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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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  • Re: Ignore this thread

    Newman8r: So the ignore this thread combination is 1,2,3,4,5 .........

    Newman8r: That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! That's the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage.

    Jayredd: 1,2,3,4,5. That's amazing I've got the same combination on my luggage.

    Comment


    • Re: Ignore this thread

      Originally posted by newman8r
      Dear Fellows, I can't believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an embedded youtube video when I was a kid, but now... they're everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. Anthem got me into this... half way thread, called the "What song are you listening to?". And a job posting the movies I've watched in the "What movie did you last watch?" thread.

      It's hard work, and I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don't think the other posters like me very much. Sometimes after work I go to the park and feed the birds,I keep thinkin' rcarey might just show up and say 'Hello'. But he never does. I hope wherever he is, he's doin' okay and makin' new friends. I have trouble sleeping at night; I have bad dreams like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get a copy of Gigli and post that I watched it so they'd send me home. I could at the moderator while I was at it, sorta like a bonus. I guess I'm too old for that sorta nonsense anymore. I don't like it here, I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay. I doubt they'd kick up any fuss, not for an older poster like me.

      [carves "Grape monkey butt" into wood. Admires his work for a moment. Then kicks out the table beneath him and hangs himself]
      Originally posted by Natston;n3510291
      I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of the 3 T.J.s working for them, and that ain't bad...

      Comment


      • Re: Ignore this thread

        Naturallystoned: What's that sound? You hear it? It's a funny squeaky sound. It sounds like someone is ignoring a thread....
        Anthem: You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.

        Comment


        • Re: Ignore this thread

          Originally posted by naturallystoned View Post
          [carves "Grape monkey butt" into wood. Admires his work for a moment. Then kicks out the table beneath him and hangs himself]
          Nice Shawshank rendition....

          Comment


          • Re: Ignore this thread

            naturallystoned: Gyron...If you ever get out of Ignore This Thread, do me a favor.

            Gyron: Sure, naturallystoned. Anything.

            naturallystoned: There's a big thread up near the Shout Box. You know where the Shout Box is?

            Gyron: Well, there's...there's a lot of threads up there.

            naturallystoned: One in particular. It's got an embedded image of a long rock wall with a big oak tree at the north end. It's like something out of a Bellisimo post. It's where I asked newman8r to marry me. We went there for a picnic and made cyber love under that oak, and I asked, and newman8r said yes.

            Promise me, Gyron...If you ever get out...find that thread. On the first page, you'll find a post that has no earthly business in a PD forum...A post of black, volcanic glass. There's something written in it I want you to see.

            Gyron: What, naturallystoned? What's written in that post?

            naturallystoned: [turns to walk away] You'll have to look it up to see.
            Read my Pacers blog:
            8points9seconds.com

            Follow my twitter:

            @8pts9secs

            Comment


            • Re: Ignore this thread

              Gyron: [narrating] I wish I could tell you that newman8r fought the good fight, and that naturallystoned let him be. I wish I could tell you that -- but Ignore This Thread is no fairy-tale world.

              newman8r never said who did it, but we all knew.

              Things went on like that for awhile.

              Ignore This Thread life consists of routine -- and then more routine. Every so often, newman8r would show up with fresh bruises. naturallystoned kept at him -- sometimes he was able to fight him off...sometimes not.

              And that's how it went for newman8r -- that was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, Ignore This Thread would have got the best of him.
              Read my Pacers blog:
              8points9seconds.com

              Follow my twitter:

              @8pts9secs

              Comment


              • Re: Ignore this thread

                Originally posted by newman8r
                Dear Fellows, I can't believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an embedded youtube video when I was a kid, but now... they're everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. Anthem got me into this... half way thread, called the "What song are you listening to?". And a job posting the movies I've watched in the "What movie did you last watch?" thread.

                It's hard work, and I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don't think the other posters like me very much. Sometimes after work I go to the park and feed the birds,I keep thinkin' rcarey might just show up and say 'Hello'. But he never does. I hope wherever he is, he's doin' okay and makin' new friends. I have trouble sleeping at night; I have bad dreams like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get a copy of Gigli and post that I watched it so they'd send me home. I could at the moderator while I was at it, sorta like a bonus. I guess I'm too old for that sorta nonsense anymore. I don't like it here, I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay. I doubt they'd kick up any fuss, not for an older poster like me.
                Hello.

                I can no longer ignore this thread.

                Comment


                • Re: Ignore this thread

                  Friends, Posters, Countrymen, lend me your ears;
                  I come to ignore this thread, not to praise it.
                  The evil that threads do lives after them;
                  The good is oft interred with their html codes;
                  So let it be with this thread.
                  The noble Anthem Hath told you this thread was ambitious:
                  If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
                  And grievously hath this thread answer'd it.
                  Here, under leave of Anthem and the rest -
                  For Anthem is an honourable man;
                  So are they all, all honourable men -
                  Come I to speak in this thread's funeral.
                  It was my friend, faithful and just to me:
                  But Anthem says it was ambitious;
                  And Anthem is an honourable man.
                  He hath brought many topics home to Pacers Digest
                  Whose rants did the general coffers filled this in this thread seem ambitious?
                  When that the poor have ignored,
                  this thread hath wept:
                  Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
                  Yet Anthem says it was ambitious;
                  And Anthem is an honourable man.
                  You all did see that on March Madness
                  I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
                  Which it did thrice refuse:
                  was this ambition?
                  Yet Anthem says it was ambitious;
                  And, sure, he is an honourable man.
                  I speak not to disprove what Anthem spoke,
                  But here I am to speak what I do know.
                  You all did love it once, not without cause:
                  What cause withholds you then, to mourn for it?
                  O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
                  And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
                  My heart is in the coffin there with this thread,
                  And I must pause till it come back to me.
                  Last edited by bellisimo; 12-11-2007, 09:25 PM.

                  Comment


                  • Re: Ignore this thread

                    Anthem: Gyron, your files say you've posted 16 pages of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?

                    Gyron: Rehabilitated? Well, Now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.

                    Anthem: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin the main board...

                    Gyron: I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up word. A moderator's word, so young fellas like yourself can attach a William Safire signature and a Colin Ferguson avatar, and have a 'White and Nerdy' title. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?

                    Anthem: Well, are you?

                    Gyron: There's not a Christmas Vacation ripoff that goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who submitted that terrible post. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bull**** word. So you go on and stamp your browser, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a ****.
                    Originally posted by Natston;n3510291
                    I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of the 3 T.J.s working for them, and that ain't bad...

                    Comment


                    • Re: Ignore this thread

                      [sitting around all comptemplatively in the yard after Anthem held a knife to newman8r's throat]

                      naturallystoned: I just don't understand what happened in there.

                      newman8r: Anthem's crazy as a rat in a tin sh*thouse, is what.

                      Gyron: Oh newman8r, that's enough out of you.

                      JayRedd: I heard he had you sh*tin' in your pants.

                      newman8r: F*** you.

                      Gyron: Would you knock it off? Anthem ain't no bug. He's just...just institutionalized.

                      newman8r: Institutionalized, my a**.

                      Gyron: The man's been ignoring this thread fifty years, newman8r. Fifty years. This is all he knows. In here, he's an important man...He's an educated man. Outside? He's nothin'...Just a used up poster with carpel tunnel in both hands. Ignore This Thread is funny. First you hate it. Then you get used to it. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on it. That's institutionalized.

                      newman8r: ****. I could never get like that.

                      JayRedd: Oh yeah? Say that when you been ignoring this thread as long as Anthem has.

                      Gyron: ******* right. They send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway.
                      Last edited by JayRedd; 12-12-2007, 11:14 PM.
                      Read my Pacers blog:
                      8points9seconds.com

                      Follow my twitter:

                      @8pts9secs

                      Comment


                      • Re: Ignore this thread

                        Gyron: Are you ready to do your duty for the Digest?

                        Newman8r: Yes, father.

                        Gyron
                        : You will not be an admin.

                        Newman8r
                        : Which wiser, older man is to take my place?

                        Gyron:
                        My powers will pass to Naturallystoned, to hold in trust until the Senate is ready to rule once more. PD is to be a republic again.

                        Newman8r
                        : Naturallystoned?

                        Gyron:
                        Yes. My decision disappoints you?

                        Newman8r
                        : You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: Wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness, courage, perhaps not on the battlefield, but... there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family and to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then it was as if you didn't want me for your son.

                        Gyron:
                        Oh, Newman8r. You go too far.

                        Newman8r
                        : I search the faces of the gods... for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug... where you pressed me to your chest and held me tight. Would have been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years. What is it in me that you hate so much?

                        Gyron:
                        Shh, Newman8r.

                        Newman8r
                        : All I've ever wanted was to live up to you, Caesar. Father.

                        Gyron:
                        [Gyron gets down on his knees] Newman8r. Your faults as a son is my failure as a father. Come
                        [Gives Newman8r a hug]

                        Newman8r
                        : [Newman8r hugs Gyron and cries] Father. I would have butcher the whole world... if you would only love me!
                        [Newman8r begins to asphyxiate Gyron while they hug, Gyron grunts]
                        Last edited by bellisimo; 12-14-2007, 09:33 AM.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Ignore this thread

                          Who's your Daddy Newman8r!

                          Comment


                          • Re: Ignore this thread

                            Your Mom OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Burn. Just try to ignore that.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Ignore this thread

                              Now Newman8r got JayRedd as a partner. Any problems, he goes to JayRedd. Trouble with the bill? He can go to JayRedd. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Gyron, he can call JayRedd. But now Newman8r gotta come up with JayRedd's money every week no matter what. Business bad? F**k you, pay me. Oh, you aren't ignoring threads? F**k you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? F**k you, pay me.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Ignore this thread

                                While I was on my cruise in the Caribbean I was forced to ignore this thread.
                                PACER FAN ON STRIKE!!!-The moment the Pacers fire Larry Bird I will cheer for them again.

                                Comment

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