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

All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

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

  • #31
    Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

    For me, it boils down to this: Owners, GMs, and coaches are all important to us diehards who follow the team closely, but the rest of the NBA world doesn't really care who owns or manages the Pacers. They watch to be entertained by the players. On the actual basketball court, one person put the NBA Pacers on the national map - Reggie Miller. He was an NBA household name everywhere. Before Reggie and the 90's playoff runs, the Pacers were completely irrelevant in the national NBA landscape. Sure he needed a good coach, and the good coach had to be hired by the GM, and the GM had to be hired by owners rich enough to buy the team. But fans pay to see the players, and Reggie was certainly a player that people wanted to see.

    Comment


    • #32
      Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

      Originally posted by Strummer View Post
      I love the Simon era as owners. They were/are great. But do we put them at the top of the list simply because they had deep pockets?
      Considering that if it weren't for the Simons, we'd probably have been watching Seattle investors try to buy the Sacramento Pacers, don't have Bankers Life Fieldhouse, probably don't have Lucas Oil Stadium OR the Colts.... Yes we should.
      "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


      • #33
        Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

        Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
        Considering that if it weren't for the Simons, we'd probably have been watching Seattle investors try to buy the Sacramento Pacers, don't have Bankers Life Fieldhouse, probably don't have Lucas Oil Stadium OR the Colts.... Yes we should.
        But without Slick the team would have left long before any of that happened. Slick made Indy into a pro team city. You wouldn't know who the Simons were if it weren't for Slick. Well, unless you like "My Bodyguard" or are really into shopping.

        Comment


        • #34
          Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

          Originally posted by Strummer View Post
          But without Slick the team would have left long before any of that happened. Slick made Indy into a pro team city. You wouldn't know who the Simons were if it weren't for Slick. Well, unless you like "My Bodyguard" or are really into shopping.
          But even with everything Slick had done, the team was literally hours away from heading to California with Sam N***i before the Simons agreed to buy it.

          The whole "judge influence by who came first" thing could be stretched to go all the way back to (as I said) the DeVoes and Dick Tinkham, without whom there would not have been an ABA franchise here in the first place. I agree that Slick is influential, but I would argue that the Simons' influence is not the lesser for having come after Slick's tenure or for involving (shudder) money.
          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


          • #35
            Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

            Originally posted by BillS View Post
            But even with everything Slick had done, the team was literally hours away from heading to California with Sam N***i before the Simons agreed to buy it.

            The whole "judge influence by who came first" thing could be stretched to go all the way back to (as I said) the DeVoes and Dick Tinkham, without whom there would not have been an ABA franchise here in the first place. I agree that Slick is influential, but I would argue that the Simons' influence is not the lesser for having come after Slick's tenure or for involving (shudder) money.
            That's why I wouldn't pin the medal on an owner unless it was an active owner like a Cuban or Steinbrenner. Not that I'd want a Cuban or Steinbrenner.

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

              Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
              If Mel and Herb don't step up to the plate, the Indiana Pacers might not exist today. Simple as that.
              This was my first thought, but then I voted for Slick because I believe he was at the center of the fundraiser that kept the Pacers around long enough for the Simons to buy them at all. If I'm recalling correctly. Combine that with his history as the coach of all those ABA championship teams as well as his great work as the color commentator for the radio for the past couple decades or more, and it has to be him. He's the soul of this franchise before anyone else.

              Comment


              • #37
                Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                This was my first thought, but then I voted for Slick because I believe he was at the center of the fundraiser that kept the Pacers around long enough for the Simons to buy them at all. If I'm recalling correctly. Combine that with his history as the coach of all those ABA championship teams as well as his great work as the color commentator for the radio for the past couple decades or more, and it has to be him. He's the soul of this franchise before anyone else.
                This is without question.

                God this is a very hard pick for me.

                My heart tells me Slick, for every reason you just stated.

                My head tells me the Simons because they certainly have overseen the longest positive time in Pacers history and have stayed loyal to the city when many other owners would have packed the bags and moved years ago.

                I may just chicken out and go with the first Pacer ever and arguably the single greatest individual talent who also went on to be a civic leader.

                But then to me the entire franchise changed the day Larry Brown walked in that door and basketball was played the right way.

                But then Larry Bird has made every single move correctly, but one (it was a big one so it could disqualify him), but other than that I have not disagreed with one single thing he has ever done here.

                Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is hard.


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

                Comment


                • #38
                  Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                  Slick is the only one to be an active positive force for this franchise in one way or another for over 40 years. Can any other person say that?

                  I mean he was the coach of the champions in the early days, he played a vital role in keeping the team on life-support long enough for the Simons to come along at all/in the first place, and he has had interaction with every single coach and player and GM and president and owner to come along in the last 30 years. Including what very well may be the first NBA championship team. All while being a damn good radio man for the team.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                    Originally posted by Peck View Post
                    But then Larry Bird has made every single move correctly, but one
                    Two.

                    The hire . . . and the extension.
                    "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                      Originally posted by Peck View Post
                      But then Larry Bird has made every single move correctly, but one (it was a big one so it could disqualify him), but other than that I have not disagreed with one single thing he has ever done here.
                      I am surprised you say that. Bird has done great, but great isn't judge by every move being correct except one. That is an impossible standard.

                      Saras
                      Shawne Williams
                      Brandon Rush didn't work out
                      Tyler Hansbrough to many was a disaster - at best he didn't work out leaving for nothing after 3 years.
                      If Kawhi Leonard is as good as I expect him to be trading him away was a mistake (he's a star player)
                      Most believe Plumlee was a mistake
                      cover of SI with Ronnie
                      leaving for a year

                      I am not suggesting that I blame him for all of these, but they are at the very least questionable to the point that I am very surprised you say that you agree with everything Bird has done except one.

                      You certainly are holding Bird and Walsh to two very different standards here
                      Last edited by Unclebuck; 09-06-2013, 08:54 AM.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                        I have to give the nod to the Simon brothers. Without them, the Pacers are probably playing elsewhere right now. The importance of good owners might be taken for granted a little bit around here, and that's a nod to the Simons. Ask Knick fans and Suns fans how much a crappy owner can sabotage your team's ability to compete year in and year out, not to mention good owners attract high quality front office talent because GMs and Presidents of Basketball Operations know they won't meddle too much in their business. The Simons, like any good leaders, trust the people they hired to make the correct decisions and make the right calls. So while it isn't the sexy answer or the one that comes to mind most readily, I have to give them the nod.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                          Obviously no franchise could exist without an owner, but how many fans across the league could name the owner of the Pacers?

                          Off the top of your head, can you name the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers?

                          There are a few high profile owners like the Buss family, Cuban, and Mickey Arison, but most are relatively obscure.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                            Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
                            Obviously no franchise could exist without an owner, but how many fans across the league could name the owner of the Pacers?

                            Off the top of your head, can you name the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers?

                            There are a few high profile owners like the Buss family, Cuban, and Mickey Arison, but most are relatively obscure.
                            Okay, but what's your point?

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                              Originally posted by cdash View Post
                              Okay, but what's your point?
                              When I pondered an answer to this question, I asked myself who was responsible for making the Pacers a nationally recognized brand? It's Reggie. No one outside of Indiana cares who owns the Pacers, but they did care about watching Reggie.

                              If you asked a Laker fan this question, they would probably respond with Magic Johnson, even though Buss was a great owner.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: All time most positive influence on the Indiana Pacers franchise

                                Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
                                When I pondered an answer to this question, I asked myself who was responsible for making the Pacers a nationally recognized brand? It's Reggie. No one outside of Indiana cares who owns the Pacers, but they did care about watching Reggie.

                                If you asked a Laker fan this question, they would probably respond with Magic Johnson, even though Buss was a great owner.
                                I don't know that you're approaching the question quite the way everyone else is. The question wasn't about who is most recognized or who is the person people think of when they think of the team, it is about who positively influenced the position of the team today. Far more often than not, that work is someone behind the scenes that most people wouldn't know from Adam.

                                A Laker fan might SAY "Magic Johnson", but that wouldn't make them right - the Lakers were a force in the league before Magic came and continued to be after he left.
                                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

                                Working...
                                X