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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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My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

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  • My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

    I have been granted the authority to speak on behalf of the management of Pacers Digest (all Hail the founder Hicks).

    Basically what it boils down to is this. We've taken a look around the Pacers Digest & frankly we don't like a lot of what we see. In fact, I think it's safe to say that for the most part we are not happy with the direction of the forum itself.

    We know in dealing privately with several of you that you are not happy with the state of the forum either.

    Now frankly the team itself has a lot to do with this in some ways. Very inconsistant & frankly very mediocre for most of the season so far. So we understand that there will be a certain amount of unrest regarding the team. We also understand that some of us have little to no faith in management to improve on this. As well as certain players driving some of us crazy.

    However what we are haveing a real problem with is the direct & often times not so direct insults that we lay down at the feet of each other as posters.

    Nobody should be belittled because of their thoughts, for that matter nobody should be worshipped because they said something that you agree with.

    What we miss, & when I say we I don't just mean members of the admins., is an open honest dialoge between posters.

    No, not everybody is going to take the time to write out long well thought after post every time they hit submit. But the one line zingers and the QFT things have got to go.

    But this post is not about what is wrong, per say. This is our official appeal to you as valued members of our board to help us take this place back to where it once was, the best sports forum on the internet.

    We want to know from you either here on this post or in private your ideas to help us improve things.

    What do you like? What don't you like? What can we improve on?

    We are listening.

    We know that we can only regain our former status with your help.

    Now a special appeal to some of you old timers, you know who you are, we need your help.

    Some of us, I am more guilty lately than anyone, have just slowed our postings down so that we no longer really impact (thanks Jay) the direction of the forum.

    Please, if at all humanly possible & your work life & personnal life permitting, rejoin the fold. We need you guys. If you are posting some now, post more.

    We know why some of you have slowed down or stopped altogether & we are in the process of correcting some of those issues.

    To our newer members. Your input on this is very valued by us. We do not blame you for the way this has taken shape. In some ways it was just a perfect storm of events that has taken it's toll over time.

    We know that with your help we will make improvements.

    Thank you for your time.



    Peck


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

  • #2
    Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

    Originally posted by Peck View Post

    What do you like?
    I miss Odd Thoughts.
    You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

      I see less posts with actual insight and more posts that hail "favorite players", and how other Pacer players are terrible. Much of that has to do with the transistion phase this franchise is and will continue to go through for the next season or so. It's hard for fans to identify with new faces, and I think that many fans on this board or obviously sorting all that out.

      I don't enjoy reading such threads. I like threads that deal with basketball strategy, strengths of players games and critical dissection of Pacer games. Like I said earlier, when a board turns into warring camps promoting "favs" alot of viewers tune out.

      I've been lurking for the last year w/out posting much. This current team is not very interesting to me, and quite honestly I've been more into college ball this season.
      Dallas Clark>Tony Gonzalez

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

        The only thing I don't enjoy is how easily we seem to give up on the team and how easily everyone follows suit.

        I am not innocent at all but fortunately I had Naptown_Seth there too snap me out of it.

        I don't mean blindly follow the team but I still think we can critique the team without saying "**** em...I'm never watching this team again."

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

          I've been following the Pacers boards since 1999/2000 back at RATS.
          Used to post under "Turk" there...and basically witnessed how that forum split to create the Digest...a more sports dialogue oriented environment.

          As bmac has already mentioned, I think one of the reasons why the boards are taking a turn for the worse is that we pretty much predict what everyone is going to say these days because of their personal view toward their "favorite players."

          So when someone criticize a certain player, they feel like in a sense they are being criticized because in one way or another, they're representing them on this forum and feel the need to defend them.

          Unfortunately sometimes this doesn't happen in the most classy manner.

          I think that the forums reflect the state of the team. The fact that the Pacers are NOT playing like a team might be the actual cause for the high rate of "favorism." If that is the case, we can't really battle that issue all by ourselves.

          As for what we might be able to do - I think we need some better topics to discuss. You can only critique a player for so long before it goes downhill.

          Of course for that to happen, we all need to be creative and take it to the next level.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

            Originally posted by rexnom View Post
            I don't mean blindly follow the team but I still think we can critique the team without saying "**** em...I'm never watching this team again."
            I think for most people, thats just frustration talking - and they continue to follow the team.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

              So if someone doesn't have at least a paragraph in response to a post, they should just not bother replying at all?

              I always saw a forum as being somewhat of a conversation between fans/friends. During a conversation, it doesn't seem that everyone involved in that conversation is going to be prepared to give a small story in rebuttal to a statement being made. It seems that they would probably just shoot out a couple of sentences.

              This forum has it's big posters, no doubt. DAYS of reading with one post. The posts can sometimes cover everything that can be said about something. There may be only just a couple of things to add that the original poster forgot about.

              Am I to understand that we should just keep that to ourselves until we get more to post?

              I have to be honest, I sometimes fear posting here because of not being able to uphold the standards of this board (not the rules, just the quality of posts). Granted I don't believe that I have ever said anything out of line, but never the less I feel somewhat intimidated posting here sometimes. Like I'm not worthy because my knowledge doesn't even come CLOSE to the heavy hitters on this board.

              This all being said, I think that everyone should be treated the same on this board regardless of posts, knowledge, or lengths of their posts.

              I've said my peace so I'll go back under my rock until someone kicks it again.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                Originally posted by Harddrive7 View Post
                So if someone doesn't have at least a paragraph in response to a post, they should just not bother replying at all?

                I always saw a forum as being somewhat of a conversation between fans/friends. During a conversation, it doesn't seem that everyone involved in that conversation is going to be prepared to give a small story in rebuttal to a statement being made. It seems that they would probably just shoot out a couple of sentences.

                This forum has it's big posters, no doubt. DAYS of reading with one post. The posts can sometimes cover everything that can be said about something. There may be only just a couple of things to add that the original poster forgot about.

                Am I to understand that we should just keep that to ourselves until we get more to post?

                I have to be honest, I sometimes fear posting here because of not being able to uphold the standards of this board (not the rules, just the quality of posts). Granted I don't believe that I have ever said anything out of line, but never the less I feel somewhat intimidated posting here sometimes. Like I'm not worthy because my knowledge doesn't even come CLOSE to the heavy hitters on this board.

                This all being said, I think that everyone should be treated the same on this board regardless of posts, knowledge, or lengths of their posts.

                I've said my peace so I'll go back under my rock until someone kicks it again.
                At the end of the day this is what I think it all comes down to.

                It starts with managment and goes all the way down to the posters.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                  Originally posted by vapacersfan View Post
                  At the end of the day this is what I think it all comes down to.

                  It starts with managment and goes all the way down to the posters.

                  the same should be said for the Pacers....but that is another thread

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                    Originally posted by bellisimo View Post
                    the same should be said for the Pacers....but that is another thread
                    I know you are kidding, but I don’t think it is any coincidence.

                    TPTB have decided to give a lot of guys “special treatment” and give everyone there own set of respective rules and look where the team has gone.

                    I fear the same thing has happened with this forum.

                    Just my .02

                    Oh, and just to add my opinion about the length of posts. I admit at times “QFT” types of posts can be annoying (I also think they are appropriate at times if you literally have nothing else to add but do agree, QFT is the same as “I agree” to me) I do not think it is a requirement, nor should it be, that your posts be 15 paragraphs long (ala a Peck post) in order for you to feel “justified” to post it.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                      The only thing I dont like is the Harassing Non-Members Rule. WTF Does that mean, how could I harass someone who is not a member of this site. They don't know I think they suck. Other then that I'm good.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                        I feel , Peck, that as you say the Pacers performance is a lot of what is behind shorter fuses among many posters (myself included) and the general unrest of the team has spread down to the posters. I know that I myself am frustrated with the team and occasionally let it affect my posting. I am sure others feel the same way. I think that we can all improve our sometimes over aggressive over emotional if we merely think before we type. I think the "Golden Rule" would also be something for all of us to remember as we post.


                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                          Despite quarrels and disputes and all of the other negative feelings we have (partially due to the fact that we mostly cheer for the Pacers), I still think that PD is a hell of a board with many great posters and admins (not sucking up here). I know that my mood can shift immensely depending on how the Pacers are doing during the season or just for the day. That posters are consistently emotional is not a negative. And the longevity thing definitely exists but so does Rick Carlisle; we just have to deal with it.

                          And at the end of the day, I'll always be saying

                          One love
                          You Got The Tony!!!!!!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                            I've been a member for almost a year but have only posted for about 2-3 weeks, so I'm really a newbie. Personally, compared to some forums, I think this one is pretty darn good.

                            There is a core of well-informed posters who put a lot of thought into their posts. They are normally based on facts or stats. If they are only opinions, normally there are explanations of why a poster believes a particular way. On a lot of forums, you don't have that. Posters make blunt statements with nothing to substantiate anything. I've seen very little of that here.

                            If this forum has gone down hill, then at one time, it must have been superb. I've not seen any posts of a racial nature, which is a breath of fresh air. I've seen some veiled name calling and on a few cases outright personal attacks, but for the most part, posters are respectful.

                            I've posted on the Indy Star for a while and think this forum has more of the more knowledgeable posters. The Star forum is comprised of a lot of one-liners which you don't see nearly as much here. Comparing the two forums, I think I'll do the majority of my posting here.
                            .

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....

                              Originally posted by Harddrive7 View Post
                              So if someone doesn't have at least a paragraph in response to a post, they should just not bother replying at all?

                              I always saw a forum as being somewhat of a conversation between fans/friends. During a conversation, it doesn't seem that everyone involved in that conversation is going to be prepared to give a small story in rebuttal to a statement being made. It seems that they would probably just shoot out a couple of sentences.

                              This forum has it's big posters, no doubt. DAYS of reading with one post. The posts can sometimes cover everything that can be said about something. There may be only just a couple of things to add that the original poster forgot about.

                              Am I to understand that we should just keep that to ourselves until we get more to post?

                              I have to be honest, I sometimes fear posting here because of not being able to uphold the standards of this board (not the rules, just the quality of posts). Granted I don't believe that I have ever said anything out of line, but never the less I feel somewhat intimidated posting here sometimes. Like I'm not worthy because my knowledge doesn't even come CLOSE to the heavy hitters on this board.

                              This all being said, I think that everyone should be treated the same on this board regardless of posts, knowledge, or lengths of their posts.

                              I've said my peace so I'll go back under my rock until someone kicks it again.
                              Harddrive, I am new here but I have never felt intimitated to the point of fearing to post. One thing you should remember is,
                              that we as posters all have different levels of knowledge of the game, but that also doesn't mean that you don't have anything to contribute to the conversation. I can't break a game down like some of the big hitters here, but I do feel that I have enough basic knowledge to engage these posters. I don't want to, or feel the need to, write long drawn out posts, when the same points can be made in far fewer words.


                              Peck is right though, one only needs to go visit the Indy Star board to see what he is talking about. I have at times been to strong in addressing other posters and have said so to the Mods, but I have tried to be more civil and less combative, without losing my manhood, and you know what, it isn't all that bad. May I say to all of the posters here that I may have offended in any way, get over it. Naw I am just kidding about that last comment. I do feel that some posters here need to lighten up and not be so super sensitive to constructive criticism.

                              Alf68

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