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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.

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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

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

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  • #91
    Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

    If I had a son, and a bozo landed on him, I certainly would be pissed, especially if the guy was horseplaying around or drunk. I'd probably give him an earful. However, it's not front page of the city's newspaper worthy. It's no different then getting in a car wreck. Should we avoid the roads because accidents happen? I'm sorry that this mom and her son had a bad experience, but flukes happen everywhere. If you are worried about it so much, then you're probably worried about living in general.

    As for bad sports fan experiences, my dad took my brother and I to a preseason Colts-Bengals game in the RCA Dome early 90's. We were in the mid-tier of the stands, and I remember seeing two drunk guys (one a Colts' fan, the other a Bengals) beat each other up while the loser ended up with a bloodied face and throwing up hot dogs and beer in the aisle. Pretty unpleasant experience and overshadowed the game, but contrary to some people's belief, I wasn't scarred for life.

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    • #92
      Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

      If this had happened at a Colts game, would it be a story in the Star?

      I think it's a fair question.

      Edit: Sollozzo basically beat me to it.
      Last edited by rabid; 01-16-2014, 01:41 AM.

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      • #93
        Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

        If the kid is a drama queen its quite obvious where he gets it from...Theres definitely an underlying agenda here....Whether the parents are Bulls or Heat Fans or they werent happy with someones response to the situation at BLF or Larry Bird dumped their aunt when the two were dating in HS...but there is obviously more to this than meets the eye...
        The Most Common Cause of Stress is Dealing with Idiots

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        • #94
          Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

          Only been to a few Pacer games, the worst I ever had to deal with was some annoying Bobcats fans who kept shouting "Rio" (this was less than a week after the incident) at Stephen Jackson. Also they kept screaming for Adam Morrison to look at them.

          Now at the Indy 500...well nothing as bad as the article but I did almost get doused with beer by a wayward toss of a half full can. I was pretty annoyed, I mean, it was about 9 am at the time.

          Let's face it though, there's plenty of bozos out there an beer and sports can be a powerful inhibition destroyer. Stuff can and does happen.
          Last edited by Ransom; 01-16-2014, 02:49 AM.

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          • #95
            Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

            If she can safely assume this guy was a drunk bozo, than i'll safely assume dad must of been on a beer run, because he sure as hell wasnt there helping mom with the kids ( which i'm also safely assuming since assumptions are flying around ).

            Comment


            • #96
              Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

              As someone who responds to this type of thing for a living, parents tend to be EXTREMELY dramatic when their kid gets hurt.

              As someone mentioned earlier, I doubt blood was "gushing" from this child's mouth. I can't count the number of times my dispatch has told us "Parents are advising there is blood everywhere", only for us to find a very minor injury.

              Sorry her son got hurt and she had a bad time, but past experience has me skeptical of the alleged bloodbath in her child's mouth
              Stop quoting people I have on ignore!

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              • #97
                Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                Originally posted by Kid Minneapolis View Post
                1) I hope you guys responding to me actually have a young son. Your perspective will change a lot.
                2) I don't know if the guy was drunk. But let's be real. You guys know what was probly goin' on.
                3) You knock my son's tooth out on his first trip to see his favorite team, one of two things are going to happen: 1) if you aren't visibly drunk and it truly appears to be accidental, I'll let you by with a light scolding. 2) if you've been tipping back a few and you fell on my son because you're feeling good, you are going to get a large earful from me.

                If you don't like that, then this is what I suggest for you --- I suggest you don't get drunk and fall on my son and knock his tooth out. I don't know what else to tell ya. Lol.

                I'm going to defend my son.

                That said, I've taken my boy to Pacer games, and I've never had an incident or felt threatened.
                I raised 5 kids (3 girls, 2 boys) and lost the oldest boy at the age of 20. Hope that's enough credentials for my response.

                All I can say is that "defending" involves being aware of what is going on around your kids, not just reacting after the fact. I'm sure as a parent you're VERY aware of that, it just doesn't come across that way.

                I'd also be wondering:

                - If the boy lost his baby tooth from someone falling against his face, that seems a little odd unless there was a belt buckle or hard wallet involved - especially since the guy fell from behind and above. He is 7 - that's when teeth are falling out like drunks from the rafters . Clearly there had been at least one Tooth Fairy incident in the past to confirm this.

                - If the boy lost his tooth hitting the back of the seat, why was he facing that way? I know my kids were always trying to get knees up facing backwards to look around when at the games, was this just an accident of timing?

                - "A giggle erupted from the mass" - this boy wasn't traumatized by the guy falling on him. That was fun! He was upset that he couldn't find his tooth. Had he found his tooth, it would have been all laughs and sunshine and roses and guess what the Tooth Fairy will leave tonight.

                In any event, for those asking why people are interpreting this as a slam against the Pacers, look at this quote:

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

                The article seems meant to say, "hey, they're right" - even using a Colts game incident to make it sound like this happens All The Time.
                BillS

                A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

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                • #98
                  Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                  Originally posted by Kid Minneapolis View Post
                  Sure, it's over the top, but it's not exactly an attack either. The entire article is a *****-fest, and I've stated that I agree that the story isn't newsworthy, but some of the feedback this lady seems to be getting is pretty calloused. Words of advice --- don't come between a momma bear and her cub. As much as you might dislike the theory, that's how they are. And ya know what? It's a good thing.
                  A *****-fest has no place in what is supposed to be respectable journalism. I think most people's frustration at this is towards the Indy Star because this article should never have been posted. It just shows either Indy Star has an agenda or their quality is crap.

                  This articles serves no purpose at all. What is the point of her article? One incident magically makes the Pacer game unfriendly for families? What about all the other families that went there that night and had a great time? What about the time I took my nephews there and had a great time there? This is a Facebook post and nothing more, but because of her connections it gets posted.

                  I understand being upset at the time, but after the smoke clears and your kid is fine rational thought should return and see this as nothing more than an isolated incident that was probably just an accident.

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                  • #99
                    Re: My son’s first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

                    Dudes, I understand this, I've already stated it multiple times that this didn't need to be a published article. I completely agree. What I took issue to were people's responses saying the lady's actual response to the guy and the situation was handled poorly BY HER.
                    There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

                    Comment


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

                      Originally posted by BillS View Post
                      I raised 5 kids (3 girls, 2 boys) and lost the oldest boy at the age of 20. Hope that's enough credentials for my response.

                      All I can say is that "defending" involves being aware of what is going on around your kids, not just reacting after the fact. I'm sure as a parent you're VERY aware of that, it just doesn't come across that way.

                      I'd also be wondering:

                      - If the boy lost his baby tooth from someone falling against his face, that seems a little odd unless there was a belt buckle or hard wallet involved - especially since the guy fell from behind and above. He is 7 - that's when teeth are falling out like drunks from the rafters . Clearly there had been at least one Tooth Fairy incident in the past to confirm this.

                      - If the boy lost his tooth hitting the back of the seat, why was he facing that way? I know my kids were always trying to get knees up facing backwards to look around when at the games, was this just an accident of timing?

                      - "A giggle erupted from the mass" - this boy wasn't traumatized by the guy falling on him. That was fun! He was upset that he couldn't find his tooth. Had he found his tooth, it would have been all laughs and sunshine and roses and guess what the Tooth Fairy will leave tonight.

                      In any event, for those asking why people are interpreting this as a slam against the Pacers, look at this quote:

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

                      The article seems meant to say, "hey, they're right" - even using a Colts game incident to make it sound like this happens All The Time.
                      You're over-thinking this with all the scenarios. This isn't Law And Order. If you don't think I'm not "aware" of what's goin on around me, you are extremely funny. It doesn't matter if I'm aware or not. If a guy falls down from who knows how many rows and lands on my son, knocks his tooth out, stands up, says, "Gee", and then completely disappears with no other interaction, he's not getting the benefit of the doubt.

                      If I had fallen and landed on another person's child, I would've immediately become profusely apologetic, and then I would've stayed around for however long it required to make sure the kid was alright, the situation was under control and then I'd probly go buy the kid a souvenir. This guy said, "Gee", and poofed.

                      How his tooth got knocked out is irrelevant. Let's just say there was an impact of some variety, one hard enough to knock a tooth out. Going into the why's and how's and where's and was he facing backwards ---- doesn't matter. The kid was in his seat, next to his mom, and had his tooth knocked out.

                      What's weird to me is that you're almost defending this (likely drunk) dude instead of this 7-year old kid at his first Pacer game who unfortunately will probly never forget this. You're making all kinds of assumptions about this guy and the situation instead of just calling it for what it is --- he fell on a kid and knocked his tooth out. Then he poofed.

                      I wouldn't be happy about this, as a father. If you would've handled this differently, I don't know what else to tell ya. That is your own prerogative. The "giggle" thing for me isn't enough for me to say, "Hey, you know what pal? My son giggled after you knocked his tooth out, so... we're good, man. Don't worry about it." To me, this article wasn't about "how dangerous it is" at a Pacer game, rather than just a commentary on lack of conduct by some people.
                      Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 01-16-2014, 10:23 AM.
                      There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

                      Comment


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

                        Originally posted by Kid Minneapolis View Post
                        Dudes, I understand this, I've already stated it multiple times that this didn't need to be a published article. I completely agree. What I took issue to were people's responses saying the lady's actual response to the guy and the situation was handled poorly BY HER.
                        I don't think there were too many of those, and what I saw focused mostly on her assuming things after the fact she never confirmed, and not listening to any apologies whatsoever. The main criticism seems to be that she wrote the article in the way she did.
                        BillS

                        A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                        Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                        Comment


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

                          I think the Pacers games are more family friendly than Colts games. Although maybe that is not a good comparison. Maybe a better comparison is a Pacers playoff game vs a Colts game. A Pacers playoff game is much more intense than a regular season pacers game. The fans are much more into the game and IMo it is a little less family friendly. If I had a 4 or 5 year old I probably would be more interested in bringing him to a regular season game foir that reason and also he wouldn't appreciate a playoff game.

                          Comment


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

                            Originally posted by Kid Minneapolis View Post
                            Wow... the responses in this thread are pretty disappointing. I agree that this shouldn't be in the news, but if this happened to my boy, I wouldn't have been as nice to this guy as she was, drunk or not. That's my son.
                            Accidents happen....I feel like someone with a kid should understand that better than most.

                            Don't get me wrong I understand the desire to protect your child, but if someone apologizes and even it sounds like he hung around for a while, what else could he do?


                            Comment


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

                              Originally posted by The Sleeze View Post
                              If you got a dollar for everytime a kid got knocked over in a mall, wouldn't you just run around knocking over every kid you saw, screaming "trader joe gots to get paid!"


                              Comment


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

                                Originally posted by BillS View Post
                                I don't think there were too many of those, and what I saw focused mostly on her assuming things after the fact she never confirmed, and not listening to any apologies whatsoever. The main criticism seems to be that she wrote the article in the way she did.
                                First, that is another assumption, taht she wasn't listening to apologies. Second... again, you do have a wife or at least a female partner, right? You know how they get? My wife would react the exact same way. Their focus (rightly) is completely on the welfare of their child. You and me, as men, ya, we're likely to have a slightly wider scope in situations like that. I myself would take all of 5 seconds to verify that other than knocked out tooth, my boy was alright and my wife was taking care of him, and my attention would immediately go to the dude who fell on him, because he's got some 'splainin to do.
                                There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

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