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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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Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

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  • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

    Just in time to add insult to injury to return to beat us

    Comment


    • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

      Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
      By the pressure gauge that Walt Anderson remembers that he used in pregame, the Patriots footballs dropped in pressure by an average of 1.01 psi by halftime. The expected drop based upon the ideal gas law, as described in the Wells report, is 1.13 psi.

      There is, pure and simple, no credible scientific evidence that anyone took any air out of any football. If anything, it seems like the Patriots somehow ADDED 0.12 psi of air!

      But... Wells realized this. Thus he decided that, on the important point of which gauge he used, Walt Anderson's memory was faulty. Remember, two gauges used INTERCHANGEABLY differed in accuracy by almost 0.4 psi! That allowed him to argue an average pressure drop of 1.39 psi in the Patriots footballs. Then he was worried that people would think that 1.39 is pretty darn close to 1.13, when other issues such as the footballs being waterlogged are taken into account (Simulations point to about an 0.2-0.3 psi drop due to the footballs getting wet). Let's pay down the fact that the pressure, even in Well's preferred scenario, indicates 0.26 or less psi taken out!

      The solution? Let's talk about the 4 Colts footballs tested at the tail end of the 13 minute halftime show, after they have been sitting in the heated room for 10 minutes or more. (They ran out of time to measure more than 4). Sure enough, these footballs, having partly warmed up (and it takes 20-25 minutes for footballs to reach thermal equilibrium, their own studies show), only dropped 0.56 psi! Let's hope that the public doesn't remember that we talked about the ideal gas law in detail, and that a 1.13 psi drop will happen. The general public will not notice that either 1) the Colts footballs violate the laws of our universe; or 2) the Colts footballs had warmed up enough by the time 4 of them were tested that the drop was large enough to be statistically different from the drop by the Patriots footballs.

      Then Wells decided that we will get a Princeton physicist to verify that the two sets of numbers are statistically different, being careful not to ask him WHY they are statistically different!

      I am a science professor. The scientific analysis is so sloppy that it is ludicrous. Even Florio and King recognize that. The scientific firm Wells hired had previously genenated scientific reports arguing on behalf of clients that 1) asbestos is not a carcinogen; and 2) second hand smoke is not dangerous.

      So the answer is I don't know if Brady did anything. But there is absolutely not a single shred of scientific data to back up that rather serious accusation.
      Which is why Wells doubled down on the weasel words, offering the opinion that "more likely than not" Brady was "generally aware" of wrongdoing, if wrongdoing occurred. And then said that it was "more likely than not" that wrongdoing did occur. His efforts paid off, because all of the" maybe" & "probably" and "likely" & 'could have" and "entirely plausible" weasel words were immediately & thoroughly ignored and replaced with a yes/no verdict by lazy media and lazier fans.

      Until a few scientists like me spoke up and pointed out glaring errors in the Wells report SO CLEAR that even a scientific layperson like Florio or King could see the holes in them, so big that you an drive a truck through.

      But... likely too late to make a difference. Goodell has spent too much money and the fans of 31 teams want blood.
      Slick

      Some people believe that the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941 were on a routine recon flying over Pearl Harbor when they realized that fuel was getting really low and so they had to lighten their load to get back safely so they just happened to eject their payload over Pearl..It was very innocent and not meant to cause us to declare war on Japan.

      Comment


      • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

        There is a fan petition for the Patriots to refuse to hang the championship banner on opening night if Brady is suspended.

        The championship banner will debut, if the suspension holds up and the fans get their way, in game #5.

        yes, the Patriots will carry their championship banner in front of them as they emerge from the tunnel at Lucas Oil stadium in game #5.

        /facial
        The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

        Comment


        • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

          Originally posted by speakout4 View Post
          Slick

          Some people believe that the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941 were on a routine recon flying over Pearl Harbor when they realized that fuel was getting really low and so they had to lighten their load to get back safely so they just happened to eject their payload over Pearl..It was very innocent and not meant to cause us to declare war on Japan.
          Science suggests otherwise. I trust Science.

          If your DNA (Tom Brady) is not at the murder scene, and someone else's is (Mother Nature) then it makes you wonder.
          The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

          Comment


          • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

            Originally posted by clownskull View Post
            Should be more than that but they will also lose a 1st round pick. (Still not enough)
            Should be more? This is a pretty significant punishment. Missing 4 games without pay is about $2 mil out the window for Brady. A $1 mil fine on the franchise, losing a 1st round pick (huge), and a 4th round in 2017. Much stronger penalty than spygate.

            Comment


            • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

              I hit it right on the head. Been saying 4 games since it broke. Yeah!

              Comment


              • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
                There is a fan petition for the Patriots to refuse to hang the championship banner on opening night if Brady is suspended.

                The championship banner will debut, if the suspension holds up and the fans get their way, in game #5.

                yes, the Patriots will carry their championship banner in front of them as they emerge from the tunnel at Lucas Oil stadium in game #5.

                /facial

                Who cares....tainted banner you mean.

                Comment


                • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                  Perspective:

                  He gets the same suspension that Ben Rothlisberger got for having non-consentual sex with a drunk stranger in a public bathroom, for the second time in less than one year.
                  The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                  Comment


                  • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                    Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
                    Science suggests otherwise. I trust Science.

                    If your DNA (Tom Brady) is not at the murder scene, and someone else's is (Mother Nature) then it makes you wonder.
                    And when that test is sabotaged and refused... You become at best 49.99% "innocent".
                    Originally posted by Natston;n3510291
                    I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of the 3 T.J.s working for them, and that ain't bad...

                    Comment


                    • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                      Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
                      Perspective:

                      He gets the same suspension that Ben Rothlisberger got for having non-consentual sex with a drunk stranger in a public bathroom, for the second time in less than one year.
                      You have to take every suspension the NFL has ever done PRRV (Pre-Ray Rice Video) with a huge grain of salt...That video has completely changed everything legal wise, if Ben did something like that now I have no doubt he'd be suspended for a good portion of games.
                      "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


                      • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                        Originally posted by Suaveness View Post
                        First game back will be vs Colts unless they drop the games
                        Don't be surprised if it isn't dropped either. The NFLPA will appeal this.

                        I thought it was too much for Brady. I'm fine with the draft picks and fine for the Patriots. JMO.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                          Vincent's letter letter to Tom Brady makes the typical omissions (underlined):


                          ... you were (more likely than not) generally aware of the actions of the Patriots employees (that may have been, more likely than not) involved in the deflation of the footballs...


                          Wells was apparently 100% right in thinking that if he wrapped his conclusions in all sorts of weasel words like "may have" & "plausibly" and "more likely than not" that the lazy media, the lazy NFL, and the lazier public would forget all about all of those weasel words and distill his findings down to a yes/no verdict, regardless of the evidence (or lack thereof).
                          The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                          Comment


                          • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                            If anything they shouldn't have lost draft picks and been fined. Wells report cleared the Pats. The book should have been thrown at Brady though.

                            Really hoping that Brady is total crap this year without his cheating and the Pats are left without even a first rounder to try and replace his cheating ***.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                              Originally posted by shags View Post
                              Don't be surprised if it isn't dropped either. The NFLPA will appeal this.

                              I thought it was too much for Brady. I'm fine with the draft picks and fine for the Patriots. JMO.
                              The suspension is comparable to a failed PED test which sounds about right.
                              Originally posted by Natston;n3510291
                              I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of the 3 T.J.s working for them, and that ain't bad...

                              Comment


                              • Re: Colts vs Pats AFC Title Game (and Deflategate discussion)

                                Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
                                Vincent's letter letter to Tom Brady makes the typical omissions (underlined):


                                ... you were (more likely than not) generally aware of the actions of the Patriots employees (that may have been, more likely than not) involved in the deflation of the footballs...


                                Wells was apparently 100% right in thinking that if he wrapped his conclusions in all sorts of weasel words like "may have" & "plausibly" and "more likely than not" that the lazy media, the lazy NFL, and the lazier public would forget all about all of those weasel words and distill his findings down to a yes/no verdict, regardless of the evidence (or lack thereof).
                                In this case more likely than not refers to 99%

                                Comment

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