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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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Some positives from Orlando....

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  • #16
    Re: Some positives from Orlando....

    Originally posted by sixthman
    I almost laugh when I read that someone thinks Saras isn't a good NBA point guard yet and questions the decision to acquire him. You'd think he was being paid something other than average NBA money.

    Sarunas J. is probably already the best backup point in the league. The pass on the break to Danny Granger last night was money and something we don't see enough of. His defense is adequate and his shooting is badly needed.

    Jamaal also played well last night. With Saras and Tinsley our point guard play is not sensational but is now good enough to take us to the Finals.
    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Some positives from Orlando....

      Cro needs to work on defending against the lob but otherwise his D has been competitive. When Austin plays with confidence, as he is now, he is indeed an asset. We're lucky to have him.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Some positives from Orlando....

        Originally posted by Kegboy
        Who do you think is better?

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Some positives from Orlando....

          Originally posted by Peck
          David Harrison. Did you see him get rebounds????? We prayed all last year & all off season that he would somehow be able to grab some rebounds & it looks like our prayers were answered.

          I called this.

          I had seen enough of David to think that he would later become a much better rebounder. A lot of the time he just couldn't hand on to the ball, but towards the end of last season we saw his hands improving.

          And now, he's max 10 games from starting.




          Also, I think we should experiment with playing AJ at the 2 guard instead of Fred.
          You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Some positives from Orlando....

            I think Artest will log heavy minutes the first 10-15, maybe even 20 games to get him back to his pre-brawl level. After that I hope to see his minutes go down so that Granger can play more minutes at SF, while Bender can in a small line up shift to PF. Or in another option Jackson can slide to SF, while Sarunas, Freddie or AJ move into the 2 spot.

            Either way, minutes are going to be a problem during the regular season, but a pleasant problem, I hope. I really would like to see less minutes for JO, Artest, Jackson and Tinsley on the floor. We'll see how Rick works or figures it out. I'm happy the season started!

            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


            • #21
              Re: Some positives from Orlando....

              I think we need either Ron or JO on the floor most of the game. They really are better than anyone else we have.

              I don't want to see us fall into the old Portland syndrome of trying to play too many people.

              Ron or JO playing with the second unit makes those guys dangerous.

              Ron probably needs to play as many minutes as his body can take right now. Not so, of course, with JO.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                Originally posted by Kegboy
                I guess it depends on whether you are in the camp that believes that AJ was the best back-up point in the league last year, because Saras is clearly better than AJ.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                  Rick said that he kept JB in because of mathchups.

                  I think they all did fairly well. Cro is on fiya this season. He looks sooo much different then he did last season and to think we might have let him go. Danger is great and I swear that Francis block was ALL BALL! He's niiiice! He has massive dunks too!

                  Fred did a lot better than I think he would do. Started off kind of bad with the 2 offensive fouls but picked it up with a 3 then ended with 7 points with a few assists.

                  Hulk was great and a lot quicker than last year. His jumper is getting better too. but still theres nothing better than a HULK SLAM!

                  I look forward to seeing all of them play tonight and Rick using the depth to his advantage. FIREMAN!--PUT OUT THE HEAT!

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                    Originally posted by Shade
                    I guess it depends on whether you are in the camp that believes that AJ was the best back-up point in the league last year, because Saras is clearly better than AJ.
                    How so?

                    Was his defense better than A.J.'s? I don't think so.

                    Was his off the ball movement better than A.J.'s? I don't think so.

                    Was his shooting better than A.J.'s? Maybe, but let's not forget that A.J. is no slouch in the shooting department either.

                    Was his ball handling better than A.J.'s? Yes, although I will say that he had some trouble with any pressure defense in the backcourt, but he was still better than A.J.

                    Did he run the offense better? This is where you have to say yes.

                    But that alone does not make him clearly better than A.J. There are two sides of the floor both offense & defense & for as better that Sara is about running the offense, A.J. is better about defense.

                    I like both of them. Which is a big step up for me because I was not a fan of bringing Saras in here.


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

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                      Originally posted by Shade
                      I guess it depends on whether you are in the camp that believes that AJ was the best back-up point in the league last year, because Saras is clearly better than AJ.
                      Or in the camp that thinks that international play is somewhere inbetween the local park pickup games and high school games.
                      Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                        Saras is much better shooter than anyone on our team, including AJ, IMO. Also a much better fit for this team than AJ. (At PG anyway, I think AJ could really help us at SG sometimes)
                        You, Never? Did the Kenosha Kid?

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                          AJ at SG is nice. Didnt we have a lineup like that in preseason. We had Saras at the point with AJ as SG..

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                            Originally posted by sixthman
                            Who do you think is better?
                            probably better:
                            Bobby Jackson
                            Damon Jones
                            Earl Boykins
                            Maurice Williams
                            Speedy Claxton

                            in the same range:
                            Jameer Nelson
                            Jason Hart

                            we will find out soon:
                            Raymond Felton
                            Nate Robinson
                            Jarrett Jack

                            maybe, though nearly out of gas:
                            Gary Payton
                            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


                            • #29
                              Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                              Cro looks like he worked on his shot over the summer... he looks way more relaxed and has waaaayy more arc on it. Recently....last year especially, his form seemed forced and his shot had become really flat.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Some positives from Orlando....

                                Originally posted by Peck
                                With the J.O. posing thread getting such heavy play (& deservedly so) I think in some ways we kind of forgot to talk about the fact that we won.

                                In winning, I saw some things I liked.

                                First from a team standpoint. We seemed to be making the effort to make the extra pass last night, even & maybe most impressively Jermaine O'Neal. There were very few times that he tried to back down his man without exploring a pass option. Artest kind of had a couple of times where he took a little longer to get rid of the ball than we would want but even he was looking to make the pass.
                                I don't have much time to reply right now but I want to say the above mirrors my thoughts exactly.

                                Another thing that mirrored my thoughts was why Freddie got the slot he did after his preseason. I do wonder if Carlisle was throwing him a bone (like he did Pollard in Sacremento a couple of yrs back) hoping it would bring him around. IMHO Freddie has played his way down the bench and I thought AJ should've gotten more of those minutes. AJ can play the 2 as well, if not better, than Freddie altho we won't see any high-flying slams with AJ in the lineup. If anyone is watching and hoping for that then you'd be disappointed if the Pacers took my advice and played AJ over Freddie.

                                Freddie has slipped IMHO and it disappoints me. I thought he could be a solid player off the bench with the ability to start in the crunch. Something is not clicking and he's not the player he was. Not only has he hit a wall, he's now driving in reverse. AJ deserves minutes altho I do think Saras brings more to the court as a PG already and with more time (experience/familiarity) would seem he'd only get better. We know what we have with AJ.

                                I thought we knew what we had with Freddie tho...

                                -Bball
                                Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                                ------

                                "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                                -John Wooden

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