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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"

"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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RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

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  • RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

    Link

    10) Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway – Signed by the Suns in 1999 for $84 million over 7 years

    This was considered a great acquisition at the time as Penny was a two-time all-NBA First Team star. He had one decent season for the Suns, averaging over 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and was bit by the injury bug soon after. Penny never quite recovered and was shipped to the only team that would take on his inflated contract, the New York Knicks , along with Penny Hardaway for expiring contracts and some young talent that never panned out. While the trade seems one-sided, it gave them the cap space to sign Steve Nash and possibly Joe Johnson if they decide to match an offer made by the Atlanta Hawks .

    9) Brian Grant – Signed by the Heat in 2000 for $84 million over 7 years

    After averaging a meagre 7.3 points-per-game and 5.5 rebounds-per-game, Brian Grant decided to opt out of his deal with the Portland Trailblazers after being courted by several NBA teams. The result was a three-way trade that sent Shawn Kemp to the Blazers, Clarence Weatherspoon, Chris Gatling, Gary Grant and a first rounder to the Cavaliers and a newly re-signed Brian Grant to the Heat at a price averaging 12 million dollars per season. Strangely, Grant turned down the league maximum $93 million over 7 years that he would have received if he agreed to a trade sending him to the Cavaliers. How a player that averaged such mediocre numbers garnered such interest is beyond anyone’s imagination.

    8) Austin Croshere and Jalen Rose – Signed by the Pacers in 2000 for $51 million over 7 years and $93 million over 7 years respectively

    While he was not given a ludicrous amount of money, Austin Croshere wasn’t even that good of a player to begin with. Croshere had a strong playoffs outing at the end of the 1999-2000 season and ended up laughing his way to the bank with a contract averaging roughly $7.5 million per season. Croshere would end up relegated to the Pacers bench thereafter and has been pretty much a non-factor in the league. Rose has been a solid player since his signing, but far from being worth a maximum deal. Thankfully for the Pacers, the year after signing Rose, they orchestrated one of the most lopsided trades in recent NBA history, trading him to the Bulls for Ron Artest and Brad Miller.

    7) Tim Thomas – Signed by the Bucks in 1999 for $67 million over 6 years

    After acquiring Thomas from the 76ers in 1998 for Tyrone Hill, the Bucks saw great promise in the athletic youngster out of Villanova. This resulted in Thomas being a young, heralded free agent who would eventually re-sign with the Bucks for a nearly maximum contract. Unfortunately, Thomas’s attitude in recent years makes it seem like he feels he actually deserved it. Thomas would improve moderately since his signing, but would never live up to potential. He was eventually traded to the Knicks in a 3-way trade along with Nazr Mohammed that sent Keith Van Horn to the Bucks and Michael Doleac to the Hawks.

    6) Tariq Abdul-Wahad – Signed by the Nuggets in 2000 for $43 million over 6 years

    Considered a blue collar hard worker, Abdul-Wahad (formerly known as Olivier St. Jean) was acquired by the Nuggets in a trade with the Magic and was seen as a strong defensive stopper. The Nuggets gambled and resigned Abdul-Wahad to a six year deal, assuming that he’d be a stronghold for their defense. After one injury plagued season with Denver, Abdul-Wahad was traded in a rebuilding project spearheaded by new Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe sending Abdul-Wahad, Nick Van Exel and young up and comer Raef LaFrentz to the Mavericks for the expiring contracts of Juwan Howard and Tim Hardaway, youngster Donnell Harvey and a first round pick. Abdul-Wahad has played very limited minutes since the trade was made.

    5) Michael Stewart – Signed by the Raptors in 1998 for $24 million over 6 years

    While this deal wasn’t a make or break move for the Raptors organization, one must keep in mind that Michael Stewart 2.4 blocks-per-game in 21 minutes-per-game for the Kings in his rookie year. Those are insane, Ben Wallace-type block numbers that were unfortunately never even remotely duplicated or anything even close in his future seasons. It is also interesting to note that Stewart was a janitor who tried out for the Kings and made the team. Now the only thing he has to worry about cleaning is his residence on Tiger Woods’ private island.

    4) Adonal Foyle – Signed by the Warriors in 2004 for $42 million over 6 years

    Speaking of overrated shotblockers, most people were shocked when the salary that Chris Mullin gave Adonal Foyle weighed in at a remarkable average of $7 million per season. Since Foyle has never averaged even 6 points-per-game, that seems like a pretty heavy contract for a guy who can set strong picks and block shots. The past two examples simply go to show that if you can block shots and set picks, you are worth more money in one year than the President of the United States would make if he served 20 straight years in office.

    3) Juwan Howard – Signed by the Bullets (Wizards) for $105 million over 7 years

    One of the members of the legendary fab-five from Michigan University, Howard has always been a decent scorer, but a mediocre rebounder and defender. Regardless, the team now known as the Wizards felt it was necessary to make Howard a very rich man. Howard was never a great player, but always a quality player and a class act, unfortunately he was never worth anywhere close to what he was paid.

    2) Vin Baker – Signed by the Sonics in 1997 for $86.7 million over 6 years

    After a career year with the Bucks, becoming the first Bucks player to average 20 points and 10 rebounds since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did so in the 1974-75 season, Baker was a coveted free agent. What ensued was a three-way trade that sent Shawn Kemp and Sherman Douglas to the Cleveland Cavaliers , Baker to the Sonics and Terrell Brandon and Tyrone Hill to the Bucks. This made many Bucks fans upset, but had they known that after only one good season as Gary Payton’s new running mate in Seattle that Baker would fall off the map and become one of the NBA’s biggest jokes, I’m certain they would not have regretted it.

    1) Allan Houston – Signed by the Knicks in 2001 for $100 million over 6 years

    Six years later and this is still the ugliest contract in basketball. There’s no question that Allan Houston, when healthy, is one of the league’s finest shooters, but that’s about all he has going for him. Houston is a weak defender and a poor rebounder and has been plagued with injuries in recent years. It would not surprise me if the Knicks cut Houston as part of the new clause in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement that allows them to cut a solitary player to save money on their luxury tax. If any team needs to utilize this clause, it’s the Knicks. At 34 years old, Houston’s shooting is no longer the commodity that it once was, so it will be interesting to see if he will be able to make a successful NBA comeback.

  • #2
    Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

    I hate to do this, but here it goes, plus I know Peck is on vacation.

    The bad signings of Rose and Cro had to be weighing on Donnie's mind when he decided not to re-sign Brad.

    What about Bender?. Well Bender was only for 4 years, I think that is a big difference vs 7 years

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

      Argghh!!!!! ahhh!!! damn you Bender !!!!!! ok got that out of the way...

      Hey DW has done some many savvy moves in his career he is allowed a "mulligan every now and again. LOL

      Why Not Us ?

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

        Originally posted by Unclebuck
        I hate to do this, but here it goes, plus I know Peck is on vacation.

        The bad signings of Rose and Cro had to be weighing on Donnie's mind when he decided not to re-sign Brad.

        What about Bender?. Well Bender was only for 4 years, I think that is a big difference vs 7 years
        I think Bender's contract is manageable, even though he has yet to produce. If he breaks out this year-something I feel he will because the spot light will not be on him-his contract will be a bargain. But then again, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a wonderful Christmas.

        I agree with the Brad thing, UB. His injury's haven't been the best for Miller recently, either. I think in time, Miller's non-signing may prove to be the best non-signing we ever did (though we did do a sign and trade)-and then again, maybe not. Sorry about bringing that up. Forget I said anything. Not a topic for this thread.
        Two=the number 2
        Too=means "also"
        To=many definitions-also known as the one to use when the other 2 (two, too) do not apply.

        Their=shows ownership-'it is their house'
        They're=they are
        There=many definitions-also known as the one to use when the other 2 (their, they're) do not apply

        Sorry but it bugs me when these are used incorrectly when I read posts on PacersDigest.com.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

          Originally posted by Unclebuck
          I hate to do this, but here it goes, plus I know Peck is on vacation.

          The bad signings of Rose and Cro had to be weighing on Donnie's mind when he decided not to re-sign Brad.

          What about Bender?. Well Bender was only for 4 years, I think that is a big difference vs 7 years

          I'm not on vacation yet!!!!


          Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

            Originally posted by Peck
            I'm not on vacation yet!!!!

            Why Not Us ?

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

              I think in a backhanded way it's impressive that a guy could build a contender DESPITE 3 really ugly contracts all made within a few years of each other. Most of those other teams were sunk for YEARS after laying down that wad on nothing.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                Those are all pretty bad but I have to go with the one that hits close to home.:croshere: Austin is not worth near what he got.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                  Originally posted by Pacers#1Fan
                  Those are all pretty bad but I have to go with the one that hits close to hame.:croshere: Austin is not worth near what he got.
                  http://www.pacersdigest.com/forums/s...t=13699&page=2

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                    All in all, Croshere has proven to be worth much more versus what he has been paid than Bender.

                    I guess a few folks are still on the bandwagon, but come one. There's a hell of a difference between "break out" and "broken down".

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                      Penny never quite recovered and was shipped to the only team that would take on his inflated contract, the New York Knicks , along with Penny Hardaway for expiring contracts and some young talent that never panned out.
                      Seriously, were all the editors in the world rounded up and shot at some point? Does ANYONE proofread ANYTHING anymore?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                        Can somone please explain to me the constant knocking of Jalen Rose? Jalen Rose is practically the same player now as he was 5 years ago when the Pacers signed him. Hell, a couple of years ago, Jalen averaged like 22 with the Bulls.

                        What did you all expect out of Jalen Rose when that contract was signed? Did you all expect him to become a top 10 player or something? He's Jalen Rose.

                        Jalen is probably the one player on that list that who's game hasn't gone to crap since he signed his contract.

                        I'll never understand the constant knocking of Jalen Rose on this forum. I swear I think I'm the only person that liked Jalen Rose, and would still love to have him around. Without Jalen's clutch scoring, there are no finals in 2000.

                        Jalen was the same player in 2000-2001 and when he was here in 01-02 as he was in 99-00. He was just stuck in a situation that wasn't that great, and had the burden of carrying the team.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                          Originally posted by Peck
                          I'm not on vacation yet!!!!

                          Oops. When are you leaving

                          I thought I could slip that by you.

                          Have a good week or so

                          You won't be reading the forum will you ?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                            Croshere got market value. He should also blame Toronto, Houston and Chicago for the $$$ amount Croshere signed for.
                            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


                            • #15
                              Re: RealGM - The Ten Worst Free-Agent Signings of the Past Decade

                              I don't think Rose should be on this list.

                              Is he overpaid? Yes.

                              Is his deal one of the worst in FA history? No way, he's been a major contributor on every team he's played for and continues contributing to this day. he should have been paid a little less for his talent but 3 different teams have paid up, so he must be worth SOMEthing.
                              “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

                              “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

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