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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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  • Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post

    Yes but there was also an economy that was boosted dramatically by the war effort. Today OTOH we have an economy that is temporarily grinding to an unprecedented halt. All of these services and items that were once in high demand are all the sudden not able to function.

    I don’t think people are soft. I think it’s quite the opposite really. People will get to the point where they can live with taking the health risk if it means they can have their life back, because a quarantined life with nothing to do and no money coming in is a miserable life even if you’re in perfect physical health.

    Plus war is easy to see with your eyes - especially back then when we faced such a global threat. Most people still can’t see the impact of this virus directly though (aside from the shutdowns obviously). Most people live in areas where the actual sicknesses so far have been minimal, but their lives are being shut down because of what might happen. It’s just totally unsustainable.

    I‘m not a medical professional or a scientist, so it’s useless for me to speculate about the virus itself. However, you don’t have to be a Nobel economist to realize that millions and millions and millions will be ruined economically and psychologically with this current “let’s quarantine for a while” path.
    What if I told you that quarantining may keep the death count at 50,000 or less in the USA and just letting it rip will lead to 4.2 million deaths?

    Don't people care about people anymore or is it just about them and their convenience? The government is going to cut checks. They already cut checks for say 750/month to millions of people on welfare. LOTS of people still have their jobs. LOTS of people will lose their jobs but a grand a month is enough for people to survive on especially if there are other steps to stop debt payments.

    Personally, I have already lost a fortune (thank you V for your support), but I don't care. Fact is, I'm going to die anyway and I'm not taking it with me.

    So if I lose everything, so what? It's just money. You can't replace people with money.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by vapacersfan View Post

      Michael Barbaro✔@mikiebarb
      Cuomo during his daily preser. How long will this last?
      “It’s gonna be 4 months, 5 months, 9 months....we’re in that range.”
      “Start planning accordingly.”
      “Life is going to go. Different. But life is going to go on.”
      Stop hoarding. “The toilet paper is going to be there.”
      2,061
      5:48 PM - Mar 22, 2020
      I thought you guys liked Cuomo. He's right. It's going to be different for awhile. Time to grow up.

      Comment


      • Rand Paul is one of those garbage politicians making this crisis worse with his bs and now he got it.

        Luckily for him he gets socialized medicine and is going to pay cero for his treatment, he is also still going to get his goverment check like always.
        @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

        Comment


        • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

          What if I told you that quarantining may keep the death count at 50,000 or less in the USA and just letting it rip will lead to 4.2 million deaths?

          Don't people care about people anymore or is it just about them and their convenience? The government is going to cut checks. They already cut checks for say 750/month to millions of people on welfare. LOTS of people still have their jobs. LOTS of people will lose their jobs but a grand a month is enough for people to survive on especially if there are other steps to stop debt payments.

          Personally, I have already lost a fortune (thank you V for your support), but I don't care. Fact is, I'm going to die anyway and I'm not taking it with me.

          So if I lose everything, so what? It's just money. You can't replace people with money.
          People absolutely care about people. That’s why the country has pretty much come to an immediate halt Coast to coast in a short time. I would have never guessed that was possible, but it did happen. And it happened because people do care.

          But it’s unsustainable for a long time. It just is. COVID-19 is dangerous, but it’s not the only dangerous thing on Earth. There will start to be a host of new dangers and consequences if this lasts too much longer. I honestly don’t even think that’s a matter of debatable opinion.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

            If the USA had created this virus, we should own it. I actually think we would own it. So, rather than dangerous it's actually a fact. This virus originated in China. It is a fact the virus originated with bats. It's a fact the Chinese eat bats. The only thing they don't know is if the virus transferred from a bat at their wet market to a person or to some other animal and was later touched or consumed by a person.

            What's dangerous is what the Chinese do and that needs to be addressed. The viruses coming out of there may kill millions.
            I am not entering this part of the discussion. I was stating that people should not be allowed to reproduce because they have a different view (right or wrong, it does not matter) is not a good thing to say. Can you agree with me on that matter?
            Trying to enjoy every Pacers game as if it is the last!

            Comment


            • Originally posted by pacersgroningen View Post

              I am not entering this part of the discussion. I was stating that people should not be allowed to reproduce because they have a different view (right or wrong, it does not matter) is not a good thing to say. Can you agree with me on that matter?
              Yes.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                I thought you guys liked Cuomo. He's right. It's going to be different for awhile. Time to grow up.
                Hey I’ve been doing my part to abide by the rules. I’m staying at home as much as possible and haven’t been around a large crowd since that Pacers-Celtics game which was the day before this whole thing exploded in the US.

                But I’m not commenting from my perspective. I’m commenting on the abstract behavior of 300+ million people. I think it will be impossible to keep 300+ million people at bay for a long time. If it does actually happen, you’ll see a host of other serious consequences, that’s for sure.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                  I consider the mortality rate to be the best indicator of how countries are handling the issue, not the number of cases. I actually think A LOT of people have had it who have never and may never be tested. IOW, the number of identified cases is kind of a fake number unless everyone in a country is tested and NO COUNTRY is close to that.

                  So look at the mortality rate and the DIRECTION of the mortality rate as compared to the number of tests.

                  So, we might have 15 people out of 1000 tests who die. They have about 90 per 1000 tests that die. Most people tested have certain symptoms so I think this is the best measure available.

                  The best measure of all is if we could test all people. That's not happening anytime soon. For now though, mortality rate is the best and as a nation...even if it's still terrible...we are doing much better than some countries.
                  Mortality rate is very much influenced by how many tests are available. In Europe far fewer tests are available. People with minor or medium symptoms are not being tested. So you will see they have a higher mortality rate in Europe. Goes without saying the US have done a better job at having tests available.
                  Trying to enjoy every Pacers game as if it is the last!

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post

                    People absolutely care about people. That’s why the country has pretty much come to an immediate halt Coast to coast in a short time. I would have never guessed that was possible, but it did happen. And it happened because people do care.

                    But it’s unsustainable for a long time. It just is. COVID-19 is dangerous, but it’s not the only dangerous thing on Earth. There will start to be a host of new dangers and consequences if this lasts too much longer. I honestly don’t even think that’s a matter of debatable opinion.
                    The reason it may not be sustainable is because people in the USA are not cut of the same cloth as they were 80-90 years ago. People suffered tremendously in the Great Depression and they made it by following the rules. But today, people don't follow the rules.

                    So on that point, you are right. It may not be sustainable. But it's more a reflection of our society today. Instead of supporting each other, there are likely to be home invasions as resources become more scarce. Much more crime. It's sad but I am headed to the gun shop tomorrow morning. I'm not in a panic. But I am getting prepared.

                    Yet I am disappointed with our culture. For so many years this thing we call "progress" has resulted in a weaker society. One that cares more about its convenience than its people. So on that point I disagree. I don't think people care about people. They give it lip service. They are NOT willing to sacrifice and for that reason they really don't care.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by pacersgroningen View Post

                      Mortality rate is very much influenced by how many tests are available. In Europe far fewer tests are available. People with minor or medium symptoms are not being tested. So you will see they have a higher mortality rate in Europe. Goes without saying the US have done a better job at having tests available.
                      Wow. I think you are the first person in the country to say the US has done a better job of having tests available.

                      But really, until the last couple days the US has NOT done better at having tests available. They were WAY behind Europe on that. And that happened because the CDC's initial package that went out had issues and they had to regroup.

                      So no, the US has not done a better job than most countries with having tests available. We are kicking butt on that right now, but that simply has not been the case until the last 48 hours or so.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                        The reason it may not be sustainable is because people in the USA are not cut of the same cloth as they were 80-90 years ago. People suffered tremendously in the Great Depression and they made it by following the rules. But today, people don't follow the rules.

                        So on that point, you are right. It may not be sustainable. But it's more a reflection of our society today. Instead of supporting each other, there are likely to be home invasions as resources become more scarce. Much more crime. It's sad but I am headed to the gun shop tomorrow morning. I'm not in a panic. But I am getting prepared.

                        Yet I am disappointed with our culture. For so many years this thing we call "progress" has resulted in a weaker society. One that cares more about its convenience than its people. So on that point I disagree. I don't think people care about people. They give it lip service. They are NOT willing to sacrifice and for that reason they really don't care.
                        These are two totally different things though. In the WWII era, people were either occupied as a soldier on the battlefield or they were occupied providing for the war effort in the US.

                        This is completely different because you have a massive population of people with jobs which overnight became impossible to perform.

                        Most of these people aren’t selfish or soft or whatever other word you want to use. All most want is to provide for their families.

                        Almost all of these people care about stopping the virus. No one wants sick neighbors or a sick population.

                        However, there is one impossible scenario here: it will be impossible to keep this quarantine long term AND keep the economic/mental health of this nation. A few weeks sure, but life will rapidly deteriorate for millions if it lasts for months. I really don’t think that’s my opinion. I think that’s just rock solid fact.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post

                          Hey I’ve been doing my part to abide by the rules. I’m staying at home as much as possible and haven’t been around a large crowd since that Pacers-Celtics game which was the day before this whole thing exploded in the US.

                          But I’m not commenting from my perspective. I’m commenting on the abstract behavior of 300+ million people. I think it will be impossible to keep 300+ million people at bay for a long time. If it does actually happen, you’ll see a host of other serious consequences, that’s for sure.
                          On that point, I would have to agree. I cannot imagine everyone (or even a vast majority of people) in this country being on the same page. But there is hope. Both sides of the aisle are trying to tell people to quarantine and the liberals in NY, Illinois and California are locking it down. I could see martial law coming if people get unruly.

                          One thing about liberals in power. They will stomp on their people probably more than than the supposed fascist conservatives. That's what's happening right now.

                          But seriously. If people act up the national guard will come in and shut it down. The good people will be arming themselves. It will be a war the bad people will not win.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                            Wow. I think you are the first person in the country to say the US has done a better job of having tests available.

                            But really, until the last couple days the US has NOT done better at having tests available. They were WAY behind Europe on that. And that happened because the CDC's initial package that went out had issues and they had to regroup.

                            So no, the US has not done a better job than most countries with having tests available. We are kicking butt on that right now, but that simply has not been the case until the last 48 hours or so.
                            Well, I compare it to my country in Europe. And I have not read that only people who are having major symptoms being tested is the case in the US. That's how I've gotten to that conclusion. The US is kicking butt now, where as we don't have an idea if or when more stuff might come available.
                            Trying to enjoy every Pacers game as if it is the last!

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                              But really, until the last couple days the US has NOT done better at having tests available.
                              Care to share your numbers for this ??

                              Comment


                              • And as expected Mitch is coming up with some garbage bill


                                https://twitter.com/jakesherman/stat...138811392?s=21


                                This people are f**** around

                                @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                                Comment

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