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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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Yay! Indycar season is here!

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  • Yay! Indycar season is here!

    So for the few of us here that watch racing... and the subset of that that follows Indycar... Today is the 1st race of the season starting here in a few this afternoon.

    For those with a casual interest but not following the nuts and bolts of the series, the majority of races are on the Versus network this season. They are also available in HD. Channel 603 on Directv is where to find them. Any Directv subscriber should get this channel. Pretty sure Comcast has it as well in their normal package.

    The gamble with Versus is that Versus is giving more airtime to the series with pre-race shows, qualifying shows, promo, etc.. Versus won't move the start of a race to a sister channel or join it in action so that we can see the finish of a Netherlands Homerun derby. They also plan not to immediately cutaway after the conclusion of the race and show some of the emotion of the win... or loss...

    The downside to Versus is that many who get Versus have never watched the channel or even know they get it.

    Bob Jenkins returns to calling races as the Indycar voice in the booth (with Jan Beekhus(sp?) and Robbie Buhl) on Versus.

    If I understood correctly, Versus will also do a lot of programming during the month of May around the happenings at the track. That race itself (Indy 500) will still be on ABC television (and ABC still has a few races on the schedule).

    Today is a street course from St Petersburg, FL.
    Last edited by Bball; 04-05-2009, 02:34 PM.
    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

  • #2
    Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

    In a related story today, the Capital Improvements Board announced a $37,000,000.00 shortfall in the sale of bottled water outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They stated their belief that this was in part due to the diminished attendence at the Coca-Cola camp grounds during the months of November, December, and January.
    The CIB is meeting in Executive Session Monday night to discuss proposals to re-coup this shortfall. Among the suggested solutions are plans to add a $4.27 surcharge to each cup of Starbucks coffee sold in the donut counties surrounding Indianapolis and an emissions tax charged to each vehicle attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 race this year. IMS Chairman Tony George was unavailable for comment but it is believed these new taxes will not provoke the owner into any form of retailatory threats.
    Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

      Shame Justin Wilson did not win the race. Nice pass by Hunter Rhea @ the end. Saw an article in the star Danica wrecks then Whines. She is no longer the little media darling.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

        1. The new Versus coverage is great. I mean that in the sense that there is coverage. Although I caught myself saying "enough of this crap and let's see some race cars". I like that Jan & Robbie don't feel the need to explain asinine stuff like Goodyear did. It would be like QB continually noting how tall NBA players are for those that haven't been watching.

        2. I'm more of an oval fan but have grown to enjoy these right turners. I don't know about the reds making 'em any more exciting. I like crashes and all but it seemed like all the marbles really just closed any opps to pass since nobody could leave the race line without tasting the tire barriers.

        3. Big Vitor fan. I was hoping for more.

        4. Conway's Dad's Root Beer car is awesome. Too bad we saw it for about 5 seconds.

        5. Did RHR & Wilson just prove that it really is about the drivers? Way to take two pretty crappy and underfunded teams to the top.

        6. Danica & Matos....There were off the pace so it doesn't even matter. I like the Danica that gets in your face not the one I saw on the interview yesterday.

        7. Speaking of off the pace, welcome to open wheel racing Stanton Barrett.

        I'm ready for Long Beach.
        I'm in these bands
        The Humans
        Dr. Goldfoot
        The Bar Brawlers
        ME

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

          We've already had Danica's first race win. I'm waiting on another first now: Her to be involved in an incident that she's takes the blame for.

          I liked what I saw of the Versus coverage and I also liked how they didn't give Danica an inordinate amount of coverage during the race. Sure, IF she's leading you can talk about her. Sure, if she's making a spirited drive thru the pack to the front you can talk about her. But we don't need constant updates on her position as she get passed at the drop of the green flag and as the race goes along. Just let us know when she short pits so we can know what fuel strategy she's on to gain positions that way.

          The Penske team's adage of "You can teach a driver to stay off the wall but you can't teach him to go fast" seems to be applying to Ryan Briscoe.

          I hope Wheldon can keep Panther at the front.

          Justin Wilson and Hunter-Reay both had good opening day runs. It'll be interesting to see if either can maintain that as the competition gets opening day jitters out of the way.

          -Bball
          Last edited by Bball; 04-06-2009, 01:06 PM.
          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


          • #6
            Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

            I was thinking of starting a general IRL thread in here. Might as well just be this one.


            I'm looking forward to Scheckter @ Long Beach. Although Cavin alluded to the old not until the checks clear line so we'll see. Lord knows Stanton needs a seasoned teammate.

            Tags wasn't as smooth as I thought he'd be. He was at the center of a few wild moments (even if they weren't all his fault).

            It'll be interesting to see if some of these newcomers can qualify as well at Long Beach. I thought their inexperience was a major factor at St. Pete. Especially when they're running up front at the onset.
            I'm in these bands
            The Humans
            Dr. Goldfoot
            The Bar Brawlers
            ME

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

              Originally posted by Bball View Post
              We've already had Danica's first race win. I'm waiting on another first now: Her to be involved in an incident that she's takes the blame for.
              Never gonna happen.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                Man...Versus just isn't good enough. They didn't do too bad of a job, but I think ESPN did much better on the broadcasts.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                  I remember going to see CART races at Nazareth Speedway back when i was younger. My dad got free tickets and pit passes from Penske and I got to meet so many drivers. It was awesome.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                    Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                    Man...Versus just isn't good enough. They didn't do too bad of a job, but I think ESPN did much better on the broadcasts.
                    Really? I thought the race coverage was easily on par with ABC/ESPN. Plus, there was a prerace show and plenty of time after the race to catch up.

                    I'll need to see a few more broadcasts to see how they do consistently at following a race and all the nuances but ESPN flatout sucked with Indycar when it came to really following the nuts and bolts of a race and not just updating us on where Danica was running or letting us listen in to her radio....
                    Although Todd Harris (or whatever his name was) was the worst at slobbering over Danica.

                    You really have to see a few races live to get a better understanding how much the TV coverage of ESPN lacked. And Indy is cool, but it's a different animal than the other tracks and it's those other places that gives you a better understanding of what is going on when you can see the whole track and experience the lap after lap racing.

                    But I don't know that Versus has 'got it' yet either. It's early though...



                    -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


                    • #11
                      Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                      I thought the coverage was great. The announcers are clearly superior, no more Danica 24x7 coverage, I like Arute taking more of the retired crew chief role, I loved that camera on Kanaan's car where you could barely see his nose, and their sound mixing blew ESPN out of the park. Only complaint is camera direction was spotty (hard at a street course), but ESPN's hasn't been stellar in a while. Also, I miss Pedigo something fierce.
                      Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                        Let's give Versus a chance. espn had a bad habit last year of not starting on time. Two races I believe were time delayed so they could show Heidi or something. As for espn coverage; IMO it sucked, but perhaps Versus won't be any better.

                        My favorite part of the telecast was not mentioning DP until lap 15. She gets into a lot of trouble because she doesn't drive like a maniac and a lot of guys take advantage of that. I think she has a reputation among the drivers of backing off and they do stupid things around her. I didn't think she was all that whiny Sunday. Why didn't they interview the other guy or did I miss it?
                        Don't thank me, I'll kill ya.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                          Originally posted by Knucklehead Warrior View Post
                          Let's give Versus a chance. espn had a bad habit last year of not starting on time. Two races I believe were time delayed so they could show Heidi or something. As for espn coverage; IMO it sucked, but perhaps Versus won't be any better.

                          My favorite part of the telecast was not mentioning DP until lap 15. She gets into a lot of trouble because she doesn't drive like a maniac and a lot of guys take advantage of that. I think she has a reputation among the drivers of backing off and they do stupid things around her. I didn't think she was all that whiny Sunday. Why didn't they interview the other guy or did I miss it?
                          She has a reputation of being a roadblock and they want to get around her as soon as possible.
                          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


                          • #14
                            Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                            yup ditto that
                            Don't thank me, I'll kill ya.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                              One thing I'd like to see Versus do is give the car sponsors more airtime. ESPN/ABC didn't do it but covering the sport and promoting the sport should go hand in hand. Encourage the announcers to mention the "National Guard Car" or the "Target" cars... etc in identifying the cars.

                              It seems Indycar has been plagued by announcers promoting the teamowners more than the sponsors. Nascars are giant billboards in the first place with more room for sponsor logos yet they still manage to get the sponsors some airtime.

                              For sponsors to stay in the sport they need some ROI. I just think the coverage could do a better job of helping them get it. Of course I'm sure the broadcasters would rather the teams buy some commercial time on the network. But if they do that, then why spend the money on sponsoring a car? So there needs to be a happy medium.
                              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

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