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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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Al's Best Position?

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  • Al's Best Position?

    Just wondering what everyone think's Big Al's best position is and why.
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    Center
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    Power Forward
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  • #2
    Re: Al's Best Position?

    Bench and come on at PF.
    My Dream Team

    PG - A.Iverson
    SG - K.Bryant
    SF - R.Artest
    PF - J.O'Neal
    C - D.Howard

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Al's Best Position?

      Starting as SF, with either him or DG traded after this season.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Al's Best Position?

        6th man or none of the above
        “It is what we learn after we know it all that really counts” - John Wooden

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Al's Best Position?

          6th Man is Al's best spot, was the first time and still is

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Al's Best Position?

            I think he's a better SF than PF. He certainly isn't a Center despite his size. Problem is I really don't think he and JO can be effective as a tandum. Neither are motion type players and both can only be effective when they have the ball in their hands. JO's a post player, Al's a decent half-court/transition player. Given their different styles, I'd say the two will never gel because neither will ever fully nor willingly sacrafic their touches for the sake of the other. Put it this way: Sarunas and Baston work very well together. In just the 3-games were both have played together I have noticed that these two are totally in synch w/one another. Everything seems to be on automatic with them as a pair. JO and Al don't have that ... synergy. One doesn't instinctively know what the other will do. But that doesn't seem to be a problem for Sarunas and Baston.

            I guess what I'm saying is unless those two truly develop that repour on the hardwood as they apparently have off the court, they will never be an effective tandum. Hence, the reason he should come off the bench. Won't happen, but that's how I'd play him. But that creates another problem: "Will the high-octane 2nd unit remain high-octane w/Al as the 6th Man?"

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Al's Best Position?

              I'm not quite understanding the notion that Al Harrington should be a 6th man. Could someone tell me what I'm missing? He's been by far are best offensive player, and while his rebounding is lousy for a PF, it's quite good for a SF which I why I think his best position is SF.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Al's Best Position?

                1st choice - Starting SF.

                I liked how he played in the GSW game when he was on the floor with JONeal ( at the PF spot ) and Foster playing Center. He was able to rotate out with JONeal and Foster manning the paint and low post and was able to use his perimeter game effectively. Foster doesn't necessarily have to be on the floor with them......either Powell or Baston can man the paint with JONeal....basically a PF roleplayer that rebounds and defends.....either way....Harrington would be able to use his size and length against other SFs where he would likely have a mismatch.
                Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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                • #9
                  Re: Al's Best Position?

                  I'd bring him off the bench at either forward spots, depending on the matchup.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Al's Best Position?

                    Originally posted by Quis View Post
                    I'm not quite understanding the notion that Al Harrington should be a 6th man. Could someone tell me what I'm missing? He's been by far are best offensive player, and while his rebounding is lousy for a PF, it's quite good for a SF which I why I think his best position is SF.
                    It's funny, my gut reaction when I first saw this thread was to say "off the bench", but that's a product of a few different things. Much of that is due to remembering how well he performed in that role in his first stint with the Pacers. I also thought that it might be position bias, but I think it's more of role bias. I used to think of Al as a black hole, that no ball ever escaped from. I suppose it is just that JO and Al seem to have similar game styles, and the tandem doesn't seem to compliment as well as it could.

                    After thinking it through, I think that Harrington is better for us at the 3 than Granger for now. I like having Danny off the bench to help his consistency and let him be a scoring option. JO is suited well for the 4, and I like Foster at the 5. Al's been playing pretty well this year, and proving me wrong from the 3 point line. I think his shot selection has been okay, and he's made the transition back to 3 okay.

                    I think on some teams, he's make a good 4, like with the Hawks/ Suns. Hmm, actually with the Suns he'd make a better 6th man.

                    So to sum up, I sort of wanted him off the bench because we already have a guy in the low post that calls for the ball, gets the feed, and has everyone else on the team clear to the other side. Some better basketball minds on this board could confirm/deny up my feeling that he isn't very good in transition. He's a good back to the basket 3 whose range gets better every year... and I'm glad to see him in that role.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Al's Best Position?

                      I really think he should be the starting SF with Danny coming off the bench but getting 20-25 minutes per game..Unfortunately the new frontcourt with DG,Al and JO hasn't worked out but I hope David Harrison can show some improvement this season!

                      I'd really like the idea of giving Harrison a chance as the starting center (but that's all up to Him) and Granger coming off the bench!Of course, Granger has to play regularly, so he must get his minutes every night in order to improve..
                      I agree with Maragin that Al's played great so far, that's why I'd never sit him down to the bench, but depending on Granger's progress, I think the Pacers should consider the option of maybe trading on of the two at the end of this or the next season for a (I would say a) Shooting Guard who is able to split the defense, a guy who can constantly shoot 3s you know..a Reggie Miller type of player..

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Al's Best Position?

                        Originally posted by 31andonly View Post
                        I'd really like the idea of giving Harrison a chance as the starting center


                        Has the NBA ever had a player as worthless as David Harrison?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Al's Best Position?

                          Come on, who knows? Why not trying?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Al's Best Position?

                            Harrison has got many chances over the past 2 years but he still hasnt learnt. Hes the type of player that will make you go WOW one game after a 17 point 10 rebound effort but then the next game he will have 4 fouls in 7 mins.

                            Andrew Bynum looks to have improved vastly and Harrison needs to undergo the same scheme Bynum did if thats possible.

                            Until then Id rather have Foster at Center and Baston ahead of him as well.
                            My Dream Team

                            PG - A.Iverson
                            SG - K.Bryant
                            SF - R.Artest
                            PF - J.O'Neal
                            C - D.Howard

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Al's Best Position?

                              I agree with the argument that for an SF he is big and can rebound.

                              But he is too slow to stay in front of most good SFs and honestly he doesn't post them well enough to make them pay on the other end.

                              However as a PF he is more than willing to play the mismatch and pull them out to the 3pt line (with great success) and is quick enough to beat a lot of them around the court too.

                              So I said PF. No way he's playing like a 6th man. He's been a lot more consistant than Granger. Even in his good games DG is making plenty of rather large mental mistakes still. 6th man this year is a great match for him I think. Less pressure, better matchups, allows him to find his game because he isn't as limited to the structure of the other 4 starters...one reason I think he was looking to be more of a 3pt threat.



                              Having said that, I'm a big fan of the current starting lineup and rotation, which puts Al at SF to start the game.

                              Comment

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