Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: More from Stern.

    Originally posted by Will Galen
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/sp...partner=EXCITE

    More from Stern.

    Stern said he ultimately turned down a request for reinstatement by the Pacers. "Along the way, I said I'd never say never, but I never gave it any serious consideration," Stern said before the game. "I did have to officially say no." ]
    I think he waited so long on purpose to do this when he did. It was almost like he wanted to give hope when he really had no plan in doing so. That shows the kind of person he really is.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: More from Stern.

      Originally posted by Will Galen
      http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/sp...partner=EXCITE

      More from Stern.

      N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern made his first playoff trip to Indiana this season, and he revisited the heavy suspensions he imposed for the Pacers-Pistons brawl, most notably Ron Artest's punishment. Stern said he ultimately turned down a request for reinstatement by the Pacers. "Along the way, I said I'd never say never, but I never gave it any serious consideration," Stern said before the game. "I did have to officially say no." By terms of the agreement to be reinstated for next season, Artest had to undergo league-supervised psychological counseling. "We have people on our staff that are meeting with him regularly and report back," Stern said. "And the report is - and I believe it firmly - that he's doing everything that we asked him to do and he'll be back next year. He'll be automatically reinstated."
      AUTOMATICALLY REINSTATED??? Hmmm somebody carve those words in stone. They may be held in evidence if he doesn't live up to his words. I thought he had said in the past that ROn would have to apply and they would consider it before next season but that it wouldn't be automatic??

      Hmm a little back-peddaling?
      Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

        All they have to do is say he didn't do what they said. It doesn't help that Ron said in the interview that he wasn't getting counseling.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: More from Stern.

          Originally posted by indygeezer
          AUTOMATICALLY REINSTATED??? Hmmm somebody carve those words in stone. They may be held in evidence if he doesn't live up to his words. I thought he had said in the past that ROn would have to apply and they would consider it before next season but that it wouldn't be automatic??

          Hmm a little back-peddaling?
          Absolutely. He's looking for some "nice guy" karma. Not going to happen.
          This space for rent.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: More from Stern.

            Originally posted by indygeezer
            AUTOMATICALLY REINSTATED??? Hmmm somebody carve those words in stone. They may be held in evidence if he doesn't live up to his words. I thought he had said in the past that ROn would have to apply and they would consider it before next season but that it wouldn't be automatic??

            Hmm a little back-peddaling?
            Might just be semantics. When I go to BMV to renew my license it's an automatic approval - but I still have to go there and fill out the form.

            Ron probably still has to officially apply for reinstatement but it sounds like he's saying that's just a technicality.
            The poster formerly known as Rimfire

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: More from Stern.

              Originally posted by able
              4, all and none of the above.

              He was asked if he was in counseling. i.e. PRESENT TENSE
              He HAD counseling i.e. past tense.

              He Might still receive training of sorts or have evaluations, but neither constitutes counseling as such.
              Too bad he proceeded to respond in mostly past tense.

              Artest: "I'm not receiving counseling. At the same time, I'm improving myself. I had a lot of time to think and reflect on my season. I had a lot of time to find ways to improve myself. If you think about it, when you are playing a profession season, more like the NBA season, I had about six months off. You never get that much time, especially if it's in a championship in June, you get two months off. You never get that time with your family. You never get that time to think about how you want your life to go. I had six months, you could say two NBA seasons if you want to get technical with it, to sort of improve myself and think about how I can get my life better. How can I make my life change for the positive? And I had that much time to think about it."
              Sure, it's possible, but he implies here that he never had counseling, and isn't now. Rather, he has spent his time improving from within.

              He just didn't want to admit to it, and I don't fault him for it at all.
              You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                At halftime, I was tempted to try and start a "We Want Ron" chant, but I didn't.

                Yes, David Stern is that short. 5'6" might be a stretch. And, for the record he had 8 security guards on him, easily more than were in the entire Palace on November 19th.
                Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: More from Stern.

                  Originally posted by SoupIsGood
                  Too bad he proceeded to respond in mostly past tense.
                  What? Everything is in the past tense except for the statement about counseling, where he says he is not receiving counseling. With everything else in the past tense, it makes a pretty convincing argument for able.
                  This space for rent.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                    Originally posted by Anthem
                    What? Everything is in the past tense except for the statement about counseling, where he says he is not receiving counseling. With everything else in the past tense, it makes a pretty convincing argument for able.




                    ... and then he continues to ramble on about what he's done, not is doing, to improve on his own accord.



                    Not convincing to me.



                    He says "I am not recieving counseling." Next, he talks about everything he has done to improve himself.



                    I think his intent was clear, he wasn't about to admit to any counseling.


                    Edit- Let's examine-

                    I'm not receiving counseling. At the same time, I'm improving myself. I had a lot of time to think and reflect on my season. I had a lot of time to find ways to improve myself.
                    Ron jumps from present to past within these sentences, the first being present, and relating to counseling, and the last two being past, and relating to how he improves himself.

                    You might have an arguement, if it weren't for the sentence in the middle:

                    "At the same time, I'm improving myself."

                    This sentence places his counseling at the same time of said improvement, connecting the two. Considering he continues to talk about his improvement in the past tense, I think it's safe to say that his intent was that he never has counseling.

                    Ron wasn't playing some word game with us, but if you really want to think he is sly enough, let alone articulate enough, to pull that off, go right ahead.
                    You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                      BOOOOO!!

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                        Originally posted by SoupIsGood
                        ... and then he continues to ramble on about what he's done, not is doing, to improve on his own accord.


                        Not convincing to me.


                        He says "I am not recieving counseling." Next, he talks about everything he has done to improve himself.


                        I think his intent was clear, he wasn't about to admit to any counseling.


                        Edit- Let's examine-



                        Ron jumps from present to past within these sentences, the first being present, and relating to counseling, and the last two being past, and relating to how he improves himself.

                        You might have an arguement, if it weren't for the sentence in the middle:

                        "At the same time, I'm improving myself."

                        This sentence places his counseling at the same time of said improvement, connecting the two. Considering he continues to talk about his improvement in the past tense, I think it's safe to say that his intent was that he never has counseling.

                        Ron wasn't playing some word game with us, but if you really want to think he is sly enough, let alone articulate enough, to pull that off, go right ahead.
                        So while saying he's not articulate enough to deceive you are saying simultaneously that he is lying.

                        There's a word for that, ok well an expression, called Contradictio in Terminae

                        He says he IS not receiving counseling, then he explains what his experience and ideas were over the past period, nowhere does he deny having received counseling, nor does he try to lead you astray by what he says.

                        Why trying to find something he's not articulate enough for to do in the first place, according to you.
                        So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

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

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                          Originally posted by SoupIsGood
                          I think his intent was clear, he wasn't about to admit to any counseling.

                          ....

                          Ron wasn't playing some word game with us, but if you really want to think he is sly enough, let alone articulate enough, to pull that off, go right ahead.
                          I'm not sure where you're going with this. I agree that he didn't want to admit to counseling, but I don't have a problem with that. We've explained why he might want that personally or why it might be beneficial from a legal aspect.

                          What's the alternative? What, exactly, do you think is going on? We've heard from multiple sources (including Pacers brass, Ronnie's father, and Commish Stern) that Ron has undergone the counseling that he was required to, and Ron says "I'm not in counseling" so you think he's... what, exactly?

                          I can't figure out what point you're trying to prove. Able's explanation is plausible... he isn't currently in counseling. I don't find that hard to believe.

                          Durned rookies. Think they know everything.
                          This space for rent.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                            Originally posted by Anthem
                            I'm not sure where you're going with this. I agree that he didn't want to admit to counseling, but I don't have a problem with that. We've explained why he might want that personally or why it might be beneficial from a legal aspect.

                            What's the alternative? What, exactly, do you think is going on? We've heard from multiple sources (including Pacers brass, Ronnie's father, and Commish Stern) that Ron has undergone the counseling that he was required to, and Ron says "I'm not in counseling" so you think he's... what, exactly?

                            I can't figure out what point you're trying to prove. Able's explanation is plausible... he isn't currently in counseling. I don't find that hard to believe.

                            Durned rookies. Think they know everything.
                            Okay. My post earlier wasn't very clear. Now that I look at it, I think I left out some critical sentences. Eh.

                            Let me try to make my point again, without all the murkiness:


                            There were several possibilites listed, earlier in this thread.

                            One option was something like "He didn't want to admit to counseling," which I believe.

                            Another (option number four, I believe) suggested that Ron had managed to truthfully answer the question, because of Mr. Gray's use of the present tense in asking the question. Assuming Ron is not currently in therapy, it would have been pretty easy for him to have done so, and escape this question without lying. He actually came very close, if only he would have stopped speaking after his first sentence.

                            Ron continued past his first sentence, however, and I think you must take that into account, also. It's pretty clear, from what he continued to say, that the message he was trying to communicate was something along the lines of "I am not involved in counseling, nor was I ever. But... since that go over well with my adoring fans, here's what I did to fix things, while I was busy not attending therapy..."

                            My point is, quite simply, that I don't see option number 4 as plausible, considering what Ron said. If he wanted to play that game, a simple "No, I'm not" would have done.



                            PS- This is all moot, though, if I am misinterpreting Able's orginal post. It was a bit vague and jumbly-like though... kind of like my sorry excuse for a post earlier.
                            You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                              Originally posted by Unclebuck
                              I did not boo at all.
                              Of course you didn't. Could you BE any more pious?

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Stern Greeted With Boos in Indiana

                                Originally posted by SoupIsGood
                                It's pretty clear, from what he continued to say, that the message he was trying to communicate was something along the lines of "I am not involved in counseling, nor was I ever. But... since that go over well with my adoring fans, here's what I did to fix things, while I was busy not attending therapy..."
                                So, let me get this straight. You're saying that Ron would have lied if he'd been more eloquent, but because he's not a good speaker he managed to tell the truth entirely by accident?

                                You, my friend, are something else.
                                This space for rent.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X