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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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  • BlueNGold
    replied
    Interesting watching Germany and Sweden. They were the poster boy countries for doing it right and wrong.

    Germany is rising in the deaths per capita ranking. It was not long ago they were in the high 70's. They are now in the high 60's and jumped like 5 other countries in just a couple days.

    Sweden is currently 24th getting headed toward Germany. They still look much worse but at the present time there is no doubt that Germany is doing far worse right now.

    In the US, we might be looking at the lull before a very large storm. At least that seems logical considering it blew up after July 4th and Labor Day. Why would Thanksgiving be any different. It seems it should be much worse with people gathering and taking it home, crossing state boundaries, etc.

    Leave a comment:


  • BlueNGold
    replied
    I love these child-like, thoughtless fact check gotchas being churned out by nimrod liberals. For example:

    Danish Study Doesn’t Prove Masks Don’t Work Against the Coronavirus
    https://www.factcheck.org/2020/11/da...e-coronavirus/

    It's funny how they make the claim more extreme than most anybody thinks. Yes, there are some people that believe that masks don't help one iota to prevent the spread.

    But let's get real. I'm pretty damn conservative and not all that high on masks. Even I believe it reduces the spread.

    I really believe a lot of this trash we see flowing out of liberal Big Tech is getting pumped out by millennials who spent their entire formative years under the spell of leftists running the public schools. What a briliant plan those communists had, getting to the young and damaging their brains at a young age.

    Leave a comment:


  • BlueNGold
    replied
    Originally posted by Bball View Post
    We're going to vaccinate hundreds of millions... and ultimately billions, as it goes worldwide. It's going to be hard to believe SOMEONE won't have an adverse reaction. More than that, the numbers are overwhelming that there will be several coincidences with people who take the vaccine getting sick (that would've gotten sick in that same timeframe anyway). Beyond that, there will be liars and charlatans looking to make a quick buck or score some fame by lying or spinning something into "Covid-19 Vaccines Kill - The Story Of My Family" or "Coming up in our next segment, a lady that tells us the Covid-19 vaccine cost her her health, and her husband's life. Stay with us here, Fox... Fair and balanced...."

    And finally, add in some worldwide hypochondria and the internet...
    Now this is true. At the same time, I am definitely going to be asking around and filtering MSM to get to the truth. I actually will listen to CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNBC and maybe even MSNBC but never at face value. The same is true with Fox, TheBlaze, Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh, News Max, National Interest, etc., and maybe even OANN.

    What about the rags like Washington Post and NY TImes? They are actually beyond 100% biased. They directly attempt to mislead at all times and there isn't a speck of truth to be gathered.

    Now OANN is completely biased too but maybe half their articles at least deal with facts and their entire intent is not to mislead. They actually believe what they post. They are just very biased to the point of being mental.

    Speaking of, TDS is a thing. It really is a situation where people hate Trump so much they cannot be objective. Not even on things, if someone else had done them they would be giving them kudos. I have not seen this level of insanity since George W Bush was flying over Katrina..............

    Note: In my original post, and I must have deleted this, I will listen and give more weight to people like Fauci, Birx, other CDC/NIH/etc. personnel. That does not mean I will just take their word for it. We already know they've been wrong numerous times. That's not to say their opinion isn't valued. It's just not the only opinion.
    Last edited by BlueNGold; 11-30-2020, 09:07 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bball
    replied
    We're going to vaccinate hundreds of millions... and ultimately billions, as it goes worldwide. It's going to be hard to believe SOMEONE won't have an adverse reaction. More than that, the numbers are overwhelming that there will be several coincidences with people who take the vaccine getting sick (that would've gotten sick in that same timeframe anyway). Beyond that, there will be liars and charlatans looking to make a quick buck or score some fame by lying or spinning something into "Covid-19 Vaccines Kill - The Story Of My Family" or "Coming up in our next segment, a lady that tells us the Covid-19 vaccine cost her her health, and her husband's life. Stay with us here, Fox... Fair and balanced...."

    And finally, add in some worldwide hypochondria and the internet...

    Leave a comment:


  • BlueNGold
    replied
    Originally posted by Bball View Post

    I know.
    It just never hit me that if you use the full OANN abbreviation, you're just a Q away from QAnon... It's like it's meant to be...
    First time I saw the acronyms I thought they were related or even the same. So I guess it never really hit me. I just saw you and other liberals posting about QAnon and Oann and figured it might be a typo. At least initially.

    Leave a comment:


  • Gamble1
    replied
    Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
    So was the article saying that this women had on going narcolepsy years after having the Swine flu vaccine? That's amazing, and horrific. But i would imagine that these side effects would show up in the trials would it not? I mean if you get Narcolepsy 3-6months after getting a vaccine. Can you really tie it back to the vaccine at that point?

    I mean there are alot of things that would give you Nacrolepsy symptoms like that. Low Oxygen levels, on going kidney and liver disease, thyroid issues, Diabetes. Would seem like something that would be isolated, and studied more to pin point where the vaccine might have contributed. I mean it could be that the chemicals in the vaccine overloaded her liver. Chronic fatigue would be one of the first early symptoms of liver disease and even kidney disease. I mean you have to remember that injecting a vaccine into your body, it eventually has to be processed and filtered by your liver and other organs.

    Also the fact that these are new MRNA vaccines might make the vaccines even safer? I guess you have to wonder what makes a vaccine dangerous in a way that would lead to long term issues? The actual vaccine elements or the cocktail of chemicals used as preservatives to keep it stable.... If these new MRNA vaccines require sub zero storage, that would lead me to believe they don't have the typical preservatives in them?
    mRNA is unstable by itself and in addition to this they have the mRNA incapsulated in a lipo matrix that helps it enter the cells. This matrix probably makes it freezing temp lower. If I remember correctly the vaccine is stable up to 12 hours at room temp.

    Leave a comment:


  • graphic-er
    replied
    So was the article saying that this women had on going narcolepsy years after having the Swine flu vaccine? That's amazing, and horrific. But i would imagine that these side effects would show up in the trials would it not? I mean if you get Narcolepsy 3-6months after getting a vaccine. Can you really tie it back to the vaccine at that point?

    I mean there are alot of things that would give you Nacrolepsy symptoms like that. Low Oxygen levels, on going kidney and liver disease, thyroid issues, Diabetes. Would seem like something that would be isolated, and studied more to pin point where the vaccine might have contributed. I mean it could be that the chemicals in the vaccine overloaded her liver. Chronic fatigue would be one of the first early symptoms of liver disease and even kidney disease. I mean you have to remember that injecting a vaccine into your body, it eventually has to be processed and filtered by your liver and other organs.

    Also the fact that these are new MRNA vaccines might make the vaccines even safer? I guess you have to wonder what makes a vaccine dangerous in a way that would lead to long term issues? The actual vaccine elements or the cocktail of chemicals used as preservatives to keep it stable.... If these new MRNA vaccines require sub zero storage, that would lead me to believe they don't have the typical preservatives in them?

    Leave a comment:


  • Bball
    replied
    Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

    No, wrong again. I meant Q himself.
    I know.
    It just never hit me that if you use the full OANN abbreviation, you're just a Q away from QAnon... It's like it's meant to be...

    Leave a comment:


  • BlueNGold
    replied
    Originally posted by Bball View Post

    Cool... I never thought about this before...
    You can't spell QAnon without OANN
    No, wrong again. I meant Q himself.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bball
    replied
    Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post



    As for talking points, I really need to contact Fox, Q, OANN and the others because this crap is all my ideas. I could probably make a mint providing them with material.
    Cool... I never thought about this before...
    You can't spell QAnon without OANN

    Leave a comment:


  • BlueNGold
    replied
    Originally posted by vapacersfan View Post
    Wait...are you admitting he lost the election?

    I’m afraid you haven’t got the latest set of talking points!
    I could post this every day and you still wouldn't believe. Let me put it this way so you believe.

    I watched some analysis of county level results, I think late on the night of the election. What I noticed is that Biden was broadly stronger at the county level compared to Hillary in 2016. I think Biden was still behind at that point. But I found it telling that he was consistently stronger in both blue and red counties. To me, that told me he was doing well and better than Hillary. So I doe believe Biden won.

    While I do believe Biden won, I think the election systems need serious oversight. I find it interesting that Biden won by a fairly significant margin but so many Democrats lost seats in the House. Why do you think that is and are you surprised so many people split the ticket and voted for Biden while otherwise voting for Republicans? Just seems a bit odd. It might happen sometimes, but I really cannot say. In any event, I'm not questioning the results.

    I do have to say that many of my fellow Republicans are not happy and some believe Trump won. Generally I disagree with them...and I am not upset Biden won mainly because he's a moderate and it will force an internal war in the Democratic Party. Generally, with the exception of John Kerry, I have not minded his nominations. I view this more like a war than a battle. I can see many radicals driving more of the Hispanic and even some of the black vote over to the GOP. This is good for the party and the Democrats fighting and the leftists reaching for the steering wheel can only help the GOP.

    As for talking points, I really need to contact Fox, Q, OANN and the others because this crap is all my ideas. I could probably make a mint providing them with material.
    Last edited by BlueNGold; 11-29-2020, 04:26 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • vapacersfan
    replied
    Sebastian Payne
    @SebastianEPayne
    Exclusive: the UK is set to become the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine. MHRA is expected to green light the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine within days - ahead of US/EU. First jabs could be come as soon as Dec 7. Latest with @donatopmancini

    UK regulator set to approve Covid-19 vaccine next week
    Immunisation using BioNTech and Pfizer jab could start on December 7
    ft.com
    5:00 PM ? Nov 28, 2020


    Leave a comment:


  • vapacersfan
    replied


    Clara Jeffery

    @ClaraJeffery

    “In the 24 counties that required people to wear masks in public, there was a net decrease of 6% in cases....in the counties without the mandate, the net increase in cases was 100%”
    CNN
    @CNN
    Mask mandates work to slow the spread of Covid-19, according to new research published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://cnn.it/3mfHR00
    5:22 PM ? Nov 28, 2020



    Leave a comment:


  • vapacersfan
    replied
    AFP News Agency

    @AFP
    ?
    Nov 26, 2020

    Replying to @AFP
    Take a vaccine developed in haste? Never again, says Meissa Chebbi, who, like hundreds of other Swedes suffered debilitating narcolepsy after a mass vaccination campaign against the 2009-2010 swine flu pandemic. The experience has shaken confidence http://u.afp.com/3FrU

    AFP News Agency

    @AFP
    VIDEO:

    Take a vaccine developed in haste? Never again, says Meissa Chebbi, who like hundreds of other Swedes suffered debilitating narcolepsy after a vaccination campaign against the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic. The experience has shaken confidence in future Covid-19 vaccines

    5:50 PM ? Nov 26, 2020


    Last edited by vapacersfan; 11-29-2020, 11:26 AM.

    Leave a comment:


  • vapacersfan
    replied
    Wait...are you admitting he lost the election?

    I’m afraid you haven’t got the latest set of talking points!

    Leave a comment:

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