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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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forum party

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  • forum party

    Ugh.......

    I just typed for over 45 min. about the party and my computer shut down on me. It is now gone

    So I am not typing all of that over again. I will just hit the highlights and others can fill in later.

    The highlight of the night was ABAdays coming to the party. It has been a long 4 years since he could be with us but everybody was thrilled that he could be there and I hope that he had a good time with us.

    Attending:

    Diamond Dave
    Roaming Gnome
    Naptown Seth
    Jose Slaughter
    Hicks
    BillS
    Uncle Buck
    ABAdays
    Thunderbird
    Pig Nash
    Shade
    Duke Dynamite's lovely and more concise girlfriend
    Duke Dynamite
    and our newest convert Quick Release who added tons in his short time there.

    I arrived late due to the weather but once I got there here is what we talked about.

    How the Pacers can close out better?

    Roy Hibbert.

    Brandon Rush.

    Jeff Foster.

    Marquis Daniels.

    Rasho.

    Mike Dunleavy.

    Jim O'Brien.

    Diamond Dave, ABAdays and Quick Release left us around 10 and did not go to Perkins

    Uncle Buck finally paid up and bought Bill S his pie.

    I'll give you a quick run down of group thoughts on the above although I typed out everything before.

    Closing games was basically a three way split.

    A. Coaching
    B. Players
    C. Circumstances

    Thunderbird felt that O'Brien did not utilize his assitant coaching staff appropriatley or at all for that matter.

    Bill S and Pig both felt that the current players could get the job done once they get more time together to gell and improve.

    Diamond Dave felt that the team lacked any low post presence on either offense or defense to ever be a good closing team.

    Roy Hibbert.

    Universally no one was happy with Roy's min. Even the largest O'Brien supporters felt like Roy should never get a DNP-CD

    Some felt that they have no idea what Roy will be like because they have seen so little of him.

    Some felt like he will be a solid bench to maybe starter material.

    Diamond Dave lectured us all on how pathetic a person is who is seven feet tall and can't rebound. Needless to say he did not see Roy as our future star.

    In fact I think the tone on Roy overall was very moderate. There was really no one there willing to say that Roy would be anything more than just a serviceable center other than Seth who felt like he could be a defensive specialist.

    Brandon Rush was pretty much universally liked. Most people felt like he will be the starting shooting guard of the future.

    Seth compared him to Bobby Phils.

    I actaully made the statement that I felt like he would not only be our starter in the future I could see him becoming one of the best defenders in the NBA over time and that I would not be suprised to see him as 3rd team all defensive in about 8 years. Nobody really disagreed.

    Scoring wise it went from as low as 13ppg up to 20ppg.

    Jeff Foster:

    Thunderbird was not a fan of giving him the extension when we did and felt like the team should have waited till the trade deadline.

    Everyone else though was happy to have Jeff on board and even I said that this was one of Jeff's best years because he now is at least not totally inept on offense.

    Marquis Daniels: This was the odd one for me. I don't remember the exact count but it was a pretty wide margain that most of the people in attendance would prefer to let Quis go at the end of the year. Sign and trade was the preffered method but most wanted him gone.

    I felt really odd about that considering how he has played this year.

    Rasho was in the same boat. Very very few wanted to keep Rasho for the same contract with a 2 year ext. Some thought that no matter what Rasho was going back to Europe.

    Mike Dunleavy: Very controversial topic here.

    Most wanted him back and eventaully in the starters role if he is healthy. There were a few who were concerned that the teams defense would suffer with Mikd on the floor.

    Proving that the universe mysteries, Uncle Buck wanted the more offensive oriented over the more defensive oriented Marquis Daniels. Stating that our teams problem was on offense.

    I about called for a priest to perform an exorcism right there on the spot.

    Duke Dynamite's girlfriend made probably the most astute observation on the topic when she said that Mike will decrease turnovers thus helping on defense by not allowing teams to start in attack mode.

    I fell on the Daniels side of the argument, however her point was not lost on me.

    Jim O'Brien:

    Neither universally loved or hated. Most felt he has faults however almost everybody agreed that he is ok for the players we have now. Seth was probably the most vocal against him while Bill S was most vocal for him.

    However nobody supported the 8 or 9 man rotation.

    I'm sorry guys I had this all much better than this but I just can't do it again. I'll answer any questions I can tomorrow.

    A BIG BIG thanks to Jose Slaughter for once again putting this together. I don't know how many this is now but I have been to all but 2 I think and I know he puts a lot of effort in scouting out and calling these places.

    Great to see everyone again and I was happy with the turnout considering the weather.

    We did not get to as many questions as we would like to have but it was just the circumstances.


    Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

  • #2
    Re: forum party

    Sounds like another successful party. BTW, if you would've had it at the Hilton (corner of Illinois and Market) you could've invited the Celtics to drop in. They arrived a day early around 6:30PM for tomorrow's (today's at this point) game.

    -Bball
    Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

    ------

    "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

    -John Wooden

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: forum party

      sorry i couldnt make it, i had to go in to work early
      STARBURY

      08 and Beyond

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: forum party

        Originally posted by Robertmto View Post
        sorry i couldnt make it, i had to go in to work early
        MTO is unclutch
        This is the darkest timeline.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: forum party

          Originally posted by Bball View Post
          Sounds like another successful party. BTW, if you would've had it at the Hilton (corner of Illinois and Market) you could've invited the Celtics to drop in. -Bball
          I would have paid Jay's daughter to stand at the door with a sign that said "Green Guys Not Welcome!"

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: forum party

            Originally posted by avoidingtheclowns View Post
            MTO is unclutch
            I get tired of people saying MTO is a top tier Forum Poster. He's 3rd tier at best people here are way too overzealous.
            Report: 82% Of Wiseguys Think They're Real Funny

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: forum party

              I had a TERRIFIC time and it was awesome to spend time with everyone. Although I kind of felt like a blind man in the discussions considering I have only seen about 4 games in the past 3 years. If you haven't been to one you need to come and spend time with everyone.
              The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: forum party

                Thanks, Peck! I moved to Cincinnati a year ago and while I'm a new poster here, I have been lurking every single day since (and for a while before). With only a few exceptions, I love the camaraderie here -- usually informed, intelligent opinions shared with respect, humor and passion. Reading your description of the party makes me think, "Wow, wish I could've been there!"

                Now a casualty of the financial crisis, I may be moving back to Indy and will be glad to help Jose & others plan/promote/organize any future events. PD is a shining example of the impact technology is having on reshaping the social fabric of society in the 21st century. Having such parties is a great way to "bring to life" the virtual bonds that have been made, and to celebrate the allegiance so many posters have demonstrated through their considerable investment of time and energy.

                So thanks again and Happy Holidays to all. If I return to town gainfully employed, I'll be eager to attend the next party -- first slice of pizza is on me!


                "He’s no shrinking violet when it comes to that kind of stuff."

                - Rick Carlisle on how Kevin Pritchard responds to needed roster changes.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: forum party

                  I had a blast, and will be a frequent forum party attendee!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: forum party

                    Thanks for the post party recap Peck.

                    I've got the easiest job. Make a 1 minute phone call & then set back and let some of the most knowledgeable basketball guys on here talk about the Pacers.

                    On top of that I get to have some pizza & get away from the ball n chain for a night.

                    I agree, the highlight of the night was having ABA Days back. Considering the circumstances & what he has done for us it was nothing short of amazing to have him there.

                    Thanks ABA Days.

                    Its always a pleasure to have someone new join our gathering too & Quick Release will make a great addition to our regulars. I can't wait to hear more from him.

                    Thanks for everyone for braving the cold & snow to make this another great evening amongest friends.

                    See you all in the spring.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: forum party

                      Originally posted by avoidingtheclowns View Post
                      MTO is unclutch
                      Originally posted by MrSparko View Post
                      I get tired of people saying MTO is a top tier Forum Poster. He's 3rd tier at best people here are way too overzealous.
                      i see what u did there
                      STARBURY

                      08 and Beyond

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: forum party

                        DAMNATION!!

                        I fergot it! I had every intention of going and then just fell asleep.





                        That pi$$es me off royally...one Saturday evening I blocked out so I could go...the only Sat I've booked for "ME" time in years...and I forget.
                        Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: forum party

                          Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
                          DAMNATION!!

                          I fergot it! I had every intention of going and then just fell asleep.





                          That pi$$es me off royally...one Saturday evening I blocked out so I could go...the only Sat I've booked for "ME" time in years...and I forget.
                          Geeze,

                          Really "OLD" people have that problem often.

                          I would rather be the hammer than the nail

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: forum party

                            I wish I could have been there. I really enjoy this community and feel that generally most people are heard here. Great that all of you could see ABA Days

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: forum party

                              One thing we didn't discuss, which I think needed some discussion was TJ Ford. Considering he's a new player and the starting point guard (which I always think is the most important position on the floor) Slick has been very critical of his defense lately. I meant to bring up a question about him but considering we spent 90 minutes on Roy - I felt we needed to keep things moving

                              Comment

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