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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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Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

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  • Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

    So yeah, the trade fell through. But so what? Everything is a blessing in disguise. Now Granger won't have to fight for the starting SF spot, JO won't play out of position, and more minutes will be available for them rookies. you know those rookies, there's one that does insane dunks and the other one looks like a toothpick but has immense potential. Oh yeah, and not to mention, we'll be close to or around the cap (if we don't make anymore moves). So IF it does all tank next year, and JO is moved as a result for some expiring contracts, I think we could be looking at an insane amount of cap space to use on free agents. Or, IF we trade him for someone good, well there you go. And since I'm being such an optimist, Pacers will probably still do well, keep JO, develop Granger, Flight, and Shawne and have a beautiful future.

  • #2
    Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

    PD seems to be in full panic mode today.

    The season is doomed... no need to play any games. Just shut the lights off at the fieldhouse and fire up a DVD of uncle Reggie's greatest hits, pull up a nice warm blankie and dream of the good ol' days.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

      I would have liked having Al here, but honestly I'm not at all upset... assuming that this pushes us to do something else instead.
      This space for rent.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

        Originally posted by t1hs0n View Post
        PD seems to be in full panic mode today.

        The season is doomed... no need to play any games. Just shut the lights off at the fieldhouse and fire up a DVD of uncle Reggie's greatest hits, pull up a nice warm blankie and dream of the good ol' days.
        Well there is very clearly something strange going on. Something strange behind the scenes will 99/100 times end up being bad for the on the court product.

        Ugh, whatever. I'm sick.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

          Originally posted by Anthem View Post
          I would have liked having Al here, but honestly I'm not at all upset... assuming that this pushes us to do something else instead.
          Ditto...
          "George's athleticism is bananas!" - Marc J. Spears

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

            **** playing rookies and insane dunks, I want to see this team win, I could care less about how someone dunks or how someone has to fight for a damn spot. You want Danny to have his jersey retired right now too? Having Al Harrington would not have hurt Danny at all, it would have made him better cause he would have to work twice as hard to prove that he is better then Al and that he deserves that PT. What are we going to do if Danny is not ready to start and is not ready to be the 3rd scoring option?

            Some of you guys that didnt want Al, you got your wish. No Al.

            You are looking at Tins-Jack-Danny-JO-Foster starting next year. I just want you to know, I really hope I dont see anyone of you *****ing about how this team is playing next year. This is a lottery team and that is what we are going to get, with Al they would have had that good chemistry back and at least some of the guys would have been happy to have him back again. We would have for damn sure been a top 5 team in the East with him but now we will be lucky to win 35 games.

            So I just want you to know what you where saying, you didnt want Al. Now be happy with a 30 and 52 record. When they lose 10 games in a row like the Hawks,Warriors and Bobcats do, dont be mad at them.

            All we are going to get now from the 7.5 million dollar TE is nothing. Walsh said he has a plan B, yeah right. We where getting Al for NOTHING, we gave up no players at all. Who the hell is going to give up a starting caliber player for nothing? Nobody, unless you want Darius Miles or Steve Francis. Like the other TE we had this one is just going to waste right next to it.

            We are going to have 10 SG/SF players and 3 players who can play PF and Center. Jeff Foster will be starting once again, but hey who cares just as long as that stupid piece of crap that gets 19 and 7 a game isnt on this team.

            YAY LOTTERY. Who cares about winning, we got us a deep draft coming up.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

              Damn, Al Harrington is worth 10-15 wins? He would have catapulted us from lottery to a top team in the East? I doubt it.

              We would have been a mediocre team with him, we're a sub-par team without him. Whoop-de-doo, I don't need to see another first-round playoff exit.

              I'll be happy with this season as long as I see improvement from Granger, Harrison, Flight, and Shawne.
              2010 IKL Fantasy Basketball Champion Baltimore Bulldogs

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                Originally posted by bulldog View Post
                Damn, Al Harrington is worth 10-15 wins? He would have catapulted us from lottery to a top team in the East? I doubt it.

                We would have been a mediocre team with him, we're a sub-par team without him. Whoop-de-doo, I don't need to see another first-round playoff exit.

                I'll be happy with this season as long as I see improvement from Granger, Harrison, Flight, and Shawne.
                LOL This dude is going to be the first herb to blame Jermaine,Jack and Tins for this team losing. I know it, as soon as they start playing like **** he is going to start crying.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                  I don't give a crap who it is, but we'd sure as hell better have a plan B. Make a push for Maggette or Ricky Davis if we don't want Bonzi. Because without a reliable second option, we're not making the playoffs. We won't be bad enough to get a really good pick, or good enough to make the playoffs. That should be fun.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                    Maggette, Ricky Davis, Bonzi?

                    At least with Al you had a guy who could play some PF, and still get Granger good minutes. The last thing we need is ANOTHER SG/SF.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                      Originally posted by Jay Ohh View Post
                      I don't give a crap who it is, but we'd sure as hell better have a plan B. Make a push for Maggette or Ricky Davis if we don't want Bonzi. Because without a reliable second option, we're not making the playoffs. We won't be bad enough to get a really good pick, or good enough to make the playoffs. That should be fun.
                      I made this exact same point and got cut down. What I am going to try and do is pretend that the Al thing never came up. Try to remember how happy we all were with Marquis. That being said, I think that Maggette is not such a good option, as his game is very similar to 'Quis'. What we need is a PG that can shoot the ball so we can start Marquis.
                      Slug 'em Sabres!!!!!
                      http://youtube.com/watch?v=cj1SUF4wzu0

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                        Originally posted by Pacersfan46 View Post
                        Maggette, Ricky Davis, Bonzi?

                        At least with Al you had a guy who could play some PF, and still get Granger good minutes. The last thing we need is ANOTHER SG/SF.
                        Half of the SGs and SFs we have suck. We need a good second option next to JO. I don't care who, or what position. I don't want to hear *****ing once we lose. Jermaine can't do all of this **** by himself. And we all know once we start losing everyone's going to start crying, talking about how they want him gone, because it's his fault that we suck. After all, he gets paid 18 million, so he should be able to magically make us good.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                          Originally posted by FrenchConnection View Post
                          I made this exact same point and got cut down. What I am going to try and do is pretend that the Al thing never came up. Try to remember how happy we all were with Marquis. That being said, I think that Maggette is not such a good option, as his game is very similar to 'Quis'. What we need is a PG that can shoot the ball so we can start Marquis.
                          Only problem with that is Jack. He's not going to come off the bench for Quis, and Rick's too scared to make him.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                            Originally posted by Jay Ohh View Post
                            Only problem with that is Jack. He's not going to come off the bench for Quis, and Rick's too scared to make him.
                            Jack would have to be gone. But then we are really thin at the 2, with a rookie as the backup. I like Flight, but I really have no idea how he will be in the NBA. Wow, they really sort of messed up this offseason by spending so much time on a deal that they apparently never intended to do.
                            Slug 'em Sabres!!!!!
                            http://youtube.com/watch?v=cj1SUF4wzu0

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Never Fear Pacers Brethren!

                              Originally posted by FrenchConnection View Post
                              Jack would have to be gone. But then we are really thin at the 2, with a rookie as the backup. I like Flight, but I really have no idea how he will be in the NBA. Wow, they really sort of messed up this offseason by spending so much time on a deal that they apparently never intended to do.
                              Management has just dropped the ball in general. Getting Quis was the best thing they've done in the offseason, and we don't even have a shooter to compliment him. We have like 10 SGs and SFs, most of who are scrubs that won't get off the bench. We traded AJ and kept Runakevicus. We still have Jack and Tinsley on the roster, and no second option. This team doesn't fit together at all.

                              Basically, we're turning into the Knicks.

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