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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.

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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 vapacersfan View Post

    I would love to have a lawyer chime in.

    I am going off of my law class freshman year of college (over a decade ago now) but I THINK I remember discussing that roads are privately owned by the community but are not the private property of any individual.

    Using above I don’t believe you are correct. If you came and sat on my front porch I have a right to defend my house using the castle doctrine. If you simply stand on the street and call me names I don’t have that same right. Now if they broke a gate down on the families private property its game on. I don’t believe the same is true for simply walking down a street on a private neighborhood.

    Initially the husband claimed they came onto his lawn and got into his face. I don’t believe the video released later on backed up that claim.

    Like I said above, I would love to have a lawyer chime in and got into his face however I think the video released later on did not back that version up.


    It's not that complicated. It's highly likely every parcel in that area is encumbered by an easement allowing the residents to cross over each other's property. If someone is standing on the road, they are standing in someone's yard. It is really that simple. It's just others have a legal right to access.travel on it, but not the public. There isn't any difference at all between what they did and someone walking in your yard.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

      It's not that complicated. It's highly likely every parcel in that area is encumbered by an easement allowing the residents to cross over each other's property. If someone is standing on the road, they are standing in someone's yard. It is really that simple. It's just others have a legal right to access.travel on it, but not the public. There isn't any difference at all between what they did and someone walking in your yard.
      All due respect I will defer to a lawyer or the HOA of the community over a poster of a NBA message board.

      There isn't any difference at all between what they did and someone walking in your yard.
      I am pretty certain this is not correct, but again defer to a lawyer or the community HOA

      EDIT: I know for a fact there are multiple gated communities in Florida where friends live where the community owns the streets. So if that is the case then above is not accurate

      Comment


      • Originally posted by vapacersfan View Post

        All due respect I will defer to a lawyer or the HOA of the community over a poster of a NBA message board.



        I am pretty certain this is not correct, but again defer to a lawyer or the community HOA

        EDIT: I know for a fact there are multiple gated communities in Florida where friends live where the community owns the streets. So if that is the case then above is not accurate
        CNN already confirmed the two of them owned the property (i.e. the street). Just google and you will see that.

        I don't know if they own all of the street but they just own the section next to their property. But they do own part of the street. BTW, while not an expert in this area of law or claim to know anymore than you, I am an attorney.

        Comment


        • Missouri Revised Statutes Title XXXVIII. Crimes and Punishment; Peace Officers and Public Defenders ยง 563.031. Use of force in defense of persons

          https://codes.findlaw.com/mo/title-x...t-563-031.html

          Comment


          • Mark McCloskey biography: 13 things about St. Louis attorney

            The house is a Renaissance-style palazzo dubbed the Niemann Mansion. It is currently appraised at $1.15 million.

            During the confrontation with the protesters, Mark was dressed in a pastel pink polo shirt and khaki pants while brandishing a large assault weapon, an AR-15 rifle. Here are 13 more facts about him:
            1. He was born in 1957.
            2. He graduated magna *** laude from Southern Methodist University (SMU) Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas, USA.
            3. His bar card number is 13417450. He obtained his Texas license on January 17, 1986.
            4. He and Patricia bought their St. Louis mansion in February 1988.
            5. He and Patricia got married in 1990 and renewed their wedding vows on April 24, 2011. They have one daughter.
            6. On March 24, 1992, he donated $1000 to Bush-Quayle ’92 Primacy Committee Inc.
            7. On April 11, 1996, he donated $1000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee Contributions. He gave the Republican National Committee $100 on October 1, 2016 and another $100 on October 13, 2016.
            8. On October 14, 1996, he donated $500 to Bill Phelps for Congress.
            9. He gave $3,250 to former Missouri representative Russ Carnahan when the latter, who is a Democrat, was running for lieutenant governor in 2016.
            10. He gave Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. $400 on October 1, 2016, $800 on October 13, 2016, $400 on October 23, 2016 and another $400 on October 27, 2016. He gave the Trump Make America Great Again Committee $500 on October 13, 2016, $500 on October 23, 2016, $1000 on October 27, 2016 and $500 on November 3, 2016.
            11. In June 2017, he gave $500 to Celeste Vossmeyer, an independent candidate for Ward 28 representative on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in Missouri.
            12. On July 16, 2017, he donated $600 to the campaign of Steven Roberts Sr., who eventually lost his bid for Board of Aldermen. On October 17, 2019, he contributed $250 to the campaign of Missouri representative Steven Roberts Jr., son of Steven. On June 29, 2020, the younger Roberts told theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch that he would send the $250 donation to Moms Demand Action.
            13. He represented African-American man Isaiah Forman, who was kicked and struck by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer David Maas in April 2019 as shown in a dashcam footage.
            https://conandaily.com/2020/06/29/ma...ouis-attorney/



















            Comment


            • This is from another site. What I am not clear on is if the protestors broke the gate or if it was already broken

              https://imgur.com/6DBMv9Y

              EDIT: It wont post above as an image, but the description from whoever uploaded the image states this damage was all done from the protesters
              Last edited by vapacersfan; 06-30-2020, 04:04 PM.

              Comment



              • Lois Beckett

                @loisbeckett
                Does it matter if you’re on your own private property under Missouri law? Quite likely yes, but good questions for legal experts in the morning: https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1277470403233902593?s=21…

                Lois Beckett
                @loisbeckett
                Missouri law does not allow display of firearms in a threatening manner. But there’s also a Missouri Supreme Court case from the 1940s affirming the importance of being on your own private property when exhibiting a firearm. See State v. Plassard: https://lawcenter.giffords.org/state...ssouri/…

                8:18 AM ยท Jun 29, 2020


                Comment


                • I'm not trying to figure out if the homeowners were right or wrong in doing what they did. I want to know if the group of people broke any laws by entering/trespassing on the property - even tho they may have just been on the street.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by PacerDude View Post
                    I'm not trying to figure out if the homeowners were right or wrong in doing what they did. I want to know if the group of people broke any laws by entering/trespassing on the property - even tho they may have just been on the street.
                    CNN confirmed with the city they are trespassing on private property. There is nothing public to walk on down that street. A sign at the front doesn't mean it's a private street, but in this case it really is. It's their property. It could be one person's property...or more likely it is every homeowner's property. In any event, it is private property and they should not have stepped foot in there. This is kind of settled stuff.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post

                      CNN already confirmed the two of them owned the property (i.e. the street). Just google and you will see that.

                      I don't know if they own all of the street but they just own the section next to their property. But they do own part of the street. BTW, while not an expert in this area of law or claim to know anymore than you, I am an attorney.
                      Not surprising either
                      @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

                        Not surprising either
                        Last edited by BlueNGold; 06-30-2020, 05:10 PM.

                        Comment


                        • Messenger: This wasn’t the first time the McCloskeys pulled a gun to protect property, lawsuit says

                          The day after Mark and Patricia McCloskey made national news, they lost in court.

                          The Portland Place couple, now known for pulling out a pistol and rifle and pointing them at protesters who walked by their mansion on the way to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house in the Central West End, said they were scared. They said they were defending their property.

                          That’s what the two attorneys have been doing in St. Louis Circuit Court since 2017, defending a sliver of property in what they call the “private place” of the tony neighborhood where they live. The defendants in the case are the trustees of Portland Place, who say a triangle of land that the McCloskeys claim as their own actually belongs to the neighborhood.

                          As the nation debates whether it was appropriate for the wealthy couple to aim their weapons at the protesters on a sidewalk and road that was designed to keep outsiders away, the McCloskeys are suing, in part, over the placement of the very sign that indicates the road to their house is a “Private Street.”

                          “Between the time of acquisition of One Portland Place and the construction of the above-referenced ten foot wall, the McCloskeys regularly prohibited all persons, including Portland Place residents, from crossing the Parcel including at least at one point, challenging a resident at gun point who refused to heed the McCloskeys’ warnings to stay off such property,” states an affidavit in the lawsuit.

                          Click on the link for the full article

                          Comment


                          • Letter from neighbors condemns Central West End couple

                            https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/lo...1-c3d10c24e6d1

                            Comment




                            • Kyle Griffin

                              @kylegriffin1

                              Aurora's interim police chief has fired two of the three officers who posed for a photo reenacting a chokehold at the site of Elijah McClain's violent arrest — the third already had resigned — and terminated another who received the photo.

                              Aurora police chief fires 3 officers as part of Elijah McClain photo investigation
                              denverpost.com
                              11:40 PM ยท Jul 3, 2020



                              Comment


                              • Ok, time for an honest question.

                                The first amendment of the constitution gives Americans the right to peaceably assemble. Also it gives the right to freedom of speech and to be able to redress the government with their grievances . These have been interpreted over the years by various courts to basically mean the right to protest. I won't cite case law here, you can just google it.

                                So we all can agree that Americans have the right to protest.

                                Now here is my questions. What should the line be in protesting? In other words where does a protest end and a riot begin? How far can the government go to limit area's for protest? Are all protest equal?

                                I'm actually looking for ideas here and not wanting to litigate the past month of events. I believe the vast majority of the events were peaceful protest with people who honestly were addressing a wrong. However there can be almost no doubt that a few of those descended into riots, I believe mostly by outside agitators who had other agenda's.

                                But that's not what I want to talk about here. I want to know what we think is the line for these questions.


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

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