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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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More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

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  • #46
    Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

    took the board two years to finally realize the value of tanking. wow. time and time again i had to defend my stance that high draft picks is how you become a contender, and finally, the board seems to agree! albeit, probably too late :-(

    Comment


    • #47
      Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

      Originally posted by millertime90 View Post
      took the board two years to finally realize the value of tanking. wow. time and time again i had to defend my stance that high draft picks is how you become a contender, and finally, the board seems to agree! albeit, probably too late :-(
      To be fair, the last couple of years we were in the playoff chase right up to the last few games.

      Not so this year.

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

        Real talk...I rooted for the team in the beginning, because I WAS VERY CONFIDENT that this team could win, and reach the playoffs for the 1st time in a long time. Roy showed some great improvement, Ford starting showing that he belonged at the PG, Granger was putting up big numbers, D. Jones was looking like a great surprise offseason pickup, Hansbrough gave me hope, and Murphy was tolerable. Then from December to March, I saw some of the most incompetent coaching and players tuning out that I have ever seen that effectively eliminated us from the playoffs with FLYING COLORS. We DIDN'T SQUEAK out of the playoffs...we freaking got in a rocket and flew out of the playoffs.

        During that period, I recognized that the coach is the problem, and pray that he won't be here next season. Reality kicks in, and I think "This is not a complete loss of a season. We can probably get a good impact player at 3rd-6th pick". Then...then...they start playing like they SHOULD have been playing since the season started. WTF? They were suppose to have this "We are the World" attitude when it would have meant something.

        On the real, I'm tried of our team being the Bridesmaid of the NBA every year. I want to tear down lamp posts and street signs in June in downtown Indianapolis within my lifetime. Heck, we still don't know what we really got as a team, because JOB probably won't play the same winning combinations next year anyways. JOB hasn't impressed me as being the most intelligent, personable coach to take this team anywhere.

        We might still be okay, because Rush, Hibbert, and Hansbrough turned out to be descent to great picks.


        Remember when we could have gotten 1-2 solid players and a possible Top 3 draft pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by trading away Paul George?

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

          The tit-for-tat on faith is now over, gentleman. I will delete any further replies about it because this is not the place for such comments.

          Comment


          • #50
            Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

            Originally posted by millertime90 View Post
            took the board two years to finally realize the value of tanking. wow. time and time again i had to defend my stance that high draft picks is how you become a contender, and finally, the board seems to agree! albeit, probably too late :-(
            The past two years we had a more realistic chance at the playoffs... but once we were officially eliminated it could have helped. It's a lot different this year because we aren't even close to being in the playoffs.

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

              If we weren't true of the Pacers, we wouldn't even be here right now. I am 100% behind getting the best possible chance for a top 3 pick.

              Hell, I've only lived in Australia and Korea, where no-one else supports them and they don't even come on national TV.

              It's all good to stick by your principles, I truly respect what you believe in (I would too, if this team had more talent but was a bunch of underachievers). But please don't call out others or get outraged because they don't share the same values as you.

              I believe everyone here is a true Pacers fan, and that holds regardless of whatever they believe is best for the team to get better.

              Comment


              • #52
                Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                Originally posted by millertime90 View Post
                took the board two years to finally realize the value of tanking. wow. time and time again i had to defend my stance that high draft picks is how you become a contender, and finally, the board seems to agree! albeit, probably too late :-(
                The past two seasons, the team was balling. I would have never thought that the team would have gotten worse. Here's the irony of this whole season...a 5 game improvement would have put us in the playoff hunt season.


                Remember when we could have gotten 1-2 solid players and a possible Top 3 draft pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by trading away Paul George?

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                  Originally posted by ksuttonjr76 View Post
                  The past two seasons, the team was balling. I would have never thought that the team would have gotten worse. Here's the irony of this whole season...a 5 game improvement would have put us in the playoff hunt season.
                  Yeah, but if we were finishing the season only a couple of games outside of the playoffs looking in, people would still be crying tank. There is no middle ground here. Heck, the past two seasons we were in the thick of it, people were still crying tank.

                  This is getting old. I'm glad Roy had a good game today. At least I have that to hang onto. No one cares apparently about his progress, because this whole board keeps fighting over tanking or not. You all are forgetting that this guy is part of the core of this team going forward, and for him to contribute like he has this season, especially tonight is really disturbing.

                  Don't forget that Roy is a "young guy" too.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                    Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                    Yeah, but if we were finishing the season only a couple of games outside of the playoffs looking in, people would still be crying tank. There is no middle ground here. Heck, the past two seasons we were in the thick of it, people were still crying tank.

                    This is getting old. I'm glad Roy had a good game today. At least I have that to hang onto. No one cares apparently about his progress, because this whole board keeps fighting over tanking or not. You all are forgetting that this guy is part of the core of this team going forward, and for him to contribute like he has this season, especially tonight is really disturbing.

                    Don't forget that Roy is a "young guy" too.
                    The only thing that I was looking for this season was progression, and it didn't happen. The ONLY reason that I'm supporting losing is because I'm taking on the attitude of "Since we're doing so horrible this year might as well get something for it.". I don't mind not making the playoffs, if there was incremental progression ala Atlanta Hawks.


                    Remember when we could have gotten 1-2 solid players and a possible Top 3 draft pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by trading away Paul George?

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                      Originally posted by ksuttonjr76 View Post
                      The only thing that I was looking for this season was progression, and it didn't happen. The ONLY reason that I'm supporting losing is because I'm taking on the attitude of "Since we're doing so horrible this year might as well get something for it.". I don't mind not making the playoffs, if there was incremental progression ala Atlanta Hawks.
                      What about Hibbert? As far as I know he has progressed...

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                        Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                        What about Hibbert? As far as I know he has progressed...
                        In the W/L columns. Hibbert and Rush is like the lone shining stars from this season. I've been impressed with Hibbert and Rush all season, and never thought they were bad players. Unlike some people who think that they're a dime a dozen.


                        Remember when we could have gotten 1-2 solid players and a possible Top 3 draft pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by trading away Paul George?

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                          Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                          What about Hibbert? As far as I know he has progressed...
                          Exactly. And we found a great point guard in Price, and he, Roy and Rush play very well together. Danny took a step back because of injury but now he's getting back to form. Even Dunleavy has been looking a little better lately. I see all kinds of progress in this team.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                            Originally posted by TMJ31 View Post
                            Seriously?

                            SERIOUSLY!?

                            You call yourself a Pacers fan? Then you root for them to WIN THE GAMES THEY PLAY.

                            I am sorry but this current sentiment of just losing every game we possible can is the most counter-intuitive, hypocritical thing I have seen on this board in my entire time here.
                            yeh, i call myself a fan. what is more counter-intuitive- winning meaningless games? (yes, there are those because we are playing them right now) and scoring ourselves a mid-pick which gives a far greater chance at getting an ok player or getting a shot at someone who can really help us?
                            i would want the pacers to win every game at this stage if the pick were not ours to use like the knicks. but it IS our pick and i want a good one.
                            we have a shot at getting someone who can step in and help us immediately (which we desperately need).
                            i don't want a guy who might turn into a decent rotational player in 4-5 years. i am not some guy who will say 5 years down the line "hey, do you remember that year when we could have had so and so but we won those meaningless games and got that guy who played ok for us for a couple of years? i sure am glad we won those games back then because it has helped us so much"
                            we need talent and the draft is the only way we get any for the time being.

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                              Hibbert is the only positive I see from this season... sure would be nice to see AJ progress, but we already know what we have in him so we better put him back on the bench.

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: More Fuel to the Lottery Standings Fire...

                                Originally posted by ksuttonjr76 View Post
                                In the W/L columns. Hibbert and Rush is like the lone shining stars from this season. I've been impressed with Hibbert and Rush all season, and never thought they were bad players. Unlike some people who think that they're a dime a dozen.
                                There isn't a team in the league that doesn't have at least 2-3 players on the level of Rush or Hibbert. Bottom line is the difference between the bad teams and the really good ones doesn't come from players like Hibbert and Rush.

                                Comment

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