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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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An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

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  • #16
    Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

    I remember where I watched that game.

    As a longtime fan going back to the ABA, I remember thinking that the suspensions would be much shorter. And in the aftermath, I remember the estimates from the pundits, from low to high. Stern's suspensions were harsher than the highest estimates by a lot. They were unprecedented.

    And all the pundits nodded in approval after they were announced. It didn't matter if the the punishment was double their prediction.

    I will always believe that the punishment was about image, and that image was partially about race.

    In the end, a commissioner like Stern is charged with protecting the bottom line. Money. Not justice. I don't even blame him for doing so and trying to fig leaf it with justice. He's not a judge in a court of law.

    But I remain irritated that the media laid down on it. Weak sauce.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

      I haven't read Jackson's statements earlier. If he really means what he said then I have a new respect for him.
      Originally posted by IrishPacer
      Empty vessels make the most noise.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

        Jackson: I knew we had to get out of this arena before all these guys in the nosebleed seats got down to our section. That's the felons, the guys that really don't care about losing anything. If they come down there, somebody's going to really get hurt
        This part made me laugh, and then I remembered how good that team could have been....damn.
        I know "Sleeze" is spelled incorrectly. I spell it this way because it's based on a name.

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        • #19
          Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

          Originally posted by BPump33 View Post
          This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but I thought I'd share anyway. From the day of the brawl until an hour ago I have ALWAYS blamed Ben Wallace. Always. To me, he was absolutely scum. The article changed that quite a bit. To see that Ron went after him for the sole purpose of delivering a cheap shot AND it was pre-meditated makes me a little sick. I always assumed the foul was just Ron being Ron and playing the whole 48 minutes.

          I still think Wallace overreacted, but I understand his frustration a little more now. A lot of people did A LOT of things wrong that night, but I will no longer solely blame Ben Wallace. It was probably stupid that I did, anyway.
          Not to mention he just had a brother of his die a couple of days earlier.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

            Originally posted by Since86 View Post
            The immaturity is on full display. Saying you know how wrong it is to be involved in something like that, but then saying you don't know what you would do if it happened again is shocking.

            Just so focused on whether or not going into the stands was the right course of action, misses the much bigger problem of being able to keep your head in the moment.
            At the risk of opening the can of worms that was PD after the incident, I think anyone who has been in one of those split-second fight-or-flight decision situations understands that you can intellectualize all you want and HOPE you will react properly the next time, but you really don't KNOW how you will react. When the "monkey brain" takes over you are by definition trying to survive the situation, not thinking about what to do.

            It is why emergency crews are trained to the point of reflex. Basketball players and fans are not.
            BillS

            A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
            Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

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            • #21
              Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

              Originally posted by Hicks View Post
              Not to mention he just had a brother of his die a couple of days earlier.
              Agreed. I was surprised to read that Jackson and Wallace now go out of their way to shake hands. It sounds like Jackson still holds a grudge with Ron over the trade request.
              Passion. Pride. Patience. Pacers

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                Originally posted by PacersCenter View Post
                I'm glad someone (maybe Boyle) brought up the fact that it wasn't the brawl that set the Pacers back, it was Ron demanding a trade. I think that is what really pissed everyone off, I know it did for me. I stood behind Ron until he demanded a trade, but once he did, I was soooo pissed.
                I still completely disagree with anyone who thinks the brawl didn't set the Pacers back. It ABSOLUTELY did. Case in point: Why do you think Ron demanded a trade? The fallout of that night is absolutely at least one big part of the reason why Artest did that. It's not just what happened that night, it's the MOUNTAIN OF FALLOUT AND CONSEQUENCES; THE DOMINO EFFECT that set the Pacers back.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                  The night it happened the crew covering it on ESPN was defensive of the player's reactions and sided with them.

                  Next day, complete flip-flop.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                    Originally posted by BillS View Post
                    At the risk of opening the can of worms that was PD after the incident, I think anyone who has been in one of those split-second fight-or-flight decision situations understands that you can intellectualize all you want and HOPE you will react properly the next time, but you really don't KNOW how you will react. When the "monkey brain" takes over you are by definition trying to survive the situation, not thinking about what to do.

                    It is why emergency crews are trained to the point of reflex. Basketball players and fans are not.
                    I've been in plenty of situations where stuff like this goes on. I've had a gun pulled on me. My reaction then was pretty stupid, and I fully acknowledge that I've lost my temper a few times in the heat of the moment.


                    But at the same time, when Jax uses this as an example of how good of a teammate he is, it makes you stratch your head. He shouldn't be glorifying the situation. Should be extremely embarassed, instead of patting himself on the back.

                    Another example would be how someone talked about how the passed the Pistons family room, where people are laughing about how Ben's brother missing the punch on Fred Jones.

                    It's disgusting.
                    Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                      Originally posted by MyFavMartin View Post
                      The night it happened the crew covering it on ESPN was defensive of the player's reactions and sided with them.

                      Next day, complete flip-flop.
                      That still angers me to this day.
                      Passion. Pride. Patience. Pacers

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                        What a great read. I remember exactly where I was that night and as soon as the brawl happened I was on the phone calling people to make sure they saw it too.
                        That team really was a great team. Most sports writers predicited us to come out of the east that year. That game was a nationally televised game and probably was one the biggest sporting events going on that week( even with the NFL).
                        It has taken us almost 8 years to get back to a place where we are even metioned in the top half of the eastern conference. This team is on a big upswing and I hope nothing knocks them off of it like what happened 8 years ago. If they keeping playing like they are now, maybe next season we will have the same expectations that the 2004 team did before that one horrible night.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                          Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                          But at the same time, when Jax uses this as an example of how good of a teammate he is, it makes you stratch your head. He shouldn't be glorifying the situation. Should be extremely embarassed, instead of patting himself on the back.
                          Yeah, I agree. I guess I understand the "street mentality", but I don't have to like it.

                          Which, to me, is a reason why the dress code was a good thing. Like any other uniform, if you have to dress differently than you would do every day (or might have while you were growing up), it makes you separate yourself from those everyday (or youthful) emotions. You treat the world differently in a suit than you do in jams and a long T.
                          BillS

                          A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                          Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                            I remember being mad at Stephen Jackson when he was still arguing with Ben Wallace. I kept saying Ron is just lying on the table, just walk away Jackson and it will be all over.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                              Originally posted by pacers74 View Post
                              I remember being mad at Stephen Jackson when he was still arguing with Ben Wallace. I kept saying Ron is just lying on the table, just walk away Jackson and it will be all over.
                              I was a junior in college. I was drunk in my fraternity house. Like most of us I had a downright hatred for the Pistons at the time. I was 100% behind our guys. I was loving that JO threw a punch at "Turtle," loved the dustpan, loved that Jackson went to the defense of his new teammates. I went to bed feeling drunk and satisfied after watching the media place all the blame on Detroit.

                              I woke up the next day with one of the worst hangovers/realizations I've ever had in my life.
                              Passion. Pride. Patience. Pacers

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                              • #30
                                Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                                Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                                I still completely disagree with anyone who thinks the brawl didn't set the Pacers back. It ABSOLUTELY did. Case in point: Why do you think Ron demanded a trade? The fallout of that night is absolutely at least one big part of the reason why Artest did that. It's not just what happened that night, it's the MOUNTAIN OF FALLOUT AND CONSEQUENCES; THE DOMINO EFFECT that set the Pacers back.
                                I see your point, and I agree. I'm just saying I think people forget they were still good the next year, but the trade request really blew everything up.


                                @Pacers24Colts12

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