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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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Foxsports}Nine Nuggets: All about the Colts

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  • #1

    Foxsports}Nine Nuggets: All about the Colts

    1. Overview

    Colts president and general manager Bill Polian grew up in the Bronx. He knows the expectations of the Yankees. And it's the same with his Peyton Manning-led Colts. Right or wrong, the season is only a success in the public's eyes, and frankly in the minds of the players, if the team is Super Bowl bound, something that has eluded the Colts.


    And Polian likes his squad ... he really likes his squad. The general manager says his goal every year is to go 12-4. In Polian's mind, a 12-4 record represents a sure-fire spot in the playoffs. And with road teams winning playoffs games now at a rapid pace in the NFL, the general manager just wants his team to get into the tournament and play from there.

    Perhaps the biggest topic at training camp was the departure of Edgerrin James to the Cardinals in the off-season. I think Manning summed it up best when he told us, "Everyone asks how you replace Edgerrin James. It isn't a fair question. James is carving out a Hall of Fame career. You don't replace someone like that. What you do is adjust. And we have running backs in Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai where we believe we can adjust and still succeed on offense."

    Wednesday was also the one day this training camp that Peyton Manning will address the "Manning Bowl." He spent about 45 minutes with the gathered media, and then was incredibly gracious in giving us a sit down interview. Manning doesn't want the hoopla around this game to take away from playing a good football team in the Giants.
    Star defensive end Dwight Freeney had a different take on the game when he laughed and told us, "I'm just excited that I actually get to hit a quarterback named Manning for the first time in my career."


    Another thing that was evident at camp is that 2005 is a distant memory. We spent a long time chatting with Tony Dungy. He loves the pace of camp thus far. And every player we talked to says the team has turned the page from last year. They aren't thinking about the chase for perfection, they aren't dealing with the emotions from the tragedy in the Dungy family, and as angry as they were about the loss to Pittsburgh (Polian showed us where they practice running to the outside of the field after fumbles, though we weren't sure if Nick Harper did the drill), it is a thing of the past.

    And adding to the feeling of the present is kicker Adam Vinatieri, one of the most clutch players in recent memory.

    But while Manning, Dungy, and Polian all know that they will be defined by the Super Bowl, the goals are more immediate. Dungy talked about "The Manning Bowl" against the Giants on opening day being a battle. Peyton stressed how the first thing the team needs to concentrate on is winning a division. Polian believes you have 8-10 teams in the AFC with legit chances to make the playoffs.

    The Jaguars are more formidable and a division title isn't necessarily a lock. But the Colts are a sure-fire playoff team and the likely division winner. As long as Manning is under center, the window of opportunity to win a Super Bowl remains open.
    2. Offensive nuggets


    Manning says he has spent countless hours with Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Brandon Stokley this off-season and preseason and is very pleased with the work. This is still the best receiving corps in the game.
    We spent a lot of time with Dallas Clark. Look for him to be more of a factor in the red-zone this season. Clark said that one of his biggest goals this year is to improve as a blocker.

    Jeff Saturday might have been the only exception when I wrote earlier that all the players have made 2005 a distant memory. Saturday comes on our radio show often and takes a lot of pride in the play of the Colts' offensive line. The center knows the unit played poor football against Pittsburgh and has something to prove to a national audience on opening day. Saturday also swears this is the year that at least two Colts offensive linemen make the Pro Bowl.

    Joseph Addai has already wowed his teammates (more on that later). Additionally, the players and staff are very confident in Dominic Rhodes. I'm not as convinced.

    Fullback/running back James Mungro will get on the field at fullback and get touches in short yardage situations. He will do whatever he can to help the team.
    3. Defensive nuggets


    There are a lot of signature players who are currently injured.

    Montae Reagor has a sprained knee ligament and is going to miss practice time and preseason games.

    Mike Doss is wearing a boot on his left leg. He cramped up earlier in the week and isn't practicing. Doss, who had shoulder surgery in the off-seasn, says his shoulder is fine.

    Bob Sanders isn't practicing yet after he had off-season shoulder surgery.
    But we expect huge things out of this defense in 2006.

    Reagor doesn't even remotely get enough credit as being one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL. He deserved to make the Pro Bowl last season. Dwight Freeney couldn't say enough good things about what Reagor does. And Dungy echoed those sentiments.

    One of the players that caught my attention was defensive tackle Corey Simon. He looks much slimmer. A full training camp with the Colts this year, his second year in the system, will pay major dividends for Simon in terms of energy over four quarters and execution on game day. Both Freeney and Reagor took note of Simon's slimmed down and more toned frame and predict a huge season for the defensive tackle.

    And it is always good catching up with former Syracuse standout Dwight Freeney. He is a legit front runner for defensive player of the year. He says he is feeling great.

    Don't be surprised if Gilbert Gardner becomes a household name now that David Thornton is in Tennessee.

    Dungy and Polian raved about Cato June and Gary Brackett and their ability to make huge plays. Remember, it was Brackett who had that hit on Jerome Bettis at the goal line last January.
    4. Quarterback focus


    Star quarterback Peyton Manning was gracious enough on a hot day in Terre Haute to give Solomon Wilcots and myself a long interview after practice.

    We asked the quarterback about what fuels him to fulfill that elusive goal about getting to the Super Bowl. Manning talked about his love for the game, love for training camp, Tony Dungy, and his teammates. He wants to bring a championship to the city of Indianapolis.

    He raved about the work ethic of Harrison, Wayne, and Stokley. Manning said the best advice he ever received was to befriend Harrison. And he said the best thing Wayne ever did was become close with his quarterback and veteran receiver.

    Manning stressed his appreciation for Edgerrin James. But with James in Arizona, he acknowledged that the team must establish the run early in games early in the season. It gives Manning balance and lets him execute on the play action pass.

    Manning also stressed that it isn't the 3-4 defense that gives him trouble. Teams like New England, San Diego, and Pittsburgh are multiple and talented.

    The Colts have a true super star in the prime of his career at the quarterback position. And it is a blessing for this staff that the team's best player is its hardest worker.
    5. Wednesday's buzz


    Addai. Peyton Manning raved about his work ethic. James Mungro gushed about his explosiveness. Dallas Clark says he can pass protect. Jeff Saturday reports he can hit the hole with a bang. Dwight Freeney says he is difficult to tackle.
    6. Rookie watch



    Polian fully believes the nicked-up Tim Jennings will be ready for opening day.

    And Doss claims that 6th round pick Antoine Bethea is going to contribute.
    7. He said it


    "Adam, I like the style in the orange Lacoste shirt, but man, I thought you were bigger! You sound bigger. It's FOOTBALL."

    Colts defensive back Mike Doss, very disappointed to see that I was 5-8, 180.
    8. Can't make it up


    This is an old story. But it was retold yesterday.

    I was hosting a Sunday afternoon radio show on WFAN in New York City in 2001. I get an on-air call from Hugh in Connecticut. The caller wants to talk Knicks basketball. He says, "Adam, I listen to you in Syracuse all the time. Love the show. I totally agree with your take on the sub-par coaching staff holding the Orange back. My son plays for the team. You are right on the money. Now on to the Knicks."

    Hugh in Connecticut is Dwight Freeney's dad, a regular sports radio caller. This is right before Dwight's senior season! Freeney and I still laugh about it to this day, though the Syracuse coaching staff wasn't necessarily tickled. But hey, Hugh was right. Syracuse eventually blew out the underwhelming (and that's the kind way to phrase it) Paul Pasquoloni.
    9. On the road again

    Dinner at PF Changs in downtown Indy, halfway between Terre Haute and our hotel in Cincinnati. Solomon Wilcots took care of the ordering, and producer Nick Pavlatos and I enjoyed his delicious mix of chicken and beef dishes.
    Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Foxsports}Nine Nuggets: All about the Colts

    Not only is this guy the first columnist I've seen who didn't completely discount Gardner, he thinks he'll make an impression.
    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Foxsports}Nine Nuggets: All about the Colts

      This is a very insightful and positive article. I hope the Colts will not disapoint this year. I don't think my soul can take it.
      LOL what's with the PF Chang plug? It doesn't even seem to fit in with the rest of the article. PF Chang's is so good though I might spontaneously plug them too.

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