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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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Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

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  • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

    Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
    I don't mean to be a dick here guys, but we all know Hoosieryguy's game by now and it gets really tiring as an honest to goodness IU fan who doesn't act like an asshat to come in here and constantly have to read you guys trying to debate him. It ruins the thread for all the other IU fans, and I'm not trying to tell you guys how to post just saying that I think maybe we could all just start to ignore him.
    You would have us miss out on this?!?!?
    "I had to take her down like Chris Brown."

    -Lance Stephenson

    Comment


    • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

      Originally posted by cdash View Post
      Just playing devil's advocate here: We all seem to agree on one thing: 99% of Duke's fanbase did not actually attend Duke. I would wager that 97% of them have a real connection to the university (parent/sibling/relative went there, from Durham, etc). They weren't "nothing" before Coach K arrived, but they weren't exactly a national brand like they are now. Say Coach K leaves and they make a poor coaching hire. Or two. Or three. They have a decade like Indiana just had. How many of these people who are wearing Duke shirts in Southern California will still be wearing Duke shirts? Duke may have a larger fanbase, but I'd be willing to bet they are a much more fickle fanbase than Indiana's.
      I don't disagree with any of that. Does that one simple fact, that IU has a more sturdy fanbase, mean that somehow IU has an "underlying infrastructure" that makes it a better college basketball program?

      Hell no.

      Am I really supposed to believe that just because IU chose to hire a totally unqualified Mike Davis, and then a known cheater in Kelvin Sampson, and the fans didn't bail, that alone makes IU a better program than Duke? This myth that Duke was 100% the creation of Coach K, and that as soon as he goes, Duke will fall back into the woodwork, is ridiculous. Like IU before and after Coach Knight, Duke had success before Coach K, and they will continue to have success after he is gone. Will some of their bandwagon fans go away with a few years of struggle? Sure, probably, and then they will be right back on the bandwagon when they start winning again. That doesn't make them a worse program. That means they probably have a more fickle fanbase.

      Look at Notre Dame football for a perfect example of this. After Lou Holtz, they hired Bob Davie, Ty Willingham, and Charlie Weis, before Brian Kelly took them back to playing for a National Championship. National brands like ND football, and Duke basketball can withstand a few bad hires, and a stretch of bad seasons. They have had enough prolonged success, that they won't simply fade into the black, overnight. They may not have been the best program in college basketball before Coach K, but they certainly are now, and they will remain a national brand after he is gone. "Underlying infrastructure" is a really dumb term, but by this dumb definition, Duke basketball certainly has plenty of it.
      Last edited by Mackey_Rose; 04-03-2013, 08:18 AM.

      Comment


      • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

        Terry Hutchens, wrote about the upcoming springcreaning that will be required.

        http://www.indystar.com/article/2013...hips-available

        Originally posted by Terry Hutchens, Indy Star
        While Indiana basketball fans await the decisions of Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller about entering the NBA, another issue looms:

        There are more players committed to the Hoosiers than scholarships.

        Indiana has 16 scholarship players for 13 spots. Even if Oladipo and Zeller leave, one player will still be left out.

        Zeller and Oladipo have until April 16 to withdraw from NBA consideration and retain college eligibility. While Oladipo, a junior and first-team All-America, seems sure to leave, Zeller, a sophomore and second-team all-America, might choose to return to get stronger and develop a power forward’s game.

        Schools have until July 1 to notify athletes if year-to-year scholarships are not being renewed.

        Asked for an interview with IU coach Tom Crean, athletic department spokesman J.D. Campbell said, "Coach will be happy to address these types of questions at an end-of-the-year news conference."

        Campbell said Crean plans to have that news conference before the end of the semester. Finals are the first week of May.

        IU was in a similar situation last year, having “over-signed” by one player. Former Broad Ripple standout Ron Patterson, one of five players in Indiana’s recruiting class, announced Aug. 15 he would not be attending IU after failing to meet academic standards. He later signed to play at Syracuse and will be eligible in the fall.

        It appeared that IU over-signed by two players last year, but the school opted not to bring Matt Roth back for a fifth year academically and fourth in terms of eligibility. Roth, who earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at IU, had been informed early in the 2011-12 season that he likely would not have a scholarship in 2012-13.

        Here’s the current situation with IU’s roster:

        The Hoosiers lose three players from the past season --- Derek Elston, Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford.

        Ten scholarship players remain: Remy Abell, Maurice Creek, Austin Etherington, Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Peter Jurkin, Hanner Mosquera-Perea, Victor Oladipo, Will Sheehey and Cody Zeller.

        In November, IU signed a six-player recruiting class -- Devin Davis, Collin Hartman, Luke Fischer, Stanford Robinson, Troy Williams and Noah Vonleh.

        Call Star reporter Terry Hutchens at (317) 444-6469. Follow him at twitter.com/indystar_hutch.

        Comment


        • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

          Mo Creek will get the Matt Roth treatment and it will work out.

          And if Zeller stays and his reason is to get stronger and develop a power forward game, he's totally pulling a Gob Bluth.
          Last edited by BRushWithDeath; 04-03-2013, 09:03 AM.
          "I had to take her down like Chris Brown."

          -Lance Stephenson

          Comment


          • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

            Originally posted by BRushWithDeath View Post
            Mo Creek will get the Matt Roth treatment and it will work out.

            And if Zeller stays and his reason is to get stronger and develop a power forward game, he's totally pulling a Gob Bluth.
            I agree on the Creek part. I also think Peter Jurkin is out the door.

            Comment


            • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

              Aulani Sinclair won the womens 3 point shootout, Hulls got 2nd in the mens. And that dude from Detroit can freaking dunk.

              Comment


              • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                Hoosier baseball going for 17 straight wins tonight against Illinois. It is IU's first ever home night game.

                Comment


                • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                  Originally posted by Heisenberg View Post
                  Aulani Sinclair won the womens 3 point shootout, Hulls got 2nd in the mens. And that dude from Detroit can freaking dunk.

                  His dunks were better than anything I've seen in the NBA dunk contest in some time. That's the way it should be done. Plus, none of this give me 5 tries to complete the dunk stuff. He did every dunk on the first try and got all perfect scores. He would smash the field of the NBA contest.

                  Comment


                  • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                    Originally posted by cdash View Post
                    Hoosier baseball going for 17 straight wins tonight against Illinois. It is IU's first ever home night game.
                    I hope they can pull out another win to keep the streak alive. I'm going to their game tomorrow. Looking forward to checking out the new stadium.
                    Take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                      FWIW, I keep reading where Oladipo is 100% gone, but Zeller is "leaning" towards leaving, but no one really knows. That kid is a ****ing expert at keeping secrets. His recruitment was a guessing game until the day he announced his decision.

                      Comment


                      • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                        Originally posted by Heisenberg View Post
                        Aulani Sinclair won the womens 3 point shootout, Hulls got 2nd in the mens. And that dude from Detroit can freaking dunk.
                        It's too bad Hulls couldn't knock them down when it really counted.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                          Ryan Cutshall ‏@r_cutshall
                          1h
                          @insidethehall Cody Zeller applied for ICORE for summer session. No NBA workouts for him. Please no retweet




                          No idea who this guy is, or how he would know, but speculation about Zeller signing up for ICORE has been out for awhile.

                          Comment


                          • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                            Originally posted by LuckSwagger View Post
                            Ryan Cutshall ‏@r_cutshall
                            1h
                            @insidethehall Cody Zeller applied for ICORE for summer session. No NBA workouts for him. Please no retweet




                            No idea who this guy is, or how he would know, but speculation about Zeller signing up for ICORE has been out for awhile.

                            Rex Cutshall has been an I-CORE professor for awhile. Perhaps this is his son?

                            Comment


                            • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                              If Zeller comes back we could make a run at the title next year. Vonleh is even better than Oladipo.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Indiana University Athletics Thread 2012-2013

                                Originally posted by Shade View Post
                                Vonleh is even better than Oladipo.
                                As a collegian? Next year, Vonleh won't be near as good as Oladipo was this year. He's highly ranked, but he's got some holes in his game for sure.

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