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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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Godspeed, Gentlemen!

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  • Godspeed, Gentlemen!

    Analysis of remaining games of lottery competitors.

    There's a tight cluster of 4 teams who are vying for the 7-10 picks, the Clippers, Pacers, Knicks, and 76ers. It seems unlikely that the Kings win enough to lose the 6 spot. The difference between pick 7 and pick 10 is important for player quality, but maybe more so lottery odds. The odds of landing a lottery pick are about 4x more likely from 7 than the 10 (44 ping pong balls vs. 11). It would be in our best interest, if the Clips, Knicks, and '6ers could pick up the slack and get a few W's. Here's a look at their schedules for rooting purposes.

    Clippers (27-46):
    March 30th @ Milwaukee
    March 31st @ Toronto
    April 3rd @ Denver
    April 4th vs. Knicks
    April 7th vs. Portland
    April 8th @ Sacramento
    April 10th vs. Golden State
    April 12th vs. Dallas
    April 14th vs. Lakers

    Poor Man's Analysis: Maybe a couple wins, but seems pretty tough.

    Knicks (26-47):
    March 31st @ Portland
    April 2nd @ Golden State
    April 4th @ Clippers
    April 6th vs. Boston
    April 7th @ Indiana
    April 9th @ Orlando
    April 11th vs. Miami
    April 12th vs. Washington
    April 14th @ Toronto

    Poor Man's Analysis. Could be worse. The Pacer game is obviously big. They play the Celtics the night before in LA, the Pacers will be coming off two days of rest.

    76ers (26-47):

    March 30th vs. Oklahoma City
    March 31st @ Charlotte
    April 3rd vs. Toronto
    April 6th vs. Detroit
    April 7th @ Miami
    April 9th vs. Milwaukee
    April 10th @ Memphis
    April 12th vs. Miami
    April 14th @ Orlando

    Poor Man's Analysis: A few winnable games. Overall not bad.

    For comparison:
    Pacers (27-47):

    March 30th vs. Sacramento
    April 2nd vs. Miami
    April 4th vs. Houston
    April 7th vs. Knicks
    April 9th @ Cleveland
    April 10th vs. New Jersey
    April 12th vs. Orlando
    April 14th @ Washington

    Easy wins against NJ and Washington. Will be interesting to see if Orlando rests their starters on the 12th. They'll probably be pretty settled in the 2 seed.
    46
    7
    0.00%
    0
    8
    19.57%
    9
    9
    32.61%
    15
    10
    47.83%
    22
    Last edited by CooperManning; 03-30-2010, 03:08 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

    I don't think the Clippers win another game. That Knick game is probably their best bet, but I don't see it. Baron won't play on that upcoming road trip, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he takes the rest of the season off. 27-55.

    Other than the Clippers, I think the Knicks beat the Wizards, and maybe Toronto that final game. They have no reason to tank since the pick isn't theirs, and they have a bunch of players who know that they won't be returning next year so they're playing for contracts. 28-54.

    Philly is tough to try to predict. They blew out the Bucks in Milwaukee and followed it up by beating the Hawks so they're certainly capable of pulling out some wins. The question is, which team shows up? I think they beat Toronto, Detroit, Milwaukee, and hopefully split those Miami games. 30-52.

    We have the easiest schedule out the bunch, by far. 6 out of 8 at home. Only 3 against playoff teams. We should finish strong, but you never know with this group. I think we win 5 out of 8. 32-50.

    10th pick here we come.
    Last edited by Kuq_e_Zi91; 03-30-2010, 04:18 AM.
    2015, 2016, 2019 IKL Fantasy Basketball Champions - DC Dreamers

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    • #3
      Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

      [/sarcasm on]We need to win EVERY game!!! let's get that 10th pick! It won't matter! 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 14th, 16th pick? Who cares? You can get a starplayer with the 16th pick and a 4th pick can bust too, so who cares [/sarcasm off]
      2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

      2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

      2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

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      • #4
        Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

        Absolutely!! Moral victorys carry over to next year in a big way. I'll still be glowing next November iF they wallop Sacromento tonight.
        Last edited by Speed; 03-30-2010, 07:52 AM.

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        • #5
          Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

          Originally posted by Speed View Post
          Absolutely!! Moral victorys carry over to next year in a big way. I'll still be glowing next November is they wallop Sacromento tonight.
          Truer words have never been spoken! And we'll be sticking it to the Kings and their fans next time we play them too that we won this game, because tonight is all that matters, future be damned!

          Also we'll be lecturing them that this Tyreke Evans dude they have sure makes them losers, because they had to be REALLY bad to be able to draft him and that it won't matter anyway, he's going to bust and Earl Clark, James Johnson and above all Tyler are going to be starzzz, bla, bla, bla
          Last edited by Mourning; 03-30-2010, 07:07 AM.
          2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

          2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

          2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

            Walt Whitman wrote, "The future is no more uncertain than the present."

            And you know what? He was wrong.


            So are most of the posts in this and every other thread that insist that this leads to that or that there's only one way to succeed.

            Many people think they are being logical or scientific when all they are doing is grossly oversimplifying the range of possibility.





            .
            Last edited by Putnam; 03-30-2010, 08:37 AM.
            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


            • #7
              Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

              Originally posted by Putnam View Post
              Walt Whitman wrote, "The future is no more uncertain than the present."

              And you know what? He was wrong.


              So are most of the posts in this and every other thread that insist that this leads to that or that there's only one way to succeed.

              Many people think they are being logical or scientific when all they are doing is grossly oversimplifying the range of possibility.





              .
              Which goes both ways, offcourse...
              2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

              2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

              2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                Since you apparently feel you are the smart one here, please enlighten us. I guess all of us idiots are oversimplifying matters when we state that the Pacers odds of getting a better player improve as their draft position rises. That is simple. So why don't you understand that fact? Sure teams can get lucky later in the draft. But to me the premise that we should rely on luck sounds like the planning of a simpleton.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                  I don't know what's going to happen.

                  I don't know who'll come out for the draft, or where the Pacers will end up in the standings, or which lottery slot they'll win, or who'll be available to them on draft night, or what trades Bird can swing to change the Pacers draft slot, or how the guy they eventually pick will turn out. I don't know any of that.

                  Therefore, I don't assert anything about the future.




                  Originally posted by 31fan
                  you apparently feel you are the smart one here

                  EDIT: You don't have to agree with me, and you don't have to like me. But don't mistake what I'm saying as thinking I know a lot. My whole point is that I know very little and that even the people who know more than me about the possibilities don't know anything for certain.


                  .
                  .
                  Last edited by Putnam; 03-30-2010, 02:58 PM.
                  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


                  • #10
                    Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                    Originally posted by Putnam View Post
                    Walt Whitman wrote, "The future is no more uncertain than the present."

                    And you know what? He was wrong.


                    So are most of the posts in this and every other thread that insist that this leads to that or that there's only one way to succeed.

                    Many people think they are being logical or scientific when all they are doing is grossly oversimplifying the range of possibility.





                    .

                    For sure. I do know it's better to have a choice between cake, pie, ice cream, and rotten fish to eat. Than just Ice cream and rotten fish. Hey, if I pick rotten fish in either scenario, that's on me. At least when I have more choices, I have more options to pick something good.

                    Also an underated thing is when you have all of the options, people tend to want to trade you Steak for it. Thats a pretty good thing.

                    Now back to rooting for the Pacers to win, while hoping they get a better pick and therefore hoping they lose. Yes, you can do both.

                    Side note, if wins right now are valuable for the team, is it because Roy and Brandon forgot what it is to win since Georgetown and Kansas. Or is just the experience of winning helpful by on court time. If it's the latter than the issue isn't winning, but playing time, right?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                      Against everything I want my guess is we will be hearing this....

                      with the 10th pick the Indiana Pacers select Patrick Patterson

                      I would prefer Ekpe Udoh but oh well you cant always get what ya want
                      JOB is a silly man

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                        Originally posted by Putnam View Post
                        Walt Whitman wrote, "The future is no more uncertain than the present."

                        And you know what? He was wrong.


                        So are most of the posts in this and every other thread that insist that this leads to that or that there's only one way to succeed.

                        Many people think they are being logical or scientific when all they are doing is grossly oversimplifying the range of possibility.
                        .
                        There is a 50-50 chance that is is 100% correct.


                        Then again....
                        "Larry Bird: You are Officially On the Clock! (3/24/08)"
                        (Watching You Like A Hawk!)

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                          I would rather have a better chance at helping our future than ensuring we finish with the most possible wins. And what I mean by that is this... I would be fine if we finished the season on a 8 game winning streak as long as we are keeping the players with no future on this team beyond next season firmly planted on the bench. What's the point of playing those people heavy minutes just to ring up a higher win total? How has that worked out for us the last couple of years? Dumb.

                          BTW, I think we'll pick 10th.
                          Last edited by Manguera; 03-30-2010, 10:47 AM.
                          A healthy man takes a crap every day. A smart man does it on company time.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                            I picked 8th. I just hope Danny Granger plays next season like he has the last four games and we will not be in the lotto next season.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Godspeed, Gentlemen!

                              Originally posted by Kuq_e_Zi91 View Post

                              We have the easiest schedule out the bunch, .

                              10th pick here we come.


                              Couldn't agree more, and have been saying 10th place is where the Pacers will be.

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