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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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BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

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  • #1

    BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

    Jim Lefko ‏@jimlefko 1m

    Pacers future in Indy now secure with new deal: http://indy.st/1kwOCsn
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    Ronnie Ramos ‏@RonnieRamos 1m

    BREAKING NEWS: #Pacers, city reach $160M deal to keep team in town for next decade. IndyStar exclusive details: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2...-indy/7562117/ …

    The Pacers will continue to play basketball in Indianapolis for at least another decade under a $160 million deal the team and the city plan to announce Monday morning.

    The agreement locks the team into Banker's Life Fieldhouse for another 10 years, with three one-year renewal options, according to documents obtained by The Star. In exchange, the city will provide $160 million to cover operating costs and facility upgrades.

    The city's Capital Improvement Board is expected to vote on the deal Monday.

    The agreement locks in the Pacers through the 2023-2024 basketball season, and possibly through the end of the 2027 season. That coincides with the final debt service payments on the fieldhouse.

    The deal sticks even if the Pacers begin to lose money.

    The city's Capital Improvement Board will subsidize team operating costs to the tune of $3.7 million a year. That will cover things like liability insurance, security, and utilities. The CIB will also pay the fieldhouse's manager $7.1 million a year, with that amount rising 3 percent each year.

    In addition, the CIB will provide $26.5 million dollars to the Pacers for upgrades to seating, new paint, and improvements to locker rooms and concessions. The CIB will also pay for $7 million in improvements directly to replace the floor, upgrade the cooling tower, and improve the facility's steam pressure control system.

    Finally, the CIB will license the $16 million scoreboard and sound system the team bought in 2012. The CIB will pay $8 million over 10 years and will take title of the equipment at the end of the deal.

    In exchange, the city's Capital Improvement Board will provide $11 million to $13 million a year in operating expenses, plus $33.5 million for capital improvements at Banker's Life. The city will also spend about $8 million to acquire the team's scoreboard and sound system.

    The new deal also makes provisions in the event of the death of the team's billionaire owner, 79-year-old shopping mall magnate Herb Simon.

    If the team's lenders call its current loans due, or if those loans mature, the Pacers must seek replacement financing that is secured by collateral, likely real estate. The CIB would have time to ask state lawmakers and the City-County Council to help the Pacers obtain such financing. If the team can't obtain such financing and the Pacers' parent company, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, decides to sell the team, the city is entitled to a right of first offer.

    Supporters of the deal say it will continue to fuel the $208 million economic impact of Banker's Life by locking in its largest tenant for the foreseeable future.

    Forbes values the Pacers at $475 million. The team brought in $121 million in revenue and $12 million in profit, the magazine reported.

    The city leases Banker's Life, which opened in 1999, to the Pacers for $1 a year. The Pacers get to keep all game and non-game revenue.

    The deal could also put a new strain on the CIB's already rocky financial situation. Since last year, the semi-independent municipal corporation's expenses have outpaced revenues, leaving a projected $33.1 million budget deficit this year.

    Still, sports business experts say the average annual subsidy of $16 million for the team and the fieldhouse is typical, especially for small-market teams.

    It's tougher for owners in big markets like New York or Los Angeles to move their team to places with smaller revenue pools. But Indianapolis faces competition from a variety of other cities — some of which have NBA-ready arenas just waiting for a tenant.

    Highlights of the deal

    Term: The agreement locks in the Pacers for 10 years, or until the end of the 2024 basketball season, with three one-year renewal options.

    Funding: The city would pay about $160 million over 10 years, including $10.8 million a year for operations and $33.5 million for facility upgrades.

    Termination: The Pacers would not be allowed to terminate the agreement due to operating losses.

    Ownership: If team owner Herb Simon dies and the Pacer's loans come due, the team will be required to seek replacement financing. If they can't get it and the team is put up for sale, the city would have the right of first offer.
    "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

    "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

    Thanks for posting this. Watching the Bucks game just reminded me what a blessing for Indiana fans not to worry about this. The poor Buck fans got to be concerned with their situation.
    You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

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    • #3
      Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

      Originally posted by RWB View Post
      Thanks for posting this. Watching the Bucks game just reminded me what a blessing for Indiana fans not to worry about this. The poor Buck fans got to be concerned with their situation.
      You and I both saw how bad their arena was back in February. That's reaching critical mass pretty quickly. There's NO WAY that building is drawing the 13,505 average that ESPN is reporting, even with Coolio for halftime.
      "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

      "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

        How about the City shouldn't have to pay a team that has sold out 28 games? Seems absurd.

        They give them the profits from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, let them get all revenue from events, and pay $1 in rent a year.

        Why can't the multi billionaire owner pay for any of this?

        If the Pacers aren't making heaps of money from this year without any subsidies, they are doing something horribly wrong.

        I wish there was some provision that if the team reaches a performance standard, the subsidies are not paid in that year.
        Last edited by boombaby1987; 04-10-2014, 05:00 PM.
        There is no NBA player named Monte Ellis.

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        • #5
          Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

          Great news!

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

            The jail is overcrowded allowing monsters to roam the streets and terrorize citizens, but there just always happens to be hundreds of millions laying around to prop up the businesses of billionaire sports owners. City leaders wouldn't care if the rest of the city burned away as long as downtown continues to be propped up by taxpayer subsidies. I love the Pacers, but this city has no sense of what real priorities are.

            Upgrades to seating, paint, concession stands? All of that stuff looks FINE and still shines as if it was opened yesterday. The locker rooms look just fine too. The murder rate is as high as ever, but look at this pretty new paint we just put in the Fieldhouse!
            Last edited by Sollozzo; 04-10-2014, 05:22 PM.

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            • #7
              Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

              Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
              Upgrades to seating, paint, concession stands? All of that stuff looks FINE and still shines as if it was opened yesterday. The locker rooms look just fine too.
              They look fine now, but what about in 5 years?

              Someone probably said the same thing about the Bradley Center several years ago, look how that is turning out.
              "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

              "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                They look fine now, but what about in 5 years?
                Well the building is 15 years old and it's still sparkling, so why is it all of the sudden going to go bad in 5 years? And even if it does look bad, why should the city pay for PAINT?

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                • #9
                  Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                  Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                  You and I both saw how bad their arena was back in February. That's reaching critical mass pretty quickly. There's NO WAY that building is drawing the 13,505 average that ESPN is reporting, even with Coolio for halftime.
                  I went to the Jazz @ Bucks game back in February. Upper bowl had about 150 people max. Lower bowl very sparce as well. I would have guess about 3000 people

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                  • #10
                    Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                    Man. What a racket. Seeing the sausage made sorta kinda makes me wish I didn't care about sports.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                      Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                      Snipped...
                      And yet it's still a drop in the bucket compared to what Irsay is getting out of the City.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                        Originally posted by TinManJoshua View Post
                        And yet it's still a drop in the bucket compared to what Irsay is getting out of the City.
                        The Pacers have seemed hell bent on trying to "get theirs" ever since Ir$ay fleeced the city.

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                        • #13
                          Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                          Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
                          Well the building is 15 years old and it's still sparkling, so why is it all of the sudden going to go bad in 5 years? And even if it does look bad, why should the city pay for PAINT?
                          yep, the fieldhouse is in excellent shape. and besides, a building that is well built and properly maintained, can last for a very long time. hinkle fieldhouse is still hanging in there.
                          blf was built with the ability to handle the future. it is fine and one of the best places to see a game anywhere on earth.

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                          • #14
                            Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                            I understand people upset with tax dollars going to people that don't need it. Indy has real problems right now that this money could/should be used for.

                            But Simon is only getting fair market value for his team. It is stated in the article that the 16 million a year and rental agreement is standard nationwide.

                            Until someone pushes federal law that sport franchises can't do this, we can't fault the city or Pacers for getting what we all want, fair market value.

                            The alternative is an empty Fieldhouse that would cost taxpayers even more money.

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                            • #15
                              Re: BREAKING: Pacers reach deal with Indianapolis

                              Originally posted by clownskull View Post
                              yep, the fieldhouse is in excellent shape. and besides, a building that is well built and properly maintained, can last for a very long time. hinkle fieldhouse is still hanging in there.
                              blf was built with the ability to handle the future. it is fine and one of the best places to see a game anywhere on earth.
                              Upkeep, upkeep, upkeep. The place is going to need HVAC, roofwork, etc within those 10 years or so, to keep it able to handle the future instead of being a dump like the Bradley Center has become.

                              I'm not a fan of using taxpayer money either, but that's how you gotta play the game these days. I'd rather use the taxpayer $$$ on the Indiana Pacers in the greatest basketball on earth/Temple of Doom than be spending taxpayer $$$ on an empty building and having to watch the Las Vegas/ Seattle/ Kansas City Pacers.
                              Last edited by Sandman21; 04-10-2014, 06:06 PM.
                              "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                              "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                              Comment

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