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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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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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My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

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  • My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

    Obviously not my son. But rather the writer of this article's son.

    I have zero tolerance for drunk and or obnoxious fans. I mean zero tolerance. (makes me sick to my stomach when I see a father sitting with his younger son or daughter or even a young teenager and the father is berating the ref or opposing player, and sure enough the kid starts berating the ref. I want to turn around and berate the father.

    But is this mother overreacting? I don't know. Although I have never sat above the second row of the balcony, I hardly think, "Pacers games can turn into bacchanalias, suggesting they’re not places for kids". As it states oin the article. I consider pacers games to be very kid friendly overall. Hope he goes to another game soon and becomes even a bigger fan.



    http://www.indystar.com/story/life/2...bozo-/4478665/

    If you’re a sports fan, you’d enjoy talking to my seven-year-old son. For the past year, he’s insisted each morning on reading The Star’s sports section (proving the paper can appeal to younger readers). Wherever we go, he chats with fans about their favorite team’s numbers, stats and schedules.

    Since he’s caught the sports bug, we’ve attended our share of Indiana Fever and Indianapolis Indians games, where he sits rapt. So when we saw that his school was hosting a Spirit Night at the Pacers game, we knew there’d be no way around it.

    Friday night found us near the rafters of Bankers Life Fieldhouse, my son cheering and calling the players by their first names. He absentmindedly downed a hot dog and chips and did not even bother to badger me for the rainbow ice treat that his friend next to him scored.

    Shortly before halftime came to a close, I had turned to my right to tend to my fidgeting younger son when I heard a commotion. I whipped my head around to my older son’s side. But instead of seeing my son, there was a large man draped over the seats.

    It took a good five seconds of heart-pounding fear to realize my son was underneath the bulk.

    “HEY! YOU’RE ON MY SON,” I screeched.

    A giggle erupted from the mass as the bozo slowly unpeeled himself. My son looked up, blood pouring from his mouth. At least, my first thought was, he’s conscious.

    “My toooooth, my tooooth,” he screamed.

    Now I will confess that my child can be prone to exaggeration when it comes to injury. So at first, I told myself, he just bit his lip, and it’s bleeding a little. Then my husband and I got a closer look.

    Blood was pouring from his mouth and he was clutching his face moaning. Drama king or no, this was serious.

    Rocking back and forth, wailing, my son was too terrified to let us get a good look at his mouth. By some bizarre stroke of fortune, we were sitting next to a friend and her mother who is a dental student.

    “Does he have any permanent teeth?” she asked, urging the people in front of us to look for the tooth in case it was an adult tooth.

    Meanwhile, the man who had tumbled down stood awkwardly at the end of the row with his buddy, staring at us.

    “Gee, I’m sorry,” he started to say.

    But we were not interested in his feeble apologies. We tended to our son, and by the time I looked up again, he had disappeared and security was there.

    My husband took my son to the bathroom to wash out his mouth to get a better look, and an EMT provided an ice pack. By that point we ascertained it was a baby tooth that had fallen out, destined to be lost in the stands forever. Other than some serious bruising and a fat lip, my son was fine physically.

    But he was jarred emotionally. “Why did that happen? Why did that happen?” he asked over and over again, as we slowly made our way to the exit, our desire for the game dampened.

    Really, we had no good answer. Everyone who has heard the story immediately says, “the guy was drunk.” To be honest, checking the guy’s inebriation status was not top of our mind.

    Still, it is hard to believe that a grown man would have just fallen down one row — or more likely two as there no one was sitting behind us — without some alcohol involved, especially since my son had a recollection that the bozo and a friend were wrestling just before he toppled.

    At the end of the day, we know we were incredibly lucky. My son’s head, rather than his mouth and face, could have knocked into the seat, causing a concussion. The guy could have fallen on a smaller child and possibly broken bones.

    Or, the guy himself might have suffered some more serious damage, had his fall not been cushioned by, well, my son.

    The most frustrating thing, as my son quickly deduced, was that this all could have been avoided, had the guy and his friend used some commonsense. Nor is it the first time this season that an innocent fan has been wounded by another ticket holder.

    A woman attending the Colts-Broncos game at Lucas Oil Stadium in October had to be taken to hospital by ambulance after another fan fell on her, sending her tumbling over her seat until she hit her head two rows down. The man was arrested but prosecutors decided against filing charges.

    In our case, I know the guy meant no harm. He was just being goofy. But he was also dumb.


    Sporting events shouldn’t be mistaken for bars. People have warned us that Pacers games can turn into bacchanalias, suggesting they’re not places for kids.

    The prospect of my kids overhearing a few curses or off-color language wouldn’t deter me. Besides, this was supposed to be a school spirit night, so I figured if any night would be family friendly this would be it.

    “Did you think this would happen?” my son quizzed me on the way home.
    “Of course not,” I answered, realizing this was not a good lesson for all of the times I warn him and his brother that bad things will ensue if they do not desist in whatever dangerous behavior they are engaged in at the time.

    When we got home, my son penned a note to the tooth fairy. “I lost lost my tooth,” he wrote (to distinguish, he explained, from a simple loss of a tooth), “when a guy fell on me at the Pacers’ game.” Dubious about the tooth fairy, my son thought that everyone was looking for his tooth at the game to give it to her, so he figured he’d tuck a note under his pillow just in case.

    The tooth fairy clearly felt pretty rotten there isn’t more she can do to control random accidents at sporting events. She left $20, a largesse that he will hopefully remember as long as he remembers his first professional basketball game.


    Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter @srudavsky.
    Last edited by Unclebuck; 01-15-2014, 04:52 PM.

  • #2
    Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

    Totally necessary for this story be on the front page of the star site right now....


    Comment


    • #3
      Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

      Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
      Totally necessary for this story be on the front page of the star site right now....
      Hadn't thought of it that way. Probably doesn't deserve to be, but I blame the idiot bozo who fell on the kid.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

        I don't remember if it was my first Pacers game, or my 3rd, but it was pretty early on in my game experiences but I had a drunk guy behind me dump his beer all over me and my brand new Pacers starter jacket. (That dates the story a little bit) Of course, I didn't have the trauma of losing a baby tooth, but I'm sure he'll get over it, just like I got over my jacket being soaked with what I thought at the time was the nastiest smell I had ever whiffed.

        I think she's over-reacting. This could easily happen as they walk down the streets. Sounds like a pretty good instance where you can teach your kid about staying in control when drinking and not being inside their own bubble when in public.
        Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

          Pacers games aren't places for kids? Who the heck said that? I see plenty of kids there all the time and took my nephew to one this year.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

            Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
            Hadn't thought of it that way. Probably doesn't deserve to be, but I blame the idiot bozo who fell on the kid.
            Just seems like an unnecessary dig at the fan experience of the Pacers because one parent who happens to work for the star had her kid lose a baby tooth.

            It sucks and I wish it didn't happen but it happens at all sporting events. Her assertion that Pacers game are adult or bacchanalia (also, what an unnecessary use of a word) is just flat out wrong. The Pacers go above and beyond to make events as kid friendly as possible. Really disappointed that the Star would give this front page billing right as the team was doing well. If it was written in the sense of "How do we prevent drunks at sporting events" I'd be ok with it, but really the tone seems to be "A drunk guy fell on my kid at game and since I write for the Star I'm going to take this chance to complain about my experience at the Pacers game"


            Comment


            • #7
              Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

              I guess it's technically the lead story under life, but yeah it just comes off as spilled milk. She gives no suggestions on how to try and fix the problem.


              Comment


              • #8
                Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                Totally necessary for this story be on the front page of the star site right now....
                At least it doesn't say "Pacers fan attempts to kill kid at a game."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                  I am sure the Pacers will be giving the whole family some free tickets. And they won't be balcony seats either

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                    She even says she doesn't know the guy was drunk and all she can say is he "may" have been wrestling...I mean c'mon.


                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                      People have warned us that Pacers games can turn into bacchanalias, suggesting they’re not places for kids.


                      You gotta be kidding me. I mean seriously.........

                      It sucks that this happened to her young innocent kid, but it just sounds like a bad luck accident. I've been going to Pacer games for 18 years and miraculously haven't lost any vital body parts.

                      Again, I know she's upset about what happened to her kid, but this article is pretty over the top. She makes it sound as if taking your kid to a Pacer game is akin to walking them through a frat house.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                        Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                        I am sure the Pacers will be giving the whole family some free tickets. And they won't be balcony seats either
                        I read some of the comments. The editor of the article said the Pacers reached out to them, but company policy would not allow them to accept them.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                          Possibly drunk, possibly wrestling man attempts manslaughter on innocent child... PACERS IN CRISIS MORE AT 11


                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                            This is a yet another reminder as to why I don't pay the $12 monthly online Star fee when my "complimentary access" expires.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                              Who uses the word "bacchanalias"?

                              Comment

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