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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

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  • Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

    http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...23/1004/SPORTS

    New season, new style: Pacers unleashed
    Coach says team can play at varied speeds; players eager to run

    By Mike Wells
    mike.wells@indystar.com

    It would happen so often in seasons past. Jamaal Tinsley would receive an outlet pass, quickly dribble between his legs to elude a defender and look up court as teammates filled the lanes.

    A fast-break opportunity would appear likely -- until coach Rick Carlisle put up the stop sign.

    Carlisle, who keeps a blue card with plays in the inner pocket of his suit, often hopped out of his seat, removed the card and yelled out an offensive set.

    Tinsley would stop and, with a look of frustration on his face, carry out the coach's wishes.

    The Indiana Pacers hope Carlisle puts away the card this season, which begins today with the start of training camp at Conseco Fieldhouse. Their offense was reconstructed with that belief in mind. Every trade, signing and draft pick was done to become more athletic, more difficult to defend. Carlisle spent part of the summer discussing with players a new offensive approach.

    "(Carlisle has) done a great job reaching out and asking questions about our preferences," forward Jermaine O'Neal said. "I think he understands that now we're built to run. A guy like Jamaal Tinsley, he's not really built for a half-court offense because he has the ability to break down the defense and get the ball up and make precise passes. . . . I think the city is going to be happy about this style of play. I think we kind of got predictable the last couple of years with our style of play, and it wasn't really fun to watch."

    Tinsley admitted Monday that occasionally he was frustrated by Carlisle's decisions. But he added, "I can't control how he wants to play. I just take orders."

    The Pacers don't expect to average nearly 108 points a game like the Phoenix Suns did last season, but Carlisle thinks there will be more freedom.

    "My goal is to do the right thing to help us win based on the personnel we have," Carlisle said in an interview last week. "Creativity is hindered by too much structure. We have to find the right balance between staying creative and staying with a system that allows us to be good defensively and still get out and do some explosive things on the offensive end. That's the goal of this training camp."

    Carlisle spent the summer looking at different teams' offensive systems. He noted NBA finalists Miami and Dallas weren't married to -- or restrained by -- a single style.

    "They were teams that could play fast or slow," Carlisle said. "Those games in the Finals weren't track meets. They were good basketball games that featured different paces. The one thing that was consistent was that both teams defended at a high level and were able to rebound the ball.

    "We have to be careful. We don't want to compromise the ability to win games by trying to play a pretty style. I think that's something we have to really study closely."

    Carlisle occasionally let go of the offensive reins last season, primarily when injuries forced his hand. In February, when O'Neal, the team's best low post threat, was out, the Pacers went 7-3 and averaged nearly 98 points -- five more than their season average.

    O'Neal encouraged the Pacers to continue the up-tempo style upon his
    return, but the team soon fell back into its half-court style that revolved around passes to him in the post.

    "Last year was probably the slowest that I ever played basketball, other than with the exception of the one year I had in Barcelona," backup point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius said. "Let's hope we can (speed up) because last year we also tried it but it didn't work out that way. Let's hope it's going to change."

    Even as the Pacers speed up their play, Carlisle won't spend much time sitting on the bench, wrinkling his suit. He'll hop up and pull out that blue card if the pace becomes helter-skelter or the Pacers make poor decisions.

    "One of the inherent responsibilities of playing a more free-flowing style is you have responsibility to play to your strengths," he said. "It's our jobs as coaches to make sure guys understand what their role is and what we expect of them, and we are going to be very explicit with how we approach that."


    Call Star reporter Mike Wells at (317) 444-6053.
    PSN: MRat731 XBL: MRat0731

  • #2
    Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

    Originally posted by Rick Carlisle
    "Creativity is hindered by too much structure. We have to find the right balance between staying creative and staying with a system that allows us to be good defensively and still get out and do some explosive things on the offensive end. That's the goal of this training camp."
    This is good enough. That part about "get out and do some explosive things on the offensive end" is what I'm looking forward to.

    Last year, the Pacers often seemed to use the shot clock as a sort of sixth man on defense, as if the main purpose of each possession was to hold the ball away from the other team for 24 seconds. Scoring seemed to be unimportant to the offense. But that was last year -- which was 100 years ago.

    Originally posted by Rick Carlisle
    "We have to be careful. We don't want to compromise the ability to win games by trying to play a pretty style. I think that's something we have to really study closely."
    I don't think this was ever a danger. How many times have we heard, "We're not going to run like Phoenix" from Bird of Walsh or Carlisle? Few fans even wish for that, I think. We'd rather see good defense and an offense that can control the tempo.

    If they will look for the quick outlet and use it in about one possession out of 5, and if they will let guys run fast breaks on steals and whenever they can have a 2 on 1 or a 3 on 2, I'll be happy.
    And I won't be here to see the day
    It all dries up and blows away
    I'd hang around just to see
    But they never had much use for me
    In Levelland. (James McMurtry)

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

      Well, we're certainly hearing the right things.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

        I can't wait until fan jam this weekend

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

          It would happen so often in seasons past. Jamaal Tinsley would receive an outlet pass, quickly dribble between his legs to elude a defender and look up court as teammates filled the lanes.

          A fast-break opportunity would appear likely -- until coach Rick Carlisle put up the stop sign.

          Carlisle, who keeps a blue card with plays in the inner pocket of his suit, often hopped out of his seat, removed the card and yelled out an offensive set.

          Tinsley would stop and, with a look of frustration on his face, carry out the coach's wishes.


          Rick Carlisle killed Jamaal Tinsley

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

            Gee in wonder if that had anything to do with Jamaal and his additude towards Rick.

            I have been saying it and I will keep saying it. Rick is the WRONG coach for THIS team. He would have been ok had we been the 1995 knicks but we are not.

            Too bad we could not bring in Larry Brown again he would at least know how to use Jamaal.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

              Long Read, but i hope Rick controls the Up-Tempo style well.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                Originally posted by MagicRat View Post
                "Last year was probably the slowest that I ever played basketball, other than with the exception of the one year I had in Barcelona," backup point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius said. "Let's hope we can (speed up) because last year we also tried it but it didn't work out that way. Let's hope it's going to change."
                Damn, is there anything this guy doesn't whine about? He still acts as if he's proven himself and the offense should adjust to his needs. What a brat.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                  Jermaniac; (Ragnar) good to see you out again

                  Yes, that part of the article says it ALL

                  And you know what? this team WANTS JT so it's time the coach showed it too.

                  I believe in a great season for JT, till coach steps in.
                  So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

                  If you've done 6 impossible things today?
                  Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                    Originally posted by ajbry View Post
                    Damn, is there anything this guy doesn't whine about? He still acts as if he's proven himself and the offense should adjust to his needs. What a brat.
                    Yeah, I'm a Saras fan and I didn't care for that quote.

                    It may be completely true, but still left better unsaid. Of course, you never know what gets lost (added) in translation.
                    "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                      Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
                      Yeah, I'm a Saras fan and I didn't care for that quote.

                      It may be completely true, but still left better unsaid. Of course, you never know what gets lost (added) in translation.
                      His English is fine.
                      This space for rent.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                        Originally posted by ajbry View Post
                        Damn, is there anything this guy doesn't whine about? He still acts as if he's proven himself and the offense should adjust to his needs. What a brat.
                        God forbid we assume he was talking from a team perspective, too.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                          Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                          God forbid we assume he was talking from a team perspective, too.
                          Really. Isn't that exactly what we've been talking about all summer?
                          It's a new day for Pacers Basketball.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                            Originally posted by Mike Wells
                            "One of the inherent responsibilities of playing a more free-flowing style is you have responsibility to play to your strengths," he said. "It's our jobs as coaches to make sure guys understand what their role is and what we expect of them, and we are going to be very explicit with how we approach that."
                            If Carlisle can get the players to buy into their roles and stick with them... They're saying the right things, hopefully they'll do them as well.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Indy Star - New season, new style: Pacers unleashed

                              I think when Rick came here he knew that his type of coaching won championships but now he's seen it change with teams like Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix so he'll change too.

                              Comment

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