Hello people,
Whether you're a long-time forum member or just signed up today, it's a good idea to read and review the following rules to get a good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.
A quick note to new members: your posts will not appear immediately when you create them. An administrator must at least approve your first post before the forum software will upgrade your account to full member status. This usually happens within a few hours of your posts being approved, so you may need to be patient at first.
Why we're doing this To make it harder for spammers (whether humans or bots) to post, and banned users can't immediately re-register and start spewing verbal flames at people.
Below are the Pacers compendium rules. After reading them, you'll have a good idea of where we came from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.
rule 1
Pacer's Digest is meant to be a place to talk about basketball without having to delve into the behaviors or attitudes that prevent people from staying connected to discuss the issues at hand.These unwanted distractions can come in many forms and it is true that it can sometimes be difficult to define each type that can occur, but we believe that the following examples and explanations should cover at least a good part of this area and should at least give people people a good idea. a Head Start. Idea of things you activatediscourage:
"Anyone who __________ is a liar/a fool/a jerk/a blind homer/has his head buried in the sand/haters blindly/don't know basketball/don't watch games"
"Intelligence people will agree with me when I say that __________"
"Only fools think/believe/do ___________"
"I can't wait to hear from PosterX if it sees **insert a specific incident or recent event that is likely to upset or disappoint PosterX**."
"He/she is just delusional"
"This thread is stupid/useless/embarrassing"
"I'll take a moment to point that out.
/ laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert thought/belief here*"
“Remember when PosterX told OldCommentY that it didn't look good anymore?"
Generally when a comment goes from being purely topical to something "ad hominem".(personal hits, personal shots, assaults, flames, whatever you want to call it, for one person or a group of people or a specific city/state/country of people),these are likely to be considered intolerable.
We also discourage passive-aggressive behavior. This can be a wide variety of things, but common examples are statements that basically mean someone is stupid or incapable of carrying on a reasonable conversation. This can include (but not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions instead of offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is that sign X says "this player isn't that bad" and then sign Y says something similar to "LOL, do you think this player is good". We will not tolerate this type of comment out of respect for the community at large and will only try to have an honest conversation.
Now, does the above cover absolutely every kind of unwanted distraction? probably not butYou should already have a good idea of the general types of things.we will discourage. The examples above should give you a good idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens and leads to the same problem (i.e. any other attitude or behavior that would ultimately divert discussion from the topic at hand or be disrespectful to other posterers), we can and will take steps to do it as soon as possible. Okay, so please don't take this to mean that if you technically managed to avoid something like one of the above examples, you're kind of out of the woods.
all toldWe strive to do this in a generally friendly and respectful manner., nor does it mean that the moment we see something we don't like, someone will be suspended or banned. It just means that we'll at least probably say something about it, possibly removing the distracting parts of the post in question, omitting the parts that just discuss the issues, andin case of a repetitive or excessive problem, then we'll start issuing violations to try and prevent the problems from reoccurring, and if things just don't seem to be getting better, suspensions or bans will eventually kick in.We'd rather it had never come to this, and especially for most of our posters it will never be necessary.
A slip up now and then is pretty normal, but then again, if it's repetitive or excessive, something will get done.Something occasional is likely to be left out (within reason), but if it starts to become a habit or pattern, we will most likely step in.
There is always a small minority that likes to push people's buttons and/or test their own limits against admins, and if anyone does please note this is not a court case, this is a private site owned by people who are just trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we believe you have a special case that requires exceptional treatment because your behavior does not specifically reflect one of our examples above, which we generally discourage, we can and will take unusual steps to prevent it: please continue if you do not cooperate with us.
Also, keep in mind that simply stating that "I was just kidding" won't get you a pass, because honestly, when someone really is just kidding, most people tend to get the joke, including the person or group that is the joke. butt of the joke , and on the other hand, if an honest joke is taken seriously and upsets or irritates someone, the person isIn fact'just kidding' will usually go out of his way to apologize and try to fix the fences. people who aredishonestthat what you say is a 'joke' is not, and that in turn becomes a clear signal of what is really going on. It's nothing new.
In any case,Frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum community is more important than any one problematic user., no matter how exactly an issue plays out, and whether the choice is to be made between you or the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community will always win on this forum.
Finally, there are also some posters, most of which make great contributions and do not cause any problems,who sometimes feel it is their duty to provoke or otherwise "fight"that small minority of people described in the last paragraph and while we can understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like this, the truth is thatIn fact, we cannot tolerate this type of behavior on your part, just as we cannot tolerate your behavior.. So if we feel like you're trying to provoke other users to do or say something that gets them in trouble, we'll view that as a problem as well, for the same reason we did before: the general health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes things worse. Some just won't agree with this philosophy but if so then so be it because ultimately we should do what we think is best while it's up to us.
If you come across an issue that we haven't covered, the best and most appropriate way for a forum member to look is to the left of the post in question. See the name of the poster, the avatar and other information below, where is a small triangle with an exclamation point (!)? Pin it. That way you can report the post to the admins so we can definitely take note and see what we think we should do about it.Also, of course, it is human nature to sometimes want to talk to the author of the post in question that has upset you, but we ask that you refrain from doing so, as it often happens that two or more posters come and go. the original offending post, and then suddenly the whole thread went off-topic or derailed. While the need for self-control is understandable, it's better to just report it and let us handle it. Thank you!
All of the above is checked on a case-by-case basis, but generally and generally, this should give anyone a good idea of how things are generally/most often handled.
Rule No. 2
If an admin's actions inspire you to post a comment, criticism, or concern, there's a wrong place and some right places to do it.
oWrong placeit should be done in the original thread where the admin acted. For example, if a post is violated, a post is deleted, or a comment is cut from a larger post, it is wrong in a thread that talks about Paul George to divert attention from the Paul George discussion by adding your off-topic thoughts about what the administrator did.
oright placesdo these are:
A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk aboutin the comment field. It's a way of expressing yourself in an area that doesn't distract from another topic and also allows others to contribute their bit if they want to and if there's anything else the admins have to say, they'll reply. .
B) Senda private messageto admins, and they can reply to you this way.
If done incorrectly, those comments will be removed, and if it's a recurring issue, you may also receive a violation.
Rule No. 3
If a banner annoys you and an administrator doesn't take care of it or wants to treat it the way you prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal that has recently been updated and is now better than ever: the ability to ignore a user.
Unfortunately, if you ignore a user, you'll still see some evidence of their existence (there's nothing we can do about it).However,does the following main things:
A) Every post they create is completely invisible when you scroll through a thread.
B) The new addition to this feature: if someone QUOTES a user you ignore, you don't have to read who it was or what the sign said unless you bothered to click a link to find out who it was and what it said. .
To use this feature, on any page in Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look in the top right hand corner where it says "Settings" and click on it. On the Settings page, look on the left side of the page where it says "My Settings" and from there look down until you see "Edit Ignore List" and click on it. From here it says "Add a member to your list..." Below that, click the text box to the right of "Username", type or copy-paste the username of the poster you're ignoring to Look in the box all the way to the right and click the "OK" button. All ready!
Rule No. 4
Violations currently have a value ofone point each, and this point will beexpires in 31 days. If at any time a poster is loadedthree points at once, this poster is suspended untilthe eldest of the threepoints expire.
Rule No. 5
If you share or paste content or articles from another website,You must provide the URL/link where you found it, who wrote it, and what site it came from. This content will be removed if this is not the case.
An example:
When I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I post something like this:
http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
article title
Name of the authors
Indianapolis Star
Rule No. 6
We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest.That meansDo not share linksfor her,do not mentionany websites they host or link to,do not describe how to findanyway anddon't askabout you. Posts that do this will be removed, perpetrators will be contacted privately, and if the issue becomes a habit, you will be suspended, and if it persists, you will likely be banned.
The legal ways to watch or listen to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (US or international, both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (free). Look it up on NBA.com.
Rule No. 7
Provocative statements in a signature or as an avatar or as a "tagline" under a banner's username (which defaults to "Member" or "Admin" if not changed).an unwanted distractionwhich will probably be removed immediately. This can be shades of grey, but generally it could be something political or religious.who is likely to provoke or annoy people or do something petty at the expense of a cartel, a group of people, or a population.
It may or may not be obvious, butthis also applies to threads and posts., especially if it is not done in an off-topic setting (market square).
we make exceptionswhen we think the content is harmless and not likely to cause social problems on the forum(like wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also make exceptions when these issues come up in relation to an athlete's character (like the Lance Stephenson situation, which raises discussions of domestic violence and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that led to some gay rights debates).
However, since the discussion seems to be more/mainly about political issues than the nature of the sport or its specific situation, the thread is usually closed.
Rule No. 8
We preferself-control and/or modestywhen you make jokes or off-topic comments in a sports discussion thread. Although they can be funsometimes they derail or distractof a problem and we don't want that to happen. If we determine there is a problem, we will delete or move these posts from the thread.
Rule No. 9
Generally,we try to be a "PG-13" rated badge, and we do not want to see sexual or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a trickier topic, but we'd rather skew things more "PG-13" than "R." If we feel things have gone too far, we will intervene.
Rule No. 10
we likesmall firms, not big firms. The longer the signature, the more likely it is to be an annoying or disturbing signature.
Rule No. 11
announce nothingwithout first talking to the administrators about it. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messages and/or by creating a topic or post.