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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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  • Jane Fonda: COVID is god's gift to the left.

    Comment


    • Cdc has a report on decrease in cases and mitigation steps. It does not claim causality but infers temporal correlation of mask and social distancing with certain business closers and limitations.

      Long and short of it they saw a 151% rise in cases when Arizona open back up and then a decrease of 75% 2 weeks after mitigation steps were taken.

      https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/...cid=mm6940e3_w

      The number of COVID-19 cases stabilized and began to decrease approximately 2 weeks after local officials began mandating mask wearing (throughout several counties and cities) and enhanced sanitation practices. Additional declines in case counts were associated with implementation of statewide limitations and closures sustained throughout July and extended into August

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Gamble1 View Post
        Cdc has a report on decrease in cases and mitigation steps. It does not claim causality but infers temporal correlation of mask and social distancing with certain business closers and limitations.

        Long and short of it they saw a 151% rise in cases when Arizona open back up and then a decrease of 75% 2 weeks after mitigation steps were taken.
        So this is saying that when they had that 151% rise they were wall on their way to having an easy winter, but that 75% decrease means they now don't have herd 'mentality'?
        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 Gamble1 View Post

          I really can not believe you are this petty. Germany has a little over half the rate of covid infection per million than sweden and you are fear mongering over a rise of 3 cases per millilion in Germany and Sweden dropping by 1 case per million.

          The overall numbers per million are Germanys 28.6 to Swedens 50.99 in the time frame you point to.

          Lets just say it. You hate being called out which is why I even did it in the first place. If it wasn't such a bs argument in the first place I wouldn't of even bothered.
          Circling back around to this. Germany's numbers continue to rise. They are up to 34.55 as of today, for a rolling average.

          Europe in general is quickly catching up with the US for new cases. UK is a disaster. France is also very, very bad.

          Canada, as of yesterday, is doing worse than Sweden. That's right. It could be in a few weeks that Germany, the poster child of handling it correctly, passes them both.

          ....as we enter the colder months...the calculus changes.

          Edit: if you didn't know, Sweden doesn't do masks and they are better off than UK, France, all of Europe as a whole, the US and even Canada. Germany is catching them. Maskless Swedes are doing pretty well.

          I should have at least posted this: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavir...ickerSort=desc
          Last edited by BlueNGold; 10-09-2020, 10:14 PM.

          Comment


          • WOW. This is incredible. Deaths per million.

            https://ourworldindata.org/coronavir...ickerSort=desc

            Comment


            • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

              Circling back around to this. Germany's numbers continue to rise. They are up to 34.55 as of today, for a rolling average.

              Europe in general is quickly catching up with the US for new cases. UK is a disaster. France is also very, very bad.

              Canada, as of yesterday, is doing worse than Sweden. That's right. It could be in a few weeks that Germany, the poster child of handling it correctly, passes them both.

              ....as we enter the colder months...the calculus changes.

              Edit: if you didn't know, Sweden doesn't do masks and they are better off than UK, France, all of Europe as a whole, the US and even Canada. Germany is catching them. Maskless Swedes are doing pretty well.

              I should have at least posted this: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavir...ickerSort=desc
              I am so happy you are using the website I found.

              The curious case for me is Belgium. They didn't have a mask mandate for a long time and cases blew up. They started putting up more mitigation and the cases are dropping rather rapidly.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                WOW. This is incredible. Deaths per million.

                https://ourworldindata.org/coronavir...ickerSort=desc
                You should broaden the date range if you want to be wowed. The cases and deaths could also correlate to travel. I know certain EU countries opened up travel and my bet is that cases and death rose afterward. Sweden probably is ranked lower on that travel list in comparison to places like France or even Belgium.

                Comment


                • "pro-lifers" are still trying to get more people killed.



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

                  Comment


                  • Trump's incompetence has numbed us to the sheer numbers of credible people that have come out against his reelection. But I think we need to pay special attention to the fact that the New England Journal of Medicine... The New England Journal of Medicine(!)... has waded into that pool. This is NOT a political rag. Wading into politics isn't their thing.

                    This would be a seismic moment in any other election. In this one, it's just one more voice coming from corners where we have never heard these type of stands before. Ex-military. Ex-officials from his own administrations. Scientists. Now the New England Journal of Medicine.

                    I think even the Never Trumpers have grown numb to the level of incompetence and ignorance that is Donald Trump. And his supporters refuse to listen as long as he continues to say "mean" things about democrats.

                    We're in a pandemic costing thousands of lives each month and he's downplayed it and made mitigation political.

                    I hope nobody has any plans other than voting Biden this election. It doesn't matter if a 78 year old 70's style democrat isn't your first choice. All that matters is Trump loses and Biden is a better choice than 4 more years of Trump's dangerous ignorance and incompetence. This is not the year to "send a signal" by voting 3rd party. This is the year to vote in numbers too large to ignore and vote for the only candidate that can beat Trump. Cancel a Trump vote, not just take a vote from him.

                    As incompetent as he's been, that he couldn't even manage to utilize the vast technological resources and minds of the US scientists and others in a pandemic(!) should be plenty to point to his dangerous ignorance and incompetence.

                    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

                      Let me prove that the left are the raving lunatics.

                      Recall when Nancy Pelosi tried to stop the impeachment. She had her senses about her. Despised Trump, but wasn't mentally ill over it.

                      But the lunatics forced her to start what was OBVIOUSLY going to fail. That's the proof of mental illness. Anyone with a functioning brain knew it would fail.

                      As for Trump, he says crazy stuff all the time. But he's been that way for a very, very long time. That's his personality, not a mental deficit like Joe Biden has developed over the last few years.

                      So no, I realize you have TDS as well, but he's not any different than he was two weeks ago.
                      This post proves you're the raving lunatic actually. Only in the cults alternate universe did impeachment "fail".

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by CJ Jones View Post

                        This post proves you're the raving lunatic actually. Only in the cults alternate universe did impeachment "fail".
                        Sure, everyone knew they could impeach but removal was the goal. Anything less than that is a waste of tax payer funds and a failure when they could have voted to censure him without spending millions and requiring Senate involvement.

                        The worst thing is that they knew or should have known it was a waste of time and resources. But the result was even worse. They distracted the entire federal government at a time when a global pandemic was starting up. If all of Congress had not been focused so much on that, perhaps lives could have been saved. But no, they wanted their pound of flesh but really got nothing but egg in their faces.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by Gamble1 View Post

                          You should broaden the date range if you want to be wowed. The cases and deaths could also correlate to travel. I know certain EU countries opened up travel and my bet is that cases and death rose afterward. Sweden probably is ranked lower on that travel list in comparison to places like France or even Belgium.
                          That date range went all the way back to June 8th, four full months. I'm not sure why going back further at a time when nobody knew much about the virus would matter.

                          Travel could be a factor. I cannot say without seeing data.

                          But what I see in that chart, after adding more countries, is that Sweden has the lowest deaths per million compared to Germany, Russia, Canada, Ireland, India, Spain, Poland, Italy, France, USA, UK and Canada. Yet the Swedes do not wear masks. If masks were helpful preventing death, I would expect that Sweden would be in more trouble. But the simple fact is, they are not.

                          So what's going on? The Swedes got hit hard early. Did they build up some immunity? I don't know but I think the jury is deliberating on that.

                          Comment


                          • I missed this somehow-
                            https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...nd-up-to-trump

                            From the above:
                            "I think we've got about the worst response to this pandemic that you could possibly have," said Foege, who served as CDC director from 1977 to 1983, spanning the Carter and Reagan administrations, in an interview with NPR.
                            He blames the White House, which he says has not allowed the CDC, the nation's public health agency, to apply its considerable knowledge to the pandemic response: "It felt to me like President Trump had his knee on the neck of the public health community holding them down so that they could not actually do their work," he says.
                            In a scathing letter sent Sept. 23, Foege tells Redfield that, while the CDC director has "shown great resilience in being willing to take [the Trump administration's] abuse," current and former CDC employees have lost confidence in his leadership. "At the moment, they feel you accepted the White House orders without sufficient resistance," he wrote. The letter was obtained and published this week by USA Today."
                            And before anyone says "Fake News!"
                            -Dr. William Foege doesn't know how his private letter to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, got leaked — but he stands by its contents. -NPR


                            Much more at the link.
                            Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                            ------

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

                            -John Wooden

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by Bball View Post
                              I missed this somehow-
                              https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...nd-up-to-trump

                              From the above:
                              "I think we've got about the worst response to this pandemic that you could possibly have," said Foege, who served as CDC director from 1977 to 1983, spanning the Carter and Reagan administrations, in an interview with NPR.
                              He blames the White House, which he says has not allowed the CDC, the nation's public health agency, to apply its considerable knowledge to the pandemic response: "It felt to me like President Trump had his knee on the neck of the public health community holding them down so that they could not actually do their work," he says.
                              In a scathing letter sent Sept. 23, Foege tells Redfield that, while the CDC director has "shown great resilience in being willing to take [the Trump administration's] abuse," current and former CDC employees have lost confidence in his leadership. "At the moment, they feel you accepted the White House orders without sufficient resistance," he wrote. The letter was obtained and published this week by USA Today."
                              And before anyone says "Fake News!"
                              -Dr. William Foege doesn't know how his private letter to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, got leaked — but he stands by its contents. -NPR


                              Much more at the link.
                              Yeh, right. Fake news on that. The bit about knee on the neck shows where he's coming from (i.e. the left). He's also 84 years old and probably more senile than Joe Biden.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                                Yeh, right. Fake news on that. The bit about knee on the neck shows where he's coming from (i.e. the left). He's also 84 years old and probably more senile than Joe Biden.
                                Senile is saying put bleach in your veins or UV light on your organs. Senile is saying it is no worse than the flu and that young people are immune.

                                Senile is getting a public relation guy with no health background and a part time professor to control the pandemic message to the nation.

                                Of all the idiotic half baked stupid responses we have heard from Trump the 85 year old with experience is more factually on point and there records and emails backing up that claim.

                                You can cry leftist all you want but the general consensus from top to bottom in the health field that I work with think Trump has utterly failed in his response to this pandemic.



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