Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

    People talked a lot about Lance's agent screwing up his free agency, but if he plays well and improves, he'll get his payday. Plus 8 mil is nothing to sneeze at either.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

      Originally posted by Believe_in_blue View Post
      I wish there was a mobile streaming service that just let me watch my local team. I was going to get league pass just for this but Pacers games are blacked out. I have Comcast and their Xfinity TV Go app, but FSI isn't included on the app. I do get ESPN though. I wouldn't mind paying extra for this as long as it was substantially cheaper than a LP subscription since your not getting any extra games. I can't always be home to watch 82 Pacers games, but I could catch bits and pieces this way.

      Actually, I would pay full price for LP if they removed the local blackout on mobile streaming only. Watching at home I can just watch FSI so I don't care if it's blacked out, but it would be great to catch up on a live Pacers game anywhere.
      If its not blackout on FSI. Why would it be on stream? Doesn't make sense. Stream should only be blackout when its subject to blackout and blackouts haven't been exercised in a long time now.
      Garbage players get 1st round picks, (WTF)! All of the NBA must hate the Pacers! LOL

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

        Originally posted by Pacer Fan View Post
        If its not blackout on FSI. Why would it be on stream? Doesn't make sense. Stream should only be blackout when its subject to blackout and blackouts haven't been exercised in a long time now.
        Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought with League Pass, Pacers games are blacked out on both the LP channel on your TV and the stream. If you have league pass they black out games in your local market and you have to watch on your usual FSI channel. The stream uses your location to determine what market your in.

        I haven't had LP in several years some maybe somebody can fill me in on mobile stream games in your local market?

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

          Originally posted by Believe_in_blue View Post
          Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought with League Pass, Pacers games are blacked out on both the LP channel on your TV and the stream. If you have league pass they black out games in your local market and you have to watch on your usual FSI channel. The stream uses your location to determine what market your in.

          I haven't had LP in several years some maybe somebody can fill me in on mobile stream games in your local market?
          All local games are blacked out probably for contractual reasons. (i.e. FSI has exclusive rights in the Indianapolis market for Pacer games)

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

            Originally posted by Believe_in_blue View Post
            Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought with League Pass, Pacers games are blacked out on both the LP channel on your TV and the stream. If you have league pass they black out games in your local market and you have to watch on your usual FSI channel. The stream uses your location to determine what market your in.

            I haven't had LP in several years some maybe somebody can fill me in on mobile stream games in your local market?
            Yea, I'd like to know for sure as well. I have been thinking of getting it as well.
            Garbage players get 1st round picks, (WTF)! All of the NBA must hate the Pacers! LOL

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

              Originally posted by Eleazar View Post
              All local games are blacked out probably for contractual reasons. (i.e. FSI has exclusive rights in the Indianapolis market for Pacer games)
              Right, but it would still stream as the FSI broadcast wouldn't it?
              Garbage players get 1st round picks, (WTF)! All of the NBA must hate the Pacers! LOL

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                Originally posted by Eleazar View Post
                All local games are blacked out probably for contractual reasons. (i.e. FSI has exclusive rights in the Indianapolis market for Pacer games)
                That brings me back to possibly the NBA adding a service that's let's you stream your local games on a mobile device anywhere. I'm not sure how many people would pay for a service like that though because it's on local tv and you can always record and watch it later. I'm not sure how much I actually could/would use it either. I'm sure I would some, but I could also see it causing major relationship problems!

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                  Originally posted by Pacer Fan View Post
                  Right, but it would still stream as the FSI broadcast wouldn't it?
                  No because you are not getting it through a cable service that paid to broadcast the FSI stream.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                    Originally posted by Kstat View Post
                    That's all relative. The average player will be getting paid a lot more once the cap skyrockets.
                    True, once the CBA goes into effect.

                    I misread the year though. It looks like most of our contracts will be up by then anyways. Also, it seems like most young, good players are only signing short term deals to cash in once this thing becomes official.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                      Originally posted by Believe_in_blue View Post
                      That brings me back to possibly the NBA adding a service that's let's you stream your local games on a mobile device anywhere. I'm not sure how many people would pay for a service like that though because it's on local tv and you can always record and watch it later. I'm not sure how much I actually could/would use it either. I'm sure I would some, but I could also see it causing major relationship problems!
                      If they could figure out a way to have it as a subscription service not tied to a cable or satellite package, they'd rake in the cash from cord cutters like crazy.

                      Laugh at it all you want, but the WWE has the whole subscription service plan figured out with charging $9.99 a month and giving out access to their MASSIVE back catalog of shows in addition to live broadcasts. That's where the future is going to be going for content delivery, and it has the media providers worried.
                      "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                      "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                        Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                        If they could figure out a way to have it as a subscription service not tied to a cable or satellite package, they'd rake in the cash from cord cutters like crazy.

                        Laugh at it all you want, but the WWE has the whole subscription service plan figured out with charging $9.99 a month and giving out access to their MASSIVE back catalog of shows in addition to live broadcasts. That's where the future is going to be going for content delivery, and it has the media providers worried.
                        I agree. I think whenever a team's TV contract is up they should require the new contract be only exclusive through a TV broadcast.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                          With the new deal the NBA gets just a little more than half of what the NFL gets. This has the details of the deal

                          http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2014...llion-lockout/

                          NBA Announces 9-Year Extension With ESPN, Turner, Through 2025


                          In a television deal notable more for its financial heft than anything else, the NBA has agreed to keep the status quo going for an additional nine years.

                          The NBA has officially announced a new nine year television deal with ESPN and Turner Sports that will begin in the 2016-17 season and last through 2024-25. The parties did not disclose financial terms, but the deal is reported to be worth $2.6 or $2.7 billion per year — up nearly 200% for the current level of $930 million. According to Sports Business Daily, ESPN will pay $1.4 billion and Turner Sports $1.2 billion.


                          The new deal will feature 22 additional regular season windows (ten on ESPN, twelve on TNT), but that is about the only major change on the television side. Beyond TV, ESPN is said to be negotiating the launch of a new NBA streaming service that would allow fans to watch games online with or without a cable subscription.


                          By the end of the deal, ESPN and ABC will have held NBA rights for 23 consecutive seasons and Turner Sports 41. CBS had NBA rights for 17 years and NBC’s tenure lasted just twelve. Fox Sports, which publicly expressed interest in bidding for rights this year, has never had a national NBA contract.


                          The NBA stacks up quite well versus the other major sports. Major League Baseball’s new television deal with ESPN, Turner and Fox Sports is worth $1.5 billion per year and the NHL’s deal with NBC Sports and Canada’s Rogers is worth $633 million. The NFL, of course, is well ahead of the pack with $5.0 billion per year in rights fees from its TV partners (not including additional revenue from sources such as DirecTV, which drives the NFL’s haul up to $7 billion).

                          The massive increase in TV money is a direct result of the NBA’s recent resurgence. The current contract was signed in 2007, with the league coming off the lowest rated NBA Finals ever. The $930 million annual rights fee marked ‘only’ a 22% increase over the previous deal ($765M).

                          In the seven years since that contract was signed, regular season and playoff ratings improved dramatically. The NBA Finals averaged a double-digit rating each year from 2010 to 2013, topping the World Series in five of the last six years. The conference finals set records in 2011 (on TNT) and 2012 (on ESPN). ABC’s coverage of the shortened 2012 regular season was the most-watched on any network since the shortened 1999 regular season.

                          The players were principally responsible for that seven-year resurgence. Kevin Garnett‘s 2007 arrival in Boston rekindled the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, which started the league on its path back to relevance. Then, LeBron James‘ 2010 decision to sign with the Miami Heat kicked off four years of an unhinged media and fan backlash that sent ratings soaring.


                          The new TV deal comes nearly three years after NBA owners successfully engineered a massive redistribution of wealth that reduced the players’ share of basketball-related income to 50 percent. That was predicated on claims that the league was in dire financial health with most of the teams losing money. The players or owners can opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2017, and another lockout is widely expected.
                          Last edited by Unclebuck; 10-06-2014, 02:02 PM.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                            http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/D...NBA-media.aspx


                            The NBA, ESPN and Turner today formally announced nine-year media-rights extensions worth a massive $24B through the '24-25 season. The new deals begin with the '16-17 season. The average annual $2.6B in combined payments is 2.8 times higher than the current deal, which averages around $930M per year. Sources say ESPN will account for about $1.4B of the deal per year; and Turner's payment will average around $1.2B. The league and the nets began negotiating in earnest back in February with both partners making sure the NBA did not turn to Comcast or Fox for a new deal. The deals keep other nets like FS1 and NBCSN from picking up a third package. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA "had discussions, but not negotiations," with Comcast and Fox. Silver: "I don't think we left any money on the table." ESPN's deal includes radio, int'l and WNBA rights. ESPN President John Skipper said, "Sports rights are more and more valuable." Turner described this deal as a priority for its parent company, Time Warner. Turner President David Levy said, "It will be a meaningful valuable deal."



                            RECENT NBA MEDIA RIGHTS DEALS
                            PARTNER(S)
                            TOTAL DEAL
                            YEARS
                            TERM OF DEAL
                            ESPN
                            $12.6B
                            9
                            '16-17 through '24-25
                            Turner
                            $10.8B
                            9
                            '16-17 through '24-25
                            ESPN/Turner
                            $7.44B
                            8
                            '08-09 through '15-16
                            ESPN
                            $2.4B
                            6
                            '02-03 through '07-08
                            Turner
                            $2.2B
                            6
                            '02-03 through '07-08
                            NOT MUCH CHANGE: From a TV standpoint, the new deal will look a lot like the old deal, with all of the nets adding more games. ABC will still carry the NBA Finals exclusively, while TNT will have exclusive coverage of the All-Star Game. TNT will keep its Thursday night franchise and will increase the number of regular season games to 64 from 52. The additional 12 games will come on a different night at the back end of the season, with Turner being able to choose the best matchups. ESPN will have games Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and will increase its schedule to 85 regular-season games, up from 70 under the current deal. ESPN also extended its WNBA deal through '25 and agreed to carry D-League and NBA Summer League games. NBA TV will present over 100 regular-season games, an increase from 96 regular-season games.



                            EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK: Much like it covers the NFL year round, ESPN wound up with enough content rights to cover the NBA year round. Both nets picked up rights to stream games via TV Everywhere -- something that was a sticking point during negotiations as the NBA had wanted to keep these rights. Turner will continue to manage the NBA's digital assets and also will receive added content for its Bleacher Report platform and will add an end-of-the-season award show. The biggest change comes from an over-the-top TV service, akin to NFL Now, on which ESPN will partner with the NBA. Details are scarce on the service. Execs do not know its name, when it will launch or what kind of content it will have. What is known is that the NBA will take an equity interest in the OTT service. Silver said the service would carry live games and other sports. ESPN's release announcing the deal said specific details "would be announced at a future date." Skipper reiterated that his company still was committed to pay-TV, adding that the OTT offering would be complementary.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                              Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                              NBC’s tenure lasted just twelve.
                              The one channel that is almost everyone loves was the one with the shortest tenure.

                              another lockout is widely expected.
                              Screw them.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: New national TV deal done. an increase of 3 times

                                That bolded part is something else, about service without cable subscription. That would be huge, and amazing, and a great business venture for ESPN.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X