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.
Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.
A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.
Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.
Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.
Rule #1
Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:
"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"
"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"
"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"
"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"
"He/she is just delusional"
"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"
"I'm going to take a moment to point and
/ laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*""Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good?
"In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.
We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.
Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.
That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.
A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.
There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.
Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.
In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.
Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.
If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!
All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.
Rule #2
If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.
The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.
The right places to do so are:
A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.
B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.
If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.
Rule #3
If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.
When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:
A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.
B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.
To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!
Rule #4
Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.
Rule #5
When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.
An example:
If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:
http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star
Rule #6
We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.
The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.
Rule #7
Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.
It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).
We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).
However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.
Rule #8
We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.
Rule #9
Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.
Rule #10
We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.
Rule #11
Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Different strokes for different folks.
I was not raised saying using formal titles, but as I have entered the real work and dealt with people on the work force it has become habit.
Of course some may say it is simply sucking up, but then my response is if it gets you up the latter who cares what you call it
At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to etiquite. We are not personal friends of Mr.Boyle, so simply calling him "Boyle" is not acceptable, IMHO.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
I respect your opinion Shade and I have a lot of respect for the job TPTB do around here. I know at times it seems like I don’t, but really, I do.
You made a very long post, so I am going to break it apart piece by piece.
I will admit that is a very hard thing to have to work with. To add to that since this is the internet we are not able to see others expression or if they meant something as a good natured rib instead of a flat out insult.Originally posted by Shade View Post
I also wish some of the moderator’s would step back and remember that they are not the end all be all. I wont say any more then that, everyone here knows how I feel about the way some are treated around here, and no, I am not specifically referring to just myself.I wish everyone here could get a crack at being a mod at some point to see just how difficult it really is. Now, obviously, some people break rules very blatantly and clearly and get reprimanded as such with little to no problem. But it's not always that easy, and when people get in a huff and just take off instead of making the moderation team aware of the issues, nothing will change. It's a snowball effect.
As I said, there have been some that did try to make issues known and have just got frustrated because they were blown off.
Be realistic, Shade. I have spoken up and let it be known how I have a problem with, but most people don’t want to conflict. I am not normal, I enjoy the conflict of every day life. Hell, I have been accused of going out of my way to stir something up. I don’t think that’s true, but its not far from the truth.The same goes for the moderators themselves. If you have a legitimate problem with any of the moderation team (I know I can be a bit...eccentric at times myself ), you need to either let us know directly or let another of the admins know. If we aren't aware there is a problem, how are we supposed to be expected to fix it?
I see what you are saying, but you cant seriously expect people to speak up when they know they are either A. going to become a target, B. get ignored and become laughed at or even worse C. Both of these.
I already let it be known how I feel in this thread, there are others who have not spoken up who I personally think feel similarly, but it is up to them to decide if and when they want to let it be known how they feel. I think its to bad because a lot of you (TPTB) wont realize it till you have lost a lot of good members.None of us want PD to become RATS II, and if you feel it's already at that point, you need to take advantage of this opportunity to let us know. Sometimes things slowly degenerate over time and you can't really see it until you're forced to take a step back and look at things from afar, which is what we're trying to do right now.
Hell, I know of one posters who made a joke about this place turning into RATS a few months back and I think it went over everyone’s head here. I know there are a few that just stick around because they are good friends with a few members, but they have grown tired of some of the things. As I said above, it is up to them, however, to stand up and speak for themselves.
[/quote]In short, if you have anything to add, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Most have. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, occur in the future. Who knows, maybe as the Pacers start to win more the overall attitude of this board will change. That would be a giant step in the right direction.
Not to pick on you or anything Shade, and if you feel like I crossed a line or want to get in touch with me feel free to PM me.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Well no one here is a personal friend of mine either so I'd like to be called Mr. LarryOriginally posted by vapacersfan View PostDifferent strokes for different folks.
I was not raised saying using formal titles, but as I have entered the real work and dealt with people on the work force it has become habit.
Of course some may say it is simply sucking up, but then my response is if it gets you up the latter who cares what you call it
At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to etiquite. We are not personal friends of Mr.Boyle, so simply calling him "Boyle" is not acceptable, IMHO.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Imagine we all disappear (the admins) and you (the reader) is now the head admin. What do you do specifically from there?Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Notice how almost every post in this thread will say something like no offense or im not trying to cross the line. Everyone knows how easily you guys get worked up about things on here and don't want to **** you off.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Since I'ce been around here longer than just about everybody I'll add my .02 about it.....
While it seems that there will always be differing opinions of certain players by the posters here, just about everyone agrees on the team as a whole I think.... mediocre. The teams not exciting to watch.... not exciting to talk about.
And.... I think that in their efforts to keep anyone from ever being offended by things posted on here the moderators have taken alot of the passion out of the threads. They've taken the spice out of the mix. Lets face it Hicks, you know as well as I do that some of the most hit on and longest running theads on the Star boards were the ones involving me and NewYawk warring with each other.... hostile, yeah sure they were but it was also entertaining to alot of people to see two total strangers going at each others throats to support their thoughts and ideas.... those kinds of threads won't appear on here, there is an entirely different mentality here. Fair and friendly seems to be the unspoken but understood motto of PD. And thats all cool and stuff for a group of internet friends to sit around and agree with each other on all aspects of the topic at hand but it doesn't make for much entertainment.
IMHO Pacers Digest is a good place for information..... but it sorely lacks in the intangibles that make people active in posting on a message board.
I come here nearly everyday.... have since day one. Mostly these days though all I do is click on the schedule tab to see what time the game comes on. I always browse the Pacers main page but it seems that 75% of the threads are just cut and paste jobs of articles out of the Indianapolis Star or one of the NBA magazines..... it's not interesting to me and obviously it's not interesting to a great many other people also.... it's pretty damn boring IMHO.
I tend to be fairly forceful in my posting style, always have been.... I like sitting here anonymously telling other posters they are wrong/stupid/idiots... yall don't want posters like me using your message board. You seem to only want those who sit around exchanging non offending comments and if someone doesn't agree with somebody else they better be polite when they tell them they are wrong. Thats boring message board material IMHO.
As I said before, this a good place to get info on Pacers/NBA related subjects but the entertainment value here is virtually zilch.
Now you don't have to have everyone on here trading curse words and thread upon thread of people calling each other idiots to make an interesting online community..... but a little bit of it don't hurt none. This utopic community you have tried to create here were everyone is friendly and polite just doesn't compelle people to click on the post tab....
But then again, thats just MY opinion, I like a message board where a little blood gets spilled from time to time.
Now anyone of you people out there can tell me I'm wrong.... I know I'm not, but if you want to tell me then go ahead. I don't get offended by what anyone on here says (or writes, to be exact) about me. Go ahead and blast me for this post... I dare ya.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
I have answered this question on my others posts, but in short I would remind the whole staff that helps run this place that we are all human and all on the same level. No one on above or below another.Originally posted by Hicks View Post
As for things done differently, the only thing I would def. do is I would become a whole lot stricter and in turn would probably have members accuse me of abusing power. I would be fine with that, however, because that would lead to this place becoming more civilized because there was be clear and definite lines between "right" and "wrong".
I have said enough on this topic, so I'll leave this thread with this post. I hope everything works out for both parties of PD.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Bravo! I agree with you 100%. My posting style is closer to yours and being new here, I don't get much play. That seems to be reserved for a chosen few, who seem to be more enamored with their longwinded, supposedly intelligent posts, that are meant more to impress other posters than to actually engage other posters in debate. If I say something stupid, I expect to get hammered, but likewise I like to return the beating when it is justified. I have noticed in my short time here that there are a few posters who don't like to be challenged and when they are they resort to the dreaded Troll attack mode accusation. Bottom line, this is a good forum, but I agree with you it does lack the salsa to make posters want to post more often. Yes, I don't mind a little blood spilt once in awhile, as long as it is not mine.Originally posted by FireTheCoach View PostComment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Actually that's what drives a lot of people away. There are message boards out there with no holds barred, anything goes mentalities and they attract a number of loyal members. But invariably they do not thrive for the simple reason a lot of new members never post for fear of the dreaded "You're an idiot" or "what kind of stupidity is that?" type of response.Originally posted by FireTheCoach
People can disagree without being disagreeable.NBA basketball - taking my breath away since 1963.
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Yeah, there's no need for it. As you said, it can be lively without the insults. And it does drive people away.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Originally posted by ALF68 View Post
Brilliant!!!
I couldn't have said it any better than that. Its almost as if strong opinionated DEBATES are discouraged at PD.
OF course Hicks will say that debates are wholly encouraged and thats what PD is here for but I'll have to disagree with that... not when they (meaning: the moderators) impose such restrictions on free speech. They should quit crying about lack of interest in their message board if they intend to continue discouraging a large number of potential posters with such "touchy feely / don't offend anyone" rules of what is and isn't acceptable. It just makes this place seem like a bland boring periodical to me. Hell, I told Hicks months ago that he should just make PD a weekly E-Zine recapping NBA news.... you know, reprint all the articles from the Indianapolis Star and ESPN.com that have Pacer relevant info.... email it to me, I'll read it.
Theres just not much interesting discussion on here regarding the team seeing as how average they are these days, then you throw in to the mix the censoring of post deemed objectionable by WHOEVER it is that makes judgements of such things and you end up with what Pacers Digest is these days.Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
In all fairness FTC that is not an issue at all.Originally posted by FireTheCoach View Post
In fact we have often debated whether or not we are to big.
But believe it or not we are having the same exact debate amongst ourselves about some of the restrictions of content. It's a healthy thing to look at oneself every now & then.
Besides let's be honest here, your just mad because you never were able to come to grips with the fact that Austin Croshere had mad skilz.
Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13Comment
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
I think this board, and I tend to think of the star news board from inception to the date people shifted over here as one board,
this board always had a sense of self policing a certain fairness.
If a person seemed to be a genuine poster who was unfairly dumped on people would kind of rally around and fix it.
At the same time if people wanted to pound on each other and both seemed to want it that was fine too.
Dodge City.
As far as people having favorites I suppose that has always been true. People gravitate to those they relate to but I also think it's sheer volume. I just can't read every thread on here like I once could and threfore I have no doubt there are many people I might have a lot in common with but never knew it.
Just the fact that people respond to a thread like this out of "caring" about it speaks to why this place keeps me checking in through the years.
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Re: My fellow Pacers Digest members.....
Nah.... you're wrong.... it's what drives people like you away maybe, but it doesn't drive A LOT of people away.Originally posted by VF21 View Post
But heym you got nothing to worry about, I don't post here anyway and this is the friendly message board tailored to follks like minded with you... just quit complaining that nobody posts here anymore.
BTW.... "you're an idiot" and "What kind of stupidity is that?" are the kinds of responses that spark some SERIOUSLY heated debates and make message boards fun..... trust me guy, I've been a associated with members of this message board for like 10 years now and I know what makes message boards thrive and I know what makes them die. Censoring speech makes them wither, even though it keeps people like you from being offended by someone that you wont engage in debate.
Pleeeeze.... you're not talking to a rookie here.Comment
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