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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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Bird asks for our patience...

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  • Bird asks for our patience...

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4905746

    Updated: February 11, 2010, 1:57 PM ET
    Fans asked to hang with 18-win PacersComment Email Print Share Associated Press

    INDIANAPOLIS -- Pacers president Larry Bird is urging fans to remain patient through the team's struggles.

    Indiana enters the All-Star break with an 18-34 record, well out of the playoff race after missing the postseason for the past three seasons. Last month, some players were openly wondering if their "weak-minded" defense could be righted and attendance woes have been a problem now for years, along with assorted off-the-court issues.

    Yet Bird says the rebuilding phase that began when the Pacers traded Ron Artest in 2006 is on target, and will move into high gear after next season when the team gets salary cap space.

    "We knew that we had to clean it out and rebuild it, and we knew we were going to go through some tough times," Bird told The Associated Press this week. "Nobody likes to lose, and everybody wants to be a part of a winner. We think we're on the right track to get there."

    Bird also took the pressure off coach Jim O'Brien, who is in his third year after back-to-back 36-46 seasons. O'Brien signed a one-year extension last September to coach through the end of next season, and Bird said he is in no danger of being replaced.

    "The one thing Jimmy bought into when he came here was that we were going to rebuild, and we were going to struggle at times," Bird said. "I always say the losses are on me because I want him to work these guys hard, develop the young guys we have and keep moving forward with what we have."

    The Pacers have suffered through a series of injuries. Top scorer Danny Granger missed a month with a heel injury, center Jeff Foster is out for the season with a back injury, guard/forward Mike Dunleavy missed several weeks while recovering from knee surgery and rookie forward Tyler Hansbrough has missed the past month with an inner ear infection.

    Healthy or not, Bird expected rough times.

    "Even if we were healthy all year, I thought we could win 36 to 41 games with this team," he said. "In a rebuilding phase, which I think we're on track with, we'll just have to go forward with it."

    Bird, whose résumé includes three NBA titles and three MVP awards with the Boston Celtics, said the Pacers still could play better.

    "The one thing about this team is that we stand too much and we settle way too much for the outside shot," he said. "If we get to the hole and put the pressure on the defense, we're a lot better. When we stand and just take outside shots, we have a tendency to struggle."

    Granger, an All Star last season, hasn't been quite as good this season. He's still averaging 22.4 points per game, but that's down more than three points from last season. He's also shooting four percent lower from the field.

    Forward Troy Murphy has remained steady, despite trade rumors. He averages 14 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

    Part of the rebuilding process has led the Pacers to play younger players. O'Brien sat point guard T.J. Ford for 18 games while getting rookie A.J. Price some additional minutes.

    "T.J. knows that I respect his game, and he knows how much I like him," Bird said. "It's unfortunate that they're in that situation, but at that time, we wanted to see if A.J. could play, and we know he can."

    A bright spot has been second-year center Roy Hibbert. The 7-foot-2 Georgetown product has become a fan favorite with flashes of dominance. He's averaging 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, but that comes with 3.6 fouls every 24 minutes. He also sometimes struggles against quicker post players.

    "With Roy, he's made great strides," Bird said. "He'll continue to get better because of his work ethic. He'll struggle at times, but I think in the long run, he'll be a very valuable player for us."

    Second-year guard Brandon Rush has been inconsistent, but has shown potential. He's averaging 8.7 points and 4.1 rebounds. Hopes were high after he averaged 18.3 points and shot 55 percent from the field in the final 10 games last season.

    Eventually, Bird said, the young core players will gain experience playing as a unit under O'Brien. Until then, he said, wins might not come as often as fans would like.

    "Jimmy's done an excellent job of doing the things I want him to do," Bird said. "It won't show in wins and losses, but it will show in the long run."


    Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
    Passion. Pride. Patience. Pacers

  • #2
    Re: Bird asks for our patience...

    I've been patient since that November night of 2004 in Auburn Hills, MI. How much longer?!?!?!?!?
    Larry Bird and Ryan Grigson- wasting the talents of Paul George and Andrew Luck

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Bird asks for our patience...

      blah blah blah blahhhhhhhhh.................
      @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Bird asks for our patience...

        evil, pure evil

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Bird asks for our patience...

          So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

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

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Bird asks for our patience...

            Well at least he admits we are rebuilding.

            Also I think this does make me consider more that there might have been some truth to that rumor that O'Brien said he could handle losing 50 games a season during his interview with Bird.

            Also I think it's safe to say that Jim O'Brien will return as our coach next season.


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

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Bird asks for our patience...

              Originally posted by Peck View Post
              Also I think it's safe to say that Jim O'Brien will return as our coach next season.
              If Bird's committed to keeping Obie next year, then he needs to give him a roster that FORCES him to play the players that need PT.

              In other words, that TJ/Troy for Ray Allen trade is looking better and better.
              This space for rent.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                OK. I'll be patient.



                .
                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


                • #9
                  Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                  Originally posted by Anthem View Post
                  .

                  In other words, that TJ/Troy for Ray Allen trade is looking better and better.
                  say wha?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                    Originally posted by Larry Bird
                    "Jimmy's done an excellent job of doing the things I want him to do. It won't show in wins and losses, but it will show in the long run."
                    Last edited by Roaming Gnome; 02-11-2010, 03:50 PM.
                    ...Still "flying casual"
                    @roaminggnome74

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                      Originally posted by Peck View Post
                      Well at least he admits we are rebuilding.

                      Also I think this does make me consider more that there might have been some truth to that rumor that O'Brien said he could handle losing 50 games a season during his interview with Bird.

                      Also I think it's safe to say that Jim O'Brien will return as our coach next season.
                      Not renewing my tickets.

                      Losing I was prepared for. Insanely mixed signals, excuses that Bird now claims are not needed (via more excuses), lack of player development at times, a nearly imperceptible direction of offensive style...

                      I'll watch 60 losses of Roy trying to become a good post player and accept that if Rush, Price, Josh and Tyler aren't getting it then they aren't getting it and we need new players.

                      But how in the heck are they supposed to be good enough next year if they aren't developing now?



                      Go ahead, draft Aldrich. I won't be going to games anyway.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                        Really nothing new here.

                        I know most of you don't like losing. As Bird said, no one does. You want your GM to do something magical, but that doesn't happen without assets. The only faster way to rebuild assets is to get lucky in the draft.

                        The bottom line is we will be one of the up and coming teams everyone points to at the end of next season. All we have to do is be patient like Bird said.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                          Originally posted by USF View Post
                          Yet Bird says the rebuilding phase that began when the Pacers traded Ron Artest in 2006 is on target, and will move into high gear after next season when the team gets salary cap space.
                          So things are really gonna get into high gear as we enter the 6th season of our three year rebuild?
                          I'm in these bands
                          The Humans
                          Dr. Goldfoot
                          The Bar Brawlers
                          ME

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                            Im not going to any other game and Im done for the year unless they fire JOB
                            Last edited by vnzla81; 02-11-2010, 03:48 PM.
                            @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Bird asks for our patience...

                              Originally posted by USF View Post
                              http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4905746

                              "The one thing about this team is that we stand too much and we settle way too much for the outside shot," he said. "If we get to the hole and put the pressure on the defense, we're a lot better. When we stand and just take outside shots, we have a tendency to struggle."
                              I'd be happier with the whole thing if LJB could just tell me how he expects O'Brien to correct this.
                              BillS

                              A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                              Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                              Comment

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