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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.

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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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Very good article about Pacers from USA Today

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  • Very good article about Pacers from USA Today

    The part I put in italics was in a separate box, separate article.



    http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...le-cover_x.htm



    Pacers seek to maintain torrid Pace
    By Roscoe Nance, USA TODAY


    The Indiana Pacers have all the ingredients to be a championship team: tenacious defense, perimeter shooting and an inside presence. They had that last season, not that it mattered. They faltered in the second half and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after being tied with New Jersey for the best record in the East at the All-Star break.


    Once again the Pacers (36-13 after Monday's defeat of the Lakers) are atop the East as the All-Star game approaches and with essentially the same roster as last year. So what's to keep them from imploding again?


    That question might have been answered last June when Larry Bird, who coached the Pacers to their only NBA Finals appearance in 2000, returned as president of basketball operations.


    Rick Carlisle tackled perhaps the biggest challenge of his new job the day after he was hired to coach the Pacers in September.

    Before winning any games, he had to win over Indiana's franchise player, Jermaine O'Neal.

    The East's premier big man felt betrayed by the team when Isiah Thomas, the coach who made him an All-Star, was fired shortly after O'Neal signed a seven-year contract with the Pacers instead of going to the San Antonio Spurs. O'Neal had bloomed into a force at both ends of the court under Thomas' guidance.

    Carlisle called O'Neal in Puerto Rico, where he was with the U.S. Olympic qualifying team. The two hit it off immediately.

    "He's shown me since the first phone call he's about winning," said Carlisle. "As a new coach in a new situation who came into it late, that means a lot from a guy who is a franchise player."

    The new partnership has produced an East-best record for the Pacers — and no regrets from O'Neal. "That ended Day 2," he said. "Even though the situation was dealt with like that, (president) Donnie Walsh was the only one to give me an opportunity."

    Walsh traded All-Star Dale Davis for a still young and unproven O'Neal in 2000, just two months after the Pacers reached the NBA Finals and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Under Carlisle, O'Neal, 25, is enjoying another All-Star season, and Indiana is off to another huge start.

    "The staff the last three years molded this team and got it prepared, and Rick came along and polished the team as far as discipline on the defensive end of the floor," O'Neal said. "He's taught us about patience and defense, and that's something we lacked the last couple years."— Greg Boeck, USA TODAY





    The no-nonsense Hall of Famer made it clear from the outset that he would not tolerate the bickering and bad behavior — and the losing — that went on last season.

    "I like our team," Bird says. "I think we have all the talent in the world. It's just a matter of making the commitment to play together on the offensive and defensive ends."

    With that in mind, Bird fired Isiah Thomas, the Hall of Famer who succeeded him as coach, and hired former Detroit Pistons coach Rick Carlisle, his teammate on the Boston Celtics and his assistant coach with the Pacers for three seasons.

    "I know how he runs things," Bird says. "I like the offense he is running, and I like how organized he is. He knows I don't put up with a lot of (nonsense). I expect players to do what they're supposed to do. He's basically the same way."

    Carlisle is delivering just as Bird expected. He has forged the Pacers into one of the NBA's top defensive teams. They gamble less than they did under Thomas and entered Monday holding opponents to 43.0% shooting from the field and 84.9 points a game, third in the league.

    The Pacers responded to Carlisle by becoming the first team in the league with 30 victories and the first to win 16 road games. Minnesota, at 17-8, and the Pacers at 16-8 lead the league on the road.

    Indiana has split its two games against both the defending champion San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Western Division leaders, and generally is considered the one team in the East that can win the NBA title.

    "I don't think there's any question they are a legitimate contender," Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy says. "If you look at their roster and you look at their depth, they have the kind of team that can play with the West teams.

    "They have the size. They have the inside scoring. They have enough perimeter shooting. They're one of the two or three best defensive teams in the league, and they're physical. All the things that over the years have led to playoff success, they've got."

    They also have confidence in themselves.

    "We're not afraid of the West," said All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal, who missed Monday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers after straining vertebrae in his neck in Saturday's 99-98 victory against Boston. "We feel, in a seven-game series, we can beat anybody. It's just a question of playing the kind of basketball we're capable of playing.

    "We feel we're just as physical as any other team. We feel we have just as much talent, depth, perimeter play and post play. It's just a matter of going out and playing."

    Bird changes team's attitude

    Bird has not changed the Pacers roster significantly. The only personnel moves have been acquiring center Scot Pollard from Sacramento in a three-team, sign-and-trade deal that sent All-Star Brad Miller to the Kings. Indiana also acquired free-agent point guards Kenny Anderson and Anthony Johnson during the offseason. But there clearly has been an attitude change in Indiana, which Carlisle says can be traced directly to Bird.

    "One thing that's universal with NBA players is they want to be dealt with directly, and they want to be dealt with straight," Carlisle says. "Larry is the type of guy who's going to tell you the truth. He's not going to waste words. Guys appreciate that."

    Bird's first test was O'Neal, who was upset that Thomas was fired. O'Neal had been a free agent and re-signed with the Pacers before Thomas was let go. He said had he known Thomas wasn't going to be his coach, he would have signed elsewhere.

    Bird's response: "You're a basketball player. You get paid to play. You come in and play."

    Bird says he understood O'Neal's feelings and was a little concerned how things would play out.

    "In the back of my mind," he says, "I'm wondering, 'What if he comes in here and doesn't want to play, doesn't want practice and is not going along with the program?' I'm not the type of guy who's going to baby-sit these guys."

    But it never came to a showdown. O'Neal bought into the Bird-Carlisle program and is having an MVP-type season, averaging 20.4 points (15th in the league) and 10.4 rebounds (seventh in the league) entering Monday.

    Forward Ron Artest was another potential problem for Bird. One of the league's more versatile — and emotional — players as well as one of its top defenders, he committed seven flagrant fouls last season. This season he is holding his emotions, as well as opponents, in check. He hasn't committed any flagrant fouls and could be named to the All-Star team today when the reserves are announced.

    Bird doesn't take credit for Artest's transformation. He says he told Artest what he expected during training camp, the same as he told all the Pacers, and Artest has done the rest.

    "Ronnie has a lot of people talking to him," Bird says. "He decided that it's best for him and the team if he just plays basketball. We can't have the disruptions that we had last season."

    Artest has been involved in two minor incidents. After disagreeing with a personal foul called against him in the first preseason game, he was called for a technical foul for protesting the call — by feinting as though he were going to throw the ball to the referee but pulling it back, Harlem Globetrotter-style.

    Carlisle immediately removed him from the game. Later, Artest said perhaps he needed to play somewhere else.

    In December, Artest overslept and missed shoot-around two days after criticizing the Pacers' slow-pace offense, which featured Carlisle calling virtually every play. Artest was fined and didn't start the next game.

    Feelings were smoothed over during a meeting among Artest, Carlisle, Bird and Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh.

    "Things happen," Carlisle says. "You talk about them, and you move on. Any issues we've had with Ron have been quickly cleared up by talking about it."

    The turnaround in behavior actually started late last season, when Artest promised himself this year would be different.

    "People change over time," Artest says. "I'm more experienced now. As a man, you have to help yourself. I want that big trophy now."

    First round not good enough

    Carlisle has proven he knows how to get teams out of the first round. He guided the Pistons to the conference finals last season and the second round the season before after winning 50 games each year.

    "Rick is very consistent with us," Pacers forward Al Harrington says. "He keeps a steady hand with us. Regardless of who we're playing, he keeps everything the same. That makes it easier for us. We're not changing up every night. That makes guys more comfortable in their roles."

    Carlisle is pleased with what the Pacers have accomplished, but he's not losing sight of the big picture.

    "I have a strong belief in our ability to contend at the highest levels in this league if we play at our full capacity and if we defend at a high level," he says. "Right now our No. 1 focus is to get to the playoffs and win in the first round."

    The Pacers were ousted in the first round the last three years, including losing to Boston in six games last season despite homecourt advantage.

    "We understand we made a lot of mistakes," 17-year veteran Reggie Miller says. "We have something to prove. No one likes to continue to lose in the first round."

    Indiana's second-half struggles coincided with some players' calamities off the court and others' bad behavior on it.

    Point guard Jamaal Tinsley missed six games to be with his mother, who lost her battle with cancer. O'Neal had to deal with his stepfather's attempted suicide.

    On the court, Artest was in the midst of being suspended for a total of 12 games for behavior that included making physical contact with then-Miami coach Pat Riley, making an obscene gesture toward Heat fans and breaking a TV camera following a game in New York.

    "All that disrupted our team dramatically at the wrong time," Walsh says. "We were on the road for an extended time. The team got fragmented because when you start losing, people start pointing fingers."

    The Pacers lost 12 of 13 games from Feb. 16-March 12 and didn't win more than three consecutive games after the All-Star break.

    "It was very surprising," says Johnson, who last season played for the New Jersey Nets. "We definitely kept eye an on them. You can understand when you lose a couple in a row, but they were losing like six, seven in a row. Things were really going downhill for them."

    The Pacers say as difficult as their collapse was, it has proven beneficial in helping make them mentally tougher.

    "As a group we've grown," Tinsley says. "All the stuff that bothered us last year isn't happening this year. When we get in tough situations, instead of complaining and bickering, we're just going out there and playing."

    Harrington says the Pacers realize the importance of staying focused and playing hard each game.

    "As players we may have taken things for granted a little bit," Harrington says.

  • #2
    Re: Very good article about Pacers from USA Today

    You're right, that was a very good article.

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