Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

PD Check-in

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #46
    I'm happy to be where I am as always living on a mountain near a ski resort in Colorado. I operate a grocery store company which is essential and business has been off the charts for the past 2 weeks so everyone is working long days with few to no days off. It did help a lot when our governor shut down the ski resorts last week and all the tourist left but we still haven't been able to catch up due to the increase in business and product shortage. Our county has the highest number of confirmed cases in the state even though our population is a fraction of Denver and I have several friends in quarantine awaiting results which so far seem to take about 10 days not the 72 hours that they claim. We of course are taking every precaution we can.
    Why do teams tank? Ask a Spurs fan.

    Comment


    • #47
      Originally posted by Pacerized View Post
      I'm happy to be where I am as always living on a mountain near a ski resort in Colorado. I operate a grocery store company which is essential and business has been off the charts for the past 2 weeks so everyone is working long days with few to no days off. It did help a lot when our governor shut down the ski resorts last week and all the tourist left but we still haven't been able to catch up due to the increase in business and product shortage. Our county has the highest number of confirmed cases in the state even though our population is a fraction of Denver and I have several friends in quarantine awaiting results which so far seem to take about 10 days not the 72 hours that they claim. We of course are taking every precaution we can.
      yeah, i read about this specific county i think yesterday in the nyt. **** might get pretty ugly there supposedly.

      i'm in NYS, but not NYC...no corona in the area, but i'm catching aids from some of the idiot posts in the covid-19 thread....

      Comment


      • #48
        Lithuanian from Chicago checking in. Most of my life I lived in Chicago, but my blood is Lithuanian.

        I got pretty worried couple weeks ago when I looked deeper into this garbage. Sorry for the word, but that's how I feel. I hope that when everything will be behind us - world community and our life style will change. Only one way to overcome such things in future (and now) is to work together. World has enormous industrial, intellectual potential. Against deadly threat we have to be united. Some countries, some places are much more protected, some places - much more vulnerable.

        Chicago and Chicago metro area is a major transportation, travel, just over all industrial hub. Naturally, to implement all necessary precautionary means here is a bit challenging. Still, the mayor of Chicago ( tough little lad) and the governor of the state Pritzker, IMHO, so far did very good job. Now it's up to us to be smart, take day by day. It's like a war time. We survive one day -good. On to the next one.

        We can talk, argue endlessly. We can provide millions of solutions. Reality is - NOBODY was prepared and expected such event. If we add to this beauty to all the regional conflicts, oil war - our world was never so unstable since the WWII.

        There are bright things. We, people, if we exercise maximum discipline and will - we will prevail.

        I've been around the world. What worries me, that USA is a Federal Democracy. A lot of is left on individual consciousness. China - Communist dictatorship, Iran - religious leader is in charge. God forbid, I'm not an advocate for the extreme political and social mold, but freedom comes with the responsibility.

        Look at Italy. Country with such rich history. History in science, political science, etc... Now the country is put on it's knees and exist in the maximum survival mode.

        Yes, as bellow my username says - I'm "eternal optimist". I hope that we will survive and after that our concern should be building a better world, protecting it. Taking care of each other.

        BTW, we were hitting such a nice moment in the NBA season. Pacers looked so good - and now NBA and basketball is the last thing I think about
        12-12-2018, 09:20 PM


        Myles Turner during Vic's postgame interview: "Tell you what the East is in trouble now boy"

        .

        Comment


        • #49
          Originally posted by dal9 View Post

          yeah, i read about this specific county i think yesterday in the nyt. **** might get pretty ugly there supposedly.

          i'm in NYS, but not NYC...no corona in the area, but i'm catching aids from some of the idiot posts in the covid-19 thread....
          What’s lockdown like?
          "We've got to be very clear about this. We don't want our players hanging around with murderers," said Larry Bird, Pacers president.

          Comment


          • #50
            Originally posted by rock747 View Post

            What’s lockdown like?
            just doing what everyone across the us should be doing anyway at this point (unless you work on-site for an essential business): staying home, except for ~ weekly trips to the grocery store

            Comment


            • #51
              Originally posted by dal9 View Post

              just doing what everyone across the us should be doing anyway at this point (unless you work on-site for an essential business): staying home, except for ~ weekly trips to the grocery store
              I work an industry that does work inside big manufacturing facilities. They aren’t shutting down until the state does. Right now, Indiana isn’t shutting down. These 100’s of people will be going to work together, on Monday, in the same building across the state.
              "We've got to be very clear about this. We don't want our players hanging around with murderers," said Larry Bird, Pacers president.

              Comment


              • #52
                Originally posted by rock747 View Post

                I work an industry that does work inside big manufacturing facilities. They aren’t shutting down until the state does. Right now, Indiana isn’t shutting down. These 100’s of people will be going to work together, on Monday, in the same building across the state.
                ya, i'm not saying quit your job obviously...but your employer shouldn't be forcing you in to work at this point, unless the business is essential (which is pretty broadly defined, even in NY)

                Comment


                • #53
                  Originally posted by Timmitou View Post
                  Checking in from Hamburg, Germany.

                  Having a bit of a rough time. After going on a trip to Malta with my wife on March 11, we were put in mandatory quarantine by the government there hours after arriving, without prior warning - they did that to all tourists arriving from Germany on that day. We then spent a week basically locked into a crappy Airbnb struggling to get enough food and desperate to find a way back home. We made it back home on Tuesday, but have now been told that on one of our flights two of the other passengers were travelling despite already having symptoms and have subsequently tested positive. My wife and I now both have a mild cold and are of course wondering if this is the onset of COVID-19 or not. So far the symptoms really aren't all that bad, but my wife has asthma, so naturally I am worried. We're trying to get her tested but getting that arranged is turning out to be much more difficult than you'd like it to be. As long as we don't know whether we're infected or not, we do of course have to stay at home and self-isolate 24/7. Not that there is anything going on outside that we're missing out on. Germany is pretty much in complete lockdown.

                  Luckily, this doesn't have any impact on us financially because we're both able to work from home. But I sure wish there were some Pacers games on to distract me from all this... But don't we all?
                  In case anyone was wondering, here's a quick update: We have been tested yesterday and the results are negative. So we're good for now.

                  Take care of yourselves, everyone. And, you know, stay at home as much as you can.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Originally posted by Timmitou View Post

                    In case anyone was wondering, here's a quick update: We have been tested yesterday and the results are negative. So we're good for now.

                    Take care of yourselves, everyone. And, you know, stay at home as much as you can.
                    That's really good news. The "not knowing" part is definitely hard. I'm just assuming my wife and I have it. There's not much we'd change in how we do things right now. It seems almost everybody will get his eventually. Best we can do is stay home, stop the spread, and try to make sure those who it hits bad and need help can get it.

                    Doug

                    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


                    • #55
                      Originally posted by Doug View Post
                      That's really good news. The "not knowing" part is definitely hard. I'm just assuming my wife and I have it. There's not much we'd change in how we do things right now. It seems almost everybody will get his eventually. Best we can do is stay home, stop the spread, and try to make sure those who it hits bad and need help can get it.

                      Doug
                      How are your symptons, if you do not mind sharing?
                      {o,o}
                      |)__)
                      -"-"-

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Originally posted by owl View Post

                        How are your symptons, if you do not mind sharing?
                        Mild to trivial. Wife has what we would normally call just a cold or a sinus infection. I've got general achiness through my shoulders and just a hint of a runny nose. Son had a bit of a fever (~100) on and off last week, but nothing persistent. Taken in isolation (ha!) I wouldn't think twice. But combine them all into one person: fever, runny nose, cough, aches kind of fits the profile. So we are just trying to be vigilant about the sudden onset of respiratory problems or if fevers reoccur. My other two kids who were with us on the trip don't really have any symptoms at all. They are staying home though too. We are probably 9 or so days from when we would have been exposed.

                        It's also entirely possible we don't have anything out of the ordinary at all. In fact, I rather thought we made it through the trip without being exposed. It wasn't until the middle of last week that we started wondering a bit more about if we had it. We mostly feel fine.

                        Doug

                        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


                        • #57
                          Originally posted by Doug View Post
                          Mild to trivial. Wife has what we would normally call just a cold or a sinus infection. I've got general achiness through my shoulders and just a hint of a runny nose. Son had a bit of a fever (~100) on and off last week, but nothing persistent. Taken in isolation (ha!) I wouldn't think twice. But combine them all into one person: fever, runny nose, cough, aches kind of fits the profile. So we are just trying to be vigilant about the sudden onset of respiratory problems or if fevers reoccur. My other two kids who were with us on the trip don't really have any symptoms at all. They are staying home though too. We are probably 9 or so days from when we would have been exposed.

                          It's also entirely possible we don't have anything out of the ordinary at all. In fact, I rather thought we made it through the trip without being exposed. It wasn't until the middle of last week that we started wondering a bit more about if we had it. We mostly feel fine.

                          Doug
                          For future reference at some point, even if a month for two from now it would be nice to know if you have had Corona virus infection. Hope things continue to be
                          mild. Let us know how things go.
                          {o,o}
                          |)__)
                          -"-"-

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Originally posted by Doug View Post
                            Mild to trivial. Wife has what we would normally call just a cold or a sinus infection. I've got general achiness through my shoulders and just a hint of a runny nose. Son had a bit of a fever (~100) on and off last week, but nothing persistent. Taken in isolation (ha!) I wouldn't think twice. But combine them all into one person: fever, runny nose, cough, aches kind of fits the profile. So we are just trying to be vigilant about the sudden onset of respiratory problems or if fevers reoccur. My other two kids who were with us on the trip don't really have any symptoms at all. They are staying home though too. We are probably 9 or so days from when we would have been exposed.

                            It's also entirely possible we don't have anything out of the ordinary at all. In fact, I rather thought we made it through the trip without being exposed. It wasn't until the middle of last week that we started wondering a bit more about if we had it. We mostly feel fine.

                            Doug
                            Stay strong and smart! Hopefully it's nothing serious, but if conditions will start worsening - rush to the hospital ASAP. Meanwhile watch your food, do everything to strengthen your immune system. Good luck and I hope that sometime from now you'll remember it like a little scare, nothing more
                            12-12-2018, 09:20 PM


                            Myles Turner during Vic's postgame interview: "Tell you what the East is in trouble now boy"

                            .

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Indianapolis— south side

                              kids home, same as all of you with kids.

                              I normally work from home, that is the same. My employer is HUGE but the stock price is down 52%



                              Name-calling signature removed

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Guangdong, China here. Have been working online for a couple months now, and things are pretty free and back to normal for those of us that rode it all out from inside the country.

                                As a nation, almost all of the new cases coming from outsiders, even though now every returning person in most provinces have 14 day quarantines in hotels directly when they arrive to the airport.
                                Pretty surprised by how quickly things passed and returned to normal, given all the media hooplah and how nervous some people here were for a while, but medical workers here kick a**, and free testing and care if you had the virus definitely worked (one of the reasons I chose to stay in the country, instead of working remotely in Bali or wherever).

                                All of my friends and coworkers were fine, a few people I know were trapped in Wuhan or Hubei province because they visited family during CNY, but they were all totally fine as well, and will be able to leave the city at some point. I was more worried for them than myself of course, so glad they were all able to weather the storm at home with family and stay sane.

                                Wishing for the best for the fellow Americans. I know from reading and watching news, and hearing from family and friends, that preparation could have been much better, but that time has passed. Hoping the hospitals can get the supplies and funds they need, and that people and small businesses can get enough aid. Take care people, it will hopefully be a lot better in the next couple months.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X