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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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History of this site?

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  • History of this site?

    Someone should write a history of this forum like who these people that are obviously in charge are (Hicks, Able). I would like to know.

  • #2
    Re: History of this site?

    I.E. Someone who shall hold the title from here on as "The Historian of Pacers Digest".

    I think that would be Hicks. Maybe he can write something about it because I am curious as to that myself.

    How 'bout it Hicks?
    Two=the number 2
    Too=means "also"
    To=many definitions-also known as the one to use when the other 2 (two, too) do not apply.

    Their=shows ownership-'it is their house'
    They're=they are
    There=many definitions-also known as the one to use when the other 2 (their, they're) do not apply

    Sorry but it bugs me when these are used incorrectly when I read posts on PacersDigest.com.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: History of this site?

      I suppose I could give it a try.

      The details are sketchy because, well, my memory blows without someone helping me remember sometimes, so I don't remember all the "who said what" 's and things like that.

      What I do know is we were all (the original members of PD mostly were, anyway) posting on IndyStar, and various things were turning people off from it bit by bit. There was some trolling and uncivil attitude, though not nearly as bad as it is now, but enough to bug some of us. The admins never communicated with anyone, they just randomly decided to address private complaints by banning people or deleting threads.

      I decided I could do better than those clowns, and clean up the trolls and uncivil stuff while I was at it. So I found a free message board hosting site, and decided to give it a whirl. This was through proboards.com. The original PD still exists as "Site B" or "Pacers Digest II" for when this place is down for a few hours.

      I quickly tried to match the colors of this new board to IS so people felt more familiar. Bit by bit people gave me a chance. The first to give me a shot was Shade, who had been banned from IS days before. Soon I PMed several of what I considered to be the best posters of IS, to see if they would give me a shot.

      Over the first couple months most eventually made the switch, but it was by no means a certainty at the time. I was 1/4 the admin I am now (no experience, too immature, less decisive, etc), and early on PD was rough around the edges. A lot of young posters, who at the time dominated discussion, and the rules were not clear cut at the time, so immaturity and uncivil stuff was hit and miss.

      What saved me, was I made a hell of a lucky choice in seeking an advisor, kerosene. He had PMed me early on with some friendly advice, and it proved to be gold. I made him an admin to help me out, and we convinced Jose Slaughter to help both of us.

      This was the beginning of shaping things up, but again it was not a smooth transition, and it was a gradual change. Not long after, Shade joined the admin ranks.

      It was around September when I think Peck committed, and being the MVP that he is, once he did that, a lot of people who were on the fence between IS and PD jumped ship to PD, and that's when I started to think this might really get somewhere.

      It was around then, that I decided to throw my money into it. I bought webspace with a provider I thought at the time was decent, and I moved PD from proboards to my server space, using phpbb as the forum software. In the months that followed, Jose left the admin ranks, and btown joined them. We were doing a better job of establishing what we expected out of this place, and starting to form an identity by having more clear rules, more consistent admining, things like that.

      In January, PD nearly died. Either by slimy actions of my host, or by an attacker who they were too incompetent to deal with, the forum was nailed and my host shut it down because whomever was attacking us, was attacking 100 other sites that shared the server, and since it was originating from PD, they shut me down.

      We re-grouped on proboards, and I have to say I was depressed. I thought things might die right then and there. Then I got a PM from able. He amazed me with his offer to host at no charge, PD. A man true to his word, he set me up with a server space, and we setup a fresh phpbb forum. I was too ignorant of how it worked at the time, so I mistakenly didn't save the database from the previous phpbb board, so we had to start from scratch.

      Since that time, things have steadily improved. We continued on phpbb until the end of our 2004 playoff run, and then we decided to try a new software called bbBoard2. On the surface it looked like it rocked, but as time went on, we kept having problems, bugs, and slow connections. Eventually, we dropped it and through the big contribution of TheSauceMaster, who happened to own a license, we switched to this vBulletin that we still use today. Needless to say, vBulletin rocks.

      Throughout that time, there were definite ups and downs forum-wise from a user and admin standpoint, but I feel we were overall improving as we went along.

      These days, I think PD speaks for itself for the most part. Trolls don't last, civil discussion is promoted, the rules are clear, we admins deal with any problems, complaints, issues promptly as best we can, and we have a kick-*** group of people that post here now. A blend of old and young, a lot of good people, a lot of basketball knowledge, and a lot of humor.

      I know I'm missing big things, but that's what I think of first off the top of my head, and anything I couldn't get into without assistance or else I'd screw it up.

      Shade and kerosene might be able to fill in some of the gaps better than me.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: History of this site?

        Took the time to post after requests here AND via PM and no one says anything.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: History of this site?

          I think you could embellish it with some more personal stories and then do as va suggests, dedicate a page to it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: History of this site?

            Nice job Hicks. You guys have done a fantastic job.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: History of this site?

              I remember the very first board. Where does the time go? It was such a happy coincidence that Scot Pollard being traded to the Pacers and the creation of PD coincided with each other. Had it not I may have never found this oasis.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: History of this site?

                Hicks shows no love for Canadian Pacers Digest History.

                http://www.pacersdigest.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=7752

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: History of this site?

                  The original PD:

                  http://web.archive.org/web/200308240....com/index.cgi

                  This one doesn't fully load (the colors are off; I really don't remember ever using orange and the banner is missing), but it gives you a rough idea of how it looked under phpbb when I was hosted by someone else:

                  http://web.archive.org/web/200312052...orum/index.php

                  This is how PD looked at the end of our phpbb run:

                  http://web.archive.org/web/200407040...pBB2/index.php

                  And here's how it looked during the bbBoard2 run:

                  http://web.archive.org/web/200411190...in/bbBoard.cgi

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: History of this site?

                    Here's a favorite personal story of mine: The time I had Los Angeles convinced I was Nathan Fillion.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: History of this site?

                      Originally posted by Hicks
                      Here's a favorite personal story of mine: The time I had Los Angeles convinced I was Nathan Fillion.
                      Is that who's picture used to be your profile picture or was that actually you? I saw your birthdate on your profile and if thats you, you look older than you are.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: History of this site?

                        PD is definately the best site I have posted on, people on the other sites are just moronic idiots.
                        Life without water is tough, life without air is hard,life with one leg only is wobbly, Life without Reggie Miller, is impossible.

                        Do Not Trade Austin

                        Originally posted by Conrad Brunner
                        Veteran Austin Croshere, the longest-tenured Pacers player on the roster, has proven reliable when called upon, invariably ready to step in regardless of the circumstance.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: History of this site?

                          Nice job, Hicks. I vote for you as Historian of Pacers Digest.

                          But seriously, thanks for writing that. I apologize that I came back here later than I should have to read it. Again, nice job.
                          Two=the number 2
                          Too=means "also"
                          To=many definitions-also known as the one to use when the other 2 (two, too) do not apply.

                          Their=shows ownership-'it is their house'
                          They're=they are
                          There=many definitions-also known as the one to use when the other 2 (their, they're) do not apply

                          Sorry but it bugs me when these are used incorrectly when I read posts on PacersDigest.com.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: History of this site?

                            What about a page/link where you can see past and present PD forum award winners and nominees, much like what the imdb does:

                            http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/...wards_USA/1987

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: History of this site?

                              Nice job Hicks. See, I read it.
                              "If you ever crawl inside an old hollow log and go to sleep, and while you're in there some guys come and seal up both ends and then put it on a truck and take it to another city, boy, I don't know what to tell you." - Jack Handy

                              Comment

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