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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.

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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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2012 Indycar thread

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  • #16
    Re: 2012 Indycar thread

    What's your feeling on the engine change penalty? I'm sure they exist so someone won't use a qualzilla engine tuned to last about 5 laps and then 'find' a reason to change it prior to the race. So the rule and penalties eliminate qualifying engines and should keep a lid on racing costs that way....

    ...But I'm not sure what the reason is if the engine issue rears it head in practice and leads to an engine change prior to Q's.

    Plus, with these new engines it's pretty clear nobody is changing out an engine to get an unfair advantage. They have legitimate issues.

    And lastly, the 10 position penalty penalizes the driver, team, sponsors, and in a sense even fans probably more than the actual engine manufacturer whose engine caused the issue.
    Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

    ------

    "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

    -John Wooden

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: 2012 Indycar thread

      The idea is two fold right now. The engines are supposed to be run for X amount of time before they are eligible to be changed. This info can be downloaded from the ECU. It's part of the cost containment measures.This will prevent Roger or Chipster from running a motor for one weekend (or less) and swapping it out for a fresh unit. The gains are mere percentage points in HP (usually +- 5%) but every little bit helps, right? This also keeps from over taxing the shops contracted to freshen up the engines. It also serves to maintain the limited supply of power plants currently available. They're struggling to supply teams now. They don't need the big boys hoarding motors.

      Next year, I expect it to relax a little bit especially if we see Ford and Fiat on board. The penalty seems harsh, but how do you police the line between excess and necessity? I think the magic ECU would keep the qualifying engine thing in line as well as fiddling with the pop off valve. I think they're all lease engines, so I'm not sure what they are allowed to fool with in house.
      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


      • #18
        Re: 2012 Indycar thread

        This is fun.
        "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

        "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: 2012 Indycar thread

          Isn't it!

          Congrats Will Power!

          1. Power
          2. Dixie
          3. HCN
          Last edited by DaveP63; 04-01-2012, 05:14 PM.
          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


          • #20
            Re: 2012 Indycar thread

            Great race today. More comments later... gotta run now...
            Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

            ------

            "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

            -John Wooden

            Comment


            • #21
              I'm so pumped to attend my 1st 500. I've been to 4 brickyards and a MotoGP but never a 500.


              Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk
              Senior at the University of Louisville.
              Greenfield ---> The Ville

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                I thought the track looked good on TV... I thought the racing was good and also not totally predictable. NBC Sports does a MUCH better job at presenting Indycar racing than ABC. Too bad they don't have the 500 for the broadcast network.

                That said, since I don't have hardly anything negative to question about the racing I do have some things to mention about the broadcast...

                They finally figured it out and mentioned it but I kept waiting for the booth to make a big deal out of Chevy and Honda battling for the top spot during the run to the checkers. I think both manufacturers would've appreciated the mentions. Sebastien himself made sure that Lotus got several mentions but when Dixon was right on Power's tail the guys didn't mention the engines. It was only later once Dixon had cooked his tires and fell back that they thought to mention Chevy and Honda running 1-2.

                I get the feeling they just aren't used to having equipment differences like that to mention... let alone whatever drama that can create and they can exploit.

                I like Bob Jenkins in the booth. I like him to the point I'm fairly forgiving to some verbal blunders... but I wonder if the average fan or person sampling the product is quite so forgiving? I don't remember Bob fumbling over his words as much back when he was fulltime Nascar guy at ESPN or when he was doing Thunder for ESPN. Has Bob always stumbled over his words and I'm just now noticing or has he gotten worse about it?

                In any case.... The NBC Sports commentating crew is so much better than ABC. I don't think Marty Reid is blessed with the best in partners at ABC and I do have a newfound respect for Reid. I don't think he's the problem with the ABC telecasts in the booth. I am surprised ABC's overall production doesn't take a cue from Versus/NBC Sports coverage. ...just steal some ideas and use them...

                I'm a little surprised Lotus can't get ahead ONE engine for the IMS test coming up. You'd think that would be pretty important to them. They must really be behind the 8 ball.
                Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                ------

                "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                -John Wooden

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                  Originally posted by Bball View Post
                  I like Bob Jenkins in the booth. I like him to the point I'm fairly forgiving to some verbal blunders... but I wonder if the average fan or person sampling the product is quite so forgiving? I don't remember Bob fumbling over his words as much back when he was fulltime Nascar guy at ESPN or when he was doing Thunder for ESPN. Has Bob always stumbled over his words and I'm just now noticing or has he gotten worse about it?



                  I'm a little surprised Lotus can't get ahead ONE engine for the IMS test coming up. You'd think that would be pretty important to them. They must really be behind the 8 ball.
                  He's kind of been out of it for a while. Give him a little bit to get used to faces and names and see if he rounds back into form.

                  Yes, Lotus is that far behind. I don't think there's a spare Lotus engine in the paddock, it's down about 50 HP and it's not getting on well with the McLaren ECU.
                  Last edited by DaveP63; 04-02-2012, 08:04 AM.
                  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


                  • #24
                    Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                    BIRMINGHAM, Ala - Results Sunday of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.3 mile Barber Motorsports Park, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
                    1. (9) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    2. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    3. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    4. (8) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    5. (10) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    6. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    7. (4) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    8. (14) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    9. (17) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Lotus, 90, Running
                    10. (18) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    11. (13) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    12. (11) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    13. (26) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Lotus, 90, Running
                    14. (12) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    15. (5) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running
                    16. (20) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    17. (15) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running
                    18. (7) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running
                    19. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running
                    20. (21) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 89, Running
                    21. (6) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running
                    22. (23) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 88, Running
                    23. (24) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Lotus, 85, Running
                    24. (16) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 52, Mechanical
                    25. (22) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 45, Mechanical
                    26. (25) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Lotus, 0, Mechanical

                    Reubens and Seabass ahead of Dario? Hmmm. Bet the Monday morning staff meeting at TCGR is pleasant...
                    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


                    • #25
                      Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                      I said this before the season started but Penkse and Chevrolet are going to be the ones to beat this year. Especially if Will continues his road course hot streak he's been on the past two seasons.

                      With Helio in the mix now, there is probably no stopping them. Dixon showed towards the end of last season he is regaining his old form, and I just can't help to think that Dario has peaked.

                      I really hate the fact that we are looking at 5 oval races this season. I like Will Power, a lot, but the schedule basically is giving him the championship.

                      With that said, I cannot wait until May. These cars are going to be really, really fast.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                        The month of May cannot come soon enough!
                        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


                        • #27
                          Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                          Originally posted by DaveP63 View Post
                          The month of May cannot come soon enough!
                          I know! I take most of my vacation time in May. Get my bronze badge and I'm good to go.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                            For those that have never been to Barber.

                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea6hn...Ell2-9pDnyaW8=

                            The place is a giant park. The virtual tour doesn't show it, but the paddock area behind the main straight it tiered into 3-4 levels.
                            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


                            • #29
                              Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                              Originally posted by OlBlu View Post

                              I doubt I will watch much. I will be watching Danica drive the bumper cars....
                              If you quit watching after she wrecks out or falls out of contention it should only take 15-20 mins of your time at most on most of her races. Plus, she's racing mainly on Sats in the Nationwide series, not Cup (except for a select few). So you can watch Indycar on their Sunday races and not miss Danica.
                              Last edited by Bball; 04-02-2012, 03:25 PM.
                              Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                              ------

                              "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                              -John Wooden

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: 2012 Indycar thread

                                I've been hearing rumors of the Indy 500 fielding less than 33 cars. Any truth?
                                Senior at the University of Louisville.
                                Greenfield ---> The Ville

                                Comment

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