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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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East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

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  • East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/b...6411347.column

    Ira Winderman
    East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers
    Published July 24, 2005


    This never set up as a Heat offseason for gaining ground, not when limited to a $5.1 million mid-level exception while keeping an eye on the luxury tax.

    The goal merely has been maintaining enough of the momentum that left it within two minutes of the NBA Finals.

    With Udonis Haslem back, with Shaquille O'Neal a signature away and with free-agent guard Damon Jones the only significant challenge among the primary players, it likely will be the course of others that will restructure the Eastern Conference playoff race.

    Detroit: Don't understate the banishment of Larry Brown.

    Yes, the Pistons are at their best amid a crusade, but no one is as masterful as creating an us (me?)-against-the-world mentality as Brown.

    Until Rasheed Wallace exhibits the same devotion to Flip Saunders as he did toward Brown, nothing is guaranteed.

    And with Saunders practically mandated to develop Darko Milicic and Carlos Delfino, maintaining previous results with an altered rotation could prove especially challenging.

    New Jersey: In landing Shareef Abdur-Rahim on the cheap, Rod Thorn rounded out an already potent perimeter attack with a desperately needed low-post element. This could stand as the league's most significant addition this offseason.

    With a full season Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, plus the potential of first-round pick Antoine Wright and the emergence of Nenad Krstic, New Jersey presents as intriguing an offense as any this side of Phoenix.

    Essentially, the Nets swapped out Jason Collins from their starting lineup for Abdur-Rahim. In the East, that's enough turn a No. 8 seed into someone holding homecourt advantage in the first round.

    Indiana: Ron Artest not only went out of his way to participate in summer league but displayed enough on and off the court to leave the Pacers confident that little has been lost from perhaps the best two-way player in the Eastern Conference.

    Yes, Reggie Miller is gone, but Stephen Jackson has a full season with the team, Jeramine O'Neal should be over the shoulder problems, Danny Granger was added in the first round, and there is the possibility of Lithuanian shooting ace Sarunas Jasikevicius in free agency.

    The Pacers still have Rick Carlisle; the Pistons lost Brown. That makes Indiana the new frontrunner in the Central.

    Cleveland: Yes, Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall were added in free agency, and yes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas was retained.

    But none of the three ever won a second-round playoff series. So how exactly are they getting to ease the path to greater glory for LeBron James?

    Had Larry, and not Mike Brown been added as coach, the view might change. But, lacking anything more at point guard than Eric Snow, this team shapes up as little more than one content to hand James his first ticket to the postseason.

    Milwaukee: In retaining Michael Redd, signing Bobby Simmons, drafting Andrew Bogut, trading for Jiri Welsch and regaining T.J. Ford, the Bucks have the look of a team headed in the right direction, even amid the confounding dismissal of coach Terry Porter.

    Now Milwaukee has to learn to play as a team, one at least three years from serious contention. Dealing Desmond Mason for a power player would certainly advance the process.

    Washington: Antonio Daniels, Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins are in; Hughes and Kwame Brown are out. The upshot? Still not enough defensively or inside to be more than a second-round nuisance.

    The rest: Philadelphia, at best, will remain intact ... Boston likely will lose Antoine Walker and Gary Payton, has gained Brian Scalabrine, and will grow painfully younger ... The Knicks will remain an ill-conceived roster wrapped in a soap opera, one likely weighed down by the free-agent addition of Jerome James ... Chicago will continue to grow into a team that could emerge about the same time as Milwaukee, in the post-Shaq era ... Charlotte also will age well.

    THE FLIP FLOP

    Saunders offered an interesting spin on his 17-30 NBA playoff coaching record, noting of his tenure with the Timberwolves, "The way I look at it, we were never a favorite in the series that we lost." That, however, misses the point. Detroit wasn't the favorite when it beat the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals, nor were the Pistons favorites when they defeated the Heat in this spring's Eastern Conference finals. The strength of the Pistons under Brown was they thrived as underdogs, something that will require Saunders to make the next step in his career.

    SUMMER SENTIMENTS

    Teams lacking at power forward might give another look to journeyman Lonny Baxter, who averaged 21 points for Houston's undefeated entry to lead all scorers in the Minnesota summer league. ... For as much as the Rockets will trumpet the addition of wildly erratic free agent Stromile Swift, one has to wonder if coach Jeff Van Gundy won't prove more comfortable with veteran Juwan Howard back at power forward alongside Yao Ming....

    Former Heat forward Malik Allen has drawn free-agent interest from the Nets, although it wouldn't be surprising to see Allen linked to the Heat before all is said and done.
    --------

    Indiana the new front runner in the central? Of course I agree!

  • #2
    Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

    Ira has always been one of my favorites. Read his column every week

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

      I agree with him. I don't expect Kstat et al will, but I do.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

        I've thought we're the favorites to win the Central for a long time. I worried whether we could beat the Pistons in the playoffs. Now that Brown has left, I think we've got a shot at it.
        You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

          I expect the Pacers to have the best record in the division, but I could really care less about that.

          Pacers won 61 games in 03-04, Pistons won the title. Regular season wins are meaningless, the true test for the Pacers will be against the Pistons in the playoffs.

          Can the Pacers beat Det in the playoffs? I just don't know.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

            I don't agree either. I think under Flip the Pistons get the best reg season record in the East and homecourt throughout the EC playoffs (don't know if they can get more W's than the Spurs/Suns/whoever)

            Flip has always been a coach who wants his team to get HCA over resting up. And that's probably better for the Pistons, who weren't tired out in the Finals... instead they suffered a tough game 7 loss because they didn't have homecourt.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

              All about the playoffs, I agree.

              But, even though Brown is gone, I still expect a very tough and aggressive Pistons team waiting in the playoffs. And, they are not about to just let the Pacers breeze by.

              That said, I think we have a good chance to beat them. As always, as long as we have no significant setbacks. That includes, injuries, suspensions, and jail time.
              Super Bowl XLI Champions
              2000 Eastern Conference Champions




              Comment


              • #8
                Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                Originally posted by Lord Helmet
                All about the playoffs, I agree.

                But, even though Brown is gone, I still expect a very tough and aggressive Pistons team waiting in the playoffs. And, they are not about to just let the Pacers breeze by.

                That said, I think we have a good chance to beat them. As always, as long as we have no significant setbacks. That includes, injuries, suspensions, and jail time.

                I agree.

                I think this will be our best chance to beat them, but I still don't think I'd put my money on the Pacers when it came down to it.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                  I have faith this will be the year for our team to reach the Finals, what happens there? We'll see, but I'm pretty confident rightnow in our team. Hard to actually completely describe what I'm basing this confidence on, but It's based on last years early season games, together with a little "extra" I think we will have in distributing some "retribution" to some teams which hurted us last year, because of the injuries and suspensions.

                  I think the only ones that can beat our team are:

                  1) An awfull summer (JJ and Dale leave, Sarunas is not signed and we don't make a deal somewhere else to improve our backup at backcourt)
                  2) The San Antonio Spurs (really the only team I fear next year, though the summer is still early. I want us to face Detroit next year, we won't breeze by them, but I think we can kick their *** the coming play-offs IF we face them)
                  3) Out own team... in other words screwed up team chemistry, civil war, injuries, suspension, judicial convictions those kind of things.

                  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


                  • #10
                    Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                    I wouldn't say that Flip was the best man for the job, but seeing the fact that he's the only caoch out there with a playoff history (multiple first round exits, then one trip to the WC) he's the only choice the Pistons had... not like they're going to try to get some one with no experience...It's going to be an interesting year for the pistons, mainly because it's a new cog in their team, with Brown everyone meshed in his system...if they mesh the way they did with Brown then they'll be fine

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                      I have no fear of the Pistons. They're not that good of a team. The most overrated in the league, in my humble opinion. A starless group of role players with a mediocre coach.....they're a 2nd round exit waiting to happen.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                        There's nothing overrated about a title and a game 7 finals loss in two years. With that said, their current situation may result in the exit you predict.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                          Originally posted by Naptown Seth
                          I have no fear of the Pistons. They're not that good of a team. The most overrated in the league, in my humble opinion. A starless group of role players with a mediocre coach.....they're a 2nd round exit waiting to happen.
                          Hi Sassan.

                          Even if it isn't you, hi anyway.

                          Anything else to add? You know, since you're on such a role of original thought, and all.....

                          It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                          Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                          Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                          NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                            Originally posted by Naptown Seth
                            I have no fear of the Pistons. They're not that good of a team. The most overrated in the league, in my humble opinion. A starless group of role players with a mediocre coach.....they're a 2nd round exit waiting to happen.

                            Man, if the "most overrated team in the league" has beat us 2 years straight in 6 games, then I hate to see what that makes us.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: East's best offseason start: Nets, Pacers

                              Originally posted by PacerFanAdam
                              Man, if the "most overrated team in the league" has beat us 2 years straight in 6 games, then I hate to see what that makes us.

                              It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                              Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                              Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                              NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                              Comment

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