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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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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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Indy Star: Bender's Blues

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  • #16
    Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

    Originally posted by Peck
    Did the story just change again, for the third F'n time?

    Now we're back to the Jon knocked knees in a pickup game as an injury, which is what they said when it happened.
    I noticed that too... I just shrugged it off. It almost doesn't matter anymore.

    -Bball
    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


    • #17
      Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

      How many damn times does Tinsley get the flu in a year??



      It has to be something else.
      Super Bowl XLI Champions
      2000 Eastern Conference Champions




      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

        Originally posted by PacerMan
        Training to your max capacity compromises your immune system frequently.
        True enough. But that's why the Pacer's have a professional training and medical staff. If Tinsley is regularly "overtraining", then we need to fire some more staff. It's not like he's a rookie. They should know his limits by now.

        Me, I hit the overtraining wall at about 9 weeks of solid work. It took me twice to figure out where that wall was and recognize some of the warning signs. But I won't hit it again.
        You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
        All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song

        - Jimmy Buffett

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

          Originally posted by Pacers#1Fan
          This article has confused me a little. That's the one thing that frustrates me the most, one day we are all hyped up for Bender and the next we don't know what the hell is going on. I hope he does well, I mean I really really want to see this guy do what he is capable of but I only have so much hope left in me.
          I can tell you what is going on-

          Bender has knee problems. There's a chance surgery could fix him... or not. There's a chance it could naturally get better (to some degree). Neither scenario has any guarantees.

          Even after missing much of the 2004-2005 season, and detailed therapy, Bender still is far from 100%. And slowly, we're being let in on that and the fact he will not be seeing significant consistent minutes due to the problem. The only positive is the new "Bender rule" which allows us to put him on the inactive list for specific games AND take someone else off . This now works on a game by game basis.

          Reading between the lines I think we're all being prepped for another season where Bender spends more time in street clothes than a basketball uniform. It wouldn't surprise me to think we'll feel fortunate if Bender can play 1 game per week and be somewhat productive and sit out the rest.

          -Bball
          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


          • #20
            Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

            Originally posted by Doug
            True enough. But that's why the Pacer's have a professional training and medical staff. If Tinsley is regularly "overtraining", then we need to fire some more staff. It's not like he's a rookie. They should know his limits by now.

            Me, I hit the overtraining wall at about 9 weeks of solid work. It took me twice to figure out where that wall was and recognize some of the warning signs. But I won't hit it again.
            Yeh, been there, done that, a couple of times myself. To me Tins doens't look like he's naturally super quick or strong. I think he's done a pretty fabulous job of transforming his body through a lot of hard *ss work. Some guys just see him not stopping scoring machines that simply can't be stopped sometimes. I watch him and i'm blown away by the effort he puts out TRYING to stay with those guys. SO often when someones putting a big night on him, he's WITH the guy for 3, 4 moves, and just 1/2 step off when the guy gets the shot off.
            I was always the same way, not naturally quick, but I did ok with tons of effort and work, so i really appreciate what I THINK I see from him.
            It's the same thing I see from Artest when he's guarding 2's. He's NOT quick enough to do it REALLY, but his strength and just incredible effort makes him effective at it. BUT "I" see him getting REALLY worn down when he was doing it night in and night out.
            Jamaal runs probably close to TWICE as much as anyone else on the team, night in and night out. I don't think too many naysayers here grasp any of that. Everyone else runs down and stands around on defense UNTIL the pg gets the ball over the time line then maybe the 2's and 3's start cutting, AFTER they've had a rest of few seconds! Meanwhile Tins is running, pressuring the ball the whole time it's in play!
            Then the other team scores and OUR players run down and catch a few seconds blow while TINS brings the ball up court, sometimes against intense pressure from guys much quicker than he is! Think that might take some more energy?
            Only time a pg gets a blow is when he's delivered the ball into the paint and the big guys go to work.
            I think he does a great job and I'd wager that if any of us were in the same position, (somehow good enough) we'd be breaking down a whole bunch more than JT does. JMO

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

              For all the Bender bashing, and there's plenty of legit ammunition, I've never agreed with calling him out for not playing through his knee problems. There can be, and often is, a big difference between "this hurts" and "this isn't working right". If your knee won't do what it's supposed to, it doesn't matter if it mildly hurts or causes blinding pain, you can't play NBA basketball.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                Originally posted by CableKC
                I wonder what that threshold is.
                I'm afraid it's one of those lines you can't see until it's been crossed - and by that time it's too late, because JB will be in a full body cast.
                "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
                -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                  Blech, my writing sucked back then.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                    I think the part that pisses me off is that he's essentially just screwing around with this injury. If this is something that might be fixed by surgery, and you refuse to get it done, you're hurting yourself, your team, and your fans. The same is also true if they can't operate and so you sorta string the team and organization along, playing a little bit here and there. Get the surgery, get the rehab, or just retire. Quit toying with everyone, because it does more harm than good to the team and the fans.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                      I was under the impression that his growth spurt made him more susceptible to knee joint / ligament problems and injuries.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                        Originally posted by Hicks
                        There can be, and often is, a big difference between "this hurts" and "this isn't working right". If your knee won't do what it's supposed to, it doesn't matter if it mildly hurts or causes blinding pain, you can't play NBA basketball.
                        I can only meet you halfway on this statement. If there is 'blinding pain' then I agree with you... OTOH... "this isn't working right'" might be a good excuse for a player on a team that is well stocked and playing their off, but it isn't a good excuse for a suspension, injury, experience depleted team just needing warm bodies to give the starters a legitimate break during tough times.

                        The team needed Jonathon Bender last season in any capacity he could bring and he didn't (or wasn't able) to answer the bell.

                        At some point the question needs to be asked: If Bender 'pushes' it too far what are the repercussions? Does he immediately need surgery? An extra day off? 2 days offs? A week? A month? Amputation? He'll have to play with pain? His career is over?

                        Is there going to be a point where he'll theoretically be fine and there will be no more line or will the rest of his career always be about playing him sparingly?

                        -Bball
                        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


                        • #27
                          Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                          Originally posted by vapacersfan
                          I agree with that, but that still doesnt explain him not playing with a bruised shoulder....
                          I agree, and that's why I said there are also plenty of legit complaints about Bender.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                            Originally posted by vapacersfan
                            P.S. Hicks, can we please get rid of this damn Ron ARtest smilie. Or at least put it at the bottom of the smilie list. It makes my screen all out of perpotion.
                            That was just a mistake I made when adding it; it's fixed.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                              While reading this thread the following thought crossed my mind for the first time:

                              This sounds an awful lot like Allan Houston.

                              Don't ask me why but somewhere in these posts I had a flashback to about a year ago with AH. Something to do with, "If after all this time off his knee hasn't healed, will it ever?"
                              The poster formerly known as Rimfire

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Indy Star: Bender's Blues

                                Originally posted by DisplacedKnick
                                While reading this thread the following thought crossed my mind for the first time:

                                This sounds an awful lot like Allan Houston.

                                Don't ask me why but somewhere in these posts I had a flashback to about a year ago with AH. Something to do with, "If after all this time off his knee hasn't healed, will it ever?"
                                ...Except there was a time that Allan Houston was an important player in the NBA....

                                -Bball
                                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

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