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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.

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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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ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

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  • ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...anaPreview0809

    Only 2 out of 10 experts gives us a chance of making the playoffs. Go figure !
    They came up with and average standing which put us in the 11.9 position in the East. I'm pretty darn sure that we'll end up better than in the 12 position.

    The article has 10 very interesting reading steps ending with a poll. It think is a good read.
    Last edited by Pacemaker; 10-21-2008, 02:40 PM. Reason: missing info

  • #2
    Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

    They keep mentioning that no player averaged more than 20 points, than mention that the only other team like that is the blazers... like being compared to the blazers is a knock. Hell, we had two players that were over 19, but for some reason 20 is a big deal.

    I hate how stein refers to the "huge" upgrade of other teams and ignoring the dismal situation at PG last year, which has been VASTLY improved. I don't think most of these guys pay any attention at all to the pacers.
    Last edited by Infinite MAN_force; 10-21-2008, 03:07 PM.
    "As a bearded man, i was very disappointed in Love. I am gathering other bearded men to discuss the status of Kevin Love's beard. I am motioning that it must be shaved."

    - ilive4sports

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    • #3
      Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

      You're setting yourself up man-force...
      Report: 82% Of Wiseguys Think They're Real Funny

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

        It may be the homer in me coming out, but reading this made me a bit upset.

        I love the guys who take potshots at Bird and talk about how he traded O'Neal for a bag of spare parts. Also blasting him for the handling of the Tinsley situation.

        For the last couple years since I started following the Pacers very closely via PD and League Pass, I've noticed that the national media really doesn't know what's going on in the lower profile franchises in the league.
        "A man with no belly has no appetite for life."

        - Salman Rushdie

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        • #5
          Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

          They are basing this (I think correctly) on an unispiring cast of veterans.

          If this team is better than #12 in the EC, its because Rush and Hibbert are paying immediate dividends.
          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


          • #6
            Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

            12th in the East?

            Call me a homer but I think we're better than New Jersey, New York, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Charlotte right off the bat. Either those teams don't have a lot of talent or they have talented players but not enough veterans to make anything work.

            And I see us competing up there with the mid to upper teams in the East like Toronto, Washington Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, and Orlando. We're only vastly outclassed by Boston and Detroit and MAYBE the Cleveland LeBrons, but I think we have a good chance at beating any other team in the East on any given night.

            People will be surprised by the Pacers. We didn't really lose anyone of any huge value to this team in the offseason and we gained a lot of assets. No one but hardcore Pacer fans realize this. JO wasn't a huge asset in the offeason, so ANYTHING we could get in exchange for him was good, and when you look at it that way IMHO we got a lot for JO and we will be better this year.

            Best scenerio: 4th playoff spot in the East
            Worst scenerio: 8th playoff spot in the East

            I just can't see this team not making the playoffs in the East.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

              Originally posted by dcpacersfan View Post
              Best scenerio: 4th playoff spot in the East
              Wow.

              I'll take the under on that.
              This space for rent.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                Originally posted by dcpacersfan View Post
                12th in the East?

                Best scenerio: 4th playoff spot in the East
                Worst scenerio: 8th playoff spot in the East

                I just can't see this team not making the playoffs in the East.
                Oh, I can see our team not making the playoffs this coming year, but 12th is pretty harsh I would say. I think more along the lines of this:

                Best scenario: 6th playoff spot in the east
                Worst scenaro: 11th spot in the east

                I think we will probably be fighting and maybe just or just not making that 8th playoff spot.

                We'll see.

                I think JO is a certain loss on the defensive end. Sure, Hibbert is nice, but he's also a rookie and he's bound to get a lot of foul calls called against him. And a lot of unreasonable ones too. Then there's the rookiewall. The chance that he might not see that much time at all actually if JOB decides to go mainly with the veterans. So, interior defence I think will be an issue this year, though I don't think the dropoff is anywhere near the dropoff the ESPN cast seems to put on it.

                Regards,

                Mourning
                2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

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                • #9
                  Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                  Originally posted by Anthem View Post
                  Wow.

                  I'll take the under on that.
                  I think that Detroit, Boston, and Cleveland will have better records than us, no question about it.

                  But other than that I see the East as being wide open.

                  Toronto does not impress me. Washington has too many injuries and I've read now that Arenas may never come back full strength. Philadelphia has added Elton Brand but I still see their second best player, Iggy, as a glorified Tim Thomas even though both Miller and Dalembert are solid. Chicago has no chemistry. Miami is still one year away at least from doing anything serious and Orlando may have been a flash in the pan last season.

                  Chances are at least one or two of these teams will have better records than us in the regular season, but there is a slight chance the Pacers could win 40 something games and beat these teams out for the 4th spot. But more realistically I see us as a 5 to 7 seed.

                  To me, the Pacers will definately improve this year because we've only amassed more talent and there is no way you can argue the team is worse than they were last year.

                  New Jersey, New York, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Charlotte are all basketcases in one way or another and shouldn't be huge factors this year.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                    Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
                    They are basing this (I think correctly) on an unispiring cast of veterans.

                    If this team is better than #12 in the EC, its because Rush and Hibbert are paying immediate dividends.
                    I agree.

                    The direction is nice but I don't see how anyone can think they've even come close to reaching the destination. They have real issues at the bigs with Foster as a role player and Hibbert too far off at this point. Rasho has no defense and neither does Troy.

                    My recommendation is to do what I did last year, keep track of the top 15 prospects and make a point to watch them a few times this year and just enjoy the Pacers as entertainment. It could be an ugly 30 wins but it'll feature the development of some nice young players and a shot to draft yet another. Pray for Blake Griffin as the PF solution high draft pick and put him with Rush, Danny and Hibbert and you have a super strong developing core.

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                    • #11
                      Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                      So Hibbert is our 7'2" 278 pounds reserve forward?

                      This goes to show that when it comes to the NBA ESPN does not know a thing.

                      We will finish tied for 9th in record and 10th through tie breakers.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                        Love it! My favorite is the deep "I don't know how the **** Obie got 36 wins out of these bozos last year when I picked them to be last. Oh well. Now that they have improved their roster, I'm going to go ahead and make the same prediction."

                        I'm cool with that. Low expectations FTW.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                          Originally posted by rexnom View Post
                          Love it! My favorite is the deep "I don't know how the **** Obie got 36 wins out of these bozos last year when I picked them to be last. Oh well. Now that they have improved their roster, I'm going to go ahead and make the same prediction."

                          I'm cool with that. Low expectations FTW.
                          My thoughts, exactly
                          ...Still "flying casual"
                          @roaminggnome74

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                          • #14
                            Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                            Originally posted by dcpacersfan View Post
                            Best scenerio: 4th playoff spot in the East
                            thats a lot of optimism there. here is what i think

                            Best: 6th
                            Worst: 9th

                            i don't think we will finish lower than that. btw i'm cool by the low expectations and being underestimated too. having low expectations and doing better is def better than having high expectations but not achieving anything.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: ESPN's 2008 Pacers Preview

                              Honestly, I think we'll have the same situation as the last couple of years. I just think that so many teams give up in March/April that we'll be able to catch up as long as we stay in the 8-10 range all year.

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