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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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Ref'ing thread

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  • #31
    Re: Ref'ing thread

    Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
    With all due respect, I think long-time NFL fans can tell the difference between an ill-timed unfortunate judgement call and sheer incompetence, Since86.
    Does it really matter? If a ref screws up, the reason as to why the screw up is of little consequence. Whether it's because they have crappy judgement or they're just lost, the outcome is the same. Crappy calls.


    And that's my point. When regular NFL referees are on the sidelines, there are still constant complaints about the calls or lack of calls and how the influence the outcome of the game. When replacement officials are on the sidelines, there is constant complaints that they don't know the rules and how it influences the game.

    At the end of the day, the constant is that people just like to *****.
    Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

    Comment


    • #32
      Re: Ref'ing thread

      For the record, I have complained about game-altering officiating, meaning multiple obviously wrong calls based solely on either corruption or incompetence, on precisely two occasions in the past 40 years as a sports fan:

      The 1992 Final Four, Duke over Indiana, 81-78, aka "The Ted Valentine game"
      The 2012 NFL season (as a whole).

      There have been a few other isolated instances of a single awful, unexplained, game-changing bad call (i.e., the LJ 4-point play) that I have railed on, but there are only these two examples I have followed personally of consistent, obvious, and blatantly bad or corrupt officiating.

      I'm not a boxing fan or the list would no doubt be longer, but that's my two item list in its entirety.
      The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

      Comment


      • #33
        Re: Ref'ing thread

        Did we really need to get a 1992 final four reference in here....I need to go wash out my eyes with salt water now.

        I would agree with you Slick, though I may add the 4 point play to your list.


        Comment


        • #34
          Re: Ref'ing thread

          Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
          Dakich has been unbearable about this. Normally I like him, but he is taking the stance that the officiating isn't that bad just to be the guy who plays the other side and it is absolutely the most annoying thing in the world.
          Before last week's MNF and this weekend I would have been on board with Dakich. Other than a few overblown incidents, I thought the reffing wasn't as bad as made out to be. But this weekend.... inexcusable.
          "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


          • #35
            Re: Ref'ing thread

            Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
            Um, yesterday during the Chiefs/Saints game, there was a "fumble" by the Chiefs (in quotes because anyone with eyes could see he was clearly down) that was returned for a TD, and the refs reviewed it, but before they reviewed they didn't even clarify what the call was on the field. They just said, the play is going to be reviewed. That's it.

            Seems like an example that happens regularly with actual NFL referees.
            Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: Ref'ing thread

              Originally posted by Since86 View Post
              Seems like an example that happens regularly with actual NFL referees.
              I have never seen an actual NFL referee not clearly state what the play was called on the field.


              Comment


              • #37
                Re: Ref'ing thread

                Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                Did we really need to get a 1992 final four reference in here....I need to go wash out my eyes with salt water now.

                I would agree with you Slick, though I may add the 4 point play to your list.
                The 4 point play bothered me just as much, and I thought of making it item 3, but in the end it was one call and was not a whole string of bad calls where before, during, and after the fact as a fan you thought "Just wait, we are about to get screwed here... wait for it... yes we just got screwed... now we will get screwed all over again...yes, there it is...

                It was a Hiroshima of a call, though.
                The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                Comment


                • #38
                  Re: Ref'ing thread

                  Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                  Yeah, no player/coach/fan ever complains about real NFL refs...

                  I understand there are issues with referees, but people just go off and pretend like officiating is something that people just don't simply ***** about all the time anyways. And before I get the whole "Yeah, but not at this level" reasoning, let me remind you the Steelers-Seahawks SB.

                  No one is perfect. Even the best make mistakes. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have each thrown plenty of interceptions over the course of their long careers, but that doesn't change the fact that they have been superior talents to virtually everyone else that played in their era. That's the same case with the regular officials. Sure they would screw up, but in no way were they as incompetent as these replacement officials. Just like Peyton throwing a pick doesn't mean that he's all of the sudden Rex Grossman.

                  The NFL is the most superior brand of football in the entire world. The regular officials had spent years reffing and watching this game. There is no way that some guys who reffed in a bunch of joke leagues could come in and ref as well as the guys who had been doing this for years. They are completely incompetent compared to the real refs.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: Ref'ing thread

                    Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                    Yeah, no player/coach/fan ever complains about real NFL refs...

                    I understand there are issues with referees, but people just go off and pretend like officiating is something that people just don't simply ***** about all the time anyways. And before I get the whole "Yeah, but not at this level" reasoning, let me remind you the Steelers-Seahawks SB.
                    Let me remind you that the actual officiating of that game wasn't as bad as Madden made it out to be. Mistakes were made on the field, yes. And both teams benefitted from those mistakes. Mistakes were made in the broadcast booth about some of the correct calls on the field, too, creating a bias. The guy choosing which angles of the replays to be shown wasn't very good either.

                    The call on Hasselback during the INT return was awful. Giving Ben a TD was a play that couldn't be overturned (no matter what the onfield call would have been) but at least a technical procedure change came from that and the NFL now how permanent cameras along the same plane as the goal line. You can't tell if a player broke the plane of the endzone from a camera stationed near midfield. The geometry just doesn't work. The replay was inconclusively useless. The holding penatly was one of the worst replays of Madden's career, as you can see the RT - who the penalty was called upon - spinning Clark Hagans around while Madden circled the LT and said, "there's no hold here". Duh. But that doesn't make the call on the field wrong.

                    You knew I was going to do it. Didn't want to disappoint.
                    Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                    Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                    Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                    Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                    And life itself, rushing over me
                    Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                    Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Ref'ing thread

                      Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                      I have never seen an actual NFL referee not clearly state what the play was called on the field.
                      I've seen/heard plenty of NFL officials screw up their explanation of reviews. How they screw up the explanation really doesn't matter, IMHO, but rather that both replacement officials and NFL officials both screw it up from time to time.
                      Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Re: Ref'ing thread

                        Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                        I've seen/heard plenty of NFL officials screw up their explanation of reviews. How they screw up the explanation really doesn't matter, IMHO, but rather that both replacement officials and NFL officials both screw it up from time to time.
                        I'm pretty sure you are always supposed to state what the call is on the field though before a review occurs. That did not happen on this play. It was unclear as to who was even challenging it.


                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Ref'ing thread

                          Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
                          Let me remind you that the actual officiating of that game wasn't as bad as Madden made it out to be. Mistakes were made on the field, yes. And both teams benefitted from those mistakes. Mistakes were made in the broadcast booth about some of the correct calls on the field, tpp, creating a bias. The guy choosing which angles of the replays to be shown wasn't very good either.

                          The call on Hasselback during the INT return was awful. Giving Ben a TD was a play that couldn't be overturned (no matter what the onfield call would have been) but at least a technical procedure change came from that and the NFL now how permanent cameras along the same plane as the goal line. You can't tell if a player broke the plane of the endzone from a camera stationed near midfield. The geometry just doesn't work. The replay was inconclusively useless. The holding penatly was one of the worst replays of Madden's career, as you can see the RT - who the penalty was called upon - spinning Clark Hagans around while Madden circled the LT and said, "there's no hold here". Duh. But that doesn't make the call on the field wrong.

                          You knew I was going to do it. Didn't want to disappoint.
                          I immediately began to hear some typing from Chicago when Since said that.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Ref'ing thread

                            Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                            Seems like an example that happens regularly with actual NFL referees.
                            How often have regular NFL referees give a coach extra replay challenges... TWICE?

                            How many times have regular referees, to your recollection, marked off a 15 yard penalty with a 27 yard walk-off on a game-winning drive? (Tennessee game yesterday).
                            http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...winning-drive/

                            These types of things are far far beyond the realm of unfortunately timed bad judgement calls.

                            If this continues, the season as a whole deserves an asterisk, as a season that was not fairly decided on the field of play.
                            The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: Ref'ing thread

                              Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
                              The 1992 Final Four, Duke over Indiana, 81-78, aka "The Ted Valentine game"
                              Which brings up this horrible memory,

                              Originally posted by Billy Packer
                              "Every time Indiana drives the ball its a charge. These officials are doing a great job with consistency."
                              Wanted to punch him through my television. I'm not sure he ever broadcasted another game in Bloomington after that, and for good reason.
                              Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                              Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                              Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                              Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                              And life itself, rushing over me
                              Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                              Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Ref'ing thread

                                Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
                                Which brings up this horrible memory,



                                Wanted to punch him through my television. I'm not sure he ever broadcasted another game in Bloomington after that, and for good reason.
                                This thread now needs to be doused in gasoline and lit on fire.


                                Comment

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