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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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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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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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Quick early-season observations

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  • #1

    Quick early-season observations

    Okay, in spite of being on the road a lot, I've seen most of the games (but, ironically, I was not in Chicago for the game Saturday night.)

    Quick observations that I'm sure have been covered around here somewhere else...

    (1) Tinsley and JO are just crucial to the success of the "new" Pacers. Its going to take time before every one "looks good" in this system. Even if the system seems to leverage JO's and Jamaal's strengths, they still have years of slow-it-down, isolation-ball habits to break. And it shows at times. The Washington game was a prime example - we all know Tinsley still has defensive limitations but without JO's interior presence, our defense was just miserable.

    (2) I've been proud that Rick seems to be resisting temptation to tighten it up. Quinn had some fascinating things to say on that topic during the Orlando game - to take it one step further, it will take a while before the players are instinctively ready to just play the game (without looking to the bench for a play call). Its a shame it came to this. After all, basketball is a beautiful game to watch when the players are all in movement and in-sync with each other.

    (3) SJax - brace yourselves - I've hardly noticed when he's on the court. And that's a great thing. Because his game is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. But - to his credit - he seems to be doing a much, much better job of playing his role, understanding his role, not disrupting the offense, not hogging the ball, not taking too many terrible shots (empahsize "too many"). When he remembers that, of our starting five, he's the fourth option at best behind JO, Al, and Tinsley, he *can* compliment their games. There have even been times this season where I've thought that he's made "smart" plays - something he's very rarely been accused of in the past. I hope he keeps it up and accumlates some trade value - it would be nice to have options instead of guys that are untradeable.

    (4) David Harrison - lost too much weight. Remember in the Bo Hill era, when the "smart" decision was to have Rik gain weight to play in the post. Well, Rik, as many of us knew, was just a 7'4" small forward, and that didn't work. Larry Brown took one look at Rik in '94 and told him to lose the extra weight, and Rik became a better player.

    We've got the opposite problem with David. David is a bruiser, first and foremost. But not anymore. Now we've got that awful combination of a guy who uses his hands too much... but now he really NEEDS to use his hands because he's getting pushed around as he's never been pushed around before.

    We're doing him a disservice. Its time to let him bulk back up and go play elsewhere. But I sure don't want to see him on the court until he's back to 280lbs, and you all know that I'm a David Harrison fan...

    (5) Powell/ Marshall - Who would've thought that "Throw-in #1" and "Throw-in #2" would've even made the team, let alone play relatively well in their limited roles? Marshall appears headed toward the common young-player problem of playing much better in home games than away games. I'd like the Pacers to try a two week expiriment of giving Foster's minutes to Powell - can Foster's rebounding productivity be replaced in a way that Foster could be used in a trade to improve the backcourt? As for Foster, he seems much more capable of catching the ball this season.

    (6) Daniels - I'm starting to really, really like this kid's game. He's heady, he doesn't seem to make mistakes, I like his effort. And he seems very, very adept around the rim. He doesn't really play the same style I don't think, but he's got many of the same attributes as Vern Fleming, who I always enjoyed watching play because he just had a way of making plays out of nothing.

    Lastly, and most importantly,

    (7) I really underestimated just how good Rick could do at keeping this team competitive most nights while they went through a long learning/ adjustment period. By continuing to emphasize defense overall, even with certain strategic changes defensively, this team is putting themselves in position to win the games it can/ should win (Bobcats, Philly, Orlando, NYK) - something I was concerned about because the last time this team had a real fundamental identity shift like this (toward defense, under Larry Brown) they really looked awful for a number of weeks against every type of opponent.
    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
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Quick early-season observations

    Originally posted by Jay@Section19 View Post
    (6) Daniels - I'm starting to really, really like this kid's game. He's heady, he doesn't seem to make mistakes, I like his effort. And he seems very, very adept around the rim. He doesn't really play the same style I don't think, but he's got many of the same attributes as Vern Fleming, who I always enjoyed watching play because he just had a way of making plays out of nothing.
    That's a great comparison. I was just thinking about that.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Quick early-season observations

      Nice review but what about S word?
      Yours truly,
      Israfan, former Lithfan

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Quick early-season observations

        Originally posted by Jay@Section19 View Post

        (6) Daniels - I'm starting to really, really like this kid's game. He's heady, he doesn't seem to make mistakes, I like his effort. And he seems very, very adept around the rim. He doesn't really play the same style I don't think, but he's got many of the same attributes as Vern Fleming, who I always enjoyed watching play because he just had a way of making plays out of nothing.
        Looking at Daniels stats, he should be doing very well in other aspects of the game as everybody praises him very much. Pitty, I didn't see any Pacers games yet, but I'm planning to watch Pacers on Wednesday and I will see this phenomenon.
        "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler."

        - Albert Einstein

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Quick early-season observations

          Originally posted by Jay@Section19 View Post

          (4) David Harrison - lost too much weight. Remember in the Bo Hill era, when the "smart" decision was to have Rik gain weight to play in the post. Well, Rik, as many of us knew, was just a 7'4" small forward, and that didn't work. Larry Brown took one look at Rik in '94 and told him to lose the extra weight, and Rik became a better player.

          We've got the opposite problem with David. David is a bruiser, first and foremost. But not anymore. Now we've got that awful combination of a guy who uses his hands too much... but now he really NEEDS to use his hands because he's getting pushed around as he's never been pushed around before.

          We're doing him a disservice. Its time to let him bulk back up and go play elsewhere. But I sure don't want to see him on the court until he's back to 280lbs, and you all know that I'm a David Harrison fan...

          What? So that's the problem now.

          The problem I see is the same problem I've seen since he became a Pacer. He is not a basketball player physically, mentally, or emotionally. He has no clue what he's doing out on the court. He has zero instincts and no idea what is going on. I've never seen a Pacers player who has no feel for the game of basketball before - but that is what Harrison has right now.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Quick early-season observations

            Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
            What? So that's the problem now.

            The problem I see is the same problem I've seen since he became a Pacer. He is not a basketball player physically, mentally, or emotionally. He has no clue what he's doing out on the court. He has zero instincts and no idea what is going on. I've never seen a Pacers player who has no feel for the game of basketball before - but that is what Harrison has right now.
            I've been a David Harrison supporter up untill since we picked him, and it saddens me that I cannot disagree with this one bit.

            I really want to move David before the league catches on.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Quick early-season observations

              I just want to agree say that it's huge that we're beating teams we really can and should beat. We've lost to New Orleans, Washington, and Chicago. Could the Pacers beat those teams in a seven-game series? Tough. There are so many teams that we can beat though. It's always SO disappointing in the past when we'll beat Detroit one night and then lose to Atlanta the next. Let's hope we can pull this one against the Celts out.

              Btw, Jay, you have nothing to say about Al? I certainly didn't expect him to be this good.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Quick early-season observations

                Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                What? So that's the problem now.

                The problem I see is the same problem I've seen since he became a Pacer. He is not a basketball player physically, mentally, or emotionally. He has no clue what he's doing out on the court. He has zero instincts and no idea what is going on. I've never seen a Pacers player who has no feel for the game of basketball before - but that is what Harrison has right now.
                Now that's just silly.

                He has a feel for the game of basketball. Specifically, he has an excellent feel for how to play in the low post. He hasn't had good coaching, especially at the NBA level but apparently also at the college level. He's got a couple of fundamental problems that he needs to resolve - especially in terms of technique, improving his footwork a little bit, and to quit relying on his hands (the #2 sign of improper post coaching, trailing only "fronting the post" - or as its better called, "Post Defense for wussies." ) But your comments are so over-the-top I thought I was reading something I'd write...

                Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                And life itself, rushing over me
                Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Quick early-season observations

                  Originally posted by rexnom View Post
                  I just want to agree say that it's huge that we're beating teams we really can and should beat. We've lost to New Orleans, Washington, and Chicago. Could the Pacers beat those teams in a seven-game series? Tough. There are so many teams that we can beat though. It's always SO disappointing in the past when we'll beat Detroit one night and then lose to Atlanta the next. Let's hope we can pull this one against the Celts out.

                  Btw, Jay, you have nothing to say about Al? I certainly didn't expect him to be this good.
                  Agree. I just didn't want to talk too much about the starting frontcourt because that was "too easy."

                  Have I mentioned lately that I don't like the Green Guys? Maybe I'll have a ceremonial buring of a Red Auerbach picture in honor of playing those $#^$&s.
                  Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                  Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                  Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                  Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                  And life itself, rushing over me
                  Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                  Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Quick early-season observations

                    Go Celtics!
                    Narf!

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Quick early-season observations

                      Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                      What? So that's the problem now.

                      The problem I see is the same problem I've seen since he became a Pacer. He is not a basketball player physically, mentally, or emotionally. He has no clue what he's doing out on the court. He has zero instincts and no idea what is going on. I've never seen a Pacers player who has no feel for the game of basketball before - but that is what Harrison has right now.
                      Are you sure you're not confusing him with Bender?

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Quick early-season observations

                        Originally posted by Jay@Section19 View Post
                        Agree. I just didn't want to talk too much about the starting frontcourt because that was "too easy."

                        Have I mentioned lately that I don't like the Green Guys? Maybe I'll have a ceremonial buring of a Red Auerbach picture in honor of playing those $#^$&s.
                        Hey, and you don't live in the middle of Celtics-country (not to mention Pats-country).

                        That is fair. I just want to give Al a special mention...he's been big.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Quick early-season observations

                          Nice post overall.

                          However, I should expect this, but your Jack section was underestimating him quite a bit. Sure, it's progress that you are able to somewhat say you are satisfied with his performance, but a couple of your statements I have to disagree with.

                          "I've hardly noticed when he's on the court." - He's been putting up assists at a nice clip and is a facilitator of our offense, how could you not notice?

                          "He's the fourth option at best behind JO, Al, and Tinsley." - I won't even begin to dissect that statement, as we all know he's #3 anyway, and when he's "at his best" he's usually the #1.

                          But, it's nice to see you're slowly warming up to him, I guess that's progress.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Quick early-season observations

                            Originally posted by Jay@Section19 View Post
                            Now that's just silly.

                            He has a feel for the game of basketball. Specifically, he has an excellent feel for how to play in the low post. He hasn't had good coaching, especially at the NBA level but apparently also at the college level. He's got a couple of fundamental problems that he needs to resolve - especially in terms of technique, improving his footwork a little bit, and to quit relying on his hands (the #2 sign of improper post coaching, trailing only "fronting the post" - or as its better called, "Post Defense for wussies." ) But your comments are so over-the-top I thought I was reading something I'd write...


                            You bring out the best in me, or the worst depending on your point of view

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Quick early-season observations

                              I agree that David lost a bit too much weight.

                              Comment

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