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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 ___________"

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"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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  • #31
    Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

    I was glad they mentioned how the team was hurt by Ron's trade request after they had his back through the ordeal, but what they didn't mention was how for the most part the fans stayed behind Ron and supported him, not to mention Larry and the front office. So he didn't just hurt some players' feelings, he turned his back on the entire fan base and crushed our dreams dreams of one last title run for Reggie. I remember feeling hurt and betrayed, then just downright pissed.

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    • #32
      Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

      You'll never convince me that had Pacers been from Los Angeles, Chicago or New York that David Stern would have down on them so hard. The fact even Larry Bird expected only a 10 game suspention of Ron shows, how heavy handed Stern was.

      Jermaine O'Neal , once again to me showed he is a class guy. He to this day feels sorry he could not bring a Championship to Indianapolis.

      All you have to read to see how unbalanced Ron Artest , was or still is was; his comment - Do you think we'll be in trouble - that is totally unreal.

      The sad part is I truly believe Jermaine was right the Pacers would have won the title that season and maybe a couple more. In many ways they could have become another San Antonio Spurs, a respected multi-championship franchise.

      Sadly due to several forces coming together in the Palace to create the Perfect Storm that never happened. The events that followed Ron's trade demand mainly , robbed the Franchise and fans of the joy of glory. Who knows if it will ever come ?
      Last edited by diamonddave00; 02-29-2012, 02:00 PM.

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      • #33
        Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

        Great read.

        I know this is immature on my part, but I still haven't forgiven Artest for all of the damage he caused this franchise. While his apology to Indiana after the Lakers won the Finals was a decent gesture, it wasn't good enough for me. There was no satisfactory atonement to the Pacers or the fans for his actions.

        I think we were all under the impression the following season that Artest was going to try to make amends for all that he had done, that he would come back with a fire and something to prove.

        And what did we get? Whining about wanting time off to promote his crappy CD and and a trade demand one month into the season.

        Sorry Ron, no apology is good enough. You better come back and do something really extraordinary for the Indianapolis community or something.

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        • #34
          Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

          Wow dude, thanks so much for sharing this. Has a lot of insight. Any NBA fan who heard about or had seen the incident must read this.
          Originally posted by Piston Prince
          Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
          "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"

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          • #35
            Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

            The one thing that has been going through my mind (I'm only 1/2 way through the article) is that the city was behind this team and Ron 100% during this entire ordeal, the sentencing/suspensions, the appeals process and the aftermath. Attendance was good.

            We took replacement players, got Dale Davis back and made it to the second round of the playoffs against... The Pistons, mind you.

            It wasn't until the Tinsley/SJax off-court things happened that soured everyone.

            This entire chain of events should've been on ESPN's 30 for 30. It would've made an amazing documentary. At least that's how I'm envisioning this article in my mind as I read.

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            • #36
              Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

              Very true Duke they should still do a 30 for 30 on it.

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              • #37
                Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                The one thing that has been going through my mind (I'm only 1/2 way through the article) is that the city was behind this team and Ron 100% during this entire ordeal, the sentencing/suspensions, the appeals process and the aftermath. Attendance was good.

                We took replacement players, got Dale Davis back and made it to the second round of the playoffs against... The Pistons, mind you.

                It wasn't until the Tinsley/SJax off-court things happened that soured everyone.

                This entire chain of events should've been on ESPN's 30 for 30. It would've made an amazing documentary. At least that's how I'm envisioning this article in my mind as I read.
                Exactly. The coaching job Carlisle did that season was amazing. I'd like for them to do a 30 for 30 and have insights from Britton Johnson, Tremaine Fowlkes and Michael Curry.


                @Pacers24Colts12

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                • #38
                  Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                  Originally posted by 90'sNBARocked View Post
                  Always ALWAYS will remember how Stern punked the *** out of us

                  Ben Wallace started it, but got the least suspension of all parties involved
                  I hate David Stern. Partly because he's awful at his job, partly because he was the architect behind the labor agreement in '99 that was just awful and gave way to much money to the players, partly because he believes that big market teams are the only way to grow the NBA, but mainly for his rulings after the brawl.

                  In any other sport in any other country in the world, the team responsible for not being able to control it's fans would be the team to be heavily punished. Suspension were due, though I think they were unfairly harsh on the Pacers and oddly light to Detroit, but the Detroit organization should have been punished for failure to control it's fans. Loss of draft picks, ban from post season play for a couple years, some sort of revenue loss, implimentation of a crowd control scheme, etc... This event epitomized everything that is wrong with Stern (except his hair, which is just wrong in it's own right). He made a lot of noise, punished the players of the smaller revenue generating team unfairly, didn't punish the awful refs (which would have saved him a lot of embarrassment later) and then completely failed to deal with the big issue of lack of organization fan control.

                  IMO Stern has been an awful commissioner and I'm amazed he is still around. This was probably one of his worst in a long line of mistakes. Could you imagine if he'd managed to force through the Chris Paul to LA trade? One of the most one-sided trades ever proposed in the NBA. Luckily there are now out-spoken (and rich) owners of small-market teams who have had enough of his bull.
                  Danger Zone

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                  • #39
                    Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                    You left out Marcus Haislip.

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                    • #40
                      Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                      I have to be honest: While there's things I did and still do like about him, upon reflecting back on his entire time with our franchise (remember he had plenty of issues BEFORE that night; fighting with JO, breaking things, unnecessary flagrant fouls, already requesting a trade, etc.) while simultaneously working my way through the article this morning... part of me hates Ron Artest and that he ever wore our jersey. Even if he can't help it, the guy was a freaking menace, and his presence caused more harm that I ever could have possibly imagined. It still haunts me / the team / the community's relationship with the team to this very day.

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                      • #41
                        Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                        Originally posted by Rogco View Post
                        Could you imagine if he'd managed to force through the Chris Paul to LA trade? One of the most one-sided trades ever proposed in the NBA. Luckily there are now out-spoken (and rich) owners of small-market teams who have had enough of his bull.

                        It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                        Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                        Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                        NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

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                        • #42
                          Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                          What a fantastic read. I still remember where I was on that night. I was sitting with some friends at home and none of us could believe what we were witnessing.

                          What I could not believe was how one sided the coverage was the next day. There was barely anyone ripping how the fans reacted. All the blame was put on the Pacers and how we were the villains. How that POS not thrown the beer none of this would have happened.

                          To me fans have got worse in every sport. The media could have covered how fans are feeling way to entitled once they buy the tickets. I have the disposable income to go to Pacers and Colts games, but I choose to just stay home and watch because half the time I cannot stand being around fans of my own team. God forbid you want to go to a game that is an away game.

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                          • #43
                            Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                            I know JO has been a polarizing figure among Pacers fans, but I think everyone can agree that the guy genuinely cared about the city of Indianapolis in a way few athletes do.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                              Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                              I have to be honest: While there's things I did and still do like about him, upon reflecting back on his entire time with our franchise (remember he had plenty of issues BEFORE that night; fighting with JO, breaking things, unnecessary flagrant fouls, already requesting a trade, etc.) while simultaneously working my way through the article this morning... part of me hates Ron Artest and that he ever wore our jersey. Even if he can't help it, the guy was a freaking menace, and his presence caused more harm that I ever could have possibly imagined. It still haunts me / the team / the community's relationship with the team to this very day.
                              And the sad part is that we were so blinded with winning, Band-Aids were the only remedy for Ron. They'll just cover it up and hope Ron gets better.

                              "Let's just not let Monteith get wind of this.."

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                              • #45
                                Re: An Oral History of the Malice in the Palace

                                After reading this, I'm convinced that Ron Artest is a 10 year-old child trapped in a man's body.

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