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

Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

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

  • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

    Danny Granger explains why he won't ever tank:

    Originally posted by Danny
    Just the future. You always want to improve your game. Even if you’re losing and your team is out of the playoffs, you always want to improve your game and improve in different aspects as a team. That’s our main focus right now, improving on our overall team performance.
    Good enough?


    .
    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


    • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

      Originally posted by Putnam View Post
      Danny Granger explains why he won't ever tank:
      .
      Sam Presti explains the secret to his success

      Comment


      • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

        I don't blame the team for not tanking; I think it's healthy for them to feel that way. However, it's a separate issue from those of us hoping we rack up the losses now that the season is "already over" with regards to competing for a title.

        Comment


        • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

          Originally posted by d_c View Post
          Sam Presti explains the secret to his success

          And yet Chicago is headed for another lottery trip in spite of their interminable dynasty of high lottery picks.

          Presti had luck in the lottery and drafted well, but I'm not sure if he ever tanked, at least as a conscious decision. That team in Seattle was decimated with injuries, especially Ray Allen's season ending injury. They were still trying to win games by the end of the season, I remember that race to the bottom quite well.

          In 07/08 and 08/09 he simply didn't have quality in the team to compete for more wins - but in both seasons the team ended the season stronger than it started.

          I think that bottoming out (making an effort to fill the roster with potential sacrificing current ability) is different than tanking, at least as I understand it.

          Comment


          • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

            I don't know if Chicago is heading to the lottery this year. We'll have to see how it plays out because Toronto is also really struggling at the moment.
            Even if Chicago does miss the playoff you have to admit that their franchise is in a much better position then we are...
            They have a star PG for the next 10 years. The have a TON of cap space this summer when all the big name free agents are on the market. I would think that they have a real shot at Wade or Bosh but not James. They will likely pick up a solid player in this year draft even if they do have a late lotto pick (10-13) since this draft is stacked. Another plus for them is they need a PF and this draft is full of them. They are also set at SF with Luol Deng.
            This is a reach but their lineup next year could look something like this:
            PG-Rose
            SG-Wade
            SF-Deng
            PF-Monroe (from Gtown)
            C- Maybe keep Brad Miller? or sign someone cheap

            Basically the point I'm making is even if the Bulls miss the playoffs this year, their future as of right now looks a lot better than ours does. Now if we land the top pick that could change but the odds of that happening aren't very good.

            Comment


            • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

              Originally posted by pacers101 View Post
              I don't know if Chicago is heading to the lottery this year. We'll have to see how it plays out because Toronto is also really struggling at the moment.
              Even if Chicago does miss the playoff you have to admit that their franchise is in a much better position then we are...
              They have a star PG for the next 10 years. The have a TON of cap space this summer when all the big name free agents are on the market. I would think that they have a real shot at Wade or Bosh but not James. They will likely pick up a solid player in this year draft even if they do have a late lotto pick (10-13) since this draft is stacked. Another plus for them is they need a PF and this draft is full of them. They are also set at SF with Luol Deng.
              This is a reach but their lineup next year could look something like this:
              PG-Rose
              SG-Wade
              SF-Deng
              PF-Monroe (from Gtown)
              C- Maybe keep Brad Miller? or sign someone cheap

              Basically the point I'm making is even if the Bulls miss the playoffs this year, their future as of right now looks a lot better than ours does. Now if we land the top pick that could change but the odds of that happening aren't very good.
              They probably won't get a lotto pick because they give the rights to swap picks this season to the Bucks (top-10 protected and it's basically impossible for them to get under 10).

              But I agree they may have a bright future and have a strong young core. I think you're forgetting Noah, an excellent player, and Gibson, a young solid player with good potential. I like what they've been doing in recent years. Of course, a lot depends on what they can do this off-season.

              However, they started to improve when they hired Skiles. When have the Bulls tanked in any recent years? Those miserable under-20 wins with Tim Floyd were already more than 10 years ago! I mean, is it worth it? How good did that to them?

              And things change too fast in this league: the Bulls seemed to have a very bright future just a couple of years ago when they made the ECF with a very young core - and, again, after a few years, they're back to be a playoffs bubble team.

              Comment


              • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

                Originally posted by cordobes View Post
                I think that bottoming out (making an effort to fill the roster with potential sacrificing current ability) is different than tanking, at least as I understand it.
                That's essentially what tanking is. See Nuggets circa 2002-2003 as a good example. It's any effort by a team's front office to do less than everything to put a team on the floor with the best chance of winning. There's different methods of it, but the Nugz clearly exhibited tank as did OKC the couple of years after they moved.

                The Warriors this year clearly tanked. Yes, they were decimated by injuries, but they had enough expiring deals and flexibility to swing a couple deals to get a couple guys to help them win some games (without giving anything too valuable up in return). Instead, they went to the DLeague about 5 or 6 times to fish for players. They stood pat in trades. That's tanking.

                One of the big reasons Chicago never made it over the hump is because they never swung a big trade to make use of all the assets they accumulated through the draft. Year after year they were discussed as a team that was potentially making a big trade (they clearly possessed the assets to do so) and year after year they just stood pat. John Paxson has probably done less with more than any GM during his tenure.

                Comment


                • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

                  Originally posted by d_c View Post
                  That's essentially what tanking is. See Nuggets circa 2002-2003 as a good example. It's any effort by a team's front office to do less than everything to put a team on the floor with the best chance of winning. There's different methods of it, but the Nugz clearly exhibited tank as did OKC the couple of years after they moved.

                  The Warriors this year clearly tanked. Yes, they were decimated by injuries, but they had enough expiring deals and flexibility to swing a couple deals to get a couple guys to help them win some games (without giving anything too valuable up in return). Instead, they went to the DLeague about 5 or 6 times to fish for players. They stood pat in trades. That's tanking.
                  I would put forward that there's a fine line between not using assets you currently have to put the best team on the floor (sitting your best players, etc.) and not making moves for the sake of winning a few more games (your example for the Warriors). I would maintain that the first is not keeping good faith with your fans while the second is simply choosing not to waste resources for little or no return.

                  It's kind of like having a car that is burning oil and is on its last legs. Do you:

                  - torch it for the insurance money
                  - trade it for a car that still burns oil but maybe only a quart every two days instead of a quart a day
                  - try to keep it going until you can afford a better car
                  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


                  • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

                    I decided to move this post here since it made more sense on the topic of winning or losing. For me, it's about accomplishing Short and Long Term goals when it comes to our lineups for the rest of the season ( which is a major area of contention for many of us here on PD ) to better prepare us for the next season.

                    Winning with a majority of the minutes given to Ford/Watson/Dunleavy/Murphy = Good for the Team in the short term but doesn't really accomplish anything in the long term.

                    Losing with a majority of the minutes given to Ford/Watson/Dunleavy/Murphy = Bad for the Team in the short and long term since giving them a lot of minutes doesn't really accomplish anything.

                    Winning or Losing Games with a minimal # of consistent and meaningful minutes against key rotational Players given to AJ/McRoberts on a regular basis ( maybe 15 mpg ) while playing them more with our future core of Players ( specifically Granger/BRush/Inferno/Hibbert ) to properly evaluate their performance ( specifically not giving them garbage minutes ) and determine whether they should be considered part of the future core of Players = Good for the Team in the short term and long term...regardless of whether we win or lose.

                    This doesn't mean that I do not want to give any minutes to Dunleavy/Ford/Watson/Murphy nor reduce their minutes to the point where they do not factor into a game.......we need them to play in order to remain somewhat competitive ( both a short and long term goal )....but at the same time....we need to evaluate whether AJ and McRoberts should be here for the long term or not.

                    This isn't about me wanting the Pacers to win or lose games nor giving AJ/McRoberts any undeserved minutes.....it's about planning for the future, it's about seeing what happens if we give AJ/McRoberts more minutes on a regular basis and "let the chips fall where they may"....win or lose...I don't care......I'm looking beyond this season......the important thing is that we get to see if either of them are keepers or not.
                    Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

                      New York just won today.....................
                      @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                      Comment


                      • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

                        Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                        New York just won today.....................
                        Yea, but Philly lost (they had the same record when they played each other last night).

                        Comment


                        • Re: Time to Root for Pacers Losses?

                          21-61 sounds mighty good to me !

                          Unfortunately though, unless TPTB put DG on ice for the remainder
                          of the season, given that they have more 'imminently winnable' (at home
                          vs the other teams w/ 25 wins or less) games left than anyone other
                          than perhaps the Knicks, they're highly likely to play their way 'down'
                          into the 6-8 range.

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X