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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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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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Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

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  • #1

    Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...the-nba-finals





    Indiana Pacers


    Why Pacers, Not Heat, Will Be Repping the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals




    By Shawn Tighe
    (Correspondent) on March 11, 2013

    930 reads
    18




    Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more storiesNext

    The Indiana Pacers will try to beat the Miami Heat in the playoffs this year after last season's near miss. Photo via sportige.com

    It may seem like an odd thing to say after the Miami Heat easily dispatched the Indiana Pacers last night, but in the end the Pacers will wind up representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
    Even if Danny Granger is unable to come back from injury, the Pacers have shown they can beat the Heat this season. They've done it twice this year, winning by 10 in early January and by 12 when the calender turned to February.
    Without Granger the Pacers have struggled to create offense at times, but they've done enough to overcome it so far. They currently sit at third in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind the New York Knicks and nine games behind the first-place Heat. While the Heat's 18-game winning streak has put a regular season Eastern Conference title out of reach, the Pacers have a realistic shot of finishing second in the East.
    The Knicks have struggled of late and have lost their two best players to injury over the past week. Carmelo Anthony has missed the last three games with a knee injury and Amar'e Stoudemire is out six weeks after undergoing another knee procedure.
    It wouldn't be a shock if Stoudemire were to miss the rest of the regular season, and the playoffs might be off the table if there are any setbacks. Either way, losing Stoudemire is a huge blow to a team that is already thin on the front line and hasn't been playing their best basketball.
    Therefore, the Pacers have the inside track to the No. 2 seed in the East. It goes without saying how important moving up one spot would be. The No. 2 seed in the East all but eliminates any chance of an opening-round matchup with the Boston Celtics.
    The Celtics remain one of the most dangerous teams in the East given their playoff experience and coaching. If Indiana is able to lock up the No. 2 seed, they'll avoid a first-round upset and have a much easier road to meeting Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals.
    The emergence of Lance Stephenson gives the Pacers another player capable of defending Miami's dynamic scorers.
    Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
    No one expects the Heat to lose before the Eastern Conference Finals, or even after them for that matter. But the Pacers are capable of pulling off just that type of upset. They have all the necessary ingredients to beat the Heat.
    Paul George gives the Pacers an athletic wing to match up with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James on the outside. George is also the Pacers' most dangerous player on the offensive end. He's gotten progressively better over the years and is able to stretch the floor with his three-point shooting ability, but it's still his defense that sets him apart.
    Lance Stephenson's emergence gives the Pacers another weapon to put on Wade or LeBron. Stephenson is rather unheralded outside NBA circles, but the third-year man from Cincinnati gives the Pacers a relentless defender capable of frustrating opponents.
    Inside is Indiana's biggest advantage, despite the shortcomings of Roy Hibbert. If Hibbert were somehow to miraculously get on track during the final month of the regular season, Indiana could be lethal come playoff time. The chances are he'll continue to monotonously miss bunnies around the rim, but he has played better lately.
    Hibbert has averaged 12 points on 55 percent shooting since the All-Star break, improving on his 10 percent and 41 percent shooting prior to it. As I said, if HIbbert is able to continue to improve the Pacers could be lethal, especially against the Heat's weak interior.
    The front-line player who sets Indiana apart is David West. West gives the Pacers a toughness in the middle the Heat don't have. I'll admit the pick-up of Chris "Birdman" Anderson was a shrewd move by Miami, but I'd still take Indiana's front line over Miami's (for argument's sake I don't consider LeBron part of Miami's front line. If LeBron is involved in any debate it's not really a debate—let's be honest. So in "front line" I mean power forward and center).
    West and Hibbert should be able to dominate the Heat's soft front line on the glass come playoff time.
    David West and the Pacers have played great defense all year. Their defensive intesity could slow down Miami's high-powered attack.
    Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
    Collectively, the Indiana Pacers have played great defense all year. They're first in points per 100 possessions and second in total points allowed per game. Teams like to play slow and defensively minded in the playoffs, something the Pacers have been doing all year.
    Part of the reason the Celtics have been a thorn in the Heat's side over the past few years is because they, much like the Pacers, play playoff-style basketball all season long. Any team that can effectively clamp down on Miami has had success in the past, and it's something the Pacers are capable of doing during a seven-game series.
    Granger is the X-factor in this whole equation. He was able to come back for a five-game stretch a week-and-a-half ago, but could miss another week after re-aggravating his knee. Even if Granger comes off the bench and gives Indiana 20 minutes a night, it would be a tremendous boost to its depth and scoring. Granger showed he was unafraid of LeBron during last season's playoffs, so having him back against the the Heat this year could be what puts Indiana over the top.
    Beating the Heat will not be easy, especially in a seven-game series, but people will get too wrapped up in yesterday's defeat. The Pacers caught the Heat when they were the hottest—pun intended. Miami has been firing on all cylinders over the past month, riding a 17-game winning streak into Sunday night's matchup.
    It seems unlikely, but Miami could be peaking at the wrong time. Over the next month a lot can happen. The Pacers will likely get their most talented scorer back, their big-time offseason re-signing may continue to improve and the favorable No. 2 seed in the East will be up for grabs.
    When it comes down to a seven-game series anything can happen. Miami has struggled on the road all season, and the Pacers have the confidence to beat the Heat. It's a dangerous combination. Indiana put a scare in the Heat last year during the playoffs, but this season they will try to take the next step and finish them off.
    Smothered Chicken!
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

    Lotta ifs in that article.... if Hibbert gets on track... if Granger returns to form... if the Heat are peaking too soon...

    Not that I disagree with the overall tone of the article, but it certainly illustrates how many things have to go the Pacers' way down the stretch in order for them to have a chance in a seven game series vs the Heat.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

        I don't really buy this article. It's not bad, it's just too early to say something like that.
        Originally posted by Piston Prince
        Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
        "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

          So the Heat are on an 18 game winning streak and they just obliterated the Pacers and the Bleacher Report thinks this is the time to declare the Pacers Eastern Conference Champions. This is why that website sucks.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

            Originally posted by bshall View Post
            So the Heat are on an 18 game winning streak and they just obliterated the Pacers and the Bleacher Report thinks this is the time to declare the Pacers Eastern Conference Champions. This is why that website sucks.
            Certainly odd timing.

            Of course, the Pacers still won the H2H 2-1. Protected home court against Miami. +9 in 3 games, even with the "blowout" Sunday night.

            Point is, the Pacers whooped Miami at home twice, got whooped on the road once. No reason to overstate the meaning of ANY of the 3 games.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

              Actually I believe that this is correct, the Heat are the favorites, but....
              Go Pacers!

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                Good, if Bleacher Report says it, then it must be true.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                  I have never understood nor agreed with the notion that a team could "peak too soon"

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                    Hooray, Bleacher Report! Best frandz!

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                      Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                      I have never understood nor agreed with the notion that a team could "peak too soon"
                      It's just another way of saying "what you are doing now means nothing in the future". The 1987 Lakers peaked to soon to win a tile this year, for example.

                      The idea being that if a team is going to get locked in then obviously it's best to be locked in when it is most useful. You are jumping on an implied corollary that somehow there is also an expectation that you can't maintain a playing level, or can't even continue to get better. I can agree with that.

                      However probability suggests that it's really tough to maintain a level that's abnormal from the mean. The Heat were NOT winning at this level earlier in the season and they've done nothing to the roster to create this change. Lebron has way too many years playing to think that suddenly he just now gets it and found his shooting touch. He's just dialed in and on fire.

                      But no players stay on fire forever, not even Jordan.

                      The Heat are pushing for a record winning streak and there is a reason why there is a record that is less than 70+ games. It's just hard to maintain the level of play it takes to do that. And that implies that their next 18 games will not be as good as the prior 18 games. That's the reality of it.

                      This doesn't mean they will fall off so much as to be non-Finals worthy, just that they will "fall off" by some measure. They will lose another game at some point which will be less than what they've been doing for the last month. But as you suggest this doesn't ensure a total failure or multitude of losses. So there is truth and fiction in "peak too soon".

                      But the Oakland A's sure know about it (see Moneyball), as so the Seattle Mariners, as do the Seattle Sonics. Season wins are not playoff wins. It's just a helpful indicator of quality, not an absolute.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                        Also, Bleacher Report is nuts. This article now seems like something to drive readership and controversy. Or it's homerism.

                        I think writers (and readers) get bored with the obvious story, so they go in search of an alternate angle. But the fact is that right now only a fool would bet against the Heat, at least straight up (ie, no odds or points spread).

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                          Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
                          Or it's homerism.
                          The author states that he is a New York Knicks fan on his Bleacher Report page so we can safely assume that it's not homerism
                          Originally posted by IrishPacer
                          Empty vessels make the most noise.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                            BR wants page views. "Miami will win East" is about like saying the "Sun rises in the East".

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Bleacher report: Pacers will win East

                              Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                              BR wants page views. "Miami will win East" is about like saying the "Sun rises in the East".
                              Yeah, this seems like the classic contrary opinion in search of attention tactic.

                              Comment

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