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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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Frank's Future

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  • Re: Frank's Future

    Originally posted by Dr. Awesome View Post
    But to be fair, I don't think Larry has really thrown people under the bus in the way people are using it.

    He said Granger doesn't work hard enough - I'm fine with that.

    He said Hibbert didn't earn his minutes - I'm fine with that.

    Stuff like that is fine by me. The saying Vogel begged for his job was unnecessary and something I didn't like.
    I didn't like the Vogel stuff either. Watching it, it looked to me as if Bird was about to cry and just started rambling and divulged too much info. Makes more sense to me that a guy being purposely hurtful to someone he clearly cares about.

    Comment


    • Re: Frank's Future

      Originally posted by Since86 View Post
      But in West's opinion he did throw Roy under the bus. So West said something bad about Bird. Once again, scoring by the standards you laid out.
      I never said I thought it was bad. If you're asking if West thought it was bad? I'm guessing yes, I'm sure he didn't like it.

      But I'll give it to you. In 20 years we have one player saying one thing said "rubbed him the wrong way." Not really what I mean by "saying something bad about Bird," but that's my fault.

      Now being more specific, nobody says anything bad about working with Bird or their time with the Pacers. I would think if Bird is such a dick, there would be more stories.

      Comment


      • Re: Frank's Future

        Originally posted by freddielewis14 View Post
        Ha, take it how ever you want. I don't think Bird threw Roy under the bus, he stated a fact. While Roy insulted his teammates.

        It's also been speculated that Bird was hoping to get Hibbert to opt out by letting it be known he would not be getting playing time in a contract year. It's pert of Bird's job to use the media the best way he can to help the franchise. Not part of Roy's job to call his teammates selfish to the media.

        If Hibbert shouldn't be using the media to try and make something happen, why should Bird be given the green light to do so?

        If the situation was that there really were some selfish dudes, and calling them out behind closed doors wasn't doing anything to make them play team basketball, then using the media to give then a little push would seem like a justifiable action. In line with how you think Bird was justified.

        The scenarios are the exact same (using the media to affect a change), but you have a more favorable opinion of one guy vs. the other. Players are put in front of microphones far more often than executives, so I don't agree that it should be a bigger part of Larry's job than a player's.
        Time for a new sig.

        Comment


        • Re: Frank's Future

          Originally posted by Since86 View Post
          So clarify it. Does throwing someone under the bus constitute as "bad" in your opinion? Simple yes or no answer, a dodge will be taken as yes.
          Yes. So clarify for me, do you consider all critical opinions, deserved or not, rude or not, as throwing someone under the bus? simple yes or no. dodging taken as a yes.
          Danger Zone

          Comment


          • Re: Frank's Future

            Originally posted by aamcguy View Post
            If Hibbert shouldn't be using the media to try and make something happen, why should Bird be given the green light to do so?

            If the situation was that there really were some selfish dudes, and calling them out behind closed doors wasn't doing anything to make them play team basketball, then using the media to give then a little push would seem like a justifiable action. In line with how you think Bird was justified.

            The scenarios are the exact same (using the media to affect a change), but you have a more favorable opinion of one guy vs. the other.
            Scenarios are not the same. Bird's comment in no way hurt the team, season was over. Hibbert later admitted what said was a distraction...

            "You know, I think that I should've kept my frustrations to myself or just in the locker room," Hibbert said on "ESPN First Take."

            "I will admit that it wasn't the best thing to do. I'll learn from that, and I was wrong. There are better ways to handle that than going to the media. All in all, I learned. I talked to my teammates; they talked to me. I'm willing to accept the criticism. It wasn't the best thing to do."
            http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014...cize-teammates

            To compare the role of a GM addressing players at the end of the season, and a player's midseason outburst insulting his teammates is ridiculous.

            Comment


            • Re: Frank's Future

              Originally posted by aamcguy View Post
              If Hibbert shouldn't be using the media to try and make something happen, why should Bird be given the green light to do so?

              If the situation was that there really were some selfish dudes, and calling them out behind closed doors wasn't doing anything to make them play team basketball, then using the media to give then a little push would seem like a justifiable action. In line with how you think Bird was justified.

              The scenarios are the exact same (using the media to affect a change), but you have a more favorable opinion of one guy vs. the other.
              Of course I do. Roy is a known malcontent and headcase.
              Danger Zone

              Comment


              • Re: Frank's Future

                Originally posted by Rogco View Post
                Yes. So clarify for me, do you consider all critical opinions, deserved or not, rude or not, as throwing someone under the bus? simple yes or no. dodging taken as a yes.
                Public comments, yes.
                Private comments, no.

                I fully expect Bird to give his unfiltered opinion to, say, Simon. I don't expect him to say what he says to his boss privately, to a room full of reporters and cameras. There was no need for Larry to say how Frank begged for his job, for example. If he said that to his wife/girlfriend over dinner I'd have no problem with it then, for example.
                Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                Comment


                • Re: Frank's Future

                  Originally posted by freddielewis14 View Post
                  Scenarios are not the same. Bird's comment in no way hurt the team, season was over. Hibbert later admitted what said was a distraction...
                  It didn't hurt the team, it had potential to hurt Frank.

                  You admitted you don't like what he said about Frank either. Admitting that is agreeing with our position, as you argue against our position. Larry said some things he shouldn't have. That's the whole position summed up in one neat little sentence.
                  Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                  Comment


                  • Re: Frank's Future

                    Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                    It didn't hurt the team, it had potential to hurt Frank.
                    I believe that was referring to Roy.

                    Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                    You admitted you don't like what he said about Frank either. Admitting that is agreeing with our position, as you argue against our position. Larry said some things he shouldn't have. That's the whole position summed up in one neat little sentence.
                    Let's look at the quote...

                    “We talked for probably a half hour on the phone. He was trying to talk me out of this decision. Frank loves it here, his family loves it and he kept bringing it up about can we sit down and delay the news conference and start all over again. He’s going to be missed. He’s a good guy, he’s good for our community.”
                    I wish he hadn't said that, but do I think it was malicious? No.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Frank's Future

                      Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                      Public comments, yes.
                      Private comments, no.

                      I fully expect Bird to give his unfiltered opinion to, say, Simon. I don't expect him to say what he says to his boss privately, to a room full of reporters and cameras. There was no need for Larry to say how Frank begged for his job, for example. If he said that to his wife/girlfriend over dinner I'd have no problem with it then, for example.
                      That is a very odd take. I remember Vogel throwing many people under the bus by that interpretation. He frequently talked about needing more effort and hustle, or players needing to be more aggressive. I guess you must consider every sport figure as someone who throws people under the bus.
                      Danger Zone

                      Comment


                      • Re: Frank's Future

                        Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                        You mean people want the truth? No way!!!!

                        EDIT: The decision wasn't going to be popular with those of us who are Frank fans. Lying about the reasons only makes the whole situation worse. I would much rather Larry just come out and say "I just think we needed to go in a new direction" instead of making things up.
                        Isn't this what he did? How is "we needed a new voice" different from "we needed to go in a different direction"??

                        Comment


                        • Re: Frank's Future

                          Originally posted by freddielewis14 View Post
                          I wish he hadn't said that, but do I think it was malicious? No.
                          You don't have to intend to be malicious in order to be unprofessional.
                          Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                          Comment


                          • Re: Frank's Future

                            Originally posted by kent beckley View Post
                            Isn't this what he did? How is "we needed a new voice" different from "we needed to go in a different direction"??
                            Because he said about 4-5 different things along with it. I'm saying he should have just stopped after saying he thought they needed to go in a different direction.
                            Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Frank's Future

                              Originally posted by Ace E.Anderson View Post
                              Anyone who thought that Vogel would say anything that could be taken as negative or controversial is kidding themselves.
                              So we should expect Bird to do it differently?

                              I just don't get what everyone is wanting here. Not you in particular, but some just seem to be wanting to find more ways to complain about Bird. But it's only to protect or defend Vogel at the expense of Bird. Some people are way, way, way too shocked that Vogel was let go. Nobody should be surprised. Some of us seen it coming, and just because people wanted to ignore that doesn't mean we were not onto something. Obviously there was a undercurrent some people were ignoring. And some are still ignoring it.
                              Last edited by Bball; 05-26-2016, 01:38 PM.
                              Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                              ------

                              "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                              -John Wooden

                              Comment


                              • Re: Frank's Future

                                Originally posted by Rogco View Post
                                That is a very odd take.
                                Thinking private comments should be judged differently that public comments is odd? Okay.
                                Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                                Comment

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