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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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Pacers Digest Background Check

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  • #16
    Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

    Never played organized ball, mainly due to home life stuff... but I can play. I still do. I have a court in the backyard and I go to local gyms and shoot around and do pickups. I like to think that I had/have what it took/takes to play some organized ball had the home life stuff been organized and my confidence was a lot higher, but what are ya gonna do. Now that I'm a lot further on in years and my confidence is high, I'm a lot better ball player than I've ever been, but ironically I'm too damn old to do anything with it, haha. I've watched so much basketball in my life that I like to think I'm fairly knowledgeable, albeit not on an x's and o's level, nor on a financial level... but I can spot a player when I see one. I'm more into the personnel and individual skills than anything.
    Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 07-10-2012, 11:37 AM.
    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


    • #17
      Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

      Basically, I am terrible. I was never on an organized team, I would just play at the park a lot. I was the 5'10" guy that likes to push himself and play in the paint. I really enjoy trying to post up on guys that have atleast 4-5in on me and see if I can beat them. I would almost compare my style to that of Hansbrough, or "the guy you hate playing against at the park". We all know him, the one that isn't that great but is overly intense.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

        Originally posted by Alabama-Redneck View Post
        I'm just curious at what level of participation/coaching has each member been involved ??

        Please answer honestly !!

        I played when the peach basket was in vogue...not really but close.

        I played High School ball and Industrial ball (Fall Creek YMCA, Dearborn Hotel etc.) and have been a devoted Pacer fan since the start of the ABA.

        Thanks for you time.

        Dearborn!

        Wow. That place still standing?

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

          I play in youth leagues from 1st-3rd grade, but turned into more of a baseball fan during my 3rd-6th grade years (I'm over that now, can't ****ing stand baseball). When I got into 7th/8th grade, a friend of mine reintroduced me to basketball, particularly the wonders of streetball (explaining my over-fascination with the more exciting parts of the game; i.e. dunks, alley-oops, fancy dribbling and passes, etc.). During this time, he showed me the fun in dunking on 7'-8' goals. And I fell in love with the ability to exhibit skills and talents I wouldn't be able to display on a regular court, so to this day, I go play on short goals (primarily at the nearby Nashville Elementary) as often as I can (hence my avatar).

          Besides low goals, I played in Brown County's Parks and Rec 16-and-older men's league, on a team I started, which had several players who were not of age to be playing. We would sometimes "draft" the occasional adult male, but he never stayed around or helped long enough to be a factor.

          Our team played for three years, and never won a single game. That is, until one game when we played a team who only had 4 guys on the court for half the game (not our fault!). Two more of their players ended up showing up after halftime. We stayed with them all game, tied or within a few points, but ended up down by one with three seconds left in the game. I was exhausted, and benched by my coach (me), and almost couldn't bare to watch. The inbound went to a young Andrew Lockdall at the right 3pt corner, who turned and immediately chucked an arcing shot into the air. The buzzer rang, the shot fell through the net, and we won our first (and only) game in 3 years. We stormed the court, the family and friends who followed us for 3 years cheered like we'd just won game 7 of the NBA Finals with the same buzzer-beating 3. It was glorious.

          Besides that, I've played in one "Open Run" tryout at an AND1 game in Indianapolis, at least 4-5 years ago. That was fun; I got some credit for my "skills". I miss playing on regulation goals nowadays, but never find interest in making time to suck on a regular goal (practice!?), when I can just jam on a low goal, where player attitudes are less serious, and it's more fun to play, imho.

          PS: I've been a Pacers fan for most of my life, but only really got re-interested in it when I started playing again in 7th/8th grade. I remember hearing about the brawl, and seeing the replays. Then I vividly remember Reggie's last game (a couple years later), and that was when I was really starting to get back into the Pacers. It wasn't until (maybe) 4-5 years ago (senior year of high school-ish) that I started following them so avidly as I do now.
          Last edited by imbtyler; 07-10-2012, 11:54 AM. Reason: more info!
          witters: @imbtyler, @postgameonline

          Originally posted by Day-V
          In conclusion, Paul George is awesome.
          Originally posted by Slick Pinkham
          Our arena, their arena, Rucker park, it just doesn't matter. We're bigger, longer, younger, faster, and hungrier.


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          • #20
            Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

            Last time I was at an NBA game was DET. Some idiot player layed down on the scorers table and I tossed my beer on him for the fun of it.

            Crazy night, man.

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            • #21
              Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

              Played high level ball as a kid in Chicago with lots of future NBA players like Shumpert, Evan Turner, D-Rose, Shannon Brown, Meechi McCamey etc. Had my confidence shaken in high school and stopped playing competitively. I then coached 6th-8th grade travel ball for several years and we absolutely tore everyone up. No talents like the ones I grew up with though.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                I played basketball for 10 years. From the age of 6 to the age of 16. I played in my local team's youth academy. My local team (Peristeri) plays in Greece's top league and they also participated in the Euroleague at that time so we had quite good academies.

                However, I only started played in our competitive academies in my last 2 years. I was a bench player. I did play in most of our games, though. I'd play some good D (I could move laterally), I'd grab some boards, make a pass and stuff like that. I was an undersized 4 with no ball handling and shooting skills so I was kinda useless on offense.

                I had a rift with my coach (I was growing my hair long at the time and he insisted on me cutting them and I refused) so I ended up back in the academies. After 2 months I stopped playing in the academies to concentrate on my exams.

                Before taking my final exams at school I was considering to join a rugby club and starting to play rugby (I was a quite big fan of Madden NFL back then ). But shortly after finishing my exams I shattered my right knee in a fight. Torn PCL, torn meniscus and torn lateral collateral. I've yet to recover completely and of course I never even tried to play rugby. I do play basketball from time to time but it still buckles a lot.

                I've been a Pacer fan since some older NBA Lives when I saw the Mullin + Reggie + Smits team.
                Originally posted by IrishPacer
                Empty vessels make the most noise.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                  I only played organized basketball through 8th grade. I played rec ball until I was 27 when my son was born. Now I will be coaching youth basketball this winter.
                  I have been a pacers fan since 1987. Before that I only watched college ball.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                    Played in grade school but stopped before Jr High since I was spending more time running bleacher laps for missing free throws in practice than I was spending on actual drills.

                    Wrote sports for the local papers while I was in High School.
                    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


                    • #25
                      Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                      Made the team my freshman year in high school, but knew I would probably just ride the bench, so I gave it up and went on to do track and field. 400m relay and long jump were my best.

                      5'10" and could dunk in high school (and I'm white!). How did that not win me awards, I'll never know.

                      Played some pickup games in college, but messed up my ankle my freshman year and didn't play much after that. My ankle I messed up was my jumping ankle and I couldn't dunk anymore. *sigh*

                      When I moved to Atlanta after college, I found out that almost no one likes playing basketball here. It's all about college football (loads of golf & tennis courts). It's really hard to even find a basketball court....so I haven't played in around 7 years. I doubt I have even have a scrap of skill left.

                      /sorta cool story?
                      First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                        Retired from organized play after sixth grade, since I couldn't shoot or defend to save my life.

                        Went into the announcing booth in high school and spent two years mostly covering the Ben Davis Lady Giants (just a couple years before they won 80 something in a row), but covered the guys team as needed, and of course, both teams sectionals.

                        Now I got the bug again....
                        Last edited by Sandman21; 07-10-2012, 12:25 PM.
                        "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


                        • #27
                          Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                          I used to be really good. Had NBA Hall of Famer, Bobby Jones, tell me I could have a career in basketball(just overseas). Unfortunately I got sick and had to stop playing. I went to same high school as Stephen and Seth Curry though.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                            Originally posted by imbtyler View Post
                            I play in youth leagues from 1st-3rd grade, but turned into more of a baseball fan during my 3rd-6th grade years (I'm over that now, can't ****ing stand baseball). When I got into 7th/8th grade, a friend of mine reintroduced me to basketball, particularly the wonders of streetball (explaining my over-fascination with the more exciting parts of the game; i.e. dunks, alley-oops, fancy dribbling and passes, etc.). During this time, he showed me the fun in dunking on 7'-8' goals. And I fell in love with the ability to exhibit skills and talents I wouldn't be able to display on a regular court, so to this day, I go play on short goals (primarily at the nearby Nashville Elementary) as often as I can (hence my avatar).

                            Besides low goals...
                            imb, keep those goals low!
                            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


                            • #29
                              Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                              Currently a high school basketball player for Liberty Christian in Anderson, IN. Was captain of the team and all-conference as a freshman and sophomore, also led the team in scoring. This year we got several more talented players and we went all the way to the 1A Regional Championship! I have one more year left, and we are returning the exact same team, plus a freshman who can dunk. So hoping to make a run at the State Championship! Stay tuned for more updates haha...

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Pacers Digest Background Check

                                i've been called the songbird of my generation, by people who've heard me


                                ...oh wait...

                                I've been playing horse since I was old enough to get my ninja turtles stuck in the net
                                My video of Reggie greeting his loyal fans at the red carpet premiere of "Winning Time".

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