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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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NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

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  • NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4...on-report-card

    Chicago Bulls: A-

    Anytime you start the offseason by firing an incompetent coach (Vinny Del Negro) and hire the league’s top assistant/defensive guru (Tom Thibadeou) it’s a great start.

    Unlike some other clubs with sufficient cap space (New Jersey cough cough), the Bulls were able to sign a true need at power forward with Carlos Boozer.

    Booz should fit in like a glove, as he is now paired with an athletic center in Joakim Noah and phenom point guard in Derrick Rose.

    Even prior to signing Boozer, the Bulls get bonus points for unloading the contract of Kirk Hinrich on draft day.

    And besides the Boozer acquisition, the Bulls filled the roster around him nicely.

    Kyle Korver is a shooter the team desperately needed, with the penetrating of Rose and post play of the aforementioned Carlos Boozer in place.

    Ronnie Brewer should help on key defensive wing assignments and CJ Watson is a solid backup who can play either guard position and provide ample rest for guard Derrick Rose.

    The reason we don’t see an A here is because the team was unable to pry JJ Redick from Orlando.


    The Magic ended up surprisingly matching a very lucrative offer (even after they had acquired Quentin Richardson), but Chicago may have been better off over paying for Redick, as he would have been an absolute perfect fit next to Rose in the backcourt.

    Cleveland Cavaliers: D+

    The Cavs should not be punished for losing LeBron James.

    He clearly wanted to play with his friends and enjoy a third of the limelight in sunny Miami beach.

    Instead the Cavs should be blamed for their inability to react appropriately.

    Without James, now what is the team suppose to do with veterans Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison?

    Furthermore, what is the team’s plan?

    Rather than looking for deals to move the aforementioned vets, the team opted to replace LeBron James with Joey Graham and 2nd round pick, Christian Negaya.

    They were able to trade for young point guard Ramon Sessions and wiry center Ryan Hollins, which is a positive move for the team’s future outlook.

    In the end though, Cleveland hadn’t done enough to rebuild the club post-James and shoot for a high lotto pick in 2011.


    Right now the team has reminiscence of a perennial nine through 11 seed out East.

    The only thing preventing a failing grade here is the sympathy factor.

    Detroit Pistons: C

    The Pistons managed to land a highly touted center in the draft with Greg Monroe.

    Monroe gives the Pistons a much needed post presence and is also a very apt passer on the low block.

    The addition of Tracy McGrady may also look sexy on paper, but few skeptics even believe the former scoring champion has anything left in that frequently injured body.

    Detroit’s major, but hard to achieve goal this offseason, will be to unload the contract of Richard Hamilton.

    The team is currently spending over $22 million on their two shooting guards, Rip and Ben Gordon, and will need to find a resolution sooner, rather than later.

    Hamilton’s deal runs for three more seasons and, considering his age, his value should only depreciate from here on in.

    If the Pistons are able to move Rip, this grade sky-rockets.

    For now though a steady C is where they’re at.


    Indiana Pacers: A-

    The Pacers entered the offseason with two major questions: Who would be the power forward and point guard of their future?

    Indiana drafted a small forward in Paul George and dealt away their starting power forward, Troy Murphy.

    The team still has hope that second year forward Tyler Hansbrough could emerge as a solid power forward with further development and more minutes.

    The team also hopes that Paul George or Danny Granger can sneak in and play some spot minutes at the four slot if possible.

    Finally, it does seem that the future Power Forward role will be determined next offseason, when the Pacers will use their enormous amount of 2011 cap space on either Al Horford, Marc Gasol, or Carl Landry.

    On the point guard front, Indiana hit the jackpot.

    The Pacers were seeking a young point guard around draft time and had been rejected by Minnesota on a 10th pick for Jonny Flynn swap.

    It seemed inevitable that the team would have to resolve their issue at the one with a stop gap option or by overpaying for a veteran.

    Instead the team was able to net highly touted second year guard Darren Collison from New Orleans.


    Collison played extremely well last season filling in for Chris Paul and should enjoy a nice career in Indiana.

    Collison finally gives Granger another offensive option as well, and he allows D-Grange to focus more on the scoring end than the facilitating one.

    The cost to obtain Collison was also far less than many pundits believed, as Indiana only had to absorb the contract of James Posey and unload the expiring contract of Troy Murphy in the trade to acquire the UCLA product.


    Milwaukee Bucks: B

    The Bucks had a lot of voids to potentially fill this offseason, despite their surprising successes last year.

    The team needed a proper power forward to help out Bogut down low and provide another option at the low post, other than just the big Australian.

    Drew Gooden was not a terrible option for Milwaukee, but did the team really need to overpay Drew $6-plus million a season?

    Milwaukee also knew Stackhouse was likely going to leave, and possibly John Salmons as well, so they were able to potentially replace both with Corey Maggette via trade and Chris Douglas Roberts via free agency.

    Maggette would be a stellar sixth man for the Bucks, and he has always had a knack for getting to the free throw line.


    CDR enjoyed a nice season last year and could be a do-it-all reserve guard for the team.

    Still, with Salmons actually re-signing in Milwaukee, it is difficult to determine how he and newly acquired Corey Maggette will co-exist.

    Both have very similar styles of play and may be redundant together on the floor at the same time.

    The team also needed to replace the departure of Luke Ridnour.

    Kirk Hinrich was available on draft day and seemed like an ideal fit under Coach Skiles, mentoring Brandon Jennings.

    The team decided to wait on the backup PG role and have now signed backup guard Earl Boykins.

    Earl had played well in his former days as a Buck, but he too provides a similar style to Brandon Jennings (albeit worse) and does not satisfy the Bucks’ need for a shooter off the pine.

    Rookie Larry Sanders seems like a solid selection for the Bucks, as the VCU product should be able to play spot minutes at either big man slot and provide athleticism off of the Bucks’ bench.

    This was a tough offseason for the Bucks, as they truly needed to attain many players to fill in certain slots.

    For the most part, the team was able to, but perhaps could have used higher caliber talents with lower price tags to do so.
    Sittin on top of the world!

  • #2
    Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card

    Oh God! I didn't look at the link and then I saw the statement about Granger focusing on scoring instead of facilitating now that Collison is here and thought to myself "When has Granger EVER focused on facilitating?" then I immediately decided to check the link after I thought to myself "This is from BleacherReport isn't it?"

    My worst fears were confirmed. KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!


    Comment


    • #3
      Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card

      D-Grange?

      barfgasm
      Spikes gonna rip off my face and wear it on Halloween!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card

        Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
        Oh God! I didn't look at the link and then I saw the statement about Granger focusing on scoring instead of facilitating now that Collison is here and thought to myself "When has Granger EVER focused on facilitating?" then I immediately decided to check the link after I thought to myself "This is from BleacherReport isn't it?"

        My worst fears were confirmed. KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!
        Exactly what I did after seeing Marc Gasol listed as a power forward target.
        This is the darkest timeline.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card

          I like what the Bucks have done in adding veterans, which Skiles will do his magic with and being a tough team to play.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

            I've edited in a warning that it's just bleacher report garbage. I wish people would stop acknowledging them.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

              Overall I thought it was a decent writeup. And I never tire of reading that the Pacers acquired Collison. There are times it still doesn't seem real.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                I too didn't think it was bad outside of the Granger facilitating comment.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                  Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                  I've edited in a warning that it's just bleacher report garbage. I wish people would stop acknowledging them.
                  I think that is a little harsh my friend

                  I admit its not a "credible site" for rummors etc., but

                  There is nothing wrong with reading an opinion written by someone who follows basketball, it was not in the "fantasy trade" mode. Plus they are affilated with CBS Sports , I believe so that should hold a little weight

                  just putting my two cents in

                  Thanks
                  Sittin on top of the world!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                    No no no,

                    The silliest comment in the whole thing was this:

                    Chicago Bulls: A-

                    Anytime you start the offseason by firing an incompetent coach (Vinny Del Negro) and hire the league’s top assistant/defensive guru (Tom Thibadeou) it’s a great start.
                    In the future, Thibadeou could either be great or a bust. Right now, he's 100% unknown.

                    "Most" people around here that follow the NBA (ahem, all seven of them) thought that Vinnie Del Negro did a credible job. Sure, he was inexperienced when he started but he made good progress. Meanwhile, they replaced him with another guy who's never been in the hotseat. This wasn't a coaching upgrade at all, and it remains to be seen if it is a downgrade or not.

                    Meanwhile, the natives aren't all that happy with the prospect of watching another coaching rookie make rookie mistakes. (I've offered them Isiah, since he's not a rookie coach anymore. Sadly, this new guy is an upgrade over Isiah.)

                    Most likely, in a couple of years Thibadeou will be chased out of town and labeled as a disappointment. And the cycle will repeat itself again.
                    Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                    Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                    Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                    Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                    And life itself, rushing over me
                    Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                    Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                      This is good to read even though it is a Bleacher Report.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                        Originally posted by 90'sNBARocked View Post
                        There is nothing wrong with reading an opinion written by someone who follows basketball, it was not in the "fantasy trade" mode. Plus they are affilated with CBS Sports , I believe so that should hold a little weight
                        Well, true. But a bleacher report article can be written by people that have seen 3 total nba games in the past 3 years, caught a boxscore one day, or just decided to take a gander at the NBA.com stat lists to develop their opinion on the entire league.

                        Often times their ignorance is shown in these articles. Such as the part where writer mentions that Danny can be more a scorer than an facilitator, wrongly assuming that he's EVER been a facilitator. Or the ones in the past claiming trade rumors, when in reality they're just random message board musings.

                        The site's horrible.

                        EDIT: And by facilitator, I mean that not being a primary aspect of his game.
                        Last edited by Ozwalt72; 08-26-2010, 05:49 PM.
                        "man, PG has been really good."

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                          I watched 82 Pacer games a season ago. I can't even count how many times I thought, "I wish Granger would just concentrate on scoring a little more."
                          "I had to take her down like Chris Brown."

                          -Lance Stephenson

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                            You changed this while I was replying...

                            Originally posted by BRushWithDeath View Post
                            I watched 82 Pacer games a season ago. I can't even count how many times I thought, "I wish Granger would just concentrate on scoring a little more."
                            Anyway,

                            While Granger's assist numbers are nowhere near Chuck Person's, he was third in the team in total assists and APG last season. So he occasionally facilitates, as a matter of historical fact. But its not just Danny... there wasn't much facilitation happening anywhere on the court.

                            On the other hand, giving the Bulls an A- primarily for "upgrading" from a young coach who made the playoffs twice in two seasons and never finished below 0.500 to a different young coach who's never coached a game... That's silly.
                            Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                            Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                            Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                            Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                            And life itself, rushing over me
                            Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                            Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: NBA's Central Division: Offseason Report Card [BleacherReport]

                              Even when Bleacher Report gives the Pacers props, people ***** about it being from Bleacher Report.

                              Comment

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