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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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Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

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  • Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

    The Indians are the only sane franchise in Cleveland...

    http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...et-the-letter/

    Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn’t regret “The Letter”

    When LeBron James left Cleveland for Miami nearly four years ago, emotions were obviously running pretty high. A lot of things that probably shouldn’t have been said were said. Media, fans, LeBron — it wasn’t handled all that well by anyone.

    But let’s make one thing clear: no one handled himself as poorly as Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

    Here’s a refresher on some of the more pointed comments Gilbert made in an open letter (that was written, quite famously, in Comic Sans font) to fans following LeBron’s departure:

    You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

    I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE. You can take it to the bank.

    I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

    Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

    The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma. Just watch.

    So, obviously, Gilbert was wrong. He behaved like a petulant child that just lost “his” toy, and he threw a temper tantrum in an idiotic and completely regrettable letter where nothing he said came true.

    Of course, someone capable of making comments like that in the first place probably isn’t capable of showing humility, apologizing, or even saying he regrets what he said. Here’s what Gilbert told Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal when he was asked if he regretted “The Letter”:

    I would’ve reworded the language in The Letter, but I don’t regret sending a letter out to our fan base. People forget the letter was not to LeBron, it was to our fan base. If I had to do it again, for sure, I would’ve reworded several parts of it. But I think it definitely needed a strong statement from me at that time. I keep a couple binders on my desk and I have a binder of the responses to The Letter from the people of Cleveland. For some reason, it appealed to this generational Cleveland thing. If you want to talk about books, someone should publish all the responses to The Letter. It was like, ‘We’re from Cleveland and we’ve been rejected.”

    The Cavs will have max cap space this season. LeBron James could enter free agency. Not that I think LeBron is basing the future of his career on things Gilbert says in interviews, but wouldn’t fully apologizing when given the opportunity at least help a tiny smidge? Is there any scenario where Gilbert admitting what we all know to be true wouldn’t be better than him saying they should make a book based on the responses to his embarrassing letter?

    The damage has already been done, of course, but Gilbert doesn’t get enough blame for slamming the door shut on a potential return. If he had just behaved like a rational adult, perhaps it would be possible (or even likely) at some point that LeBron would play for the Cavs once again.

    Instead, Gilbert continues to be oblivious at best and delusional at worst. When asked by Lloyd if his letter had a negative impact on the organization over the last four years, Gilbert used third person to make his point, because of course he did:

    You never know for sure, but I haven’t felt it or been aware of it. People said nobody would come here, that’s not true. Do I think any players are going to not come here because Dan wrote a letter three or four years ago? I don’t think so.

    Maybe he’s right. Non-LeBron free agents might not care about the actual letter, but that’s missing the forest for the trees.

    Free agents, at least guys better than Jarrett Jack, might not come to Cleveland because the owner’s ego clouds any rational judgment. Cleveland was supposed to win a title before LeBron. That was wrong. Cleveland was supposed to “not come back” to the lottery. That looks like it will be wrong, too.

    Bottom line, Gilbert lets his mouth write checks that his brain can’t cash. That’s a problem if you’re picking your employer.

    If Gilbert doesn’t care about the impact his words have on the organization, maybe this will get through instead. Stop talking, Dan — for your own sake.

  • #2
    Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

    That's good because I doubt LeBron regrets leaving Cleveland. Nice to see everybody got what they wanted.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

      Gilbert owns Quicken Loans right? Can someone tell him to stop saturating the airwaves with those ads? We get it already. I think they've gotten worse than Progressive. If you've got a good product, you seriously shouldn't have to advertise that much

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

        No regrets.
        You Got The Tony!!!!!!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

          You can say the letter was inappropriate but so was the decision in the way it embarrassed the Cavs and insulted the fan base. What Lebron, Wade and Bosh did was legal but it was still a collusion of 3 players trying to fix the game and it worked to the degree that it was a priority of the league in the last lockout to put systems in place to try to keep it from happening again.
          Gilbert sending out the letter doesn't make Lebron the good guy.
          Why do teams tank? Ask a Spurs fan.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

            Originally posted by dal9 View Post
            Gilbert owns Quicken Loans right? Can someone tell him to stop saturating the airwaves with those ads? We get it already. I think they've gotten worse than Progressive. If you've got a good product, you seriously shouldn't have to advertise that much

            No he owns Fathead. Quicken Loans has the naming rights to the Cavs arena much like Bankers Life for the Fieldhouse

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

              Originally posted by Basketball Fan View Post
              No he owns Fathead. Quicken Loans has the naming rights to the Cavs arena much like Bankers Life for the Fieldhouse
              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Gilbert_(businessman)

              Nope, he is the founder of Quicken Loans. Fathead is just another venture among others that he's involved.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                Click image for larger version

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                Senior at the University of Louisville.
                Greenfield ---> The Ville

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                • #9
                  Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                  To be fair he says he would change a lot of what he wrote if he had it to do all over again. All he says is he doesn't regret writing "a letter" to the fans. I agree the guy is an idiot but let's please get our facts straight.

                  I would’ve reworded the language in The Letter, but I don’t regret sending a letter out to our fan base...

                  If I had to do it again, for sure, I would’ve reworded several parts of it.





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                  • #10
                    Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                    Originally posted by Pacerized View Post
                    You can say the letter was inappropriate but so was the decision in the way it embarrassed the Cavs and insulted the fan base. What Lebron, Wade and Bosh did was legal but it was still a collusion of 3 players trying to fix the game and it worked to the degree that it was a priority of the league in the last lockout to put systems in place to try to keep it from happening again.
                    Gilbert sending out the letter doesn't make Lebron the good guy.
                    Gilbert was dead wrong. He went all "Color Purple" on LeBron and his response response was the equivalent of a 2-year jumping up in down and screaming at the top of their lungs. Has any other CEO put a curse on one of their former employees and bulk emailed it to the stakeholders of the company? What sane person would ever do that?

                    Lebron's contract with the Cavs had ended and he had every right to go play for any other team he wanted. Collusion only applies to the owners and those that work in the front office. Players can talk to other players, work out with them, call and talk to them anytime they want. There is nothing wrong with it either from an ethical standpoint. The Decision program was a terrible way to break the news to his former employer, especially since it seems that Dan Gilbert really thought he was going to re-sign with the Cavs. So they were both wrong but what Dan Gilbert did was worse.
                    Last edited by naptownmenace; 02-17-2014, 01:22 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                      "The Decision" was one of the most obnoxious things ever, but there's no doubt that Lebron left Cleveland for a superior franchise.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                        I'm not sure why this "Lebron might go back to Cleveland" Theory has lasted so long. That dude will never play for Cleveland again, and it was true the moment he walked. He will probably retire in Miami.
                        You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                          What's funny is that the writing is already on the wall for Kyrie to get out of town ASAP too. Just a really poorly run franchise.


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                          • #14
                            Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                            Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                            What's funny is that the writing is already on the wall for Kyrie to get out of town ASAP too. Just a really poorly run franchise.
                            And as long as he doesn't host "The Decision part 2" people will understand.

                            Then again Kyrie isn't a big enough star to warrant such a special.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

                              Originally posted by dal9 View Post
                              Gilbert owns Quicken Loans right? Can someone tell him to stop saturating the airwaves with those ads? We get it already. I think they've gotten worse than Progressive. If you've got a good product, you seriously shouldn't have to advertise that much
                              Yeah, places like Quicken Loans need to be taken away, really crazy that they got away with the stuff they were doing... Once I found out Gilbert was the owner of it, everything made sense... smh
                              Why so SERIOUS

                              Comment

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