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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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Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

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  • #16
    Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

    Chicago, Miami, and LA

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

      I've taken an interest in the Grizzlies. I love cinderellas. They play well. I was hoping the Pacers would do what the Grizzlies are doing in this post-season. Plus, ZBo is representing Naptown and tearing it up. I like Conley, too. And baby Gasol.

      I'm also interested in the Hawks. They've kept their mouths shut and played some damn good ball in the post-season...

      I'm so tired of the Lakers.

      The Bulls fans really acted so horribly in our series with them that I don't want them to win a championship, and it doesn't hurt my feelings at all that they're already down 0-1 to the Hawks. I don't think arrogant, jerky fans should be rewarded. They probly will down the road... but whatever. It's one thing to have a good team and be supportive of them, but to act the way they did was just idiotic.

      I have no personal beef with the Celtics, they have one of my favorite players in Rondo, and who doesn't like Ray Allen. KG is sort of a putz, but whatever. They've won a lot of championships, so a part of me says "they don't need anymore", but they're a pretty good team. A small part of me wants to see JO do well, too...

      The Thunder just don't do it for me, as much as everyone else loves them. I respect Durant, but they way that team is built... makes it tough for me to think they're built for playoff success. I wish they were still in Seattle. The whole situation doesn't feel right to me.

      I have no vested interest in the Mavs other than I wouldn't mind seeing Carlisle and Nowitzki get a ring, they deserve it. I don't think it's gonna happen, though.

      That leaves the Heat... all drama aside, they really kept the drama surprisingly low this season. I said at the beginning of the year, when they were struggling, that I still thought they'd be a top team come playoff-time, and that has proven true. I have a feeling the Heat are gonna get a ring this year. They put it together down the stretch and the star-power is overwhelming.
      There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

        Big no vote for the LeBraun's...
        http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
        "But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetime’s worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

          As long as it's not Miami I'm happy, though it would be awesome to see OKC win it all.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

            Originally posted by 15th parallel View Post
            Weird that nobody voted for Dallas...but anyway, this is the best playoffs since the Jordan era, with all teams competitive and the series unpredictable. So I voted for don't care. While I won't cheer for any team, the one who'll win it all is really deserving given the very tough competition.


            Dirk has always been one of my favorite players and it always annoyed me that he's labeled a choker (especially since I though the Mavs were screwed in the 2006 Finals) however I also can't see them winning it all either. I like Butler too.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

              Miami really doesn't bother me that much. At least I can admit they have enough talent in 3 guys alone (yes, Bosh isn't that bad...he is just weak). If they win multiple titles in the next 5 years I may start singing a different tune.

              I still can't stand Boston so much. It is similar to the Spurs where I don't get how they do so good every year with so many really old players or ones that shouldn't be good (Big Baby). At least they should fizzle away pretty soon unless another big trade happens or they get lucky in the draft.

              Similar level of dislike for LA, but at least I feel like they are talented enough to win a ring.

              Chicago because I feel like they aren't the best team and shouldn't win it.

              I wouldn't be thrilled if any of the other teams won but I wouldn't be mad.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                here's an argument against Dallas: Peja (my least favorite "Pacer" ever) is on their team.

                That said, I would be happy if Carlisle and Cardinal got a ring

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                  Ultimately, the team that has been built from the ground up primarily through developing youth and going through the growth period where the potential could be seen despite not much winning early has turned into my favorite, like many here.

                  OKC is the next elite team, and I hope they get the job done and win the championship this year.

                  That would feel like a victory for what is possible through hard work, perseverence, and pride for what mostly seems like a team of decent, and very talented, human beings.

                  If I had to pick only one team to NOT win, it would be Bron-bron and the Menopause.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                    Originally posted by dal9 View Post
                    here's an argument against Dallas: Peja (my least favorite "Pacer" ever) is on their team.

                    That said, I would be happy if Carlisle and Cardinal got a ring
                    I forgot he was on the Mavs...

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                      Originally posted by dal9 View Post
                      here's an argument against Dallas: Peja (my least favorite "Pacer" ever) is on their team.

                      That said, I would be happy if Carlisle and Cardinal got a ring
                      Following that thought, did you root against Pacers when he was on the team?

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                        Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                        Reading fail. I voted as if it was about who I wanted to win.

                        I now would have voted Miami, Chicago, and LA.
                        Bad day? It's your site and it says 'change your vote' at the bottom of the poll.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                          Originally posted by ballism View Post
                          Following that thought, did you root against Pacers when he was on the team?
                          well, i had no problem with Peja before he was on the Pacers...it's his sitting out of the playoff games b/c of some minor injury that made me dislike him...also i was an artest fan, so that probably influenced my view of him too...

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                            Bulls are probably the only team that I absolutely don't want to see win. I don't feel completely one way about the rest of the teams.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                              Oops. I read the poll wrong. Now I feel like a big dummy head.
                              "A man with no belly has no appetite for life."

                              - Salman Rushdie

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Eight teams left. Who don't you want to win the NBA championship?

                                I want Dallas to win for sure. I always have liked Dirk, Kidd, and Peja.
                                I voted for the Lakers as the team I don't want to win. I've hated them ever since the 2000 Finals.
                                Go Pacers, Cards and Aces!

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