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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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Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

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  • #31
    Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates.

    Originally posted by TheSauceMaster
    I'm in a tough situation , my GF lives in the Bogalusa, LA and I have no form of contact to reach her and God knows when I will be able to get in contact with her. I honestly don't know how bad that area was hit , I got a small update from someone that Slidell was hit very hard and is South of Bogalusa. Bogalusa is approx 70 miles or so North from New Orleans so I'm hoping that's a good thing. Last I heard from her was Sunday night about 8pm with a Voicemail because I was out visiting family. I have heard some reports that some have fled to Franklinton which is pretty close to Bogalusa.

    If anyone has any info about this area , I would appreciate it. I'm not a deep religous person but I tell you what I have said alot of prayers the past few days. I know right now it's pointless to even try to make my way down.
    Good luck to you too...let us know when you hear something.

    Comment


    • #32
      Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates.

      Originally posted by cramerica
      Good luck to you too...let us know when you hear something.
      I sure will , I'm trying to stay positive right now but that's getting harder each passing day. If anyone is trying to find someone these site's might help.

      http://neworleans.craigslist.org/laf/
      www.katrinacheckin.org



      Live streaming news

      http://www.wdsu.com/video/4907831/detail.html

      http://www.wdsu.com

      http://www.wwltv.com


      Latest reports are saying 12-16 weeks before people are actually going to be allowed to return , 2-3 months before they have power.
      Broadcasting Classic Rock Hits 24/7 SauceMaster Radio!!!!

      Comment


      • #33
        Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

        I used to live there during one of my internships. I can tell you all that from living there that it is devestated, I know its one thing to see it on the news, but let me tell you that the place i used to live in is gone. So if you have the means, please help in any way you can. The apartment i used to live in is right where the levee first broke so i can tell you that its bad, All the things we take for granted are gone.
        "If I tell you its Easter, you'd better hide eggs" - Peyton Manning to Marcus Pollard

        Comment


        • #34
          Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

          Also, if there is any way to donate non-perishables its better than money because we saw what happened to that money after 9/11 and the Tsunami. So, believe me that is more welcomed. So, if you can PD make it happen
          "If I tell you its Easter, you'd better hide eggs" - Peyton Manning to Marcus Pollard

          Comment


          • #35
            Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

            Honestly, they should not have major things built on the areas that are below sea level.

            Yes it was a rare storm, but the fact is that you can't have a major capital near the ocean, and below sea-level, and not expect this to happen.

            Just imagine if the storm had stayed at a catagory 5... there could have been 25-30 feet of surge down there.

            I feel sorry for anyone that lost lives and are experiencing tons of concern over loved ones.

            And for the damn thieves(not the people getting little bits of food, the people nabbing TV's and stuff).... they should go to jail for a very long time (10+ years). I've actually heard some of these people say that them taking stuff is "payback for the big guys bringing them down."

            Many corporations/local companies are now absolutely DESTROYED as well; companies are now going to lose millions of dollars, and yet the individuals ignore that. They figure, "Well I'm ****ed so I might as well get something out of it." The only thing they should get is a nice, long jail sentence.
            "It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

            ----------------- Reggie Miller

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

              http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hurricane...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

              There's concern that many thousands are dead.

              I think it might even get to 10,000 people. So many people ignored the advice to get out and tried to get through it.
              "It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

              ----------------- Reggie Miller

              Comment


              • #37
                Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates.

                I think that's the real tragedy here. Not as much the Hurracane but the thousands of people whoe were just so incredibly stubborn that they refused to heed warnings 3 days beforehand that this was going to be the worst disaster in their history.

                I understand some people were unable to get out, but a lot of them stayed by choice, too. That was stupidity on a massive level.

                Hopefully next time the mayor of a city BEGS his citizens to evacuate to higher ground, people might actually LISTEN.

                It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

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                • #38
                  Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                  I think alot of people don't understand alot did not have a choice. New Orleans has like a 40% poverty rate ,alot of people didn't have cars , money or even anywhere to go. It's nice there using buses to get people out , but why on earth could they not have gotten buses to do this before the Storm ? Yes there will always be people who decide to stick it out for the wrong reasons , but I think a majority of the people had no alternative. From what I understand trying to get out was just a nightmare , alot of places had no gas and people who had cars didn't have enough gas or even money to attempt such a effort. New Orleans and Louisanna in General is a very , very poor State. Estimates of people without Insurance for there home's have been said as high as 75% of the people don't have it , so alot of people virtually have nothing.

                  I'm not trying to make excuses , but there are factors that were out of about 100,000 people's control. Not to mention how deep inland this hurricane kept it's power.
                  Broadcasting Classic Rock Hits 24/7 SauceMaster Radio!!!!

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                    Originally posted by TheSauceMaster
                    I think alot of people don't understand alot did not have a choice. New Orleans has like a 40% poverty rate ,alot of people didn't have cars , money or even anywhere to go. It's nice there using buses to get people out , but why on earth could they not have gotten buses to do this before the Storm ? Yes there will always be people who decide to stick it out for the wrong reasons , but I think a majority of the people had no alternative. From what I understand trying to get out was just a nightmare , alot of places had no gas and people who had cars didn't have enough gas or even money to attempt such a effort. New Orleans and Louisanna in General is a very , very poor State. Estimates of people without Insurance for there home's have been said as high as 75% of the people don't have it , so alot of people virtually have nothing.

                    I'm not trying to make excuses , but there are factors that were out of about 100,000 people's control. Not to mention how deep inland this hurricane kept it's power.
                    i don't want to sound cruel here, but they do have legs, all they needed to do was leave in advance. Car pool, bikes, take the bus, have your family help you in any way, etc.

                    Plus they could go to the SuperDome as well, and those that chose to avoid that probably regret it. As long as people are still living they have something, things can always change.
                    "It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

                    ----------------- Reggie Miller

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                      I got an update on my aunt and uncle....

                      Their house somehow did not get flooded, however, they do have some damage, trees down into the house, fence is gone, the power pole connected to their house was ripped right off the house and pulled some of the wiring right out of the house. But overall, nothing that can't be fixed given time. They consider themselves very lucky.

                      Oh, and my brother's in-laws house made it without the water getting up into the house. it came within 3 inches of the door before subsiding.....

                      So fortunately, some more good news for my family.

                      As of today, my brothers friend still doesn't know where his family is though. He's still hoping they are in a shelter somewhere....

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                        The activities in N.O. are starting to get absolutely out of hand. There are reports that a national guardsman has been shot, looters stole a generator being used by the Arcadian Ambulance service so now they don't have power, and they tipped over an ambulance as it was trying to help evacuate people.
                        Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                          The problem is not building below sea level, the problem really is constructing strong enough/capeable enough river/seadefences aswell as building fundamentally sound/strong houses. I heard that both of these were lacking in a pretty big way.

                          Anyway, this is a terrible disaster and I hope the number of casualties won't rise any further and the lawlesness in some parts will cease, so the attention can be shifted 10% to providing help and aid.

                          Regards,

                          Mourning
                          2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                          2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                          2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                            Originally posted by Since86
                            The activities in N.O. are starting to get absolutely out of hand. There are reports that a national guardsman has been shot, looters stole a generator being used by the Arcadian Ambulance service so now they don't have power, and they tipped over an ambulance as it was trying to help evacuate people.

                            God bless those heros at Acadian Ambulance service.

                            I mean it, that is the primo Ambulance in all of America & the men & women who work there are truely special.

                            These are not Gov. employee's so just like every other person who worked for any company they could have abandoned ship when Katrina hit, but the did the opposite.

                            www.acadian.com


                            Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                              I know that this will probably sound petty but I didn't really relize how much Katrina was going to affect us. I thought it was just another hurricane (like some of the people who didn't make it). The day it hit I knew it was bad because where I work couldn't take credit cards, and our bank was down too. Supposing some big TeleCorp Co. is in N.O. that stores Nationwide run numbers through.

                              Again I know its petty but thats when I realized that it was big and that is was going to affect the nation. Not just the south.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates.

                                http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Hur...ory?id=1090282

                                By ALLEN G. BREED Associated Press Writer
                                The Associated PressThe Associated Press

                                NEW ORLEANS Sep 2, 2005 — An explosion at a chemical depot jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over a city awash in corpses and under siege from looters. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

                                Vibrations from the blast along the Mississippi River and a few miles east of the French Quarter were felt all the way downtown. A series of smaller blasts followed and then a cyclone of acrid, black smoke.

                                To jittery residents of New Orleans, it was yet another fearful sight in a city that has deteriorated rapidly since Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.

                                Congress was rushing through a $10.5 billion aid package, the Pentagon promised 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to stop the looting and President Bush planned to visit the region Friday. But city officials were seething with anger about what they called a slow federal response following Hurricane Katrina.

                                "They don't have a clue what's going on down there," Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL-AM Thursday night.

                                "They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of ******* excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed."

                                Seeking to deflect rising criticism of the federal response, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Friday: "In this catastrophic event, everything that we had pre-positioned and ready to go became overwhelmed immediately after the storm."....*



                                Well, It is a four page article so I thought I'd just post the part about the explosion. I heard this live on the radio news this morning, a reporter was near when it happened and while he was asking what was going a local worker/volunteer just cursed at him. It was something like, "Hey, we don't need this ****, Get the F**k outta here!" The picture is just wild. Something I would expect to see from the fall of Saddam or something.

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