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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.

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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Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

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  • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

    When you all say NBA marketing, specifically what do you mean?

    Comment


    • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

      Originally posted by Since86 View Post
      Please explain to me how profits aren't influenced by marketing.
      I can't argue against that. But I hardly think that is even one of the top 150 reasons for the multiple lockouts.

      Comment


      • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

        Originally posted by cdash View Post
        I can't argue against that. But I hardly think that is even one of the top 150 reasons for the multiple lockouts.
        Revenue is the #1 reason for the lockout. Revenue is directly influenced by marketing. I could understand the argument if it was indirectly influenced, but it's not.
        Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

        Comment


        • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

          Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
          When you all say NBA marketing, specifically what do you mean?
          Specifically, I'm talking about their insistance to putting bad basketball from large markets in the spotlight as opposed to better basketball from smaller markets.

          I just don't think it's a radical concept to put attention on your better teams.
          Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

          Comment


          • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games


            -picture from NBA.COM
            We are not a regular season story. But WE WILL BE A PLAYOFF story.






            Maybe if your "fans" showed up you'd host Battier. I hate the Heat.

            Comment


            • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

              Originally posted by Major Cold View Post

              -picture from NBA.COM
              We are not a regular season story. But WE WILL BE A PLAYOFF story.






              Maybe if your "fans" showed up you'd host Battier. I hate the Heat.

              Battier and the Heat are furious. How dare the league make them travel on the road 41 times?

              Comment


              • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                Revenue is the #1 reason for the lockout. Revenue is directly influenced by marketing. I could understand the argument if it was indirectly influenced, but it's not.
                Find me one article or story on either lockout where marketing is listed among the chief issues at stake.

                Comment


                • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                  Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                  I think you are under the misconception that if the the NBA showed the Pacers once a week instead of the lakers that the pacers would eventually get ratings as good as the Lakers get. I don't think so. if the Lakers fold tomorrow, those national Laker fans and by that I mean those who live outside the LA area, will not become Pacers fans anytime soon and by evidence of when Michael Jordan left the Bulls, those fans would stop watching the NBA all together.
                  First, no one is asking for the Pacers to be shown once a week.

                  Second, if they WERE shown once a week and they played like they deserved it, the ratings would go up. Amazingly enough, if fans became familiar with someone OTHER than the current hyped players, and recognized the name, they might actually be inclined to tune in.

                  Third, the "chicken or the egg" thing comes forward. When Jordan left the Bulls, why didn't more of those fans remain Bulls fans? Because the league gave them no reason to - suddenly, the Bulls were out of the spotlight in favor of the next half dozen "next Michael Jordan" players (of which one did not show up until LBJ). Business cases have shown over and over and over that it is easier to retain customers than it is to gain new ones - the NBA needs to give fans a reason to stick around as consumers of the product beyond the superstar with a limited lifespan. If fans of Michael Jordan stopped watching the NBA altogether, that means they didn't sheepily transfer their loyalty to the next Flavor-of-the-Season, so clearly expecting THAT to happen doesn't work, either.

                  Heavy superstar driven marketing works when you have someone like Bird/Magic, MJ, or LBJ. When someone of that caliber is not around, trying to substitute fails miserably. Having a plan where team and general NBA product marketing coincides with heavy superstar marketing when you have a potential GOAT means that when that guy is gone you don't waste your time trying to promote the next guy who doesn't deserve it, you increase your emphasis on team and product marketing (while still acknowledging the top current players since it is a star driven league). It keeps you from losing those folks you only gained by hyping one player.

                  After all, what happens to the league if LBJ goes down with a complete knee catastrophe this season? How long will people keep watching games where all the commentators talk about is how horrible it is that LBJ is out of the league?



                  Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                  When you all say NBA marketing, specifically what do you mean?
                  The only thing they have complete control of is advertising.

                  1) Nationally, don't get rid of the star-spectacular stuff but add some other aspects of games like fans cheering and superior moments from other than the usual suspects on the same teams. In other words, reduce (not remove) the amount of emphasis on the teams that have players who are on everyone's lips in favor of bringing new things to light that will not only attract a different sort of fan but will also expand the reasons why existing fans watch the games.

                  2) Collaborate on a common theme for local teams that helps them to promote their own team in their own area (and, dare I say, SUBSIDIZE it). Reduce the "LOOK, LEBRON IS COMING TO TOWN! BUY TICKETS!", which markets at best 2 games per season, in favor of local campaigns that get the team as a whole into the community and puts team logos (as opposed to superstar jersey numbers) out into the public consciousness.

                  3) Choose teams and non-well-known but top-tier players to promote to ESPN/TNT/etc. in the form of interviews, videos, human interest stories, whatever is available. If the talking heads get to know these guys, they'll talk about them.

                  As this effort takes place, ratings for non-megalopolis teams will go up. They'll never MATCH a Lakers or Knicks national game, but they'll be at the point where they won't be a 90% dropoff. The health of the teams that have to both exist and be strong in order for the marquee teams to have competition will get better. The league AS A WHOLE will make more money, and the marquee teams won't lose any (in fact, if the smaller teams get more profitable the big ones might get to keep more of their own profits).
                  BillS

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

                  Comment


                  • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                    Originally posted by cdash View Post
                    Find me one article or story on either lockout where marketing is listed among the chief issues at stake.
                    Revenue was the chief issue at stake. Marketing is directly tied into revenue. This isn't that hard.
                    Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                      Originally posted by Major Cold View Post

                      -picture from NBA.COM
                      We are not a regular season story. But WE WILL BE A PLAYOFF story.






                      Maybe if your "fans" showed up you'd host Battier. I hate the Heat.
                      He's upset he can't knee anyone in the balls
                      Smothered Chicken!

                      Comment


                      • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                        Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                        Revenue was the chief issue at stake. Marketing is directly tied into revenue. This isn't that hard.
                        Just so I am getting this right: You are of the opinion that the marketing department of the NBA and (presumably) it's 30 teams is one of the chief reasons there were lockouts. Am I reading that right?

                        Comment


                        • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                          Originally posted by cdash View Post
                          Just so I am getting this right: You are of the opinion that the marketing department of the NBA and (presumably) it's 30 teams is one of the chief reasons there were lockouts. Am I reading that right?
                          Try to look at it that if the marketing department and the 30 teams had done a better job there wouldn't be a revenue issue because everyone would be making more money to go around. CBA negotiations would still have been tight - that's what they do - but a lockout might not have been necessary because the teams could survive better on the existing share of revenue.
                          BillS

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

                          Comment


                          • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                            Originally posted by BillS View Post
                            Try to look at it that if the marketing department and the 30 teams had done a better job there wouldn't be a revenue issue because everyone would be making more money to go around. CBA negotiations would still have been tight - that's what they do - but a lockout might not have been necessary because the teams could survive better on the existing share of revenue.
                            I understand the concept and am well versed in the relationship between marketing and revenue. I still think revenue would have been an issue; along with player salaries, max contracts, contract lengths, and all the other reported issues. Here's the flaw in that concept: If the owners can squeeze out more money, even from a highly profitable business, they are going to do what it takes to get it done. Saying the lockout would not have happened had the marketing departments gone gangbusters and sold all the tickets is not an argument I can buy into.

                            Comment


                            • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                              Originally posted by cdash View Post
                              If the owners can squeeze out more money, even from a highly profitable business, they are going to do what it takes to get it done. Saying the lockout would not have happened had the marketing departments gone gangbusters and sold all the tickets is not an argument I can buy into.
                              They don't have the power to get themselves on national broadcasts. They're at the NBA's mercy when it comes to that issue. If the NBA is more interested in focusing on the large markets, and allow them to grow their brand nationally while ignoring small markets and not allowing them to grow their brand nationally, it keeps small markets at a disadvantage.

                              They should be focusing on good basketball regardless of market size, rather than market size regardless of good basketball.
                              Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Pacers schedule released. 10 national tv games

                                Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                                They don't have the power to get themselves on national broadcasts. They're at the NBA's mercy when it comes to that issue. If the NBA is more interested in focusing on the large markets, and allow them to grow their brand nationally while ignoring small markets and not allowing them to grow their brand nationally, it keeps small markets at a disadvantage.

                                They should be focusing on good basketball regardless of market size, rather than market size regardless of good basketball.
                                Isn't that what they were doing in the lockout? Trying to curb the competitive advantage of big market teams? Harsher luxury tax penalties and what not?

                                As far as the NBA putting them on national TV, I just don't see where that would really help all that much. The NBA is interested in profits (directly related to revenue, FYI), and putting the biggest market teams on TV is just smart business sense. They will get more revenue from advertising because more people are going to be watching. Stars and big markets bring in the big bucks. The NBA realizes this, and schedules their national television games accordingly.

                                Comment

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