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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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Done Deal: NBA, players agree

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  • Done Deal: NBA, players agree

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2091539
    League to announce agreement prior to Game 6




    NEW YORK -- NBA owners and players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement Tuesday, averting the possibility of a lockout.

    The league called a news conference in San Antonio prior to Game 6 of the NBA Finals, with commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter announcing their agreement, ESPN Insider Chad Ford has confirmed.

    The deal came on the fourth consecutive day of talks between the sides. The league's old seven-year agreement is due to expire on June 30.

    The league and its players' association on Monday night were close to agreeing on a new CBA that would institute a new 19-year-old age minimum, reduce contract lengths and raise the salary cap, according to sources close to both negotiating committee.

    Among the main items the players were seeking was a reduction in the so-called escrow tax under which 10 percent of their salaries are withheld if the amount of revenues devoted to players salaries exceeds a specified percentage.

    Owners had already offered to raise the salary cap from slightly more than 48 percent of revenues to 51 percent, thereby increasing the amount of money each team can spend on player salaries.

    The NBA has a system known as a "soft" salary cap, allowing teams to exceed the cap threshold to retain their own free agents, and to sign free agents under the so-called midlevel exception that was added to the labor agreement in 1999 after the sides went through a 7½-month lockout.

    Another lockout could have begun July 1.

    The agreement will still need to be ratified by the league's Board of Governors and by the members of the players' union at their annual meeting in Las Vegas next week.

    A source close to the NBA negotiating committee and a source close to the union's negotiation committee claim that all of the major issues between the sides had been agreed to in principle as of Monday night.

  • #2
    Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

    Not surprising.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

      Yeah, I never thought it would go so far as to reach a work stoppage.

      And Hicks, your sig is comedy GOLD!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

        Awesome that we don't have to worry about possibly not having a season next year.
        Super Bowl XLI Champions
        2000 Eastern Conference Champions




        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

          Thank god, now Ronnie can play in the summer league

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

            I'm not surprised they had an agreement - I AM suprised they reached one before September. Great news though I was hoping for the Super LT.
            The poster formerly known as Rimfire

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

              Soooo, what college team gets to rent Greg Oden for a year?
              Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                great news. Now we can get on to the offseason. Does anyone know why they "Just Decided" to have only 1 pepsi pro league? in vegas?
                "GIMMIE DAT!"-DANGER

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                  Originally posted by indygeezer
                  Soooo, what college team gets to rent Greg Oden for a year?
                  Maybe he should just come out now...

                  Wouldn't that throw a wrench into things.
                  You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
                  All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song

                  - Jimmy Buffett

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                    I heard somewhere that Oden turns 19 before the draft next year. Anybody know if that's true?
                    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                      Originally posted by Kegboy
                      I heard somewhere that Oden turns 19 before the draft next year. Anybody know if that's true?

                      I tried looking for his bio and all I could find was an article dated July 19, 2004 that refered to him then as 16.
                      Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                        Patting self on back!!!

                        I was one of the five people that said the league and union would reach an agreement and there would be no lockout.

                        Thirty-eight of you thought otherwise.

                        http://www.pacersdigest.com/forums/s...078#post203078

                        Will there be a lockout?

                        No, they're just posturing ................. 5 ... 11.63%
                        Yes, but it'll be resolved this summer .. 28 ... 65.12%
                        Yes, and it will last into the season .... 10 ... 23.26%

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                          Originally posted by indygeezer
                          I tried looking for his bio and all I could find was an article dated July 19, 2004 that refered to him then as 16.
                          Someone in another similar thread to this one said he'd be 19, but so far I've not verified a birthdate. I found something that appears to refer to his date of birth as 1/22/88, but it's on a foreign website and I cannot confirm it.

                          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Oden Greg Oden (born January 23, 1988 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is widely considered to be the best high school basketball player in the US. He is currently attending Lawrence North High School. Oden was named Parade Magazine High school Player of the Year 2005 (along with Monta Ellis), becoming the first junior since LeBron James to be named such.
                          Don't thank me, I'll kill ya.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                            Originally posted by Will Galen
                            Patting self on back!!!

                            I was one of the five people that said the league and union would reach an agreement and there would be no lockout.

                            Thirty-eight of you thought otherwise.

                            http://www.pacersdigest.com/forums/s...078#post203078

                            Will there be a lockout?

                            No, they're just posturing ................. 5 ... 11.63%
                            Yes, but it'll be resolved this summer .. 28 ... 65.12%
                            Yes, and it will last into the season .... 10 ... 23.26%
                            Funny, it's 6 now. Even funnier is one of the 6 is a certain newbie Ray Allen fan.

                            And Will, for you're extraordinary prescience, here's a cookie.
                            Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Done Deal: NBA, players agree

                              Here's the release from NBA.com, which gives more information. They took away some of Stern's power for suspensions.

                              SAN ANTONIO, June 21 -- The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle on the key items of a new 6-year collective bargaining agreement.

                              NBA Commissioner David Stern, Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter and President Michael Curry announced the agreement prior to Game 6 of The Finals in San Antonio.

                              “This new agreement creates a strong partnership with our players, which is critical to our prospects for continued growth on a global basis,” said Stern. “Once the deal is finalized, the NBA and its players will be able to focus on the enormous opportunities we have together.”

                              “Although a definitive written agreement must still be completed,” Hunter added, “we believe we have reached the framework for a deal that preserves and enhances gains that the players have made under the expiring agreement. The new CBA deals fairly with the issues that are important to the league, and gives our sport the continuity that will be so important to its growth and to its fans.”

                              The agreement includes an increase in the salary cap, a lessening of the impact of the luxury tax, a decrease in the escrow withholding over the term of the deal (to 8 percent), and a guarantee by the league that the players will receive no less than 57 percent of basketball related income (a percentage that will increase as revenue increases). The maximum length of player contracts will be reduced to 6 years, from their current 7, and maximum annual increases in salaries will be reduced from 12½ to 10½ percent for teams resigning their own players and from 10 percent to 8 percent for teams signing free agents.

                              On non-economic matters, the minimum entry age will be increased from 18 to 19 years and teams will have the ability to assign players with less than 2 years experience to the NBA Development League. The number of random drug tests as well as the penalties for violations will be increased. The league will guarantee that, on average, all teams will have 14-player rosters, and players suspended for more than 12 games for on-court misconduct will be able to challenge the suspension before a neutral arbitrator.

                              While the agreement is being reduced to a definitive writing, the moratorium on free agent signings presently scheduled to expire on July 14 will be extended to July 22. During this period, summer leagues may be conducted, rookies may be signed, and free agents will be permitted to negotiate, but may not sign, new contracts.

                              The agreement is subject to the approval of the NBA Board of Governors and the membership of the Players Association.


                              KEY POINTS

                              The following are the key points agreed to by the NBA and the Players Association in their new 6-year collective bargaining agreement:

                              # Players will be guaranteed to receive 57 percent of league revenues (BRI), the same percentage paid to players the last two seasons. (This is the first time the league has ever agreed to guarantee the players an agreed-upon percentage of revenues.)

                              # The Salary Cap will increase from 48 percent of BRI to 51 percent of BRI. All Cap exceptions will remain unchanged, including the Mid-Level Exception ($4.9 million per team this past season).

                              # The amount of money that can be withheld from player salaries under the “escrow” system will be reduced from 10 percent of salaries in year 1 of the new deal to 9 percent in years 2 through 5 and 8 percent in year 6. The 57 percent escrow level will increase with revenue growth.

                              # The effect of the existing luxury tax on teams will be reduced and there will be no additional taxes. The tax level will be set at 61percent of league revenues (the same level as in the 2001-02 – 2003-04 seasons). Tax treatment for injured players and minimum salary players will be liberalized.

                              # The maximum length of a player contract will be reduced by 1 year, from 7 years for a team’s own players and 6 years for other players to 6 years and 5 years.

                              # The league will guarantee that, on average, all teams will have 14-player rosters.

                              # The maximum annual increases in multi-year player contracts will be reduced from 12.5 percent for a team’s own players and 10 percent for other players to 10.5 percent and 8 percent.

                              # Players will be subject to 4 random drug tests per season and penalties for use of performance-enhancing drugs will be increased.

                              # The age limit for entering the draft will increase from 18 to 19 (plus one year removed from high school).

                              # Players will have the right to an arbitrator’s review of Commissioner suspensions for on-court misconduct of more than 12 games (currently, no arbitrator review is permitted regardless of the length of the suspension).

                              # Players in their first two seasons in the league may be placed on teams in the NBA Development League for skills development.

                              # There will be an increase in the minimum salary and benefits. Pension benefits will be increased subject to IRS approval.

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