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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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Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

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  • Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

    Just a reminder that the episode featuring Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Indianapolis and a visit by Paul to Conseco Fieldhouse featuring numerous Pacer players will be on tonight on your local ABC affiliate. The show is their 2 hour season finale and starts an hour early this week (7pm EST rather than the usual 8pm time slot). For those of us in Indy area, the show will air at 7pm tonight locallyon WRTV Channel 6. Enjoy!!!

  • #2
    Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

    Me too. During the charity auction. A star is born
    The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

      very touching story...
      Passion, Pride, Playoffs, Pacers

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

        haha Hibbert: "clean it up rook"

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

          ***Spoiler alert: If you don't want to know what happened, quit reading.





          I thought the show tonight showed the Pacers in a GREAT light. They mentioned how much the Pacers did for the community, they played with Paul a little bit with Hibbert and Granger featured. Plus, the Pacers donated 50 basketballs, went ahead and signed an item and donated 4 season tickets. Pretty cool to see the Pacers and hopefully it will give them a little national exposure to the casual fan as well as those in and around Indy.

          The show should be available for viewing online at abc.com in the next day or so for anyone who missed it or doesn't have access to ABC,

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

            Gah! I forgot to tape this!

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

              Really great story, an amazing person.
              Super Bowl XLI Champions
              2000 Eastern Conference Champions




              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                Can't believe all those thugs would donate the basketballs...


                @Pacers24Colts12

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                  Unfortunately, the episode did not include mentioning one of the other extremely important projects. Mr. Estridge took it upon himself to expand beyond the house and library and include all that you saw in the neighborhood like the tree planting, painting, landscaping, ramp building, etc. but did not mention he is also converting abandon school 53 into a community center. He's just a great man.

                  I was extremely honored to spend a week on this project.
                  The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                    I am dissapointed in the company that I work for, for not donating materials. IDK who Estridge got the framing and trim materials from but it wasn't us and we supply Estridge with alot.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                      I loved it. Very touching; wonderful to see him and his family/community receive this assistance.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                        Wonderful show about a wonderful person and his family with the added touch of improving an entire neighborhood!

                        That said, I believe the Pacers missed a golden opportunity. The donation of 50 balls was cool, but the 4 season tickets made them look like cheapskates, in my opinion. They practically gave away many thousands of tickets this past season, and are likely to do so again this year anyway.

                        In an era where the team has a difficult time with attendance at ANY price for most games, the Pacers could have realistically made a HUGE gesture and given, say, 100 mini season plans, even in the balcony, so that the entire community, and especially Mr. McFarland's community children's outreach, that the show provided assistance to could have gone to some games, with the family still receiving the 4 they got, which I would hope are at least in the lower bowl. That way, the Pacers would have gotten more bang for the buck on what they did for the show, and a much bigger impact locally for giving back to the community, while increasing attendance of people who would have been grateful for the opportunity to attend games. Actually, the Pacers Foundation could have also been given a plug for giving these tickets due its' focus on children's charities, possibly boosting awareness and increasing donations to the Pacers Foundation during a time that charities are having a very difficult time raising funds.

                        Also, it is surprising that the Pacers didn't provide Pacers gear and possibly a blue and gold theme for the basketball court to complete their gift with something that will keep on giving for many years. The "NBA Cares" effort could have even been featured, with the league donating a regulation basketball goal and stanchion (sp?) with a shot clock for a dramatic touch, which would have been a pretty cheap ad for the league compared to national advertising spot costs.

                        At this difficult time where the franchise is trying to repair its image in the minds of taxpayers who they are hoping support them in the CIB fiasco, giving back to the community in a VERY public way could have been quite beneficial.

                        I just wish both the Pacers and the NBA would have done a lot more.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                          While what you said were good ideas how much time do you think the show would have dedicated to it. To present all you wanted would have taken 10 minutes. Compare it to the exposure Sears gets - about the same time as the Pacers got and they provide a tremendous amount of stuff for the families plus they paid off the mortgage. Or the exposure Estridge got and they built the house. The show would not have been a proper forum for the P's to do an infomercial. I think what they did was quite generous. There was a noticeable absence of the Colts but I think because they weren't in town.
                          Last edited by ABADays; 05-19-2009, 09:57 AM.
                          The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                            Originally posted by ABADays View Post
                            While what you said were good ideas how much time do you think the show would have dedicated to it. To present all you wanted would have taken 10 minutes. Compare it to the exposure Sears gets - about the same time as the Pacers got and they provide a tremendous amount of stuff for the families plus they paid off the mortgage. Or the exposure Estridge got and they built the house. The show would not have been a proper forum for the P's to do an infomercial. I think what they did was quite generous.
                            I believe that they were fairly generous, as well.

                            To me, the show is all about generosity and the BIG gesture. For what the Pacers gave, they got more exposure than they probably deserved, but I still feel that it wasn't nearly as effective as it might have been.

                            I also agree with the time issue, but they could have reduced or eliminated the Paul time, which is filler anyway, and it would not have taken hardly any time to change saying "4 season tickets" to "4 tickets for the McFarland family AND an additional 100 11 game mini season ticket plans from the Pacers Foundation to aid Mr. McFarland's community outreach. That is over 1100 tickets to children and their families in this community!"

                            They also could have shot the Pacers playing at the newly constructed court instead of at Conseco, and shown the family playing with the Pacers instead of Paul, with the new goal being prominently featured, and a small logo for both the Pacers and "NBA Cares" in the lower right corner of the screen during the spot.

                            Advertising opportunities for the companies and organizations involved are what makes the show possible. The brilliance of it is that it actually makes a difference in people's lives while attaching a very positive perception to each company's branding in the aftermath of participation in the show, which is possibly the second best advertising possible after word-of-mouth.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Just a reminder: Pacers on Extreme Makeover

                              I don't think the family cared about playing against the Pacers since they were in Paris. I know I wouldn't
                              The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                              Comment

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