Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

The Schedule Thread

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: The Schedule Thread

    Nov 10vs Denver7:00 pm

    Nov 13vs Boston7:00 pm

    Nov 14at Washington7:00 pm

    Nov 16at Toronto7:00 pm

    Nov 17vs Utah7:00 pm

    Nov 20vs LA Lakers7:00 pm

    Nov 21at New Orleans8:00 pm

    Nov 23vs Dallas8:00 pm

    Nov 25vs Cleveland2:30 pm

    Nov 27at Denver9:00 pm

    Oy.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: The Schedule Thread

      Originally posted by Infinite MAN_force View Post
      I don't know if I agree with the sonics and clippers going under the "worrisome" category... and honestly I'm not sold on Orlando either.
      It's not so much the opponents, but the fact that it's the start of an 8 roadies-in-11-game stretch.

      I mean, last year, we went 13-28 on the road. And we averaged 5.3 fewer ppg and shot 1.6% lower on the road. We also shot 2.5% lower from the FT line.

      And it's not just us...The adage that road wins are harder in the NBA is not just a cliche, it's very real. Almost without fail, everyone plays better at home.

      Last year, only 6 teams finished with winning road records:
      Dallas - 31-10
      Phoenix - 28-13
      San Antonio - 27-14
      Houston - 24-17
      Detroit - 24-17
      Denver - 22-19

      It's no coincidence that those are all among the best and most experienced teams in the League. Not even Utah, Chicago or Cleveland could overcome the road woes, and although the Jazz and Cavs were almsot .500, Chicago was 5 games under away from the United Center.

      Furthermore, almost all teams score less on the road.

      Team - PPG on the Road vs. PPG at Home
      Memphis - 7.8 fewer
      GSW - 7.0 fewer
      Utah - 6.2 fewer
      Lakers - 5.9 fewer
      Hawks - 5.8 fewer
      Toronto - 5.5 fewer
      Indiana - 5.3 fewer
      Dallas - 5.3 fewer
      Sacto - 4.7 fewer
      Knicks - 4.2 fewer
      Clips - 3.9 fewer
      TWolves - 3.8 fewer
      Nets - 3.7 fewer
      Blazers - 3.3 fewer
      Bucks - 3.3 fewer
      Denver - 2.5 fewer
      Chicago - 2.4 fewer
      Wizards - 2.3 fewer
      Cavs - 2.1 fewer
      Magic - 1.8 fewer
      Detroit - 1.6 fewer
      Bobcats - 1.3 fewer
      Seattle - 0.7 fewer
      Rockets - 0.7 fewer
      Hornets - 0.5 fewer
      Heat - 0.3 fewer
      Celtics - 0.1 fewer
      Spurs - 0.1 more
      76ers - 0.7 more
      Phoenix - 1.2 more

      http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/stats/by...ar=season_2006

      The Top 5 seeds in each conference are highlighted and aside from Dallas (?), Utah (young PG?) and Toronto (young/inconsistent/jump-shooters?), the better the team, the less affected it would seem they are. Roughly half the League is almost 3 ppg worse away from home, while SA, PHX, MIA, HOU and DET are virtually unaffected. This is significant.

      Are we still in that lower tier? Who knows. But it's a little early to expect us to be anything resembling "road warriors" just yet. Especially when we're running a jump shooting offense and a defense based on commitment and team effort (neither of which hold up well historically in times of frustration or low confidence.) And come December 17, we'll have a much better idea

      ----------

      So, to actually respond to your post, yes, we should still beat teams like Seattle and Portland on any given night, no matter the gym...but if we happen to only split those two or, worse, go 0-2 against them, it's going to make it really hard to come out of that 8 of 11 on the road stretch any better than 5-6. And a 3-8 run during that stretch could be highly demoralizing for a team that, right now, is flying pretty high. The last thing we need is a roster full of guys who are so far guzzling the JO'B Kool Aid to question their faith because of a skid that comes as the result of a rough patch of schedule.

      I'm just pointing out that we unfortunately do face a rough patch of schedule. And I'll be watching with much curiousity how they handle it.



      .
      Last edited by JayRedd; 11-03-2007, 03:35 AM.
      Read my Pacers blog:
      8points9seconds.com

      Follow my twitter:

      @8pts9secs

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: The Schedule Thread

        Good post Redd, nice numbers to back the point. I don't like that trip to NO the night after the LA game even. Not a monster trip but not the dash over to CHI, MEM or CLE either.

        I also agree about the shooting away from home when you have been leaning on the outside shot to carry the offense. That's usually problematic for any team. However I think this group seems to find resolve in the defensive end and might react better than expected on the road at that end.

        The tests have been much better than pre-season, but they haven't come close to the tough spots of a regular season yet.


        Also mark down the new trade deadline date - NOV 20

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: The Schedule Thread

          Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
          And now ironically you are throwing him under the bus for using another cliche.


          I'm not quite in the Shade mindset of predicting the wins and losses. More just sizing up the upcoming situation. I hate to expect wins or losses, maybe they lose to MEM but then win in TOR. I'm thinking more about setting up perspective on the efforts prior to the set of games rather than after they've won/lost.

          This isn't just where a win is given a "so what, they were supposed to". It also means me saying "I didn't expect that, that was impressive" after they win those WSH, TOR or UTH games.

          I agree with the guys that suggest this early stretch can win over some fans. Close finishes don't hurt either.
          You mean, like...

          ...oh, say...

          11-5?

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: The Schedule Thread

            Bump.
            This space for rent.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: The Schedule Thread

              Let's hope four of the next six at home helps out a little.
              Read my Pacers blog:
              8points9seconds.com

              Follow my twitter:

              @8pts9secs

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: The Schedule Thread

                Yeah, but one of those is Utah after the Pacers play in Toronto the night before. That looks like 0-2 right there.

                The Lakers...maybe. Better hope so at least after the trade rumors.

                Day rest for Dallas, but it's Dallas.

                Then Cleveland which seems possible.


                I don't know, looks pretty rough to me. Isn't this just like last year when I complained about the poor showing in the easy month with a bad month pending? If you don't kick butt when you should be it comes back to bite you when the road gets rough. They really needed those 3 wins prior to the Boston game.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: The Schedule Thread

                  Originally posted by Shade View Post
                  11-5
                  How's that working out for you?

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: The Schedule Thread

                    Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post

                    Also mark down the new trade deadline date - NOV 20
                    You're joking, right?

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: The Schedule Thread

                      Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
                      Yeah, but one of those is Utah after the Pacers play in Toronto the night before. That looks like 0-2 right there.

                      The Lakers...maybe. Better hope so at least after the trade rumors.

                      Day rest for Dallas, but it's Dallas.

                      Then Cleveland which seems possible.


                      I don't know, looks pretty rough to me. Isn't this just like last year when I complained about the poor showing in the easy month with a bad month pending? If you don't kick butt when you should be it comes back to bite you when the road gets rough. They really needed those 3 wins prior to the Boston game.
                      Well....I was attempting to interject some modicum of positivity after last night. "Bump" was my actual feelings on the matter.
                      Read my Pacers blog:
                      8points9seconds.com

                      Follow my twitter:

                      @8pts9secs

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: The Schedule Thread

                        Originally posted by JayRedd View Post
                        Well....I was attempting to interject some modicum of positivity after last night. "Bump" was my actual feelings on the matter.
                        I realize that. I was addressing the idea more than you specifically. Just talking. I mean if those 4 games were on the road it would certainly be worse.

                        DC - the is a clue, but the reason I said that was that it was the Lakers visit and often trades are done right around the time teams get together, for whatever reason. Sort of "hey, why don't just leave Bynum here and let JO get on the plane". Or maybe the front office guys go out to dinner and hash it out in person.

                        Personally I am strongly anti-JO trade.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: The Schedule Thread

                          Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
                          How's that working out for you?
                          Um...I'm dyslexic?

                          5-11...just like I said.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: The Schedule Thread

                            Good news.

                            Things are looking pretty, pretty nice for the next two months. We have a few tough ones coming up the next two weeks (until Toronto really), but all and all, not much here scares me.

                            We got two vs. Phoenix and a trip to Salt Lake, but there aint a Dallas, SA, Boston or Houston in sight. Very nice. We do have that home-and-home with Detroit, but we always play them tough.

                            So....If we can can keep treading water and stay around .500 until December 14, we might be able to get fat on some holiday cupcakes.

                            Look at the opponents from December 15 through January 6. There's no reason we can't go 9-3 there.


                            December

                            Dec 2 at LA Clippers
                            Dec 4 vs Phoenix
                            Dec 7 at Orlando
                            Dec 11 at Cleveland

                            Dec 12 vs Chicago
                            Dec 14 vs Toronto
                            Dec 15 at Miami
                            Dec 17 at New York
                            Dec 19 vs Philadelphia
                            Dec 21 at Minnesota
                            Dec 22 vs Washington
                            Dec 26 at Atlanta

                            Dec 28 at Detroit
                            Dec 29 vs Detroit
                            Dec 31 at Charlotte

                            January

                            Jan 2 vs Memphis
                            Jan 4 vs Atlanta

                            Jan 6 at LA Lakers
                            Jan 8 at Utah
                            Jan 9 at Phoenix
                            Jan 12 at Sacramento
                            Jan 13 at Golden State
                            Jan 16 vs Golden State

                            Jan 19 vs Sacramento
                            Jan 21 at Philadelphia
                            Jan 23 at Chicago
                            Jan 24 at Milwaukee
                            Jan 26 at Miami

                            Jan 29 vs Detroit


                            Red is for tough stretches I don't expect us to do particularly well in, and we've added green for times where we might be able to put a nice winning stretch together. Also, for Christmas.
                            Read my Pacers blog:
                            8points9seconds.com

                            Follow my twitter:

                            @8pts9secs

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: The Schedule Thread

                              Originally posted by JayRedd View Post
                              Dec 11 at Cleveland W
                              Dec 12 vs Chicago W
                              Dec 14 vs Toronto L
                              Dec 15 at Miami W
                              Dec 17 at New York W
                              Dec 19 vs Philadelphia W
                              Dec 21 at Minnesota W
                              Dec 22 vs Washington L
                              Dec 26 at Atlanta W
                              I think that is a pretty winnable stretch of games and I could see us going 6 - 2 in that stretch. I said by the end of December we'd be 4th in the east and 2nd in our division 2 weeks or so ago. I really need to dig up that post.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: The Schedule Thread

                                Man, a near win vs PHX and then a huge win in ORL. Nice way to show up in the red portion so far. Add to this several days off before Cleveland and Lebron's injury and that game looks a lot more like an expected win.

                                Then you run into an easier stretch of games. I do think you have to watch out on those Atlanta games more than you might think, but otherwise The Don could be right.

                                The key is for this team to take advantage of it while they can. Get bolstered for that JAN west trip that will just about finish off that, and then you can hunker down for the playoff push from a pretty good position.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X