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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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Pacer fans are spoiled

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  • Pacer fans are spoiled

    Pacer fans were spoiled

    Jim O'Brien is fealing the pressure. After tinkering with the lineups in the second half of the first three games with horrible results he's had to shore up the rotations so the novice fans will stop bickering. After three meaningless preseason games he's had to stop experimenting with the lineups and stop trying to develop the end of the bench.

    Indiana has not had a coach for more than four years since Slick Leonard's twelve year stint ended in 1980. We were a poorly run francise untill Donnie Walsh came in the mid 80's. In the early 90's we had a playoff team but couldn't convince a good coach to come here till Lary Brown in the mid 90's. That's when things took off.

    We had a nice run that ended in going to the Finals in 2000. Then we made some trades that brought us Jermaine O'neal, Ron Artest and Brad Miller and we made another playoff run. Making the playoffs for 16 out of 17 years has spoiled the fans. The novice fans need to appreciate how hard it is to build a playoff team.

    Jim O'Brien has been criticized too harshly by some short sighted fans. We need to realize that we are still in transition and are rebuilding on the fly. We should be happy that Larry Bird talked Jim O'Brien in coming here and that we don't have a rookie coach to go along with our young roster.

    It's been a shock to our system that we've gone from a half court team to a running team but we don't have Rik Smits and Jermaine O'neal in the post commanding double teams. Roy Hibbert is trying to be our man in the post but is still young, awkward and still learning but has a work ethic that gives us confidence that he'll succeed. Don't forget that it took Rik Smits and Jermaine O'neal some time to get it going.

    Larry Bird has took some unfair criticism also. The biggest blemish on his record is drafting Shawne Williams 17th in 2006 but look at his contemporaries. Twelve through twenty look like this: Hilton Armstrong, Thabo Sefolosha, Ronnie Brewer, Cedric Simmons, Rodney Carney, Shawne Williams, Oleksiy Pecherov, Quincy Douby, Renaldo Balkman. To be fair Donnie Walsh was in charge until april 2008.

    The Pacers have turned Jermaine O'neal, Troy Murphy and Shawne Williams into Roy Hibbert, T.J. Ford, Darren Collison and Magnum Rolle. They have drafted Danny Granger, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George in the first round at 17, 13, 10. Also have turned Jarryd Bayless into Josh McRoberts and Brandon Rush. Then we have had two second round steals in A.J. Price and Lance Stephenson. The last time we've had a second round steal was Antonio Davis in 1990.

    Larry Bird's three year plan is looking good. After this year when we will have some cap space to hopefully bring in a nice veteran in a slim class of free agents and have another chance to draft between 17 and 10. We will finally have the roster that we can be proud of for many years.

    These last few years have been frustrating and in alot of ways mirror the late 80's. We should be thankful that we've bottomed out at only 32 wins. Do you remember the four strait 20 win seasons we had in the early to mid 80's. That monumental failure set up the success in the 90's.

    The Pacers have spoiled us. Who else could build a team without any top 9 picks. It's been 20 years since we've had a season so bad. How many teams can say that?

    We were 27th in the league in attendence last year. The Colts are bringing in 50,000+ fans every game but do you think once Manning retires the fans will be patient while they get another quarterback?

    In 1985 the year of the first lottery many fans jumped on the bandwagon when we got the second pick and were rewarded in the 90's. By the mid 90's it was hard to get a good seat. People need to reserve there seats now because conventual wisdom will tell you that starting next year good seats will be getting harder to come by.

    Let's not be novice short sighted spoiled fans. Let's enjoy the run the Pacers are about to make and appreciate the hard work this organization has done.

    Me and my fellow area 55ers will see you at the game. Go Pacers!
    Last edited by indianapolismarkus; 10-19-2010, 02:31 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

    way to start the show with a bang , lol
    Sittin on top of the world!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

      This is also a fanpost at indycornrows.com but I thought the diehard's here on PD would like it.

      Go Pacers!
      Last edited by indianapolismarkus; 10-14-2010, 11:45 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

        I know I was spoiled in my teens when I got heavily interested in the Larry Bird-coached teams. Isiah started off when I was in full sunshiner mode, so that 41-41 year wasn't that bad for me, though a letdown compared to 2000, of course. Then the next year things start off rocky, but then that Chicago trade happened and re-energized the team, leading to an awesome series with New Jersey followed by what was initially a very promising/exciting 2003 season.

        Then Larry comes back, and even though Brad was traded we got Rick Carlisle in for Isiah and made good in 2004 the way I thought we were going to in 2003.

        Then we get to the fall of 2004....... the mustard's never really been put back on the hotdog since 11/19/04. Reggie's last hurrah was great, but definitely bittersweet.

        Since then...

        Things look like they just might be getting ready to turn the corner now. I want to be optimistic about that, but I've become jaded to the point where I'm still waiting to see it happen. But I sure as hell feel better now than I did at any point prior to 8/11/10!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

          By the way...

          My God. It's been SIX. YEARS. since the year of the Brawl. Six years since Reggie Miller wore a Pacer uniform. Six years since this franchise had a largely glowing reputation. Wow.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

            good read... and for those of us not old to remember those days its a nice reminder. I've only seen a lot of the good with reggie and this rebuilding process... but im sooo ready for this to take us somewhere. Pacers for life!
            Reggie Miller is a God. Period.

            Passion. Pride. Pacers.

            It's ALWAYS Miller Time.
            #31 & Only

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

              The 2005 season had to be the most heartbreaking Pacer season ever. The brawl coupled with our only HOFer Reggie ending his career. We are now just recovering from that.

              Area 55 is alive. Go Pacers!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                Originally posted by indianapolismarkus View Post
                The Pacers have spoiled us. Who else could build a team without any top 9 picks. It's been 20 years since we've had a season so bad. How many teams can say that?
                Just addressing this point... there is a reason of late why we have not had a top 9 pic, and this is my thing, building a team has to do a lot with making the most of the opportunities in front of you. The Pacers could have easily had a top 9 draft pick if they would have played smart near the ends of multiple seasons.

                I will say that I am spoiled as of late, but not due to the Pacers past but due to the Colts present, so used to being in a city of a team that is always competing for a championship and then we have the Pacers who never really seemed to get their stuff straight.

                I am grateful of some of the opportunities that the Pacers have taken advantage of such as getting Danny when he slipped down draft boards and taking a chance on a slow Center who many didn't see potential in. But during that same time there were a bunch of situations that I feel Pacer management and PLAYERS could have taken better advantage of and did not.

                Lol I like being spoiled by the way... especially by the teams that I am a fan of, don't know many fans that wouldn't want to be.

                And on that note thanks PG for the discounted tickets I really appreciate it
                Why so SERIOUS

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                  We could have had a top 9 pick the last two seasons if we didn't go on late season runs. That's a testiment to the coach and players not giving up.

                  The future looks bright. Go Pacers!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                    A55 is alive...let's bring it. It helps the team....period.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                      Me and my fellow Area 55ers are changing the atmosphere in the Fieldhouse.

                      Go Pacers!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                        Makes me feel old when not many remember all the lean years before the salad. Man I'm only 46 but I guess I got 30 years of solid coverage. Time Flies.
                        I never feel spoiled, I just hate it when the team loses, I do know in the past the mgt. moved a lot quicker to make changes. I'm not talking about during the playoff run stretch but before.
                        Protect the Promise!!!!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                          It's nice to see a hoop fanatic that remembers when the 3 point line was instituted that brought us to the modern age. Their needs to be more people like you that have seen how we almost lost the team in the early 80's. If it wasn't for a telathon we would have. We even tried out a girl. We are the only team to try it. The 80's had the Pacers on TV like once a month on channel 4.

                          Lots of things have changed for the better in the last 30 years. Go Pacers!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                            Nice post.


                            I'd just like to comment on this part:

                            Making the playoffs for 16 out of 17 years has spoiled the fans. The novice fans need to appreciate how hard it is to build a playoff team.

                            Is it really the novice fans who need to alter their appreciation? As I read this forum over the past couple of years, it is more often the mature fans in their 40s who have a sour, intransigent attitude and a clouded judgment.

                            The younger folks here have some odd notions about punctuation, but their attitude toward the team seems more open-minded and hopeful than that of the older guys.



                            .
                            And I won't be here to see the day
                            It all dries up and blows away
                            I'd hang around just to see
                            But they never had much use for me
                            In Levelland. (James McMurtry)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Pacer fans are spoiled

                              I like what we have going for us.

                              Between the history, the fact that we play in the state of basketball, the fact that we were able to stay in the state of basketball, and the future of this franchise.

                              I was thrilled when we got Darren. He was the best PG, IMO for us to acquire.

                              Comment

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