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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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Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

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  • #31
    Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

    Every single thread on PD is turning into a discussion about Jack. We should rename this place Stephen Jackson Digest.

    There is no racism in the NBA. This study is ridiculous and is only meant to garner some publicity - there is absolutely no possible way that referees consciously decide to treat black players better or worse than white players. Most of their calls are made within milliseconds of the infraction anyway - it ain't like they can sit down and think about how to unfairly treat the black players they don't like.

    And for the record, KTK - you are way off. I'm probably Jack's biggest fan and most of the time I cannot stand his bickering to the refs (especially when play hasn't stopped and he's at the other end of the floor). There's no legit explanation for it regarding "white authority."

    Comment


    • #32
      Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

      Originally posted by Jay View Post
      Help me think of a white person who displays such hostility toward authority/ referrees/ his boss? I wonder what (a) the public and (b) the stereotypical caucasian fan thinks of ....




      Bob Knight?

      You know what JAy, it truly is a mixed bag. There are folks who think Knight is/was a God. But there are just as many who thought he was an arrogant *** who deserved to be fired.
      You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

      Comment


      • #33
        Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

        Originally posted by LoneGranger33 View Post
        Devil's Advocate: Retort - Sarunas is foreign.
        Hilarious.

        Nice try.
        “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

        “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

        Comment


        • #34
          Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

          Originally posted by ajbry View Post
          Most of their calls are made within milliseconds of the infraction anyway - it ain't like they can sit down and think about how to unfairly treat the black players they don't like.
          It's the worst kind of racism, it's ingrained. So deep in the marrow it doesn't have to be planned, it just happens by reaction. You know, one of the top papers presented at the NBER in the past couple of years, and one of the most sought after academic hires in economics (I think he's at U.Chicago now) is a paper on hiring and salaries based on racially identifiable first names. Anyone want to dispute that guy's findings? He's an anticipated candidate for a Clark medal and thought to be a future Nobel...

          Comment


          • #35
            Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

            Originally posted by RWB View Post
            You know what JAy, it truly is a mixed bag. There are folks who think Knight is/was a God. But there are just as many who thought he was an arrogant *** who deserved to be fired.
            Just like there are a number of people that SJax is merely a misunderstood hero and others that think he is a hotheaded motormouth with a serious attitude problem.

            In both cases, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

            I do find it ironic the amount of criticism SJax gets solely for running his mouth all the time. After all, we as Pacers fans collectively endorsed Reggie who was just as bad at this, especially when he was SJax's age. While I'm not convinced maturity will fix this problem for SJax, I personally made/ make a conscious effort to point out that I absolutely hate several different aspects of SJax's on-court game far more than I care about his yapping/ lack of respect for authority.
            Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
            Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
            Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
            Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
            And life itself, rushing over me
            Life itself, the wind in black elms,
            Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

              I didn't even read this cause it's so damn pathetic. What's the ratio of black to white players in the NBA?
              :thepacers
              No Linking to your own site if it sells something.

              Comment


              • #37
                Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                Hilarious.

                Nice try.


                Uh......LA.........I gotta commit some white-on-white crime and call a foul on you.

                *whistle* Illegal use of the "flirt" smiley. Non-shooting foul. Ball to be inbounded on the side.

                The Miller Time Podcast on 8 Points, 9 Seconds:
                http://www.eightpointsnineseconds.com/tag/miller-time-podcast/
                RSS Feed
                Subscribe via iTunes

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                • #38
                  Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                  Originally posted by Los Angeles View Post
                  Hilarious.

                  Nice try.
                  I'm really not sure how to interpret your response. First you say "Hilarious" with a capital H, but there's no smiley attached or even an exclamation point. Then you say "Nice try", which seems to contradict the aforementioned "Hilarious". Then the "flirt" smiley really threw me off.

                  Bravo, sir?

                  I'm seriously kidding.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                    Originally posted by NorCal_Pacerfan
                    I didn't even read this cause it's so damn pathetic. What's the ratio of black to white players in the NBA?
                    It is per player per 48 minutes, so the ratio of blacks to whites wouldn't skew the data.
                    The Miller Time Podcast on 8 Points, 9 Seconds:
                    http://www.eightpointsnineseconds.com/tag/miller-time-podcast/
                    RSS Feed
                    Subscribe via iTunes

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                      Originally posted by KTK
                      It's the worst kind of racism, it's ingrained. So deep in the marrow it doesn't have to be planned, it just happens by reaction. You know, one of the top papers presented at the NBER in the past couple of years, and one of the most sought after academic hires in economics (I think he's at U.Chicago now) is a paper on hiring and salaries based on racially identifiable first names. Anyone want to dispute that guy's findings? He's an anticipated candidate for a Clark medal and thought to be a future Nobel...
                      You're like the Dennis Kucinich (or Mike Gravel, for that matter) of Stephen Jackson fans.

                      I understand there may be a couple refs who have racist tendencies (both white and black), but this study is so far off the mark. There is no possible way to illustrate that the majority of NBA referees give preferential treatment to white players.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                        Originally posted by ajbry View Post
                        You're like the Dennis Kucinich (or Mike Gravel, for that matter) of Stephen Jackson fans.

                        I understand there may be a couple refs who have racist tendencies (both white and black), but this study is so far off the mark. There is no possible way to illustrate that the majority of NBA referees give preferential treatment to white players.
                        There's really no reason to defame fine Americans like Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel...Seriously now.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                          Originally posted by KTK View Post
                          Just like there is nothing racial about the word Thug? Yet ESPN found it worthy to cover that exact, specific word? Just like this report is clearly flawed? Yet, it was done by faculty at one of the nation's top5 business schools and will be submitted to the freaking NBER. Do you even know what the NBER is? If their methods are so flawed that anyone on this board can point out error, I can guarantee you that a Wharton faculty member would not be turning it into the NBER.
                          So you're telling me that the word thug describes a color?
                          Maybe you should look up the meaning of the word, then get a history lesson.

                          I've taken a few stats classes and all my professors have said the same thing. You can make a study say whatever you want it to say. That's why studies are submitted to journals, for peer REVIEW. Just because it's submitted doesn't mean that it's gospel, or even factual. It can be rebutted it he next freaking issue.
                          Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                            Originally posted by KTK
                            It's the worst kind of racism, it's ingrained. So deep in the marrow it doesn't have to be planned, it just happens by reaction. You know, one of the top papers presented at the NBER in the past couple of years, and one of the most sought after academic hires in economics (I think he's at U.Chicago now) is a paper on hiring and salaries based on racially identifiable first names. Anyone want to dispute that guy's findings? He's an anticipated candidate for a Clark medal and thought to be a future Nobel...
                            But the game of professional basketball moves substantially faster than a decision about someone's compensation.

                            What I'd really like to see is a study on how many fouls caucasian and non-caucasian players get away with during a game, and who lets them.

                            I'm sure there is a study somewhere that shows that white police officers arrest more non-caucasian suspects than non-white officers do. But that doesn't necessarily mean racism. Now if you add the words "ultimately found not guilty" after the word "suspects" above - now we're talking.

                            There needs to be a corresponding study of who actually commits more fouls (either called or noncalled) for this to have any real meaning.
                            Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                            Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                            Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                            Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                            And life itself, rushing over me
                            Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                            Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                              Originally posted by Jay View Post
                              Just like there are a number of people that SJax is merely a misunderstood hero and others that think he is a hotheaded motormouth with a serious attitude problem.

                              In both cases, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

                              I do find it ironic the amount of criticism SJax gets solely for running his mouth all the time. After all, we as Pacers fans collectively endorsed Reggie who was just as bad at this, especially when he was SJax's age. While I'm not convinced maturity will fix this problem for SJax, I personally made/ make a conscious effort to point out that I absolutely hate several different aspects of SJax's on-court game far more than I care about his yapping/ lack of respect for authority.

                              The difference in this discussion is KTK's allusion that white Pacer fans hate Jackson because he is black. I'm getting tired of this entire game and will say there are racists in the world and there are some right here in the great state of Indiana. Our new found friend likes to point out this area in particular seems to be full of racist types. What he doesn't understand is this state is absolutely on the low end of that assumption. Actually (sorry LA) but the great state of California is currently leading the category in recruitment. In case anyone wonders where this info came from I can provide a link.
                              You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Report: White refs call more fouls on black players (ESPN.com)

                                Originally posted by FlavaDave View Post
                                Uh......LA.........I gotta commit some white-on-white crime and call a foul on you.

                                *whistle* Illegal use of the "flirt" smiley. Non-shooting foul. Ball to be inbounded on the side.

                                Originally posted by LoneGranger33
                                I'm really not sure how to interpret your response. First you say "Hilarious" with a capital H, but there's no smiley attached or even an exclamation point. Then you say "Nice try", which seems to contradict the aforementioned "Hilarious". Then the "flirt" smiley really threw me off.

                                Bravo, sir?

                                I'm seriously kidding.
                                Hopefully this smiley will clear things up:

                                “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

                                “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

                                Comment

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