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

Suspensions

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

  • #46
    Re: Suspensions

    I think the numbers were spot on. Stern's still an ***, though.
    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

    Comment


    • #47
      Re: Suspensions

      Don't be messin' with Nate. If his inciting a brawl can somehow lead to Isiah's firing, then he just became my new favorite player.

      At least until his suspension's up.

      Dolan HAS to be really PO'd - he pretty much forced Layden to trade Spree for KVH because of his image, driving the poor man's family into destitution.

      Heck, he mismanages a major media corporation - image means a lot to him.

      I'd love to be at the Garden tonight, just to see what signs are in the stands.
      The poster formerly known as Rimfire

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: Suspensions

        Originally posted by Kstat View Post
        Accidentaly?
        Yes, and Accidentally, too.

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: Suspensions

          Punishments should be defined...5 games for this 9 for that, etc...as it is the punishment is solely up to Stern....very bad system.....CM got what he deserved...
          Go Pacers!

          Comment


          • #50
            Re: Suspensions

            Originally posted by CableKC View Post
            Yeah...but that was before Stern got...well....stern....when it comes to handing out suspensions when it comes to protecting the NBA image / PR.

            We can only measure these suspensions against what has recently happened...most notably the Brawl at the Palace. But since you think that JONeal's suspension was unfair...I guess you can see that Carmello's suspension is unreasonable as well.
            There have been some pretty nasty incidents SINCE the brawl, but none of them had been blown out of proportion like this one. Think Raja Bell's premeditated elbow to Kobe wasn't worth 1/8 of Carmelo's sucker punch?


            One of my problems with the penalties (Jermaine and Carmelo's) is that both players had absolutely NO history of incidents. Such a stiff penalty should be handed out to a player with a history of violence, not someone who was left to protect a player wearing a knee brace or someone who threw ONE punch in defense of his teammate. Carmelo did little to escalate that brawl, and it never got out of hand, not even remotely close to the Kings/Pacers brawl when the refs were on strike.


            If Stern wants to deliver a message then there should be a defined set of rules for suspensions. That's easily the best way to go about it.

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: Suspensions

              Collins and Jeffries got too many; I think that all will appeal and most will be reduced a little. The reason for the inflation some have shown discontent for is that "everything changed" when Ron Artest went into the stands and whatever. They could be hitting melo on character or lackthereof.

              Isaiah is such a sleazy ****. lol
              You Got The Tony!!!!!!

              Comment


              • #52
                Re: Suspensions

                Originally posted by BobbyMac View Post
                Punishments should be defined...5 games for this 9 for that, etc...as it is the punishment is solely up to Stern....very bad system.....CM got what he deserved...
                Then there would have been no way to justify the sentence given to Ron in '03.
                You Got The Tony!!!!!!

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Suspensions

                  I'm very happy with the length of the suspensions. The incident was over until Anthony threw his sucker punch and then ran away like a little baby. He deserved 5 extra games for running after he threw it.

                  Some of you are saying that this is being overblown. Excuses me, did you see the video? There were players in the stands, security on the floor seperating players, and coaches holding palyers back by jerseys to keep them from fighting. Not to mention that it happened in New York. Ten players were ejected. This isn't just a couple of players going at it, but 2 whole teams. To equate it with the Reggie or Bell incedents, or something that happened 15-20 years ago seems silly to me. Stern had to lay down the law and show this is not accepted.

                  I'm a more bothered that some of you think these guys should get a slap on the wrist and not have to face the consequences of their actions.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: Suspensions

                    Originally posted by SycamoreKen View Post
                    I'm very happy with the length of the suspensions. The incident was over until Anthony threw his sucker punch and then ran away like a little baby. He deserved 5 extra games for running after he threw it.
                    In my opinion the incident never really cooled down nor got hotter. There wasn't much of a gap between the initial fight and Carmelo's punch. It clearly wasn't over at the time, but it didn't go much further. I think his punch had little effect.

                    Originally posted by SycamoreKen View Post
                    Some of you are saying that this is being overblown. Excuses me, did you see the video? There were players in the stands, security on the floor seperating players, and coaches holding palyers back by jerseys to keep them from fighting. Not to mention that it happened in New York. Ten players were ejected. This isn't just a couple of players going at it, but 2 whole teams.
                    I saw it, and it's not much different to me than any other NBA fight. In fact, I thought it was less of a fight than most. Three guys threw punches, not whole teams. And several guys were unrightfully ejected. David Lee? He did nothing but try to separate players, and he was tossed (btw, even though they were unrightfully ejected, I think the refs did the "right" thing and I don't fault them at all).

                    However, it's all ESPN could report on for the next 24-48 hours. And, in comparison, its coverage was about 5 Xs as much as the college football fight this year, which I would consider much worse. That's why it was completely blown out of proportion.


                    Originally posted by SycamoreKen View Post
                    To equate it with the Reggie or Bell incedents, or something that happened 15-20 years ago seems silly to me. Stern had to lay down the law and show this is not accepted.

                    I'm a more bothered that some of you think these guys should get a slap on the wrist and not have to face the consequences of their actions.
                    We're discussing the severity of the penalty and how it relates to the severity of the action. I'm sorry, but a premeditated elbow to the face or Chris Paul punching someone in the %$&^ is much, much worse than a "sucker" punch, especially considering one or both of those were unprovoked incidents.

                    In all honesty, I'm for a large suspension involving a fight. It's the matter in which it was handled and inconsistency in penalties that's ridiculous.

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Suspensions

                      Originally posted by JayRedd View Post
                      Seems rather excessive to me.

                      I know the League is trying to make this behavior stop entirely and institute a zero-tolerance policy, but giving Melo 15 games is probably going to make this an even bigger story than it needs to be. Now, the Nuggets are probably not making the Playoffs and we get to hear about that for the next 2 years straight. You give em 6 or 8 games and it doesn't kill the Nuggets season in and of itself, and the story goes away quicker.

                      I mean, I know Melo in a way re-escalated a situation that seemed to be almost calmed down...but is that the reasoning behind 15 games? Or is it simply because dude actually connected the punch? Why is throwing a good punch that taps someone's jaw that much worse that swinging violently and missing badly like what happens in most NBA fights?

                      I know there's the whole Kermit Washington perception that affects that side of it, but he didn't clock a guy that wasn't looking. Mardy didn't seem to expect a right hook, but they were already in each others' faces and had been staring each other down for most of the altercation.

                      Not to mention the fact that Stern just forever tarnished one of his prized, young stars.

                      Just a bad PR move by Stern in my opinion.
                      I think the extra days are for running away like a pansy after throwing a cheap shot. jk :-)

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: Suspensions

                        What did the assistant coach get for throwing his clipboard to Nate?
                        Maceo Baston's #1 fan on Pacers Digest!

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: Suspensions

                          Initially I thought that the biggest loser was Isiah but now it is George Karl. Fifteen games without Melo and 10 without Smith and his season now sucks big time. Isiah was going to be fired anyway but if karl kept his players in to humiliate the Knicks because of his friendship with Larry then he is one dumb cluck. No sympathy for either one of these (clowns) coaches who let their personal grievances become bigger than the game.

                          Definitely Melo loses on all levels. Only Jeffries came away with some dignity and notice he got 4 games.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Suspensions

                            The Knicks/Nuggets fight would have been much bigger news and much more shocking if we had not done them the favor and led the way.

                            It really was that bad.

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Re: Suspensions

                              JR Smith is, I believe, pretty close to blameless for this entire incident.. he got in the guy's face that hammered him with an unneccessarily hard foul, which is something he should be allowed to do.. he was only defending himself.. it's when that punk *** Nate Robinson took a wild swing (at least one that I clearly remember) that he decided to defend himself, which I think should not be penalized. What was he supposed to do? Should he have just accepted the fact that that Collins turd tried to injure him? I think in this league, you should be allowed to stand your ground and show that you aren't willing to be bullied.

                              JR's bad reputation is the reason he got such a suspension.. and that is absolutely brutal. If I was his agent, I'd contest his suspension completely.. he doesn't deserve a single game, in my opinion.

                              And how come decent (albeit overpaid) guys like Jerome James and Nene are suspended for coming onto the court, clearly as peacemakers? That rule needs to be amended. It's stupid to have that as such a black-and-white policy. Remind anyone else of Reggie getting suspended for the Detroit scuffle? He left the bench to straightjacket Artest.. and was rewarded with a one-game suspension after he returned from his hand injury.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X