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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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  • No - the headline is still correct. And not fake.

    It's like talking with my 4 year old grand-daughter . . . . . .

    Comment


    • Reports are coming out that China is sending seeds in the mail and states are telling people not to plant them. First the virus. Now they are trying to destroy our food supply. I think they are preparing for war, quite frankly.

      Comment


      • Oops... Posted this in the wrong thread originally. If you read the article, and pay attention to the date, you can see the problem with propaganda like this, and the people who believe it. The site and writer should've lost all credibility... But I'm sure they just move the goalposts and keep on feeding whatever narrative they want to push and none of the believers bats an eye at how badly this missed the mark-

        Check out this propaganda piece from April. Someone posted this on FB because of the headline and obviously didn't bother noting the date or reading it.

        COVID-19 turning out to be huge hoax perpetrated by media


        Media hyped the virus and alarmed Americans to the point of shutting down the economy


        https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2...MydKCnGWMiTgS0
        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 BlueNGold View Post

          Sorry, disagree. That's not how Fauci would have described it because it implies his messaging did not reach Trump. I will fix it for you:

          Dr. Anthony Fauci says he hasn't personally briefed Trump in at least two months, though his guidance has been communicated to Trump....despite pandemic resurgence

          Far more accurate and aligns to the content of the article.

          I realize the media and Trump detractors want him to look as bad as possible, but those inconvenient things like facts get in the way of that narrative.
          What you posted is “silly” at best and “pushing right wing talking points at worst”

          Saying “my message gets passed along” does not equal “I briefed the POTUS”

          If he briefed the POTUS, but not in person, I am pretty sure he would have said “I do the briefings via ZOOM, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc”. If you want to split hairs and argue that the “message” of the NIH gets back to PTOUS, then fine. However, that should be common sense. Of course POTUS is focusing on one of the biggest issues (if not the biggest issue) of his re-election campaign.

          However, this is all moot as I am confident you know this and you just don’t like that the headline is not flattering for your candidate. Something tells me if this exact same headline existed for a liberal politician you would have no problem with it

          Comment


          • Two MLB games already post-poned. After just one week, the baseball season looks to be hanging on by a thread after all of the positive cases. At this rate, there is no way in hell that football will play a complete season regardless of what the league is saying.

            The NBA bubble idea is probably the only thing that has a prayer of working but I'll still be shocked if the entire thing is actually played.

            Comment


            • Told you who are the biggest snowflakes in this whole thing, they are ready to cry and fight in the spot if you even try to offer them a mask.

              This are the same group that feel threatened by minorities and vote in masses for deal leader because he makes them feel good inside one last time.


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

              Comment



              • Jeff Passan

                @JeffPassan

                Eight more players and two coaches with the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, as an outbreak has spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the total of cases in recent days to at least 14, sources familiar with the situation tell me and @JesseRogersESPN.

                Comment


                • LOL... V with the typo... "Deal Leader"....
                  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


                  • The baseball news isn't all that surprising.

                    I suppose I have some confirmation bias here at this point, but to me, the seriousness of the situation was quickly realized when it burned thru the Washington Nursing Home early in the year. Yes, age made those people high risk, but just the fact SO MANY of them caught it, and just HOW deadly it was to them, told me this thing is highly contagious... and clearly very serious at least for some people.
                    Plus, these were people being monitored by medical staff 24/7. You'd like to think if anyone had a chance in a high risk group, it would be in a monitored situation. Obviously, they weren't really looking for Covid-19 at the time, but still... you'd think flu, pneumonia, would all be things highly monitored in a nursing home. Especially, that time of year.

                    So, now, we find an outbreak among baseball players. That just points again to the highly contagious part I suspect. Whether they really suffer high risk complications, or their risk thereof, might be debatable given age and health, but it's not debatable they could pass it on to someone in a higher risk group. Or pass it on to someone who passes it on to someone in a higher risk group.

                    And then the idea of restarting school, with in person classes is being pushed. Much of the research about kids and Covid-19 is incomplete because they were one of the first groups protected from gatherings last spring. It might've been a couple of weeks earlier than spring even. Even worldwide, that info is limited, because most of the world, where that kind of data can be trusted and complete, did the same OR MORE, and for longer. Any that has restarted, only did so with more control of the pandemic in hand.
                    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 Sollozzo View Post
                      Two MLB games already post-poned. After just one week, the baseball season looks to be hanging on by a thread after all of the positive cases. At this rate, there is no way in hell that football will play a complete season regardless of what the league is saying.

                      The NBA bubble idea is probably the only thing that has a prayer of working but I'll still be shocked if the entire thing is actually played.
                      i don't know if you count MLS as a "real american sport" but they seem to be pulling it off (though they did have to have one team withdraw before the start b/c they were full of corona). they are doing a bubble too. nhl will be interesting to watch too, i am not sure, they are doing some kind of bubble setup i believe.

                      Comment


                      • V: BNG is finally going to protest for something

                        If you think I am opposed to wearing a mask you would be wrong. Does it really always have to be a binary argument?

                        I will say one thing about masks. South Korea provided 80% of their population with KF 94 masks, similar to our N95. KF stands for Korean Filter, btw.

                        Point is, we could have shut this down a long time ago while continuing to fully operate with some exceptions. The problem is, the US sent its manufacturing overseas and therefore couldn't scale up manufacturing to deal with it.

                        Allowing our manufacturing base to leave the US may be the worst thing our elected officials have ever done. Sadly, the Dems used to support the working man and fought against offshoring but now they are comfortable with people not working at all and just sucking off the government teet.

                        Edit: BTW, I blame both the GOP and Democrats for selling out our manufacturing base. The GOP stabbed our workers in the heart. The Democrats, as usual, stabbed them in the back and kicked them to the curb when they found they could get even more votes for handing out goodies rather than helping people get good jobs.
                        Last edited by BlueNGold; 07-27-2020, 10:13 PM.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                          V: BNG is finally going to protest for something

                          If you think I am opposed to wearing a mask you would be wrong. Does it really always have to be a binary argument?

                          I will say one thing about masks. South Korea provided 80% of their population with KF 94 masks, similar to our N95. KF stands for Korean Filter, btw.

                          Point is, we could have shut this down a long time ago while continuing to fully operate with some exceptions. The problem is, the US sent its manufacturing overseas and therefore couldn't scale up manufacturing to deal with it.

                          Allowing our manufacturing base to leave the US may be the worst thing our elected officials have ever done. Sadly, the Dems used to support the working man and fought against offshoring but now they are comfortable with people not working at all and just sucking off the government teet.
                          I know it was NAFTA under Clinton that left the manufacturing sector out to dry. But the Bush clan did so much to for the manufacturing workers! And I guess it wasn't both parties imposing globalization since at least the post-WWII era, if not prior to that via the Platt Amendment, Monroe Doctrine, and Roosevelt Corollary. And Trump has really brought it back! Wow!

                          EDIT: Well, I see you have acknowledged this wasn't a single-party issue. Kudos!
                          Last edited by D-BONE; 07-27-2020, 10:49 PM.
                          I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

                          -Emiliano Zapata

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by vapacersfan View Post

                            What you posted is “silly” at best and “pushing right wing talking points at worst”

                            Saying “my message gets passed along” does not equal “I briefed the POTUS”

                            If he briefed the POTUS, but not in person, I am pretty sure he would have said “I do the briefings via ZOOM, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc”. If you want to split hairs and argue that the “message” of the NIH gets back to PTOUS, then fine. However, that should be common sense. Of course POTUS is focusing on one of the biggest issues (if not the biggest issue) of his re-election campaign.

                            However, this is all moot as I am confident you know this and you just don’t like that the headline is not flattering for your candidate. Something tells me if this exact same headline existed for a liberal politician you would have no problem with it
                            The exact wording was "Dr. Anthony Fauci says he hasn't briefed Trump in at least two months, despite pandemic resurgence

                            The intent of the title was for the public to think Trump was not receiving guidance from Fauci. That there was a disconnect in communication. Yet the author added in the body of the article that Fauci said he was "sure" his message was being delivered. Fauci was forced to emphasize that because he knew the people asking questions were trying to build their case against Trump and try to sell the lie there was no communication.

                            And they use the phrase "despite pandemic resurgence". Why use the word "despite", which relates to the lack of personal briefs, when really the resurgence has only been in the last couple weeks? That word was added to emphasize just how freaking bad it is that Trump hasn't heard a word from Fauci in months. Isn't that true? Isn't that what you reallly want to hear?

                            Comment

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