weary of that kind of thing happening again.

                          Does the store Fry's have comparable prices to online retailers?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: I need help buying a new PC

                            What ever you get, trash Vista and "upgrade" to XP Pro if you want a great gaming rig.
                            "Just look at the flowers ........ BANG" - Carol "The Walking Dead"

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: I need help buying a new PC

                              Eh, that's true now, but it won't be for the full lifetime of this PC.

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