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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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George Floyd Protests and Riots

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  • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

    You think I am complaining about people having things? My message is that people have enough. But I don't mind them having whatever. I think you are misinterpreting what I'm saying.

    Coveting what other people have is like chasing the wind. There is no end to it.

    Also, handing people cash is treating a symptom of a deeper problem in their heart. They will always want a hand-out. They need to instead change their heart and find contentment in what they have...because most times they have enough.
    "People have enough" and yet you are happy with Jeff Bezos getting to 200 billions in few months during a pandemic
    @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

    Comment


    • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

      If you wouldn't buy so much stuff, Jeff Bezos wouldn't be nearly as rich. My point is that people in this country have WAY more than enough. The people living on public assistance live better than half the world. The average person in this country lives in a bigger house now and has more stuff than ever. Yet they complain because they want more and more stuff because the other guy is doing better.

      Let's say we got rid of all billionaires. No, we wouldn't give you their money. They would just vanish. Would you be happier? I bet you would because it's not about what you have but what other people have.
      Another way to state what you're saying about our standard of living compared to much of the world is we as U.S. citizens have a great deal of privilege. Therefore, we should be grateful and happy with whatever our current level is. So recognize our privilege globally, but don't dare question the layers of privilege within our own country.
      I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

      -Emiliano Zapata

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      • Comment


        • Originally posted by D-BONE View Post

          Another way to state what you're saying about our standard of living compared to much of the world is we as U.S. citizens have a great deal of privilege. Therefore, we should be grateful and happy with whatever our current level is. So recognize our privilege globally, but don't dare question the layers of privilege within our own country.
          America is the richest country in the world. I am just acknowledging we are much better off. Yes we should be grateful. We don't have much in terms of need so no there is no need to compare layers of privilege in America. If you don't have needs, you're just envious of what other people have and you are coveting that.

          You just don't need it.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by graphic-er View Post

            Maybe they weren't poor when they got that phone?
            I personally know a lot of people who are wards of the state. Some disabled. Some mentally ill. I know them because let's just say I'm involved with that segment of the population.

            They get either SSI or SSDI depending on their situation. They get a "food card". Sometimes their parents take care of them. Sometimes their parents abandon them. Sometimes they are in wheel chairs for life. Sometimes they have serious medical conditions. These are the people in true need in the USA. I would support more money for them, actually. DSP's (i.e. direct support professionals) are paid a tiny sum to do a difficult job. Those people need paid more.

            Again, I am talking about needs. Many people have no idea how bad it really is out there. They think their situation is bad because big ole Bezos lives in a 50,000 SQ FT house and has a billion to burn. That's not who you should look at. Sure, tax the man. But it's not his job to pay for the world. You had a chance to create the next Amazon but you didn't. You can afford to help the people in need though yourself. It's not on Bezos to wait on everyone in this country just because he was ultra successful.

            I also know some people on the fringe who do not get public assistance and have literally died because they didn't have the sense to take care of themselves and they lived in a state that didn't have good oversight (i.e. Alabama). They died because they didn't bathe for years and lived in filth. My cousin visited and wouldn't even sit down on anything. Bugs and cockroaches were everywhere. Dude was 500 lbs existing on his bed and he died of some form of infection. He was only 38. These are also people who I would say need a government hand-up and some oversight.

            So I fully support increasing taxes to take care of people in need. But the people I think need it actually do need it.

            Comment




            • At this point I won't speak on the politics of this. However I will speak of the EMS response to this.

              First and foremost Seattle Medic 1 program is considered one of the gold standards of EMS. Since the 70's they have revolutionized pre hospital Cardiac Arrest survival rates. So this in not an agency that half asses things and does not know what they are doing.

              Second and probably even first, what the Medics did here was absolutely the correct thing and is in the training of every single EMS provider in the United States. From the very first day I walked into Class in 1984 (Jesus that is a long time ago) we were taught scene safety. If the scene has not been secured then the scene is not safe and if it isn't safe we can't be there because we will do nobody any good if we become victims ourselves and in fact will just complicate the matter.

              In any scene of potential violence the only people that can clear a scene for us is Law Enforcement. Not family and certainly not bystanders.

              The thing they did wrong here is park to close to the scene. There was a real potential for violence here and they put themselves in harms way needlessly.

              Again this might seem heartless to the layperson and it is sad someone died, but these procedures have been in place nationwide since at least the early 70's.


              Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

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              • As for the EMS thing, this is just one of the ramifications when people decide anarchy is the answer. They should have studied things a little more closely and prepared to have their own hospital system, EMS, road construction, public schools, etc, if they want autonomy.

                Notice they changed the acronym from CHAZ to CHOP. From autonomous zone to organized protest. The reality is, they don't want autonomy after all. That's too hard. What they want is to use force to get whatever they want. That's called anarchy. Nobody voted them into power. They took over and afaic they can own it. It's on them to take care of their newfound property and if people die, it is completely their fault. They are un-elected, lawless fools.

                Comment


                • Chicago, Father's Day weekend 2020. After decades of community organizers and liberal politicians with complete power.

                  102 shot. 14 homicides, none by cops. Zero BLM protests. This is how we roll....

                  https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2...lqi24I-s3KUs_A

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                  • EMTs can't be held responsible for their ultimate decision. If protestors are serious about maintaining their autonomy, they will have to devise ways to handle this. Negotiate with local government/law enforcement, find resources to bring injured to the boundary of the zone, allow police back in, etc.
                    I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

                    -Emiliano Zapata

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                      Chicago, Father's Day weekend 2020. After decades of community organizers and liberal politicians with complete power.

                      102 shot. 14 homicides, none by cops. Zero BLM protests. This is how we roll....

                      https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2...lqi24I-s3KUs_A
                      It's all Obama's fault. He's from Chicago. He's a Democrat. And he duped us into electing a non-citizen, Muslim president.
                      Last edited by D-BONE; 06-22-2020, 05:55 PM.
                      I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

                      -Emiliano Zapata

                      Comment


                      • Well Trump did tell police to bang a suspect's head against the squad car when putting them in it. This looks right out of that playbook. Although the guy didn't appear to have committed a crime. Definitely interacts with those he's supposed to serve like his president does.
                        I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

                        -Emiliano Zapata

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                          America is the richest country in the world. I am just acknowledging we are much better off. Yes we should be grateful. We don't have much in terms of need so no there is no need to compare layers of privilege in America. If you don't have needs, you're just envious of what other people have and you are coveting that.

                          You just don't need it.
                          We don't have much need compared to the rest of the world, so just sit back and ignore/endure injustice and inequality that does exist here. While you're at it, just sit back and ignore injustice and inequality all over the world. Ignorance is bliss as they say.
                          I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.

                          -Emiliano Zapata

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by D-BONE View Post

                            We don't have much need compared to the rest of the world, so just sit back and ignore/endure injustice and inequality that does exist here. While you're at it, just sit back and ignore injustice and inequality all over the world. Ignorance is bliss as they say.
                            You had your chance to found Amazon. There is equal opportunity not equal outcome.

                            Also this has nothing to do with justice this has to do with people being envious and coveting other people’s stuff.

                            It also has very little to do what’s going on around the world.

                            Why do you want other people’s stuff? Why do you think you deserve it?

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                            • Why do these people want everybody else’s stuff?

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