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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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NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

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  • NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

    The NBA allstar game will have to move to March evidently. I realize the NFL is popular enough to do whatever they want - but do they have to be such a bully. Should be interesting to see if the NBA trade deadline is moved back also - as the NBA usually gets a day or two of media attention then.

    The NFL is looking to move their season back a few more weeks - it is already about 2 weeks later than it was just about 10 years ago, and now they are looking at moving back another 2 or three weeks so the Superbowl is mid to late February - which will mean the NBA Allstar game will have to be in early March - as it has to be at least two weeks after the SB because of the NFL Pro bowl. (unless the NBA moves it to a midweek thing) The NBA allstar game used to be the midpoint of the season.

    Really though I don't care that much about the allstar game, but it just seems like the NFL more and more every year dominates the media later and later, cutting into the NBA coverage. The draft dwarfs the NBA playoffs for an entire weekend.

    Here is the article.

    http://usatoday.printthis.clickabili...partnerID=1662


    Super Bowl on Presidents Day? Longer NFL season in reach

    By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY


    DANA POINT, Calif. — Talk about the Super Bowl as a national holiday.
    How about as a lead-in to Presidents Day?

    The prospect of extending the NFL's calendar and staging the league's signature event in the latter half of February is gaining momentum as team owners contemplate an expanded schedule with a typical end-game mission: More money.


    NFL teams have played a 16-game regular-season schedule (with four preseason games) since 1978, but owners have their sights on either a 17- or 18-game regular season and a shorter preseason that could be implemented as early as 2011.

    The additional games would be tacked on to the back end of the current calendar, which owners feel would create added value for their network TV contracts because like the Super Bowl, the conference title games would be played in February — a sweeps month that TV networks use to set advertising rates.

    "If we're going to keep labor peace, we've got to grow and expand," said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, chairman of the league's broadcasting committee. Including the preseason, "we're going to play these games, anyway. How do we make them as meaningful as possible?"

    At the moment, an expanded schedule is in the debate and analysis stage. It's possible league owners will vote on proposals at their next meetings in May. After that, it would likely become a key component in talks with the players union for a new labor deal. The league's existing collective bargaining agreement ends after the 2010 season. There's also the matter of defining the value of more games, as part of network TV contracts.

    "It's dependent, by a large part," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said, "on our relationship with our partners and the players."

    Still, many owners seem to agree that the status quo of a 16-game regular season won't cut it.

    Said Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, "I'm for 17 games, not 18. We need three preseason games."

    Tweaking the schedule by altering the ratio of regular-season games and preseason games by just one game might cause a major adjustment in team operations.

    "I'm in favor of it, but there are so many details to sort out," said Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

    A longer regular-season schedule would undoubtedly add value for fans who have grumbled about paying regular-season prices for preseason games as part of season-ticket plans. But an alteration might also increase injury risk for frontline players who might play sparingly during the preseason, but endure more wear-and-tear with an extra regular-season game.

    Also, while owners have resisted increases to the 53-man roster, an expanded schedule could increase roster sizes in addition to bolstering the number of developmental players on practice squads.

    "It might create 100 new jobs," Kraft said, pondering the notion of expanding the practice squads from six to eight or 10 players, but not necessarily the 53-man roster. "That will all be part of the discussion. This is part of our labor discussion."

    Other attached issues:

    •Imbalanced schedules. With a 17-game season, half of the league's teams would have nine home games, while the other half would have eight. That could wreak havoc on the competitive balance that has been a staple to help fuel playoff races.

    •An expanded playoff field. To make the games at the end of the regular-season meaningful, the league would likely consider increasing the field of playoff qualifiers from 12 teams to 14.

    "The biggest concern is that I've liked the way we've had the playoffs as a really elite thing to get in," said Irsay. "There are 32 teams, and only 12 get in, unlike the NBA and some other leagues where a lot of people get in. It will probably be hard to keep it that way when you're talking about more games at the end of the season. Do you want those games to mean something that you're adding at the end of the year?"

    Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairmen of the rule-making competition committee, didn't have to make concrete recommendations about an expanded schedule this time around.

    But they know it's coming. After briefing the media Monday on rulebook changes for the coming season, Fisher was asked about the possibility of playing a 17- or 18-game season. He said he wondered how an altered schedule would affect how he uses players in preseason and training camp, not to mention designs for the entire offseason routine. McKay, meanwhile, figures there could be a need to address rules for injured reserve.

    In recent years, the committee has studied formulas for re-seeding the playoffs. Soon, they will likely grapple with the notion of an expanded playoff field — rejected in the past by owners — as part of an expanded schedule.

    "All of those issues will have to be discussed," McKay said. "When we went down that path before, there were a lot of traditionalists who didn't want to go from 12 to 14 (playoff teams). But that was with a 16-game schedule. It will be interesting to see where it goes."
    Last edited by Unclebuck; 03-24-2009, 04:23 PM.

  • #2
    Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

    If the NBA wants to get what they want, they should focus on putting a better more popular product out. Right now, only the hardcore fans are watching, and even some of them are bailing. If they put up a show that more people cared about, they could increase their clout and dictate schedules too.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

      I don't know how they're going to get away with playing an odd number of games.

      As far as the All Star game and the Pro Bowl are concerned you could probably play them the same game and no one would really care.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

        Originally posted by grace View Post
        I don't know how they're going to get away with playing an odd number of games.

        As far as the All Star game and the Pro Bowl are concerned you could probably play them the same game and no one would really care.

        What's the problem with an odd number of games?

        All that matters is that you have an even number of teams.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

          Originally posted by travmil View Post
          If the NBA wants to get what they want, they should focus on putting a better more popular product out. Right now, only the hardcore fans are watching, and even some of them are bailing. If they put up a show that more people cared about, they could increase their clout and dictate schedules too.
          NBA TV ratings have gone up this season across the board on ESPN, ABC and TNT - so I don't know where you are coming up with your info.


          Unrelated note - the NBA is kind enough to never schedule any games on the NCAA finals night

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

            As a Colts fan, I would love to see the season last longer, just because we always seem to end ours earlier than anticipated.

            I can see where you are coming from, Buck.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

              Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
              Unrelated note - the NBA is kind enough to
              never schedule any games on the NCAA finals night
              Kind enough, or not stupid enough?

              I don't think you can just mix the two.
              Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                i think kindness has less to do with it than common sense. they would get killed going up against march madness and they know it.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                  While on the other hand they'd beat the Pro Bowl heads up I think, so why not go for it. One more reason for everyone to have zero interest in the NFL's most boring game.


                  And in fact, why not just put the NBA AS game on the off weekend before the SB instead?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                    Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                    NBA TV ratings have gone up this season across the board on ESPN, ABC and TNT - so I don't know where you are coming up with your info.


                    Yeah and it still doesn't matter the NBA is an afterthought compared to the NFL. The NFL people talk about all year round. Why do you think NFL Live is on all year but NBA Fastbreak and Baseball Live are only on during their respective seasons?

                    NFL puts out a great product(most of the time)

                    The NBA hasn't surpassed the NFL since Jordan was playing. Why do you think Stern is so desperate to try and recreate that with LeBron?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                      Originally posted by count55 View Post
                      What's the problem with an odd number of games?
                      Originally posted by USA article View Post
                      •Imbalanced schedules. With a 17-game season, half of the league's teams would have nine home games, while the other half would have eight. That could wreak havoc on the competitive balance that has been a staple to help fuel playoff races.
                      Of course they count the game in Europe as a "home game" for one team so I suppose they won't care about this either.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                        Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
                        While on the other hand they'd beat the Pro Bowl heads up I think, so why not go for it. One more reason for everyone to have zero interest in the NFL's most boring game.
                        http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/127648

                        Lakers-Cavs Rating On ABC Topped By NBC's Pro Bowl Coverage


                        Sunday afternoon's Lakers-Cavaliers matchup on ABC earned a 3.8 final Nielsen rating (6.1 million viewers), up 46.2% from a 2.6 rating for Lakers-Heat in the same time slot last year. Excluding Christmas Day games, Lakers-Cavaliers proved to be ABC's highest-rated and most-viewed regular-season game since the net reacquired NBA rights in '02. Also on Sunday, the NFL Pro Bowl on NBC earned a 5.4 final Nielsen rating (8.8 million viewers) from 4:30-8:00pm ET, down 14.3% from a 6.3 rating for the game last year on Fox (THE DAILY). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes Sunday's Lakers-Cavaliers game "had everything going for it: ABC's marquee late-afternoon time slot and two of the game's biggest one-name players -- LeBron and Kobe." Hiestand notes the rating "didn't come very close" to matching NBC's rating for coverage of the Pro Bowl. Hiestand: "That suggests that the NFL, with its plan to move the Pro Bowl to the weekend before the Super Bowl next year rather than the anticlimactic week after, should assist this TV sports anomaly in continuing to be a meaningless exhibition that draws big-time ratings" (USA TODAY, 2/10).
                        In other words even though the Pro Bowl ratings were down it still did better than Kobe and LeBron.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                          Originally posted by grace View Post
                          Of course they count the game in Europe as a "home game" for one team so I suppose they won't care about this either.
                          Oh...OK...duh...my bad.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                            One correction, The NFL Pro Bowl is being moved to the weekend BEFORE the Super Bowl, at least next year on a trial basis, at the site of the Super Bowl. So the week after the Super Bowl might be free if the new date for the pro bowl works out.
                            The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

                              I think a later All-Star game and break is a good idea for several reasons:

                              1) The players might have actually played well (or played at all) THAT YEAR, instead of getting voted in by previous years' performance.
                              2) The break comes later in the season, so playoff teams will get the rest they always complain about a little closer to the playoffs.
                              3) It brings a bigger media push AFTER football is all over, in a way anouncing to casual fans that there is still a major sport going on.
                              4) Possibly bigger ratings.

                              I like this very much, actually.
                              “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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