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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.

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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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Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

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  • Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...iew/index.html

    I'm not going to paste this 2 page preview, because there is absolutely no mention of the Indiana Pacers. Unless i'm not reading correctly. 2 pages and Indiana doesnt even register a small blurb. We couldnt even get a " Miles Plumlee LULZ " in there.

    Does this bother anyone else? Ian Thomsen is one of SI's main NBA writers, if not THE main writer. It's honestly beyond disrespect. It's basically not doing your job. You write a preview and dont mention one of the best teams in the East?

    And between this and Israel Guiteriez covering the Eastern Conference for ESPN now, you can really start to understand why Indiana gets no respect at all. Israel Guteriez is a major Pacer hater. I'm probably going to post links and quotes in this thread later to back this up. I've had ESPN insider and it's really appalling how he goes out of his way to blow Indiana off in a lot of recent articles dating back to last year. It's also brain numbingly glaring how much he has no clue about the Pacers. He was on sports reporters last year, literally having no clue about how good Indiana was. You could tell that he had probably never seen a Pacer game outside of Pacers vs Heat, because...wait for it...he covers the Heat. Which is why he covers the Eastern Conference now. Guess who covers the Western Conference this year....J.A Andande. Guess which team he cover. LAKEEEE SHOW! Do you see a trend here guys? Can you guess which teams ESPN would love to build up for a NBA finals matchup?

    This is sports media folks. It's a rigged game. There's no money covering really awesome small market teams. Whens the last time you heard about how fantastic the Spurs dynasty was? Whens the last time you heard Tim Duncans name come up in Greatest of All Time discussion, or any discussion for that matter?

    Covering the NBA has become a game in it's own. ESPN has become the puppet master. Dwight Howard was being pushed towards the Lakers four years ago. Deron Williams was being pushed to a major market four years ago. Utah smartened up and shipped him because they knew the game. ESPN starts in early on these guys and then by the time they get to the last year of there contract, not only have they enabled them to make The Decision to spurn loyalty and money to play under the spotlight, but they've empowered them too. Because it's not the wrong decision, when the biggest sports conglomerate in the world has been saying it's right for the last four years. It's also borderline if not a flat out monopoly. They controll a major chunk of the games that will be put on prime time television. They controll who to promote and who not to promote. Does anyone actually think TNT would sit back and say " You know what, we see whats going on here and we're gunna start airing a steady dose of Bucks, Hawks and Pacer games ". Yah...No.

    Roy Hibbert was a big deal and was all over ESPN last year and now he's with the Pacers four more years and he cant even crack a list of 13 best big men in the league ( top 10 and 3 more to " watch " ). Marc Gasol feels his pain in Memphis . They're only All Star centers. Of course theres 13 other centers in the league that are better than them right??? AM I RIGHT GUYS? Can anyone say with a straight face that if these two guys played in NY and LA , they wouldnt be in that top 10???

    Oh and hey, we might not want Paul George to blow up too quickly, because believe me, the countdown clock will start on ESPN. Chris Brousard will be taken out of the tool box, sat in front of the camera and tell us, with a **** eating grin on his face, that Paul George will be playing for the Lakers in 2016.

    It kind of feels like when I was a kid and I learned wrestling was fake.

    GO Basketball! * Chair shot to my head *

  • #2
    Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

    Didn't read the article but your rant was spot on.... I totally agree with you.
    I'm not perfect and neither are you.

    Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim,
    Ephisians 4: 32 And be kind towards one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as Elohim also forgave you in Messiah.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

        There is a solution of course: stop watching ESPN (Sportscenter at least). I do read some of the web articles and of course I watch games and highlights, but that's about it.

        I feel the frustration though, it's hard to argue with most of what you said.

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        • #5
          Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

          Wait....wrestling is fake?


          Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

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          • #6
            Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

            There's a Pacers blog on the ESPN blog network, the Pacers have their own website with a ton of coverage, they've been routinely predicted to finish in the top half of the Eastern conference by most sane observers. Paul George was one of the most discussed players during the off season. Not to mention all the local coverage. The Pacers, relative to almost every other professional sports team on planet Earth, receive a TON of attention and coverage. Do the Pacers get as much attention as the Lakers or Knicks? No, and they shouldn't. Things that happen in New York and LA get more attention.

            And truthfully, why does anyone care if the Pacers get a couple extra minutes on Sportscenter? It doesn't get us any closer to a championship.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

              Originally posted by King Tuts Tomb View Post
              There's a Pacers blog on the ESPN blog network, the Pacers have their own website with a ton of coverage, they've been routinely predicted to finish in the top half of the Eastern conference by most sane observers. Paul George was one of the most discussed players during the off season. Not to mention all the local coverage. The Pacers, relative to almost every other professional sports team on planet Earth, receive a TON of attention and coverage. Do the Pacers get as much attention as the Lakers or Knicks? No, and they shouldn't. Things that happen in New York and LA get more attention.

              And truthfully, why does anyone care if the Pacers get a couple extra minutes on Sportscenter? It doesn't get us any closer to a championship.
              Come on man. It's frustrating to read this type of stuff and then read that the Pacers didn't really upgrade our weak bench. Part f the joy of fandom is reading informed opinions, good or bad, about your team. That's why I have taken to reading Odd Thoughts and 8p9s more often than the mainstream stuff, even when they are both very harsh.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                Originally posted by rexnom View Post
                Come on man. It's frustrating to read this type of stuff and then read that the Pacers didn't really upgrade our weak bench. Part f the joy of fandom is reading informed opinions, good or bad, about your team. That's why I have taken to reading Odd Thoughts and 8p9s more often than the mainstream stuff, even when they are both very harsh.

                If you make a NBA season preview and just dont mention some of the best teams... you simply aren't doing the job you say you are doing ... reviewing the NBA! Aren't the Pacers part of the NBA? Don't they have one of the best teams?

                And why shouldn't the Pacers get as much attention or more if they have a REALLY good team and say the Knicks have an average at best team? It's about the best teams... right?
                2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                  Originally posted by King Tuts Tomb View Post
                  There's a Pacers blog on the ESPN blog network, the Pacers have their own website with a ton of coverage, they've been routinely predicted to finish in the top half of the Eastern conference by most sane observers. Paul George was one of the most discussed players during the off season. Not to mention all the local coverage. The Pacers, relative to almost every other professional sports team on planet Earth, receive a TON of attention and coverage. Do the Pacers get as much attention as the Lakers or Knicks? No, and they shouldn't. Things that happen in New York and LA get more attention.

                  And truthfully, why does anyone care if the Pacers get a couple extra minutes on Sportscenter? It doesn't get us any closer to a championship.
                  I didnt mention anything about the Pacers being on SportsCenter. You completely ignored my points.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                    No one cared about the Pistons until they traded for 'Sheed and went on to beat the Lakers. The NBA is built on stars, and, like it or not, the Pacers don't have one. It's going to take a lot more than winning a playoff series against a Howardless Magic team to get casual national fans to care about this team.

                    As for Sportscenter, Gerald Green will get us on there plenty this year.
                    "A man with no belly has no appetite for life."

                    - Salman Rushdie

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                      I stopped watching ESPN a few years ago. Got sick of them slurping up stars.
                      First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                        So SI was "the best side ever" yesterday when they rated the Pacers at #2 but now SI sucks? OK.....
                        @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                          Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

                          Even men who think Jason Kidd can be sixth man of the year.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                            Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                            So SI was "the best side ever" yesterday when they rated the Pacers at #2 but now SI sucks? OK.....
                            When they do a "NBA season review" and leave one of the best teams in the eastern confernece out of it... and I mean COMPLETELY out of it... you are simply not doing what you are claiming to do and it's not ALL of SI that sucks, but it's definitely Thomsen who is ONE of the writers for SI, who if you look at his projections has a pretty big hard on for big market teams.
                            2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                            2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

                            2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Ian Thomsen NBA Season preview ( and me ranting )

                              Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                              So SI was "the best side ever" yesterday when they rated the Pacers at #2 but now SI sucks? OK.....
                              The only thing more absurd than this post is the fact that a few people thanked you for it. I'm assuming by side you mean site as in " website ". Not only have i never said that, nor has many others on this board said that, but I didnt even make a reply in that thread. Furthermore, there was no opinion given on SI as a website. The opinion, was pointed toward Ian Tompsen. And given that it lasted all of 3 sentences before i started in on ESPN, one has to wonder how you managed to pick only that small segment of a post to come up with such an ill-conceived reply.

                              In other words. Either you have no clue what you're talking about right now, or you just like the idea of you typing things on the internet.

                              Comment

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