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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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Remember to set your line-ups

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  • #16
    Re: Remember to set your line-ups

    I'm still a little confused, if D. Mason is a FG will I get to count his stats towards guard if my forward minutes fill up? Or will I just lose it, because Mason will be more productive than Cro and Villeneuva?
    House Name: Pacers

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    House Words: "We Kneel To No King"

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    • #17
      Re: Remember to set your line-ups

      Originally posted by Diamond Dave
      I'm still a little confused, if D. Mason is a FG will I get to count his stats towards guard if my forward minutes fill up? Or will I just lose it, because Mason will be more productive than Cro and Villeneuva?
      Depends where you put him in your lineup. The way Tom put him in, if all the forward minutes were filled, he'd be the first guard.

      Production has nothing to do with it from the league computer's perspective - it's gonna count them according to how you place them.
      The poster formerly known as Rimfire

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      • #18
        Re: Remember to set your line-ups

        Originally posted by Diamond Dave
        I'm still a little confused, if D. Mason is a FG will I get to count his stats towards guard if my forward minutes fill up?
        Yep he counts as a forward only if forward minutes are not already used up by the forwards above him. He may even split his minutes between F and G, but all his minutes will count.
        The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

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        • #19
          Re: Remember to set your line-ups

          Basicly the computer starts at the top of your lineup & works its way down.

          1. C- Z
          2. CF- JO
          3. F- Grant Hill
          4. F- Villanueva
          5. F- Croshere
          6. FG- Mason
          7. G- Parker
          8. G- Claxton
          9. FG- Posey
          10. G- Mobley
          11. G- Salmons
          12. CF- Collins

          In the example above if Z plays 34 minutes then you only have 14 minutes to fill at center.

          If JO plays 32 minutes then 14 of those will count at center because you have him listed as a center/forward. The other 18 minutes JO plays will count at forward.

          The computer then goes down to the next player in your lineup, counting forward minutes for Hill, Villanueva & Croshere.

          Next is Mason. If you have filled all of your forward minutes (96) with the guys listed above him in the lineup then it will count anything Mason does as a guard. If you think Mason is your 3rd best guard then you could drop him down between Claxton & Posey, his minutes will still count as a forward first as long as you keep him as a FG. Once your forward minutes are filled, he counts as a guard.

          Parker & Claxton will count as guards

          If you still have forward minutes when the computer gets to Posey, whatever he does will count as a forward, if your forward minutes are filled then his numbers will be used to fill your guard minutes.

          Once all your minutes are filled, 48 at center, 96 for forwards & guards then the players at the bottom of your roster are ignored........... no matter how good their games are.

          So, it's better to put your highest FPPM guys at the top of your lineup.

          Guys like Collins should be left at the bottom of your lineup. They are very low PPM guys buy they could help out if you have a player or two out.

          Two seasons ago I figured I lost 75% of my games because I didn't fill my minutes

          That is the most important thing about this game. Fill your minutes.

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          • #20
            Re: Remember to set your line-ups

            Note in James example above if with the same order, you had Jermaine at FC instead of CF. Big Z plays his 34, all of Jermaine's 32 minutes are then at F. Your only hope to get anything other than a zero for your other C minutes is if Collins plays. If Z got hurt, you might have a zero for all 48 minutes. You very likely would have no chances of beating anybody.

            You see the value of multiposition players-- they give injury insurance and lineup flexibility.
            The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

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            • #21
              Re: Remember to set your line-ups

              Okay, now I understand. Thanks James, Tom, and Rimfire for all your help.

              House Name: Pacers

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              House Words: "We Kneel To No King"

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              • #22
                Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                Ok, did I line this up right? Jose gave me the list, but since it looks like just about everyone else posted, I wanted to make sure I did it right.

                CF Brezec
                CF Hunter
                CF Radmanovic
                G Wade
                G Billups
                G Jasikevicius
                GF Hamilton
                GF Jones
                GF Christie
                GF Sprewell
                F Jackson
                F Horry


                Laugh at me all you want for having Spreewell on there. I was not paying attention and didn't realize he's not even signed anywhere at this point....

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                • #23
                  Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                  Originally posted by Gyron
                  Ok, did I line this up right? Jose gave me the list, but since it looks like just about everyone else posted, I wanted to make sure I did it right.

                  CF Brezec
                  CF Hunter
                  CF Radmanovic
                  G Wade
                  G Billups
                  G Jasikevicius
                  GF Hamilton
                  GF Jones
                  GF Christie
                  GF Sprewell
                  F Jackson
                  F Horry


                  Laugh at me all you want for having Spreewell on there. I was not paying attention and didn't realize he's not even signed anywhere at this point....
                  Not sure which Jones or Jackson you have but check the numbers from last year - I don't THINK either Sprewell or Christie were very high performers and Horry's generally been pretty decent. At the very least I'd make sure you list Hamilton through Horry based on FPPM - of course you're certainly allowed to base it on what you think they'll do this season.
                  The poster formerly known as Rimfire

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                  • #24
                    Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                    Sorry I should have listed all the info.

                    FC - Primoz Brezec (CHA)
                    FC - Steven Hunter (PHI)
                    FC - Vladimir Radmanovic (SEA)
                    G - Dwyane Wade (MIA)
                    G - Chauncey Billups (DET)
                    G - Sarunas Jasikevicius (IND)
                    GF - Richard Hamilton (DET)
                    GF - Eddie Jones (MEM)
                    GF - Doug Christie (DAL)
                    GF - Latrell Sprewell (MIN)
                    F - Luke Jackson (CLE)
                    F - Robert Horry (SAS

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                    • #25
                      Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                      I don't know how to copy the picture over, but is you have time, look at the picture for Radmonovic they have on the site. The picture looks like it was taken for a terrorist line up in a dark cave. lol

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                        Originally posted by Gyron
                        Sorry I should have listed all the info.

                        FC - Primoz Brezec (CHA)
                        FC - Steven Hunter (PHI)
                        FC - Vladimir Radmanovic (SEA)
                        Make sure to change the FCs at the top of your lineup to CF by going to the lineup page, clicking on the name, and selecting "switch position"

                        Otherwise the computer will count these guys as forwards and then your C minutes won't be used, while the forwards later down in your lineup won't have their minutes used at all since 96 minutes is all you can have at F.
                        The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                          Anthem

                          You should think about switching Wallace & Grant to CF's too.

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                          • #28
                            Re: Remember to set your line-ups

                            Last year it seems like a half dozen guys at least never seemed interested enough to try to figure out the best way to set their lineups.

                            I commend all the newbies for doing such a good job. At first glance most everybody seems to have put a fair amount of thought into their lineup-- a good sign that this will be a good season.
                            The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

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