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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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  • #46
    Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

    Danica had a pretty good race and a good finish and the coverage wasn't all about Danica. They actually covered battles on the track.

    One of a things about the ovals, especially the 1.5mi ovals, is in the stands you can watch the entire field all the way around. There are always battles on the track although it isn't always for the lead. Also, usually there's a charger or two that is sitting further back in the field but slicing their way thru in a methodical order. Versus did a good job of showing us that type of stuff (it appears). I say "it appears" because until I see a race live and compare it with the coverage it'll be hard to know for sure how on top of things they really are. They are at least covering some of it, that we can know for sure.

    There's more to a race than the car in the lead. In fact, sometimes there is a strategy at play where a driver not in the lead is sacrificing positions and speed and trying to use a pi/fuel strategy to get themselves into the lead toward the end when it counts... and then try and pull away...

    All that said... I watched Wind Tunnel on SPEED last night and did Indycar get any time at all? I know Despain said they'd have Dixon on "overtime" on their webcast AFTER the show is off the air but I kept waiting for something during the show and I saw nothing. Since I had it on DVR maybe I skipped over it accidentally if it was a short bit.

    True, NASCAR about killed someone in the stands and that rightly got some time, BUT the majority of the talk was just about Nascar topics in general, not that. IF the show had been more indepth about the Nascar incident, safety, and what went wrong, I could understand it a little better... But it wasn't. If you about put a car through the fence and into the crowd, I could understand the need to talk about that. Did we really see an example of the catchfence working, or did we see an example of it pushed to it's limit?

    -Bball
    Last edited by Bball; 04-27-2009, 11:54 AM.
    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


    • #47
      Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

      I think the catchfence did it's job. The chain link can only keep out so much debris, by that time that car was disintegrating like an IndyCar.

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

        They don't need to cover Danica during the race. She gets more than enough exposure in those Go Daddy commercials.

        As for Wind Tunnel you could try complaining to Despain, but he'd tell you what he always does. Something like NASCAR is popular so that's what they have to talk about. I'm sure the fact that Speed has tons of NASCAR programing has a lot to do with what Wind Tunnel covers.
        Last edited by grace; 04-27-2009, 10:40 PM.

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

          Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
          I think the catchfence did it's job. The chain link can only keep out so much debris, by that time that car was disintegrating like an IndyCar.

          I'd have to say it did it's job too... but those poles gave way more than Nascar probably should be comfortable seeing. That's my guess.

          OTOH, Edwards is probably lucky he slammed into a fence that gave that much instead of a solid wall.

          I bet a lot of the talk about this safety issue will be lessened by the fact it happened on the last lap. If that had happened mid race, I seriously doubt they could've made repairs to the fence in any kind of timely fashion for a race restart. If that is true, then there'd be a lot more questions being asked if a fence was so damaged racing couldn't continue (at least not with fans in the stands). I'm doubting you could weld some poles and restring some steel rope and be anywhere close to acceptable for safety standards. It looked to me like the poles were compromised at the base and likely the concrete as well.

          -Bball "I could be wrong... But regardless: Bring on Indy!"
          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


          • #50
            Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

            Old, but fun, in car video from 1992 Indy 500. I wonder why they don't utilize a camera like this any longer?

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3U_qPtQpQ
            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


            • #51
              Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

              I don't know what the weather is up the road but it's been no rain here with a mixture of mostly clouds but some sun.

              IMHO IMS needs to rethink their strategy when it comes to opening the track versus their cost-cutting measures. Why not keep Sunday as the official opening day for the track? Give the veterans the track for an hour, run ROP for the majority of the day, and then open the track for veterans again.

              For one thing, NASCAR ran on Saturday night so Indy could've been live on Versus for a couple of hours today with no other major US racing competition on TV or for area/regional press to cover. It could've been a nice springboard to kickoff the month for coverage and hype building purposes.

              Importantly, I think the shortened week is a bad idea in Indiana anyway due to our unpredictable weather. Leaving Sunday on the calendar would've added a little more buffer if you just HAVE to go dark on Monday and Tues for vets. Plus, having the track opener be ROP (and refreshers) alone doesn't seem to be a momentum starting plan either. If I was speedway king I'd ALWAYS open with veterans taking the track even if they didn't get the complete day and part of it was dedicated to ROP.

              I'd agree the 2nd week doesn't need the track time that the first week could use. I think the first week serves purposes beyond simply ROP, practice for the vets, etc. It's free advertising for the event. The problem with the shorter 2nd week is one of logistics: Indiana weather! Last year was a perfect example. We had gorgeous days to start the week but the track was dark. Then weather moved in and practice days were cut short and mostly hurry up and wait piecemeal sessions. There were people on 2nd week engine programs who needed that track time. There were drivers looking for rides who were frozen out because teams had to focus their short practice time on the main car(s).

              If the problem is cost-cutting measures for the Speedway itself and trying to not need to staff the facility for a couple of low turnout days, then they might just need to consider it a cost of doing business expense. They'll make up for it race day. If it's trying to cut costs for the competitors and keep the playing field more level (since those that can afford to run more WILL run more in practice) then possibly they could cap practice laps per day or some per day vs per week limits. Limit tires.... something...
              Have Monday and Tuesday as 'optional' days in that 2nd week with the ability to open IF the extended weather forecast looks questionable for later in that week (by the previous weekend).

              But whatever the case, now they've cutback both the 1st and 2nd week. I wouldn't have cutback week 1, or if I would've I would've left Sunday on there.
              Last edited by Bball; 05-03-2009, 03:49 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


              • #52
                Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                Originally posted by Bball View Post
                For one thing, NASCAR ran on Saturday night so Indy could've been live on Versus for a couple of hours today with no other major US racing competition on TV or for area/regional press to cover. It could've been a nice springboard to kickoff the month for coverage and hype building purposes.
                I don't know that going up against a game 7 NBA playoff game and a triple OT Hockey game would have been that great.

                As for when the Speedway is open, as the resident Debbie Downer around here it's been my experience the Speedway is screwed no matter what they do. I would think the theory behind starting later is teams are here less so it's not as big a drain on their bottom line. If you start early and have off days during the month teams are still spending money to be here (or spending money to go home).

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                  I love the month of May in Indy. Even better when the Pacers are playing in May.
                  The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                    Anybody who goes to the parade look for Kegboy. He'll be marching with the Purdue Alumni Band (as a sax player, not the Golden Girl).

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                      Originally posted by ABADays View Post
                      I love the month of May in Indy. Even better when the Pacers are playing in May.
                      I remember people leaving the 500 early one year to watch Pacers vs Knicks in the playoffs.

                      I am still upset that Buddy Rice does not have a ride this year. He is a former Champion and gets zero love from Tony George.

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                        Well, it's finally opening day at the track for veterans and if the weather is the same at 16th and Georgetown as here... it's raining.

                        I still see shortening practice by cutting out days is just asking for trouble with Indiana's weather. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday would've all been fine. Now everyone is dodging raindrops and watching the radar.

                        And as far as cost containment helping the smaller teams compete, well all that is negated if they don't get real track time due to the weather. The bigger teams are not hurt nearly as much by a lack of track time IMHO.... although I'm sure it hurts everyone to some degree and skews things that could matter in the end. Obviously, with more track time you can try different things and put it in the notebook for reference on race day. While that will mainly be the domain of the larger teams, the smaller teams just need to experiment and learn the car better and find speed first and foremost.

                        Secondly, the shortened track time really hurts chances of drivers with helmet in hand trying to find a ride. Teams need to get their main car and driver comfortable and in the field before they can start looking at trying to field an extra car. And teams also need plenty of time to make sure their existing driver really 'isn't cutting it' and still have time to put someone else in the car. With shortened practice, shortened by weather even more, they can get painted into a corner fairly quickly and be stuck. And that is a lot of expense right there to have a wasted entry that ends up without a chance to make the field of 33.

                        -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


                        • #57
                          Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                          Yep, I just knew when it started raining Bball would be singing "I was right".

                          As far as I'm concerned it can rain all it wants as long as it doesn't rain on race day.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                            Originally posted by grace View Post
                            Yep, I just knew when it started raining Bball would be singing "I was right".

                            As far as I'm concerned it can rain all it wants as long as it doesn't rain on race day.

                            Does that mean I'm.....

                            Wait for it....


                            Wait....


                            Ok...

                            Does that mean I'm singing in the rain?
                            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


                            • #59
                              Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                              Whatever floats your boat.

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: Yay! Indycar season is here!

                                I was out there yesterday. The weather was awesome. The sounds of the engine was music to my ears. I got to see a lot of the changes that had been made while I was in Iraq. Great day.
                                The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                                Comment

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