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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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PLEASE STOP

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  • PLEASE STOP

    ...bringing up how much it sucks that we lost Brad Miller.

    HE'S GONE!!!!!!!!!



    LIVE IN THE NOW!!!!!!


    You know, I'm starting to miss him a bit myself... but he's gone, he's not coming back, and IMO this constant harping over Brad Miller (it seems like every other day there's still a post *****ing about the trade, crying about how much it sucks that we lost him, etc.) is really getting old. He only played for this team for a year and a half and he got traded like six months ago.

    To put it in perspective: I broke up with my fiancee last June, a girl I had been dating and living with for almost three years, and as bad as that sucks I bring her up a hell of a lot less often than some of you folks are bringing up Brad Miller.

    Yes, it's obvious that we could have used him this year. Yes, he's playing awful well in Sacramento. Yes, he's an all-star again. But he's not Reggie Miller (a career Pacer); he's not even Dale Davis or Mark Jackson (guys who played here during the peak of their careers). He was here for a season and a half, played pretty well for us (most of the time), and now he's gone and probably never coming back. Get over it already. If you want to talk about us needing help at the 5 spot, let's talk about realistic solutions and possibilities instead of crying and *****ing over spilled milk.

    IMO this constant harping is really an insult to the current team and their success. There's not even any guarantee that the team would be doing this well if he were still here, so why keep picking at an old scab?

    When all-star announcements are made, I'd like to hear about the guys on OUR team that made it. When we lose a game and start talking about needing help I'd like to talk about REAL possibilities to get help. And when people want to reminisce about Brad, ***** about Donnie's mistakes/stupidity or moan about how well Brad is doing in Sac-town now, I'd like to see it in the Brad Miller thread so that I can make sure and avoid getting involved in that discussion, rather than watch thread after thread get hijacked with this stuff.

    Because honestly, folks, this is getting old.

  • #2
    Re: PLEASE STOP

    Post of the day (week) (month).

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: PLEASE STOP

      I apologize for the rather bold thread I started yesterday about Brad making the allstar team, that was mostly for Peck's benefit and in response to a promise I made to him in person at the forum party in November. I had to eat a little crow

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: PLEASE STOP

        Yes, let's stop. It's painful to constantly be reminded that the Pacers let the second best true center in the NBA walk this summer for a 3rd string center, a third vacation house for the Simons, and a bag of corn chips.

        It's painful to constantly be reminded of one of the stupidest moves in recent Pacer history, let's suppress this memory for good.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: PLEASE STOP

          Yes, let's stop. It's painful to constantly be reminded that the Pacers let the second best true center in the NBA walk this summer for a 3rd string center, a third vacation house for the Simons, and a bag of corn chips.

          It's painful to constantly be reminded of one of the stupidest moves in recent Pacer history, let's suppress this memory for good.
          You're completely missing my point. I didn't say to forget about it. I said to QUIT WHINING about it. Of course you have the right to feel the way you feel, and say what you want to say. My point is that you're accomplishing absolutely nothing by constantly harping on it.

          Nobody cares. The Simons don't, J.O. and the rest of the team have moved on, and the press dropped this issue for the most part LONG ago. We have bigger, more exciting things to talk about, like having one of the most successful regular seasons in franchise history.

          Just be happy the Pacers don't have the attitude you have when they don't get what they want. If that was the case, J.O. would be sitting at home pouting, refusing to play because Donnie Walsh lied to him. Carlisle would be retired from coaching because he got a raw deal from Detroit. Reggie would have quit years ago after seeing two ECF series stolen from him (Bulls 98 and Knicks 99) by the refs.

          But no. We're adults. Things happen.

          I'll repeat: GET OVER IT.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: PLEASE STOP

            Yes, let's stop. It's painful to constantly be reminded that the Pacers let the second best true center in the NBA walk this summer for a 3rd string center, a third vacation house for the Simons, and a bag of corn chips.

            It's painful to constantly be reminded of one of the stupidest moves in recent Pacer history, let's suppress this memory for good.

            Well, seeing as you don't sign the checks, from a financial standpoint, you have no grounds on which to base your opinion. I'd also contend that letting Brad walk was one of the most brilliant moves in Pacers history. It allowed the team to fire Isiah and hire Carlisle, and as far as I'm concerned, Rick is far more integral to this team right now than Brad would have been had we kept him and we had to suffer through another year of Isiah.


            Please heed rabidpacersfan's words: Move on. Live in the moment. Not in the past. It's much healthier.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: PLEASE STOP

              Let's not forget our playoff collapse last year...and the fact that Brad Miller was missing in action for much of it...O'Neal played great...Tinsley played well.... Reggie played hurt... but I remember Brad playing like crap....and even riding the bench towards the end of the Boston series... Don't get me wrong Brad is a good player... and sure it would be great to have him....but lets not make him out to be more than what he is... i always thought he was soft...and a whiner/pouter... marginal on defense/and let any poor play effect his overall effort....I like Foster personally, and think he should get more minutes...if you don't see all the good things that Jeff does on the floor.... well then your just blind or otherwise handicapped.

              this is still a better team then last year....we had a bad game...JO and AL were obviously hurting out there... and we kept trying to isolate or post up when their interior defense was smothering... but damn if we didn't keep trying...instead of going to Reggie more...who was "on" again last night...or getting good player and ball movement for an easier shot.

              It was a tough game...we will loose more games this season ...it doesn't mean we need to rebuild....we just need to adjust, for the next time.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: PLEASE STOP

                but I remember Brad playing like crap
                Amen to that

                Brad didn't show up when it counted

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: PLEASE STOP

                  I can't believe we traded an all-star forward who was a two-time sixth man of the year and averaged 19, 9.5 and 6 in his final season here (with 4 triple doubles) and then went to two more all-star games and helped lead his team to the finals......
                  PSN: MRat731 XBL: MRat0731

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: PLEASE STOP

                    Bring back Detlef.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: PLEASE STOP

                      but I remember Brad playing like crap
                      Amen to that

                      Brad didn't show up when it counted
                      He was hurt though.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: PLEASE STOP

                        Yes, let's stop. It's painful to constantly be reminded that the Pacers let the second best true center in the NBA walk this summer for a 3rd string center, a third vacation house for the Simons, and a bag of corn chips.

                        It's painful to constantly be reminded of one of the stupidest moves in recent Pacer history, let's suppress this memory for good.

                        Well, seeing as you don't sign the checks, from a financial standpoint, you have no grounds on which to base your opinion. I'd also contend that letting Brad walk was one of the most brilliant moves in Pacers history. It allowed the team to fire Isiah and hire Carlisle, and as far as I'm concerned, Rick is far more integral to this team right now than Brad would have been had we kept him and we had to suffer through another year of Isiah.


                        Please heed rabidpacersfan's words: Move on. Live in the moment. Not in the past. It's much healthier.
                        But you see, in a way, we do sign the checks. You see those of us that buy season tickets actually help fund the team. I realize that does not give us a vote, but I think it should (to a point) give us a voice.

                        You can parrot the fact that we fired Isiah & hired Calisle as a justification all you want. Will Rick be here in seven years? My guess is no.

                        As I said at the begining of the season, we are winning so there is no real complaint. But this is a seven year process, IMO. If at any time in those seven years we start to lose & can specifically point to the center spot & Brad is still playing well in that time frame, then yes I beleive that we have a justification for our complaining.


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

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: PLEASE STOP

                          You can parrot the fact that we fired Isiah & hired Calisle as a justification all you want. Will Rick be here in seven years? My guess is no.
                          Well, considering I made this rationalization on my own and hadn't seen or heard it before until I posted it here, I guess I'm parroting myself. I'm not justifying anything, I guess I just have a firmer grasp of the realities of the business of basketball than you do. No disrespect intended.


                          But you see, in a way, we do sign the checks. You see those of us that buy season tickets actually help fund the team. I realize that does not give us a vote, but I think it should (to a point) give us a voice.
                          And you can make yourself "heard" by not renewing your season tickets. If I didn't like the way a corporation was run or the people who ran it as much as you seemingly don't like the way the Pacers are run and the people who run it, I'd quit buying their product. It's pretty simple really.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: PLEASE STOP

                            You can parrot the fact that we fired Isiah & hired Calisle as a justification all you want. Will Rick be here in seven years? My guess is no.
                            Well, considering I made this rationalization on my own and hadn't seen or heard it before until I posted it here, I guess I'm parroting myself. I'm not justifying anything, I guess I just have a firmer grasp of the realities of the business of basketball than you do. No disrespect intended.


                            But you see, in a way, we do sign the checks. You see those of us that buy season tickets actually help fund the team. I realize that does not give us a vote, but I think it should (to a point) give us a voice.
                            And you can make yourself "heard" by not renewing your season tickets. If I didn't like the way a corporation was run or the people who ran it as much as you seemingly don't like the way the Pacers are run and the people who run it, I'd quit buying their product. It's pretty simple really.
                            Two things about the highlighted parts of your post.

                            1. Yes you are justifying the trade & have been since day one. I have no problem with that btw, but let's not kid ourselves here.

                            2. For all of your great business wisdom, which I'm certain you are smarter on that level than me, you can't deny one certain business truth.

                            Winning basketball will make more money than mediocre or losing basketball.

                            So, as I've stated over & over again but I will do it again here for your benifit. We are winning. So in theory right now the trade works. But let's see how we do in the playoffs.


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

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: PLEASE STOP

                              Actually it is possible to have a bad team a do OK in the books. The Clippers are an example of that. That is one reason Sterling is so disliked.

                              Also in general owners aren't in the NBA to make lots of money. The Simons for instance have had a very success product out and don't make money off the Pacers in the way they do from thier company.

                              This is not to say Donnie isn't evil I know that you will never be convienced of that but that we are fortunate for what the Simons have done--kept the Pacers here, put out a successful product and not worry about making money.

                              I suppose that it could be argued that good owners should be willing to lose money to win but when there is a good product on the floor it is harder to argue that.
                              "They could turn out to be only innocent mathematicians, I suppose," muttered Woevre's section officer, de Decker.

                              "'Only.'" Woevre was amused. "Someday you'll explain to me how that's possible. Seeing that, on the face of it, all mathematics leads, doesn't it, sooner or later, to some kind of human suffering."

                              Comment

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