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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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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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Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

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  • Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

    Miller mouths off, gets tossed early
    2 technical fouls for Indiana veteran result in 1st-half exit

    BY SAM SMITH

    March 27, 2005

    The Indiana Pacers' Reggie Miller had an unpleasant return in what probably was his last NBA game in Chicago, but it wasn't from the crowd.

    The Bulls roughed up Miller a bit. He drew two technical foul calls from referee Blaine Reichelt and was ejected with about three minutes left in the first half.

    Pacers coach Rick Carlisle also was ejected by the seemingly thin-skinned Reichelt for comments made toward the ref.

    Mum's the word

    Carlisle said before the game he didn't want to discuss Friday night's bomb threats in Auburn Hills, Mich., before the Pacers defeated the Pistons.

    "It's over with," he said. "It's not worth talking about."

    But the bomb threats and the Pacers' refusal to play until they were satisfied it was safe in the arena will have consequences. NBA insiders say Commissioner David Stern was furious with the Pacers and threatened massive fines if the Pacers didn't play, which was discussed among the players during the delay. Eventually players were persuaded to take the court, though bitter feelings remain among the Pacers regarding their treatment from the brawl with the Pistons and the league's subsequent handling of the matter.

    "We've been penalized so much this year, and nothing has ever happened to the Pistons or the Palace or even the city of Detroit," Miller said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it, and the league ought to be ashamed to let security be as lax as it is around here.

    "David Stern has to take a hard look in the mirror every morning he wakes up on his decision on the way he penalized us and the way he penalized the Pistons."

    Coaching laurels

    The Bulls' Scott Skiles, Phoenix's Mike D'Antoni, Seattle's Nate McMillan and Washington's Eddie Jordan are considered the front-runners for coach of the year.

    But considering all the Pacers' suspensions and injuries--367 player games missed, 27 different starting lineups, 17 different starters and their top three players now out--some are saying Carlisle deserves consideration.

    "We did something I don't think any team in this league could do," said Jermaine O'Neal, who is with the team but not playing due to a shoulder injury. "Take the top three players off any team and key role players, and who's going to be in the position we're in?"

    Layups

    Skiles said the team is hoping Kirk Hinrich will play Monday against Memphis. . . . Eddy Curry, who fell short of his career-high 31 points with 27, said he bumped his right knee with Jeff Foster before coming out at the end of the third quareter. "I noticed it swelled up a little bit," Curry said. "We don't think it's anything serious. I sat out for precautionary reasons." . . . Skiles said he's a big fan of Miller's: "If you're not impressed with the guy, you don't have any blood. He got the most out of his talent. He reached his potential. What bigger compliment can you give a human being?"

    While in Detroit for Friday's game, four of the Pacers charged in the November brawl--O'Neal, Anthony Johnson, David Harrison and Stephen Jackson--went to Auburn Hills police for fingerprinting. Their next court date is April 8.

    Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune
    So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

    If you've done 6 impossible things today?
    Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!


  • #2
    Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

    From time to time I am a conspiracy theorist. I have no trouble believing the NBA is behind Reggie and Rick getting tossed. My other theory is the bomb threat really bothered Reggie, bring back memories of when his house burned down. He probably didn't get any sleep and wasn't about to try to keep his mouth shut when the refs were crappy as usual. In Rick's case another possibilty is that Blaine was on his period and forgot how to count to two.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

      This just shows what a selfish, greedy little prick Stern is, that he would be furious that players would be concerned for their own safety, both during the brawl and concerning the bomb threat.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

        Do the players even have some type of "right to refuse unsafe work" like we do here? It's called WHMIS.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

          Originally posted by rcarey
          Do the players even have some type of "right to refuse unsafe work" like we do here? It's called WHMIS.
          We might, but they'd have to prove it. The Pacers could tell Stern the sky is blue and the grass is green. Not only would Stern disagree he'd fine us for speaking our minds.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

            My view of Stern has been lowered yet again. What a jackass.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

              I couldn't give a how furious Stern was. Little . I can tell you this, if I was at the Palace - especially with kids - Stern would have gotten an earful from me about not notifying the crowd and being given the option to stay or leave. What a two-face he is.
              The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                I was just wondering, isn't it some criminal act if you refuse to keep knowledge of this of people involved?

                Say a bomb would've gone off, who would be responsible for not warning people in time?

                Couldn't be that was the Palace organization, police and NBA combined now could it?

                IF this (what Smith wrote) above is true, i.e. Stern/Jackson forced the Pacers to play, then Stern is on his way out of the league, no way owners will accept such visions of grandeur of one man.

                Specially for Reggie (house) this must be hard to swallow.

                Detroit can "tune down" all it wants, but 4 threats on one night or in fact ANY bomb threat is not a regular or every day occurance in basketball arenas, certainly in the current atmosphere in the USA post 9/11 these kind of threats are not taken lightly, and would reach the press.

                The fact nothing happened does not mean that those saying "nothing was going to happen" were right, it just means everyone was lucky, odds I would not take in a bet.
                So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

                If you've done 6 impossible things today?
                Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                  I think stern has connections with al-qaida

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                    Originally posted by ABADays
                    I couldn't give a how furious Stern was. Little . I can tell you this, if I was at the Palace - especially with kids - Stern would have gotten an earful from me about not notifying the crowd and being given the option to stay or leave. What two-face he is.
                    My parents have been thinking about contacting someone.

                    They were really unsure of what to do. Part of them wanted for us all to go wait outside, or near the front doors until we heard more information. That way we could easily get out of the building if they in fact wanted us evacuated.

                    I think they were worried about how the fans would react if the PA announcer said something like "The game has been cancelled - please evacuate the building for a bomb threat". By that time, for one, some fans had their fair share of drinks. Would they have lashed out at the bad news? Would there have been a controlled exit from the building?

                    I'm not sure - and I'm real glad that I didn't have to find out. But my parents have seriously thought about complaining to someone about it all - just not sure who.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                      So you knew? I was under the impression no mention of the bomb threat was made to the crowd. As for the contact - a direct call to David Stern should be made. I would be interested to see if he would even take it.
                      The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                        Originally posted by ABADays
                        So you knew? I was under the impression no mention of the bomb threat was made to the crowd. As for the contact - a direct call to David Stern should be made. I would be interested to see if he would even take it.
                        Nope - the only reason I was able to find out was because I was sitting beside a friendly seasons ticket holder, who asked his usher what the hell was going on. He was later told it was a bomb threat, and he came back down to his seat and whispered it in my ear...

                        All that was said over the PA was:
                        "There have been some unforseen circumstances".

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                          No he won't take it. No matter who you try to call in the NBA I'm sure you'd be directed to the PR guy. Send an e-mail and you'll get a form letter back in a month.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                            I'd give my right arm to have Stern make a repeat luncheon appearance for our season ticket holders. He'd need the national guard to get him out safely.
                            Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Miller mouths off, gets tossed early (interesting titbits)

                              Originally posted by vapacersfan
                              This is a little OT:

                              but last night I had a dream that he had one of those confrences with season ticket holders and when he answered a question someone didnt like it and Stern had a chair thrown at his head.

                              He stated he would never come back to Indiana, and that the Pacers had the worst fans in the history of the NBA.


                              If he did such a thing, his broken body would be laying on the sidewalk below Pepsi Square surrounded by shards of glass about 3 seconds later.

                              Seriously, I had to hold my sister back from going after Dikembe Mutombo once. She'd have no problem with Stern, regardless of the fact she's 5'2".
                              Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                              Comment

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