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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

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

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

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

Rule #1

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

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

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

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

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

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rule #2

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

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

The right places to do so are:

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

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

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

Rule #3

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

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

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

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

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

Rule #4

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

Rule #5

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

An example:

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

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

Rule #6

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

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

Rule #7

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

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

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

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

Rule #8

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

Rule #9

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

Rule #10

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

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

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  • What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

    I think a lot of teams are going to take advantage of the one time amnesty waiver this year. If this happens, most teams will be looking to use their vet. minimums, or MLE's on players like Houston, that were previously overpaid, but now are bargains that can fill immediate needs. If this happens, what does that do to the real free agents like JJ. Mid level free agents may not draw any interest from other teams. Why would a team look at JJ, if Finely is available for the vet minimum?
    Your thoughts?
    Why do teams tank? Ask a Spurs fan.

  • #2
    Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

    I don't think James Jones is high on the list of anyone but Indiana any Indiana fans. James Jones is good but you guys act like he is the greatest thing to happen to Indiana since Reggie Miller.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

      I thought I remembered hearing that Miami wanted JJ???.
      LoneGranger33 said
      Agreed. As the members of Guns and Roses once said, "every rose has its thorn".

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

        I like JJ, but IMO he has a long way to go to become a major contributor, and he's very expendable now that we've drafted Granger. I was just thinking, if this waiver is used by half the teams, he, and a lot of low to mid level free agents may have to take what ever their teams offer them.
        Why do teams tank? Ask a Spurs fan.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

          If Miami wants him, he'll go to Miami. Where else would he want to go? I think he lives there in the offseason.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

            at most, only a couple of teams would use this waiver exemption, since not that may are paying very heavily into the luxury tax.

            These are the top 10 teams by player salary:

            1. New York Knicks
            $104,657,559

            2. Dallas Mavericks
            $91,271,151

            3. Portland Trail Blazers
            $78,777,655

            4. Philadelphia 76ers
            $74,279,549

            5. Minnesota Timberwolves
            $70,774,870

            6. Orlando Magic
            $68,051,474

            7. Memphis Grizzlies
            $67,022,176

            8. Indiana Pacers
            $65,161,440

            9. Los Angeles Lakers
            $64,452,726

            10. Boston Celtics
            $63,113,638

            So, of those teams, which players would be worth waiving in order to avoid a higher luxury tax payment?

            Allan Houston New York (over Anfernee Hardaway or Tim Thomas)
            $17,531,250

            Michael Finley Dallas (over Keith Van Horn)
            $14,609,375

            maybe LA's Brian Grant, Miami's Eddie Jones, Toronto's Jalen Rose, and Indiana's Austin Croshere.
            "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
            -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

              I also heard Orlando has considered waving Grant Hill which wouldn't suprise me as they yet again proved how stupid they by taking Fran number 11.

              I hope they wavie Grant Hill, that way Indiana could sign him. [doubt it would ever happen but hey I can dream can't I?]

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                Originally posted by Jesus Shuttlesworth
                I don't think James Jones is high on the list of anyone but Indiana any Indiana fans. James Jones is good but you guys act like he is the greatest thing to happen to Indiana since Reggie Miller.
                I agree, I still dont see what the hell is up with all the hype for JJ.I like JJ but he can hit a few jumpshots and thats it. Danny Granger will be better then him as soon as he steps on the court.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                  [QUOTE=blanket]at most, only a couple of teams would use this waiver exemption, since not that may are paying very heavily into the luxury tax.


                  I'm not certain if the salary of the waived player would only save teams from the luxury tax, or simply not count against their payroll even though they're paying him. If this is the case, then teams might also use the waiver to get under the cap, and go after free agents, that they couldn't otherwise.
                  That would add a few more teams to your list.
                  Why do teams tank? Ask a Spurs fan.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                    Blanket: the salaries you quoted are this past years salaries. The new figures are for 05-06 are quite different.

                    Minnesota drops from 70 to 46 million

                    Knicks go from 104 to 108 next year (snicker snicker) but down to 43 in 2 years
                    (goodbye Houston)
                    Mavs go up from 91 to 94 million
                    (goodbye Finley)
                    Philly is about the same

                    If Portland doesn't pick up the option on Van Exel they drop from 78 to 37 million but will have to pay Shareef big money prob. 15M+
                    "He wanted to get to that money time. Time when the hardware was on the table. That's when Roger was going to show up. So all we needed to do was stay close"
                    Darnell Hillman (Speaking of former teammate Roger Brown)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                      Originally posted by Jesus Shuttlesworth
                      I don't think James Jones is high on the list of anyone but Indiana any Indiana fans. James Jones is good but you guys act like he is the greatest thing to happen to Indiana since Reggie Miller.
                      I don't think anyone thinks that, he had some great games this year and had a chance to blossom a little, he's got a nice 3pt touch and is a good backup at 2-3. I wouldn't pay him more then a couple million a year since we have Granger coming in.
                      "He wanted to get to that money time. Time when the hardware was on the table. That's when Roger was going to show up. So all we needed to do was stay close"
                      Darnell Hillman (Speaking of former teammate Roger Brown)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                        Originally posted by aceace
                        Blanket: the salaries you quoted are this past years salaries. The new figures are for 05-06 are quite different.
                        good catch. I stand corrected. But I still think only a few teams will take advantage of the clause. I could see the Pacers going either way. The Org's very loyal to its players, but if the owners stand to lose a lot of $, it's ultimately a business decision.

                        Originally posted by Pacerized
                        I'm not certain if the salary of the waived player would only save teams from the luxury tax, or simply not count against their payroll even though they're paying him. If this is the case, then teams might also use the waiver to get under the cap, and go after free agents, that they couldn't otherwise.
                        I don't have a link to reference at hand, but I'm pretty certain the clause only allows for a one-time waiver of a single player this summer for each team that would require the contract to be paid but would keep that amount from figuring into the luxury tax computations.
                        "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
                        -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                          The salary will still have to be paid, it will count for the cap, but NOT for the LT.

                          In the case of the Pacers; we are about 74 mio now, add DD, JJ and Granger and we're approaching 80 mio, waving the 18.6 mio that is left on Cro's contract could well be a decision they can not afford not to take, if the LT kicks in they stand to loose that amount in penalty alone.
                          So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

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

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                            After looking into team payrolls and player contracts a little more, these are the teams in position right now to be paying the luxury tax next year (if there is one):

                            - Knicks
                            - Mavs
                            - Pacers
                            - 76ers

                            These are the main teams that need concern themselves with taking advantage of the one-time player waiver clause that allows that single player's salary to not be counted toward the luxury tax. Other teams on the cusp include:

                            - Lakers
                            - Heat
                            - Grizzlies
                            - Magic

                            (I may be missing a team or two, and some of these teams can fix these problems by moving players this season for payroll relief, while other teams may add themselves to this list by signing free agents to big contracts this summer).

                            From these teams, here are the players I expect to be waived:

                            - Allan Houston, Knicks (while the contracts for Penny and Tim Thomas expire next year)
                            - Michael Finley, Mavs (while the contract for Kieth Van Horn expires next year)
                            - Austin Croshere, Pacers

                            Other players that could possibly be waived, but may not depending on their perecived value:

                            - Brian Grant, Lakers
                            - Eddie Jones, Heat
                            - Jason Williams, Grizzlies
                            - Chris Webber, 76ers
                            - Jalen Rose, Raptors
                            - Grant Hill, Magic
                            "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
                            -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: What will the amnesty waiver do for the free agent market this year?

                              Originally posted by vapacersfan
                              Can someone claify this for me, please.

                              Is this a one time deal where if you use it up this year you cant ever use it again, or do you get one of these "exemptions" every off-season(we know Isiah could use one every year or two, assuming he still has a job)?
                              I don't have a link to back this up at hand, but -- yes, this is a one time deal, only available this summer.
                              "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
                              -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

                              Comment

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