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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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Forseeing the East Finals

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  • #1

    Forseeing the East Finals

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...ter&id=1774043

    On the morning of April 1, astute standings followers woke up to discover that only three teams in the entire Eastern Conference were above .500.


    Unfortunately, that is not an April Fool's joke. It was the same way on the morning of April 2 and it may be that way again.


    We've belittled the East for years now and, just when the conference stoops lower than we ever thought possible, we also have to acknowledge the following: The conference finals between the Pistons and the Pacers should be good theater and maybe even produce a stretch or two of good, possibly watchable basketball.


    It is coming down to that, don't you think? I know the 14 diehard Nets fans in the greater New York-New Jersey metroplex might take issue but everything seems pointed in that direction. You have Rick Carlisle's new team against Rick Carlisle's old team. You have Larry Brown's new team against one of Larry Brown's old teams.


    Can we dismiss the other five as hopeless wannabes? Yes, the Miami Heat deserves a lot of credit for the way things have gone. The Heat, amazing as it seems, might even win the battle for the No. 4 spot, as we watch the ongoing Hoop Hindenburg that is the New Orleans Hornets. The Bucks basically play to form and might win a 4-5 matchup. Miami is a fun regular-season story; it's hard to see them doing any playoff damage with postseason greenhorns.


    Indiana has been terrific all season. Carlisle has been able to do what Isiah Thomas could not do -- sustain and maintain a level of excellence from Game 1 to the end of the season. He has managed to keep Ron Artest under wraps and Jermaine O'Neal has gotten over his hurt feelings about the firing of Thomas to play like an MVP. His team has been healthy and it has the homecourt advantage throughout the conference playoffs.


    But the Pacers have yet to play the new, tougher, even-more-defensive-minded Pistons since Detroit's February extreme makeover. Indy won the first three meetings between these teams, but that was before the deal which brought Mike James to the Pistons. Oh, and Rasheed Wallace, too. The fourth and final meeting between the two teams will be on April 4 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. You can already envision how that one will be promoted.


    The Pistons have been built to win -- and win now. The acquisition of Wallace not only gave Detroit another tough defender, but it gave them a much-needed scoring option as well. We've all known that Wallace was an extraordinary talent acting like an enfant terrible in Portland. Now he's just an extraordinary talent who, by all accounts, has been a model citizen in Detroit. And anyone forced to watch the Pistons knows they need as much scoring as they can possibly get.


    The two coaches have been there. Carlisle joins Pat Riley as the only coach in NBA history to have won division titles in each of his first, three full seasons in the league. (And Pat had a few Hall of Famers to help him do it. Carlisle had Chucky Atkins and Michael Curry.) Carlisle had successive 50-win seasons in Detroit and he then went to Indy and did the same thing with a Pacers team that many thought would take a step back this season. He has to be among the top five coaches in the game.


    The well-traveled Brown seems to have not lost his sense of timing, given what happened in Philadelphia this year. He took the Sixers to the Finals a few years ago and he can coach with anyone. The Pistons have been an up-and-down team all season. They won 13 straight in December and January. They lost six straight before the Wallace trade and then two more after they got him. Since then, they won 14 of 17 and look like they're ready to roll.


    Can anybody stand in the way of this supposedly inevitable matchup? The only possibility is New Jersey, but the Nets' injury situation is so volatile that it's hard to get excited about their chances. They will go as far as Jason Kidd can take them and, boy, do they ever need him. Watching the Nets without Kidd and Kenyon Martin leaves you with one, inescapable, sentiment: They're Orlando without the weather and the golf.


    You can say all you want about Jersey turning things around when Kidd and K-Mart come back, but who knows how healthy either one really is? Martin's injury is believed to be less serious, but he doesn't appear to be in any kind of hurry. Kidd basically has shut it down for the foreseeable future or the playoffs, whichever comes first.


    The trouble with that scenario is that a team prefers to be playing well and playing together when the playoffs begin. It's one of those articles of faith in the NBA, like per diem and strip joints, and New Jersey is doing neither. The Nets basically have the second spot nailed down, so they'll get the seventh seed in the first round. That series might be sufficient to get Kidd and Martin the time and timing they require. That might be all they need -- but they still are going to have trouble with the Pistons.


    And, let's not forget, they have a rookie head coach. Lawrence Frank started out by winning his first 13 games. Then reality hit. Then injuries hit. Since then, he's been below .500 -- and the only teams he has beaten since Kidd and Martin went down are the Bulls and the Wizards. Frank may be the next John Wooden. But the regular season is one story and the playoffs is another.


    So what can we expect from a Pistons-Pacers series? Whew. Points will be at a premium. The shot clock will be squeezed like a Florida orange. Some might envision a lively series, but all signs point to a Tractor Pull with extensive stretches of gridlock. The Pistons have trouble scoring, period. The Pacers are only marginally more effective at the offensive end. But the two teams are Nos. 1 (Detroit) and 3 (Indy) among points allowed and they'll likely ratchet it up another notch in the postseason.


    Sure, the Nets might spoil this potentially competitive, if not artistic, matchup. And the Eastern Conference champion, on paper anyway, has a chance to be the best and most representative champ since the Bulls.


    That doesn't mean it will beat the Lakers. It won't. The Western Conference finals may, indeed, be the real NBA Finals for the sixth straight season. It's up to the Pistons or the Pacers to change that dynamic -- and while it's unlikely, that's at least a step forward from years past, when it not only was unlikely, it was unthinkable as well
    Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.
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  • #2
    Re: Forseeing the East Finals

    The Western Conference finals may, indeed, be the real NBA Finals for the sixth straight season. It's up to the Pistons or the Pacers to change that dynamic -- and while it's unlikely, that's at least a step forward from years past, when it not only was unlikely, it was unthinkable as well

    Peter May has just gone on my most disliked authors list...

    I can see how there may have been more drama in a few of those Western Conference Finals over the past few years, but geez, I think we deserve a little credit. The 2000 Finals was a pretty damn good one. I'm just tired of all this hating of the Eastern Conference. If they think we're so bad, maybe we should just annex and become our own league or maybe the Western Conference should break away and just play amongst themselves...Maybe we do like baseball did & stop interleague play---That way no one knows how each league will do against each other in the Finals.

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    • #3
      Re: Forseeing the East Finals

      If the Pacers play the Pistons in the ECF, IMO that will match anything the west has to offer.

      In fact I might favor the Pacers or Pistons to beat any western conference team except the Lakers

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Forseeing the East Finals

        I think the ECF this year will be at least as exiting as anything the WCF has to offer. It's the actual finals that I think will be the same old route as it has been since 99.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Forseeing the East Finals

          It's the actual finals that I think will be the same old route as it has been since 99.
          Man, I think home court is huge and played a part in those series not going 7.

          I think if the Pacers have home court, it goes 7 games. Nobody but the Lakers is capable of winning in 5 w/o hame court, and 6 is a stretch.
          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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          • #6
            Re: Forseeing the East Finals

            I wonder if May ever thinks the Pacers were in a game 7 "real" championship game against the Bulls?

            Complaining abou mismatched finals finals is a little silly as they are usually mismatches. The most competative one I remember in recent history would be Houston and New York since then Indiana and the Lakers has been the most competitive.
            "They could turn out to be only innocent mathematicians, I suppose," muttered Woevre's section officer, de Decker.

            "'Only.'" Woevre was amused. "Someday you'll explain to me how that's possible. Seeing that, on the face of it, all mathematics leads, doesn't it, sooner or later, to some kind of human suffering."

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            • #7
              Re: Forseeing the East Finals

              In fact I might favor the Pacers or Pistons to beat any western conference team except the Lakers
              I'll second that.

              Sacto? Minny? SanAn? No thank you.

              I strongly believe that the Lakers will come out of the west.
              This space for rent.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Forseeing the East Finals

                Here's What I would like to See and I think it could be some of the best basketball we have seen in sometime if it happens


                WCF Spurs vs Lakers , if the Lakers stay healthy they take Spurs in 7

                ECF Pacers vs Pistons , Yet another 7 game Series and if the Pacers can stay healthy they win in 7 Games
                Broadcasting Classic Rock Hits 24/7 SauceMaster Radio!!!!

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                • #9
                  Re: Forseeing the East Finals

                  WCF Spurs vs Lakers , if the Lakers stay healthy they take Spurs in 7
                  The Lakers are 20-3 over thier last 23 games. If the Lakers stay healthy, I can't see the Spurs beating them twice in two weeks, let alone three times.

                  The Pacers better be more concerned about keeping thier momentum and getting homecourt in The Finals than resting anybody, because that other team is doing what we've all feared - "peaking" at just the right time. They may not lose again until the WCF.

                  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

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