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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Another year over and ?

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  • #1

    Another year over and ?

    2 days ago our season ended.

    Most of us are still trying to deal with withdrawal symptoms, I know I am for sure.

    Lots of speculation already started of where this team will go in the off-season, what trades, picks, signings and those are the only things left for us to discuss.
    Oh I forgot, Ron's return to his old bad habits are also a heafty topic, because he was given a flagrant 1, please make sure that I wrote "given".

    So many changes this past season, this board not being the least of them, and they all had an impact on our lives and our team.

    What went well this season?

    We finally got back to the ECF and if it wasn't for some nasty injuries we would have most likely proceeded to the finals. (yes I do think that losing Tins and JO is a legit excuse to lose in the ECF and no one is going to convince me that we would not have had better results with the two of them healthy).

    Ron's, Jamaal's and Fred's development this season were eyeopeners to say the least.
    The team as a whole produced the whole year as a contender, and I for one thank them for it.

    Of course I can now do as the others have done (and better then I could) and analyze all players individually, and God knows what more, but I will not bore you with that.

    (I prefer specualtion anyway )

    So what now? Where from here? Where to?

    Some needs are so obvious, speculation raised to a an all-time high so shortly after the season ending, that even the local wrap is writing about it. Other may arise from what does and does not happen, and that is the part I'm interested in the most. What, if X happens, do we do about Y?

    Let's take some "obvious" things:

    Al get's traded. We all know that it nearly happened close to the trade deadline but the injury to Ron more or less prevented it. In retrospect, the deal that was on the table (Big) would have been "ok" but not "exactly" what has become the "obvious" need for this team: SG.

    Is management prepared to trade Ron? I doubt it, the deal they have in place allows them to do that at any given stage, he's not exactly a burden on the pay-roll (Al and JB make more, heck even Polly and Cro make more) and his development in the past year has been spectacular to say the least, the only spot in the horizon is the fact that Ron wants to win so bad he often thinks he knows better then coach, however the fact that he was made captain on the other hand says that coach and the team have a lot of faith in what Ron thinks and says.

    JB will most likely stay as well, after all the money invested, unless a deal DOES come along where he is tied into Al to make the trade stick I do not see him moving.
    Fred, it might be harder to keep him then we think, on the other hand, he doesn't cost anything, so keeping him would be a good thing, the kid has many many upsides and very few if any downs.
    Tinsley is a no-brainer, the way he came along this year and the outright love LB has for him make him a keeper.
    JO, also a no-brainer, unless he wants out himself, which is very doubtfull to say the least, hearing him say he wanted to do better next year (quote: "my team") makes me think he is getting better suited for his part every day. Chances that he franchise wants him replaced are zero, there are very few stars in this league as well spoken, well mannered and talented as JO.
    Reggie, it will be up to him, that much is sure, I do not see him retire, just yet, but a bench part yes. I think even he can see that he did not deliver this year and that there are no excuses for not delivering.
    As a benchplayer he will still be a force to reckon with, few players on the "second" string on other teams will be capable of dealing with the master.

    Jeff, might be a player other teams want, might on the other hand also develop an outside shot and become the C we want whether he will be tradeable or not (i.e. will they allow for a trade or not) remains the question, he will not be shopped, that much is sure.

    AJ is another black horse, he played very well in the playoffs, but he will never be more then a backup with some stagnancy in offense.
    He might be very well able to get a better contract then he has, so whether he will opt in or out remains to be seen. Now that ties in with Brewer, I believe that if AJ leaves (KA is not even the question) Brewer will be more likely to be re-signed and willing to do, then when AJ stays.

    Cro, not going anywhere unless packaged, despite his performance at times he is simply not worth the money he is being paid.
    Polly, wish we could have him play a meaningfull role, the guy is a lockerroom gem and a great comic to boost, but as a C he has not seen enough floor to even brake out a sweat. Who knows, if no one wants him and Cro and Al leave he might get more minutes and show us what he showed in the West before he came here, I still have a feeling that as a player/human he did not get in his stride untill the near end of the season, by then to late to make enough of an impact to play himself into the rotation.

    Remains PB, and I really have no idea whether he will be exposed (in which case he will be gone) or kept in which case Polly is gone.

    Now: let's assume we can get a reputable shooter like T-Mac (I say no to Allen for a lot of reasons) that would cost at least Al and someone else.
    Why someone else: I believe that IF T-Mac opts out and agrees to a S&T, (no team will take him for one year only) he will cost less then most here think, he has the option to not sign a contract wherever he is traded to and that would lower the value they are going to get for him extremely (no one is going to give up A list players to rent T-Mac for a year) so in trading him they will have to set the standard with what T-Mac wants, not the highest bidder unless T-Mac agrees on two or three options that can then offer, but that is a scenario I do not really see happening.
    Don't forget, S&T is "get what we can before we get nothing".

    Anyway: Al gone without JB; JB moves in Al's role. we have a new SG and the remainder of the rotation will stay mostly in tact.
    Al gone WITH JB, now we might move PB into the rotation, providing he is still here, or Cro get's more airtime behind Jeff, A seperate deal to find a C that costs so little we can afford him or trading him for Cro is highly unlikely.
    Polly as I said could also still turn into a dark horse, who knows.

    Whatever happens, I do not see us trading heavy for a big man, perhaps (after listening to Rick) we might trade a Cro for a high(er) draft pick and select a new BIG project, but after the current few debacles in project I somehow doubt that, we will certainly not trade people like Al or JB for high draftpicks, they can get us contributors which is far more important considering the average age of this team, a contributor would allow us to be a title contender for the next 5 years without waiting.

    As for other options: Al will be the #1 trade bait we have, add JB, Polly, Cro to that and in final instance Fred
    KA, JJ, will not likely be back, AJ is doubtfull as is Brewer.
    PB will if not protected go to the Bobcats,
    JO, Ron, Reg, Jeff and Tins will most likely be untouchable.

    So have your pick on the trade options, IF T-Mac becomes available it would be good to hear him say he would be interested in the Pacers before we get any hopes up, if he has, we have the best cards.
    There are a lot of other teams out there which are not yet in the picture as far as trades go, but they all have to address certain areas, think Golden State and likes.

    Well this is to long as it is anyway, so more later.
    So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

    If you've done 6 impossible things today?
    Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Another year over and ?

    Now: let's assume we can get a reputable shooter like T-Mac (I say no to Allen for a lot of reasons) that would cost at least Al and someone else.
    Why someone else: I believe that IF T-Mac opts out and agrees to a S&T, (no team will take him for one year only) he will cost less then most here think, he has the option to not sign a contract wherever he is traded to and that would lower the value they are going to get for him extremely (no one is going to give up A list players to rent T-Mac for a year) so in trading him they will have to set the standard with what T-Mac wants, not the highest bidder unless T-Mac agrees on two or three options that can then offer, but that is a scenario I do not really see happening.
    Don't forget, S&T is "get what we can before we get nothing".
    I don't want Tracy McGrady here for 2 reasons.

    1.) As I have heard many times elsewhere & I happen to agree with it; he may be a great shooter/1on1 player, but he doesn't make his teammates around him better.

    2.) His attitude and maturity (or lack of) concerns me. The comments he has made about possibly retiring has left its impact on me.

    I think there are players out there who fit in better with this Pacers squad.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Another year over and ?

      ooooooh if it is wishes that are honoured then I would love to see Jason Richardson come in as SG

      I'd think he'd be a marvellous fit for this team, great shooter and did I hear anyone say something about slashing?
      So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

      If you've done 6 impossible things today?
      Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Another year over and ?

        tmac does have maturity issues, but he is a great player. I think he makes his teammates better than most people give him credit for.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Another year over and ?

          I think Tmac is just very frustrated by the losing. Get him on a winning team and attitudes change very quickly.


          2006 WORLD CHAMPION INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

          Comment

          • #6
            Here's what I think!

            I think Tmac is just very frustrated by the losing. Get him on a winning team and attitudes change very quickly.
            That's the thing. A person with great maturity won't be bothered, or at least not publicly, by that. What if we trade for him and go on to be one of the worst teams next year? Will he be demanding a trade to get out of here? No one knows, but I don't want to have to worry about players like that.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Another year over and ?

              I like how every thread now turns into a T-Mac thread . J/K.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Another year over and ?

                I like how every thread now turns into a T-Mac thread . J/K.
                Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

                Comment

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