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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.

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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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Just a friendly reminder...

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  • Just a friendly reminder...

    I won't go into details, but everyone on here pretty much has said in one form or another that O'Brien has got to go. That's all fine and dandy with me, and I share some of that resentment towards him, but you guys need to remember something...

    This team is still the Indiana Pacers.

    I know this team is difficult to stick with when we have a "clown", "dip****", "idiot" as our coach. (You get the picture.) But you do need to realize that we are fans of the team, or the individual players on the team.

    To totally give up on this team really doesn't look good on a fan's part because a franchise is going to make mistakes, whether they are aware of them or not. Just like we make the decisions we do on a regular basis, there is always a pro and con to each decision. Maybe they see something we don't, I don't know. All I do know is what they have in place isn't working.

    I know you all have given up on O'Brien. That's okay, I have too. What I am asking however, is to not give up on this team. They may go 10 games under .500 this season, again...but at least there is hope after O'Brien is finally gone. It'll happen. Maybe not today, next week, after the trade deadline, but I am confident that going into next season (whenever that may happen) that we'll have a new coach.

    You've all stuck with it this long, what's another 1/2 of a season going to do?

    I hate seeing people threaten to leave PD, or give up their season tickets. That's not what being a fan is all about. I know losing sucks. I've been doing this thing for 5 years now.

  • #2
    Re: Just a friendly reminder...

    Well said Duke. I've been a fan of the Pacers from 1967 and have survived some pretty bad coaches, players, management and this is not the worst. Relax and watch the games, celebrate when they win. Watch Oprah when they lose. Have a beer and enjoy!
    Go Pacers!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Just a friendly reminder...

      I am and will always be a Pacer fan. I just don't want this coach around ruining my/our team.
      I'm not perfect and neither are you.

      Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim,
      Ephisians 4: 32 And be kind towards one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as Elohim also forgave you in Messiah.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Just a friendly reminder...

        I agree, and actually the team is close to being in the best position it has been in sicne the vbrawl for sure, and probably since the late 90's. They have some good young players, cap space - things can be turned around here very, very quickly - within 1 year.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Just a friendly reminder...

          I just look at Jim as something to b*tch about at the next PTO. I don't have my hopes up that he will be fired this season.
          Passion. Pride. Patience. Pacers

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Just a friendly reminder...

            Fans only get one way that matters to voice their displeasure. Message boards and changing avatars, and twitter and blog posts are all well and good. But only one way truly matters and that's money. Many fans are already voting with their wallets by way of not spending a dime on the team. Now the Pacers are risking losing the fans who have chosen to stick with them. Those folks will soon begin voting with their wallets as well. I hate sound so callous about a team I care about, but if they don't have any more sense than this, they deserve everything that happens as a result.

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            • #7
              Re: Just a friendly reminder...

              I'll never stop supporting the team as a fan, but as a ticket buying fan I most definitely will stop supporting the team if Jim O'Brien is still the coach after this season. I don't feel like that is out of line with being a true fan in any way.

              Look at it this way, I love my family to death and always will. I used to let family members borrow money and typically never got a return on that money. So eventually I just cut my losses and washed my hands of the debts, with the understanding that I would not be lending out money anymore. Doesn't mean I stopped loving those family members, just that I know when I'm wasting my money and that's not something that I'm interested in doing for much longer.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                I know you all have given up on O'Brien. That's okay, I have too. What I am asking however, is to not give up on this team. They may go 10 games under .500 this season, again...but at least there is hope after O'Brien is finally gone. It'll happen. Maybe not today, next week, after the trade deadline, but I am confident that going into next season (whenever that may happen) that we'll have a new coach.

                You've all stuck with it this long, what's another 1/2 of a season going to do?

                I hate seeing people threaten to leave PD, or give up their season tickets. That's not what being a fan is all about. I know losing sucks. I've been doing this thing for 5 years now.
                Duke, what if you are wrong? What if Bird rehires him?

                Preposterous? About as preposterous as the extension.

                Seriously. If you KNEW that JOB will get rehired for next year, would you act differently? Can you really blame certain fans—who share my own fears and suspicions—for elevating the protesting and demonstrations?

                The fans are a critical part of the franchise. How they voice their pleasure or displeasure is a key factor in how things play out.

                Indiana fans have been too patient for too long with non-Indiana-like basketball and a coach who lacks basic common sense in dealing with the human personality.
                "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                  Indiana fans have been too patient for too long with non-Indiana-like basketball and a coach who lacks basic common sense in dealing with the human personality.
                  In college and pro levels both, at least we got a good recruit next year LOL.
                  But seriously, I spend at least $1000/year on pacers tix/merch for me and my family and Im from southern Indiana, and I will not attend another game, or buy another item until JOB is gone.
                  "Did we learn anything?"-Jonathan Ames

                  "No, but thats okay, It's a good thing to stay in the dark about things - it keeps life more interesting."- George Christopher

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                    Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
                    Duke, what if you are wrong? What if Bird rehires him?

                    Preposterous? About as preposterous as the extension.

                    Seriously. If you KNEW that JOB will get rehired for next year, would you act differently? Can you really blame certain fans—who share my own fears and suspicions—for elevating the protesting and demonstrations?

                    The fans are a critical part of the franchise. How they voice their pleasure or displeasure is a key factor in how things play out.

                    Indiana fans have been too patient for too long with non-Indiana-like basketball and a coach who lacks basic common sense in dealing with the human personality.
                    But no one said or has hinted that he'd be rehired, so that doesn't matter.

                    Just like with anything in life, you have to just ride with the cards dealt to you and in this case just wait and see. Hopefully TPTB will do the right thing.

                    When I say right thing, I don't mean listen to the fans whine and give in. I want them to make this decision purely from a development and progress standpoint. (In which the fans are right, but it shouldn't be up to the fans how the team is ran.)

                    I think freaking out about something that hasn't happened yet, let alone most-likely won't happen shouldn't continue.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                      Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                      But no one said or has hinted that he'd be rehired, so that doesn't matter.

                      Just like with anything in life, you have to just ride with the cards dealt to you and in this case just wait and see. Hopefully TPTB will do the right thing.

                      When I say right thing, I don't mean listen to the fans whine and give in. I want them to make this decision purely from a development and progress standpoint. (In which the fans are right, but it shouldn't be up to the fans how the team is ran.)

                      I think freaking out about something that hasn't happened yet, let alone most-likely won't happen shouldn't continue.
                      Everything you have said here could apply to last year's extension.

                      No one had hinted about it. It was so unlikely, no one brought it up.

                      Did Bird make the extension decision "purely from a development and progress standpoint?" He probably thinks he did. He has bad judgment in this area, apparently.

                      Based on past history, it is MORE likely he is rehired than less likely.

                      Someone needs to shout that the emperor has no clothes. Larry Bird, basketball genius on the court, is NOT a genius when it comes to certain matters in the front office. The sooner the fans let him know, the sooner the franchise will recover. Mel Daniels and probably Granger gave a short effort after the extension last year, but the fans never really did. Time for the Indiana basketball culture to step up and correct this part of Bird's false legacy. He's a stubborn figurehead who's never been confronted head on in his entire life.
                      Last edited by McKeyFan; 01-03-2011, 12:14 PM.
                      "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                        Let's say JOB isn't fired. Who would rather have the lockout?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                          While I appreciate the sentiment of this thread, anyone who thinks that O'Brien not being the coach next season, and beyond, is a foregone conclusion, has not been paying enough attention to recent history.

                          As someone who spent far more money than I probably should have, through some very lean years, the Pacers will not receive a dime from me next season if he still is employed.

                          I've put up with a lot, but at some point, you have to draw a line.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                            I completely disagree with you McKeyFan. JOB's extension made all the sense in the world with a one year gap between his guaranteed years and the new CBA/possible lockout. I believe that the "extension" which you refer to was actually the team option that was originally designed in his contract for that specific reason... which was to run out at the time of a new CBA. It's not like we were going to be mistakenly a great contending team. That was pretty obvious with our direction. Were we going to try to make the playoffs, yes, but we didn't have the assets to acquire anyone that would get us there. A playoff series at least gets the owners some cash in pocket and gets the guys we do have some playoff experience.

                            I stand by my opinion about last year's "extension". Now if he does return next season as you suggest, then that is a different can of worms.
                            "Your course, your path, is not going to be like mine," West says. "Everybody is not called to be a multimillionaire. Everybody's not called to be the president. Whatever your best work is, you do it. Do it well. … You cease your own greatness when you aspire to be someone else."

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Just a friendly reminder...

                              I'm a Pacer fan for more than winning (God knows THAT'S the case), and, at a certain level, for more that just watching a team play some specifically-defined "my" brand of basketball.

                              I am a fan of Indianapolis having the Pacers in much the way a die-hard Cubs fan is a fan of Chicago having the Cubs - no matter how inept the on-field product, no matter how ridiculous the pitching rotation, no matter how bad the management.

                              I am a fan of going to the games, of watching the game unfold, of second-guessing my own thoughts about how and why the game is going the way it is going. I am a fan of the experience, and of sharing that experience with my wife, who feels the same way.

                              I don't know if I'll be at a point where I'm not willing to buy season tickets to watch the team. I suspect if it happens it will only be for economic reasons. I continue to support the team because I know (not think, KNOW) that things can change as quickly as one trade and one coach.

                              I understand griping and moaning - it is, as was said, the right of every fan, and I do my share. I understand people who don't feel as strongly about the team as I do wanting to vote with their wallets. I suppose I even understand that some would rather lose the team than have a team that loses, though I'll never agree with that at any level.

                              I'll still be a fan of the Pacers, even if the apocalyptic nature of PD drives me away from here.
                              BillS

                              A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                              Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

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