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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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COVID-19

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  • Sweden drops yet another position in deaths per capita. Germany? Creeping up with a continued high number of deaths that tend to show a seasonal pattern overwhelming valiant attempts to slow the spread. Poland is struggling. France locked down and numbers are slowing.

    Comment


    • Today's weekly update was grim. The Doctor who led today's briefing worked in an ER yesterday and he literally cried as he was telling us about a non covid patient who could not get to definitive care well past the time needed because there were no beds at any of the hospitals because they were all filled with Covid patients. They predict next week will be the catalyst for what they are worried will be a super breakout in two weeks because they believe that most people are just going to go ahead with Thanksgiving as usual.

      Things most people don't think about is how this is impacting 911 call centers. Due to close enclosed proximity's in some of the centers they are experiencing massive shortages across the state. The state Police also has a high number of Troopers off on quarantine.

      I know everybody here takes this serious, please make sure your loved ones do as well. This is far far worse than the initial surge. The patient's aren't always as severe but the sheer number has over run our hospitals and medical facilities, which it did not do the first time.



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

      Comment


      • Our Thanksgiving was cancelled. BTW Peck, this is precisely what my concern was earlier in the year. I expected this to be a huge surge this fall/winter much like the 1918 Spanish Flu I researched...where no vaccine was available and the only thing we could do to prepare is try to expose the population during the warmer months. Many here scoffed at that but I was quite serious. Now we are going to have people with strokes and heart attacks either dying at home due to lack of 9-11 service or at the hospital due to lack of beds, nurses and doctors. My greatest fear was that people would be dying in their homes while their loved ones could do nothing but watch. I realize this isn’t something most envisioned but as a deep dark dark sider that is the nightmare I feared most.

        Comment


        • Let me say this. It is time right now for governors to order a complete lock down. Ban Thanksgiving gatherings. You got next year to do that. Maybe make it a federal holiday week next year. We all know...my god why do I have to state this...there were surges after the 4th of July and labor day. Thanksgiving could be...as Saddam might say...the Mother of all Super spreaders. People from across the nation getting together and taking it back home. Super bad idea.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Peck View Post
            Today's weekly update was grim. The Doctor who led today's briefing worked in an ER yesterday and he literally cried as he was telling us about a non covid patient who could not get to definitive care well past the time needed because there were no beds at any of the hospitals because they were all filled with Covid patients. They predict next week will be the catalyst for what they are worried will be a super breakout in two weeks because they believe that most people are just going to go ahead with Thanksgiving as usual.

            Things most people don't think about is how this is impacting 911 call centers. Due to close enclosed proximity's in some of the centers they are experiencing massive shortages across the state. The state Police also has a high number of Troopers off on quarantine.

            I know everybody here takes this serious, please make sure your loved ones do as well. This is far far worse than the initial surge. The patient's aren't always as severe but the sheer number has over run our hospitals and medical facilities, which it did not do the first time.
            This is incredibly helpful to know. I think I can get deceived on how many hospital beds are still available in Marion county and the surrounding counties and think we are not at a dangerous inflection point just yet. I know it is coming it just difficult to see the impact on the ground.

            My Thanksgiving is my family of 4 and my mom. I will get tested today as IU is offering it for free.

            Comment


            • I was reading random FB posts and saw someone, acknowledging Covid-19, and agreeing with the prediction that it would be worse after Thanksgiving and then mention he himself had 2-3 Thanksgiving family gatherings to attend.
              Take all the time you need to follow that reasoning. But there is a point hidden in there... Not only do people attend one holiday family gathering, but in today's world of step parents, etc., there can be multiple dinners to attend. Mix in a state/region like we see here in Indiana with plenty of deniers, and a new narrative of "War on Thanksgiving" (or "War on the Holidays") to help steel their desire not to "live in fear", and the situation is ripe for trouble. Particularly, when you see someone that even acknowledges the situation but still plans to attend not one, but multiple gatherings... because that is what they do.

              We still have an EMT/Paramedic locally posting anti-virus stuff on his FB as our local health nurse pleads for people to take this seriously because the hospitals are full.
              Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

              ------

              "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

              -John Wooden

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Bball View Post
                I was reading random FB posts and saw someone, acknowledging Covid-19, and agreeing with the prediction that it would be worse after Thanksgiving and then mention he himself had 2-3 Thanksgiving family gatherings to attend.
                Take all the time you need to follow that reasoning. But there is a point hidden in there... Not only do people attend one holiday family gathering, but in today's world of step parents, etc., there can be multiple dinners to attend. Mix in a state/region like we see here in Indiana with plenty of deniers, and a new narrative of "War on Thanksgiving" (or "War on the Holidays") to help steel their desire not to "live in fear", and the situation is ripe for trouble. Particularly, when you see someone that even acknowledges the situation but still plans to attend not one, but multiple gatherings... because that is what they do.

                We still have an EMT/Paramedic locally posting anti-virus stuff on his FB as our local health nurse pleads for people to take this seriously because the hospitals are full.
                I wish you all wouldn't have pushed lockdowns earlier this year. We'd have some measure of immunity now.

                As it stands, because the left wanted to oppose Trump due to their political obsessions and TDS...with everyone to lock down when it was 90 freaking degrees out, we are going to have a much worse time of it this winter when the vast majority of people will die and suffer from this plague.

                Point is, should have fully opened up this summer but people never learn from history (Spanish Flu). It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.



                Comment


                • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                  I wish you all wouldn't have pushed lockdowns earlier this year. We'd have some measure of immunity now.

                  As it stands, because the left wanted to oppose Trump due to their political obsessions and TDS...with everyone to lock down when it was 90 freaking degrees out, we are going to have a much worse time of it this winter when the vast majority of people will die and suffer from this plague.

                  Point is, should have fully opened up this summer but people never learn from history (Spanish Flu). It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.


                  What lockdowns? We barely had restrictions in Indiana all summer long. Unless you mean concerts, conferences, and sporting events.
                  Were you wanting us to throw nationwide Covid-19 parties?

                  You and Scott Atlas need to get together and have a few beers and discuss this Herd Immunity nonsense.
                  Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                  ------

                  "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                  -John Wooden

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Bball View Post

                    What lockdowns? We barely had restrictions in Indiana all summer long. Unless you mean concerts, conferences, and sporting events.
                    Were you wanting us to throw nationwide Covid-19 parties?

                    You and Scott Atlas need to get together and have a few beers and discuss this Herd Immunity nonsense.
                    So you haven’t been wearing a mask and social distancing for the last six months? Call it lockdown, mitigation whatever you want it was a mistake.

                    Now we are dealing with a lot more stable virus and many people are getting it for the first time. Why do you think the Spanish flu went away by itself in the first place? It really didn’t. People became immune and there is not enough time to get a vaccine out this time before nearly everyone gets it.

                    Comment


                    • Dunning-Kruger Effect...
                      Geez...
                      Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                      ------

                      "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                      -John Wooden

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Bball View Post
                        Dunning-Kruger Effect...
                        Geez...
                        TDS...

                        Geez...

                        If you weren't paying attention, Sweden is doing particularly better than France, Poland, UK and Germany right now. Every day that passes, their approach to this is looking better. Less people are dying per capita in Sweden than those countries. They had a culture of keeping it open earlier this year and it's paying off now.

                        We'll see what the future holds...

                        Comment


                        • Found this on LinkedIn. Kind of good news.

                          Today Indiana hit a new record of new cases in one day at 8,322. In seven of the last 14 days we've set a new record for new cases. However, in only one of the last 14 days have we set a record for new deaths (63 on 11/10), and COVID-19 is now the third leading specific cause of death in Indiana, though it has quite a ways to go before eclipsing cancer at 13,461 and heart disease at 19,004. Setting aside the statistical anomaly period of 8/24 and 9/11-9/13 where large batches of old tests were added in those day's numbers by the State, we also hit a new high for testing at 24,811, the fifth new high in tests in the last 14 days. The overall positivity rate for tests continues to increase from its low of 8.5% on 9/16 and now stands at 12.8% - this is the percent of tests taken that come back positive. However, the overall death rate from cases continues to shrink: the 14 day moving average is 0.9%, which means that if you get a detectable case today, your odds of surviving it are about 99.1% (much lower if you are older, much higher if you are younger). #indiana#covid19#machinelearning

                          Comment


                          • MSM showing more hate and bias.

                            Yet it's Pennsylvania and Arizona that are the hot spots with the most new cases per https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/. Those were both blue states this last election and frankly Pennsylvania is at the very top on new Covid cases and are regularly a blue state.

                            And even comparing Illinois which is far more liberal than us or Michigan...they are doing worse. The more liberal between Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, the worse off they are.

                            Now who's getting crushed? I suppose MSM doesn't stop lying when their guy steals the election...:

                            Crushed by COVID-19, rural red states finally start to mandate masks. It may be too little, too late.

                            https://www.yahoo.com/news/crushed-b...144945618.html

                            Edit: Actually the JH tool they link to is helpful. It shows that Illinois, as liberal as they come, have the highest number of new cases in the nation.
                            Last edited by BlueNGold; 11-20-2020, 11:59 AM.

                            Comment


                            • We still have Republican Senators holding hearings trying to find out why doctors are not using more hydroxychloroquine. All the madness going on right now and this is where their focus is. Here's a thread by the only guy invited to push back against the stupidity


                              Comment


                              • Wow... so "blue" states, which are actually the home of large cities, where people are, happen to get hit hard when a pandemic hits? And "red" states, and "red" counties, that think they can ignore it because it's only a "blue" state problem, end up getting it too once the spread is not stopped?

                                That mean ol' media and democrats are to blame! Yeah, that's the ticket.

                                We should've been holding Covid-19 parties this summer! Yeah... That's it....

                                Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                                ------

                                "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                                -John Wooden

                                Comment

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