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Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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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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NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

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  • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

    And right there is exactly why I can't stand Bears' fans.
    Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

    Comment


    • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

      Originally posted by Justin Tyme View Post
      As far as the city of Chicago, I remember when they had 2 NFL teams, 2 MLB teams, a hockey team, and a NBA team. I was cheering for the Go Go Sox with Nellie, Luis, Sherm, Jumping Jim, etc when got embarrassed by the Dodgers in the World Series while all the City of Indianapolis had was the Indians, an AAA affilate of the Cleveland Indians.

      I remember all too well the laughing stock early Pacers teams of the NBA, and all those SIX NBA championships the CHICAGO Bulls have. So lets not knock the city of Chicago with their Bear SB wins and Bulls NBA championchips. Nor the fact that the Cubs have some of the loyalists fans in sports. If only Indianapolis could brag like Chicago can, we all would have smiles on our faces.

      Congratulations. You have shown us all that the 3rd largest US city (and 26th largest area in the entire world) is superior to Indianapolis. Well done. Had I not read your post, I would have continued to ignorantly hold Chicago and Indy on equal footing. Thanks for straightening things out.

      Comment


      • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

        Originally posted by Adam1987 View Post
        Congratulations. You have shown us all that the 3rd largest US city (and 26th largest area in the entire world) is superior to Indianapolis. sort of. Well done. Had I not read your post, I would have continued to ignorantly hold Chicago and Indy on equal footing. Thanks for straightening things out.
        Fixed.

        Honestly, the only other major metro area I would want to be around right now from a business stand point is Charlotte. Indy is growing at a rapid amazing pace, the JW Marriott downtown is proof of this and will arguably be one of the nicest hotels in the world upon completion. Indy will be hosting a Super Bowl, will Chicago? I don't think so.

        We beat out Chicago for the Big Ten tourney and football championship game. We are the capital of amateur sports, period. It's not even up for debate.

        Chicago is big, it has lots of skyscrapers and a ton more people, but which horse would I rather hitch my wagon to right now? Indianapolis, by a mile.

        I say this as a business school graduate who could make a much higher salary in Chicago, but would also have an infinitely higher cost of living. Indy is booming right now, both the state and the city are showing incredible growth. Chicago is huge, we know this, but it's also stagnant in a lot of ways with a bloated economic system. I love the city of Chicago as a place to visit, it's a lot of fun, tons of shops etc. However, that is quickly becoming less and less important. Indy is getting a lot of the stores that used to be Chicago staples (a new North Face store for example is opening up right across from my office within the next couple weeks).

        Are we as big as Chicago? Nope, we aren't. We probably won't ever be, but would I rather live here, yep, not even a second thought on that one.
        Last edited by Trader Joe; 09-30-2010, 12:54 PM.


        Comment


        • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

          Originally posted by Justin Tyme View Post

          Just remember, it's great being a Colts fan, but don't look down your nose through rose colored glasses at Bears fans... there are more of US, we've been around longer, and the BEARS have more SB wins. This is the team that GH owned, coached, and didn't sneak into Chicago in Mayflower vans.

          I'll retire back to the Pacers forum now that I've made my comments about my beloved BEARS. Carry on troops and have a GREAT DAY!

          You do not have more Super Bowl wins - you have 1. The Indianapolis Colts have 1 and the Colts franchise itself has 2 if you include the Baltimore one. I suppose by "SB wins" you meant championships in general, but no one else really cares that the Bears were racking up championships during the FDR administration when there were like 10 teams in the league.

          Comment


          • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

            Originally posted by Justin Tyme View Post



            With all those 7 CONSECUTIVE seasons of 12 or more wins, that doesn't say much for Peyton's "ONE" SB win. Now, does it? He was the Fran Tarkington 2.0 b4 winning the SB. It took him 7 trys to get that monkey off his back.

            You mock the Colts and Manning for having just 1 Super Bowl win in 7 years yet at the same time talk about how great it is that the Bears are 3-0. No matter how hard you try to do diminish the Colts recent success, you know deep down that you would gladly take Peyton's ONE SB win and those 7 CONSECUTIVE seasons of 12 or more seasons if he were doing it in a Bears jersey.

            Comment


            • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

              Had the Lions TD at the end of the first game counted (like it should have) would you still be asking that question?

              Comment


              • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                Originally posted by Justin Tyme View Post
                I guess SA is bigger than Indy too, right? How many NBA championships do they have? They won those while the Pacers had something like 17 years in the playoffs.

                Milwaukee is bigger too right? NBA & WS championships.

                Not to mention that HUGH metropolitan city of Green Bay with their SB wins.
                Just in case you haven't got it figured out, size hasn't anything to do with it.
                Size absolutely has something to do with it, and if you really don't think it does, you are a tad more insane than I previously thought. You were spewing on about overall championships in baseball, football, hockey, etc. Guess what? The reason Chicago can support all those franchises is because it's a huge *** city. When you have that sort of population, you can support a franchise in every sport. Rest assured if Indy was the third largest metro area in the country that we would have MLB, NHL, MLS, and whatever other teams you can think of. And when you have more teams...you have a better opportunity to win! See how this works? Indy gets two chances every year to win a professional sports title: Colts and Pacers. Chicago gets two for baseball (although, incredibly, those two dip**** franchises have only won 1 World Series in the past 90 years between them), one for football, one for basketball, and then if you want to go count all the other fringe sports, feel free. Chitown was established as a big city very early, so they racked up a lot of titles when there were only like 6 professional teams in the sport (i.e., all those pre-Super Bowl era titles the Bears won). Not to mention: athletes want to play in a bigger market. More resources, more money, more exposure.

                Sure, you just listed the exception to the rule with your San Antonio diatribe, and I'm not sure if you are aware, but Green Bay is, for all intents and purposes, in the Milwaukee media market. Yeah, size doesn't have everything to do with it, I'll give you that, but to say it has nothing to do with it? Don't be so short sighted.

                Comment


                • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                  Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
                  Every summer, whether they are going to be any good or not, the Bears marketing arm (commonly known as the Chicago Tribune) begins talking them up as Super Bowl contenders.

                  Look, I get that Bears fans love thier team. That's admirable. But they're pretty stupid about thier enthusiasm, too. (Kordell Stewart was the answer to their problems at the beginning of the decade, remember?)

                  I would welcome the opportunity for more football conversations with actual real-live people in Chicago if the conversations every year weren't the same: "The Packers SUCK! Brett Favre is a choker. I don't know what's wrong with the Bears, they've got the talent this year to win it all, they just need an X."

                  When the reality is this, X = offensive line, defensive line, secondary, QB, recievers, AND running back.

                  Ugh.
                  Sadly this is the same thing the Redskins and The WAPO do.

                  Comment


                  • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                    Originally posted by cdash View Post
                    Size absolutely has something to do with it, and if you really don't think it does, you are a tad more insane than I previously thought. You were spewing on about overall championships in baseball, football, hockey, etc. Guess what? The reason Chicago can support all those franchises is because it's a huge *** city. When you have that sort of population, you can support a franchise in every sport. Rest assured if Indy was the third largest metro area in the country that we would have MLB, NHL, MLS, and whatever other teams you can think of. And when you have more teams...you have a better opportunity to win! See how this works? Indy gets two chances every year to win a professional sports title: Colts and Pacers. Chicago gets two for baseball (although, incredibly, those two dip**** franchises have only won 1 World Series in the past 90 years between them), one for football, one for basketball, and then if you want to go count all the other fringe sports, feel free. Chitown was established as a big city very early, so they racked up a lot of titles when there were only like 6 professional teams in the sport (i.e., all those pre-Super Bowl era titles the Bears won). Not to mention: athletes want to play in a bigger market. More resources, more money, more exposure.

                    Sure, you just listed the exception to the rule with your San Antonio diatribe, and I'm not sure if you are aware, but Green Bay is, for all intents and purposes, in the Milwaukee media market. Yeah, size doesn't have everything to do with it, I'll give you that, but to say it has nothing to do with it? Don't be so short sighted.

                    Exactly. Basic logic dictates that if you took the Indianapolis Metro Area and multiplied it by about 5, I'm pretty sure we'd be able to support an MLB team and we certainly wouldn't have trouble filling Conseco. I'm pretty sure we could squeeze out an extra 6 or so thousand per game out of the extra 8 million people that lived in the area - which would put us at the same population as Chicago.

                    Chicago's willingness to support it's team has far less to due with a diehard fan base than it does the massive size of the city.

                    Comment


                    • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                      I don't know about that. They don't care if the Cubs are any good... they've been supporting those jokers for decades and it doesn't matter if they win or lose, by golly they're gonna keep doing it.

                      And they don't care if the Bears are any good. The team is automatically a SB contender because every Bears team is. Every team that doesn't win a SB is a heartbreaker. Even that 6-10 team a couple of season ago was *this* close to winning the SB before they broke everyone's heart.

                      They are diehards. They are dumb diehards. But diehards, yes.
                      Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                      Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                      Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                      Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                      And life itself, rushing over me
                      Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                      Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                      Comment


                      • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                        Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
                        I don't know about that. They don't care if the Cubs are any good... they've been supporting those jokers for decades and it doesn't matter if they win or lose, by golly they're gonna keep doing it.

                        And they don't care if the Bears are any good. The team is automatically a SB contender because every Bears team is. Every team that doesn't win a SB is a heartbreaker. Even that 6-10 team a couple of season ago was *this* close to winning the SB before they broke everyone's heart.

                        They are diehards. They are dumb diehards. But diehards, yes.
                        i care if my cubs & bears are good (cubs are a lost cause i havent watched a game after big Z blow up and problly wont watch till Alfonso Armis and Z ect. are gone this is the first year i didnt go to a game, normally go to 8-10) who every said anything about a superbowl??? NOT ME i am just asking what you think there record will be and why ty very much

                        Comment


                        • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                          Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
                          i care if my cubs & bears are good (cubs are a lost cause i havent watched a game after big Z blow up and problly wont watch till Alfonso Armis and Z ect. are gone this is the first year i didnt go to a game, normally go to 8-10) who every said anything about a superbowl??? NOT ME i am just asking what you think there record will be and why ty very much
                          I think we all kind of figured that when you ask if a team is "legit," that you mean a legit contender. That's how I generally take things.

                          Comment


                          • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                            Originally posted by cdash View Post
                            I think we all kind of figured that when you ask if a team is "legit," that you mean a legit contender. That's how I generally take things.
                            When I saw the word "legit", I thought instantly of the word pansies.

                            Comment


                            • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                              Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
                              who every said anything about a superbowl
                              The Tribune, back in July. Every July.

                              Picking up Cutler was "supposed" to make them the "team to beat" in the NFC last year... since everyone in Chicago knows that Aaron Rodger sucks and that Favre is washed up. (Actually, that last one may finally be true. I guess after 10 years they may finally be right.)
                              Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                              Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                              Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                              Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                              And life itself, rushing over me
                              Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                              Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                              Comment


                              • Re: NOW ARE MY BEARS LEGIT?

                                Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
                                (Actually, that last one may finally be true. I guess after 10 years they may finally be right.)

                                Comment

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