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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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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"

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"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.

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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:

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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

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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.

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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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SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

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  • #1

    SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

    I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this but the Pacers are starting to catch the national media's eye again. This time it's because of their play and not about what has happened in Auburn Hills.

    Not a great article by Kelly Dwyer, the guy seems to be a little critical of Jack but he's right to a certain degree. Anyways it's good to see that someone is noticing that the Pacers are starting to play pretty impressive basketball.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ers/index.html

    Overconfidence is a funny thing. Teams can pay all the lip service they want to opponents before each game, but in the heat of battle, when the unconscious takes over, it's hard to not lower expectations of an opponent whose record and/or personnel suggest inferiority.

    It is that sort of subliminal letdown that has allowed the Indiana Pacers to go 9-7 in the month of March and keep their playoff hopes alive. Currently two games up on Philadelphia and seeded seventh in the East, Indiana is just a half-game behind the Cavaliers and three in back of Chicago, two teams they'll host at home before the regular season ends.

    The Pacers don't prey on opponents lulled into a false sense of security by an Indiana roster that has lost four of its five starters for long stretches this season -- and will be without the services of Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley for the rest of it; rather, the Pacers take advantage of opponents' eagerness. Teams are so intent upon beating the Pacers by 20, that they forget the little things that help them win by two. So while a Miami Heat club abandons its game plan in anticipation of blitzing the Pacers off the court, coach Rick Carlisle has his squad walking the ball up the floor, playing possession by possession while carefully reading situations and not getting ahead of themselves.

    Though playing out his final season, Reggie Miller again has become the team's leader, partly because he never lacks for confidence, party because he's healthy but mainly because of his status as an all-time Pacers great. His teammates may not be in awe of his abilities (Has anyone ever been in awe of Miller's game?), but they can't help but feed off the derring-do of a man who has missed the playoffs just three times in his Hall of Fame career. Miller still provides his team an edge, allowing them to assume that any close contest heading into the game's final minutes is Indiana's to lose, because Carlisle will draw up an involved series of screens, and Miller will no doubt nail the clutch jumper. That's the fun of playing with a living highlight reel.

    While the Pacers rely on Miller for spiritual guidance, they rely on Stephen Jackson for offensive leadership, largely because he is the only healthy Pacer that can consistently create his own look at the basket. Indiana doesn't take many bad shots, but as a team, Jackson takes enough for the whole lot of them. As such, this season hasn't done much for the team's confidence in Jackson, even without calling into question his 30-game suspension.

    Jackson doesn't have the quickness to play against most shooting guards. Though he's proven to be a consistent scorer (18.6 points a game this season), one has to wonder how he'll adapt to playing alongside fellow lead-foots such as Artest and Tinsley next season.

    But Artest's return is paramount. O'Neal, and even Tinsley in some spots, produces better statistics, but Artest is clearly the Pacers' most important player. Off-court issues aside, Artest's ability to confuse opponents (and his own teammates, apparently) on both sides of the ball allows the Pacers to pull off runs and pull away from other teams. Few players in this league can take over games like Artest, whose instinctive decisions on offense bring to mind the Sugar Ray Richardson or even John Havlicek. Unfortunately, his Mitch "Blood" Green impersonation has him on the shelf until next October.

    With Artest out, Tinsley was asked to act as the straw that stirred the drink, and for a while, he succeeded. Playing the best basketball of his career, Tinsley took on more of a scorer's role while still running Carlisle's slow-down offense. With O'Neal, Jackson and Artest suspended, and various Pacers missing games to injury during December and January, Tinsley kept things together. Leading a cast of misfits and a bench that rarely suited five players, Tinsley managed to piece together a 13-21 record with the Pacers between the brawl and a foot sprain that effectively derailed his season on Jan. 31. Hardly a stellar mark, to be sure, but enough to keep the team in the playoff race.

    Tinsley has played just 40 combined minutes since his sprain, but the Pacers have actually improved since then, even with O'Neal playing in just half of the games. Jackson has undoubtedly helped, but Anthony Johnson has engineered Indiana's 17-11 record in February and March as Tinsley's stand-in. Entering the league in 1997 as an unheralded free agent out of Charleston College, Johnson showed a knack for defense early on, but a screwball jumper and limited athleticism drove him from team to team, included a stop in the NBDL, before receiving a surprising four-year contract from the Pacers last summer.

    Though Tinsley is one of the best defensive point guards in the game, there has been little drop-off with Johnson around, and more possessions to exploit because of Johnson's refusal to turn the ball over. After taking 15 seconds to walk the ball up court, Johnson makes entry passes into the post from inside the arc, which isn't the sort of spacing teams are used to. Because he's a lunge or two inside the 3-point line, Johnson also acts as an extra screener for Miller, who can always use an extra inch or two to squeeze off his shots.

    Even with Miller and Jackson firing away and O'Neal on the shelf, Indiana has proven surprisingly capable in the paint. Minus O'Neal, the Pacers have been outrebounded by less than two caroms a game, a figure that can only improve if Carlisle affords more minutes to Jeff Foster. Dale Davis may be admirably manning the middle (averaging 7.1 points and 9.4 boards), but he could use the help of Foster, one of the league's best offensive rebounders, Foster has the quickness and jumping ability to move around or over opponents. He also has the strength to muscle for position good enough to grab 14.1 boards for every 40 minutes he plays, further proof that the 26.7 minutes he gets a night are too few.

    In becoming a plodding team with a talent for tracking down wayward shots, Indiana promises to be an infuriating playoff opponent. Frustrated by Indiana's pace, impatient opponents are sure to force up bad shots after seemingly waiting an eternity to get the ball. Carlisle is also big on exploiting mismatches, whether it's running Miller through screens away from slower or inexperienced defenders, or posting up whoever has a size mismatch. Because their patience allows them to focus solely on one possession at a time, this piecemeal approach works.

    As it stands, Indiana will take on their buddies in Detroit in the first round. Though the Pacers, Miller especially, haven't exactly kept quiet about the NBA's treatment of the franchise since the brawl at the Palace, they've hardly chafed as much as the defending champs since the incident. As flaky and moody as the Pistons appear, the Pacers could make the matchup a horror show for Detroit.

    And the way this team has been playing recently, nothing should surprise anyone anymore.
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  • #2
    Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

    tinsley one of the top defenders in the league????????? wasnt it just this summer that we were saying how he needed to improve his defense?

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    • #3
      Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

      Originally posted by BigDawg44
      tinsley one of the top defenders in the league????????? wasnt it just this summer that we were saying how he needed to improve his defense?
      I was not.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

        Yeah that's wrong. I think his hands are quick and he reads the passing lanes great but his man to man defense leaves something to be desired.

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        • #5
          Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

          The rest of that paragraph is discussing offense, I wonder if its a typo.

          And Kelly Dwyer makes me laugh more than any other sports reporter.

          Does anybody else remember his 2000-01 season preview article for the Pacers, when he was at NBATalk.com (prior to when they folded/ became ESPN.Insider)? He staged it as a "Presedential debate" between the incumbent, Reggie, and challenger, Isiah. It might be the funniest 'serious' season preview article I've ever read.
          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

          • #6
            Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

            Pretty good, Article I think I get what he means by Jamaals defense.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

              I actually aggree, but not everyone might with this part:

              "But Artest's return is paramount. O'Neal, and even Tinsley in some spots, produces better statistics, but Artest is clearly the Pacers' most important player. Off-court issues aside, Artest's ability to confuse opponents (and his own teammates, apparently) on both sides of the ball allows the Pacers to pull off runs and pull away from other teams. Few players in this league can take over games like Artest, whose instinctive decisions on offense bring to mind the Sugar Ray Richardson or even John Havlicek."

              Regards,

              Mourning
              2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

              2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

              2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                Sure is nice to have a over paid bench like AC the Jones boys, Boy thank you DW and Larry I love it, Plus Pollard,

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                  ^^^^ Need to brush up on your facts there Dirt. The Jones are paid almost nothing. And do you know how many teams would Pay 6 Million for somebody who is willing and able to slow down Shaq.

                  Brush up your facts

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                    I agree with this artical and its a good artical.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                      Croshere is overpaid. You can argue about some of his other adjectives, but not the "overpaid" part.
                      This space for rent.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                        Originally posted by Anthem
                        Croshere is overpaid. You can argue about some of his other adjectives, but not the "overpaid" part.
                        Well, if you want to get technical, every NBA player is overpaid. What they do isn't nearly as important to the grand scheme of things as most professions.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                          And I think Dirt was reffering to Pollard not Cro

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                          • #14
                            Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                            Originally posted by travmil
                            Well, if you want to get technical, every NBA player is overpaid. What they do isn't nearly as important to the grand scheme of things as most professions.
                            That's crap. Oft-repeated crap, but crap nonetheless. Value and importance aren't related. You can say "Teachers are more important than basketball players" and that's true. But they're not paid more because there are hundreds of thousands of quality teachers in this world, but less than two hundred that can play quality NBA basketball.

                            Value is determined by the free market, not by importance to society.
                            This space for rent.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: SI.com article: Slow and Steady Keeps Pacers in the Race

                              Tinsley certainly isn't one of the top defensive point guards in the game, but his D has improved every year and he is not a bad defender. He has a great nose for the ball, as far as getting steals.

                              I don't agree with his assessment on SJAX. I think, if anything, the team's confidence in him has only gotten better. He's a streaky shooter, I don't have a problem with that. Sure he takes some bad shots, but he seems to have a knack for hitting them when we really need them. He seems to play well no matter what position we put him at, doesn't complain, plays hard and seems to be a team first guy. I know I feel alot better about giving up Al to get him than I first did. I thought at the time it might be a good trade, but now I know it was.
                              "Just look at the flowers ........ BANG" - Carol "The Walking Dead"

                              Comment

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