Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

COVID-19

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
    I realize the left wants to talk about the fly rather than the actual debate performance. Kamala threw the kitchen sink at Pence and he blocked and tackled better than the New England Patriots. That man had one heckuva debate.
    I am honestly quite surprised that the moderator or somebody didn't signal to him...
    You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
      I realize the left wants to talk about the fly rather than the actual debate performance. Kamala threw the kitchen sink at Pence and he blocked and tackled better than the New England Patriots. That man had one heckuva debate.
      I think non-answers and changing the subject is more akin to running out of bounds and punting on 4th and long but sure he did a better job than Trump.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by graphic-er View Post

        I am honestly quite surprised that the moderator or somebody didn't signal to him...
        MSM. They could see he was performing phenomenally. The fly like the virus were their best assets.

        As for Kamala she did OK. Pence just did better and more important he had a much harder job...not even counting the fact they didn’t let the VP of the United States know that a fly had taken up residence on his head.
        Last edited by BlueNGold; 10-08-2020, 09:00 AM.

        Comment


        • Originally posted by Gamble1 View Post

          I think non-answers and changing the subject is more akin to running out of bounds and punting on 4th and long but sure he did a better job than Trump.
          She avoided questions too but the reality is, his tactic worked because the moderator let it go on. These debates are half theatre.

          Comment


          • The monoclonal therapy from lilly is asking for fda approval.

            https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/07/...tail-covid-19/

            If they can get 1 million doses by the end of the year then a lot of lives could be saved. Keep in mind 1 million doses probably doesn't mean 1 million people will get treated.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

              She avoided questions too but the reality is, his tactic worked because the moderator let it go on. These debates are half theatre.
              True but VP debates are like a mint after a dinner. I am not sure how many people even watched it. The Biden Trump debate was watched by 73 million people. Maybe 6 million watched this would be my guess.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Gamble1 View Post

                True but VP debates are like a mint after a dinner. I am not sure how many people even watched it. The Biden Trump debate was watched by 73 million people. Maybe 6 million watched this would be my guess.
                37M watched Pence and Kaine. I would expect this one to get more given the state of the nation.

                https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1251MK

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Gamble1 View Post

                  True but VP debates are like a mint after a dinner. I am not sure how many people even watched it. The Biden Trump debate was watched by 73 million people. Maybe 6 million watched this would be my guess.
                  It won’t be as much as Trump-Biden, but it will be exponentially more than 6 million.

                  BnG mentioned the Pence-Kaine ratings. I just checked and Biden/Ryan in 2012 had 51.4 million viewers.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                    I am pretty sure that man was caught under oath admitting that he new his activities were considered illegal. None of the videos he released were raw footage, they were all highly edited with portions of hte conversations edited out if they conflicted with his purpose. . He claimed to be a investigative journalist but the woman he interviewed that used to work for the fetal tissue company was even caught on camera saying things like "oh you want me to be more dramatic?" or "Please don't make me tell that story again" So he was clearly coaching her, something journalists don't do.

                    But even after all the legal trouble he is in, I guess you can say he accomplished his goal. He wanted to make planned parenthood into a toxic political football, and have them defunded.

                    Now as for his attack here on Senator Harris. Publicly funded organizations like PP, have friends in high places, and when they come under attack they leverage those friends.

                    Its amazing to me that there is so much fervor and resources on the right to try and take down abortion. Imagine if they put all that effort and resources into providing access to free adoption programs where pregnant women wouldn't have to pay for any medical costs if they were choosing to give the child up for adoption. Programs that would give them proper financial support and access to prenatal care. An OB costs about $5,000 over the course of your pregnancy. That doesn't include paying for ultra sounds every couple of months. That doesn't include your 2-3 day stay in the hospital. So what I am trying to say is that for many women its simply not even a choice. If you have crappy insurance with an ultra high deductible. You simply can't afford to carry a baby to term.

                    Imagine if some of these groups actually went to Planned Parenthood and offered them funding if they would promote that type of program as an alternative to an abortion.

                    People will generally do the right thing when you give pathways to do so. One example is a program is Safe Haven Baby Boxes. They get donations to install a live baby surrender box at Fire stations. A troubled mother gets the opportunity to do the right thing and be anonymous in her decision.
                    Last edited by graphic-er; 10-08-2020, 10:08 AM.
                    You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post

                      It won’t be as much as Trump-Biden, but it will be exponentially more than 6 million.

                      BnG mentioned the Pence-Kaine ratings. I just checked and Biden/Ryan in 2012 had 51.4 million viewers.
                      Also, this debate was more important give Biden's age and mental condition. Even the left question if the man gets through 4 years, so she could very easily become president.

                      But really, it isn't a big factor either way. People will be voting for Biden or Trump. Or against Trump, more likely.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by graphic-er View Post

                        Whatever dude...They expose the hypocrisy on both sides. They give both sides a fair amount of criticism. I'd rather have honest reporting about an issue than the fake news by Fox or CNN or MSNBC.

                        Your hypothesis makes it sound like this right wing operation had it all planned out from the beginning. Yes lets make a fledgling little youtube morning news show to disengage young voters and ensure a right -wing victory at the polls.
                        I don't know how the show started, but they are continuing to prop it up, and that's the effect it's going to have.

                        E.g. from today.

                        K-Ball Tweet

                        https://twitter.com/krystalball/stat...23348888887296
                        "The Russian bounty story was bull ****"


                        The actual quote from CENTCOM Commander:
                        https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07/polit...nce/index.html


                        Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, also told a small group of reporters while traveling to the region that he was not convinced that the Russian bounty program was directly responsible for the deaths of US personnel.

                        "The intelligence wasn't proved to me. It was proved enough to worry me. It wasn't proved enough that I'd take it to a court of law. That's often true in battlefield intelligence," McKenzie said, according to a transcript provided by the Defense Department.

                        His comments mark the first time a Pentagon official has answered questions about the US intelligence that assessed there was an effort by a Russian military intelligence unit to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers.





                        So the big liberal says no big deal that there is a good chance that Russians paid Taliban to kill US Soldiers and POTUS did not come out against it....what a convenient take...

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by dal9 View Post

                          I don't know how the show started, but they are continuing to prop it up, and that's the effect it's going to have.

                          E.g. from today.

                          K-Ball Tweet

                          https://twitter.com/krystalball/stat...23348888887296
                          "The Russian bounty story was bull ****"


                          The actual quote from CENTCOM Commander:
                          https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07/polit...nce/index.html


                          Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, also told a small group of reporters while traveling to the region that he was not convinced that the Russian bounty program was directly responsible for the deaths of US personnel.

                          "The intelligence wasn't proved to me. It was proved enough to worry me. It wasn't proved enough that I'd take it to a court of law. That's often true in battlefield intelligence," McKenzie said, according to a transcript provided by the Defense Department.

                          His comments mark the first time a Pentagon official has answered questions about the US intelligence that assessed there was an effort by a Russian military intelligence unit to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers.





                          So the big liberal says no big deal that there is a good chance that Russians paid Taliban to kill US Soldiers and POTUS did not come out against it....what a convenient take...
                          But what exactly are you arguing? That because the General said the intelligence proved enough to concern him, the POTUS should publicly act on it? I mean yeah lets start a Cold War with Russia over something like this? Get real...its easy to be a chicken hawk I guess. USA is the largest military in the world and is actively deployed in regions all over the world. We have our hands in everything. It should come as no surprise that other governments with global agendas like Russia and China are actively trying to claw at us.

                          The fact you call her a liberal is pretty much proof you don't understand the show.
                          You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

                          Comment


                          • Imagine liking somebody like Pence yikes
                            @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                              Imagine liking somebody like Pence yikes
                              That guy once gave me $50.
                              You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                                Imagine liking somebody like Pence yikes
                                Pence is a great American. He has exactly the type of views that made America the most powerful, wealthy country in the history of the world.

                                I realize some think they can improve upon what America has done. But people are free to be wrong too.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X