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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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The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

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  • The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

    Of all the FIBA rules that annoy me, this one is #1 by a country mile. It's such a ****ing gimmick that you can knock the ball off the rim in international play. Watching players on dead-ball free throws scramble frantically to keep the ball from spinning in is embarrassing.

    I don't care if they change their rules to be more like ours, but leave our game the hell alone.

    Oh yeah, and 3-on-3 basketball. Maybe they should have a H-O-R-S-E competition, too....I guess the Olympics gave up on standards when they allowed ballroom dancing.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/...ory?id=5549848

    FIBA discusses rules changes

    * Email
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    By Chris Sheridan
    ESPN.com
    Archive

    ISTANBUL -- The secretary general of FIBA, the governing body of international basketball, would like to see the NBA change its goaltending rules to allow players to knock the ball off the rim.

    The official, Patrick Baumann, made the comment during a lunch meeting with eight selected American and European journalists Thursday before the final two quarterfinal games at the FIBA World Championship.

    FIBA rules allow players to knock the ball off the rim after it touches the cylinder, whereas in the NBA that would constitute a goaltending violation.

    Baumann also said the chances of Great Britain being awarded a spot in the 12-team field for the 2012 Olympics will be made next March during a meeting of the FIBA executive committee, but will be contingent in large part on the British Basketball Federation's road map toward building the growth of the sport for the long term.

    FIBA will be instituting two rules changes at the conclusion of this tournament, abandoning the trapezoid lane in favor of an NBA-sized rectangular lane, and moving the 3-point line back by a half-meter (19½ inches) from its current distance of 20 feet, 6.1 inches.

    Baumann said the next rule change FIBA wants to institute is widening the court by 50 centimeters on each side, in large part to create additional room for players to attempt 3-point shots from the corners. FIBA courts are slightly smaller than NBA courts, measuring 91 feet, 10 inches long (compared to 94 feet in the NBA) and 49 feet, 2½ inches wide (versus 50 feet in the NBA).

    But Baumann, along with outgoing FIBA president Bob Elphinston of Australia and incoming president Yvan Mainini of France, said they are opposed to any changes in the number of timeouts (FIBA allows two per team in the first half and three in the second half, plus one in each overtime period) or the length of the game -- 40 minutes, as opposed to 48 in the NBA.

    Baumann also said FIBA will continue to push the International Olympic committee to expand the field from 12 to 16 for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, along with making a push for adding 3-on-3 basketball as a separate competition.

    FIBA has been trying for eight years to increase the size of the field, but has met resistance from the IOC, which wants to retain a limit of 10,500 athletes at the Olympic Games. Two sports, baseball and softball, have been dropped from the Olympics for 2012, while two other sports, golf and seven-man rugby, have been added.

    "We think it makes perfect sense -- 16 for '16," Baumann said, adding that having four groups of four teams would actually shorten the amount of time needed to play the Olympic tournament by two days. "We're trying to enlarge the quality of the countries to play at the highest level, so that we have a more competitive field."

    "There's a lot of politics in this environment," Baumann added. "But if you look around the world and get the statistics of what's the most popular sport in the age group 14-18, it's basketball across all genders. I don't think we have an issue on gaining hearts and minds; we do have a problem in turning those hearts and minds into the level of the structure that supports having 16 teams."

    It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

    Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
    Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
    NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

  • #2
    Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

    3 on 3 basketball as a separate competition?

    Is he for serious? What a clown.


    Comment


    • #3
      Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

      Irrelevant ^_____^
      Peck is basically omniscient when it comes to understanding how the minds of Herb Simon and Kevin Pritchard work. I was a fool to ever question him and now feel deep shame for not understanding that this team believes in continuity above talent.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

        3 on 3.... NBA Jam style........lol
        I'm not perfect and neither are you.

        Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim,
        Ephisians 4: 32 And be kind towards one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as Elohim also forgave you in Messiah.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

          Wow. Streetball getting some international love! Rule the asphalt!

          I wonder if the local Gus Mackers 3 on 3 tournaments will feed into state, regional, and national qualifiers to allow the best from each country to go to the Olympics? Maybe some of the "Gus Busters" officials could qualify for international competition at the same time? Maybe they will even have slam dunk competions where players jump over cars or whatever else they can dream up and are judged by an international panel of "experts" like figure skating and gymnastics?

          What a joke.

          Also, there is a reason goaltending rules have developed as they have here in the US, and that won't change. What will inevitably change is the increasing athleticism of the international players, and that will eventually necessitate a change in the international game where the goaltending rules will need to change to being more like the US as time goes by, especially with the lane no longer trapezoidal after this tournament (if I read that correctly), and that time might have already arrived, IMO.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

            Forgetting the rest, I wouldn't necessarily be offended if the NBA tried adopting the FIBA goal-tending rules. With the athleticism of this league, it could be fun or annoying. I'd have to see it in action before I could decide which way I lean.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

              Originally posted by sportfireman View Post
              3 on 3.... NBA Jam style........lol
              Blasphemy. That's that ****ty NBA Street nonsense.


              Jam should ONLY be 2 on 2. I remember when they did 3 on 3, I believe it was for the PS2/XBOX versions. Terrible move. Terrible game, too.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                Forgetting the rest, I wouldn't necessarily be offended if the NBA tried adopting the FIBA goal-tending rules. With the athleticism of this league, it could be fun or annoying. I'd have to see it in action before I could decide which way I lean.
                Ive seen it far too much already. There's a good reason why the NBA banned this already after the Wilt years.

                If you get a good shot off, it should be given a fair chance to go in. Period.

                It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                  With the overall level of athleticism in the NBA, I think it would end the jumpshot as we know it. The game would evolve into nothing but layups and dunks, because such a high percentage of shots that touched the rim would be swatted away.

                  I fully expect FIBA to do away with the rule relatively soon. It's just dumb.
                  Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                    Originally posted by Day-V View Post
                    Blasphemy. That's that ****ty NBA Street nonsense.


                    Jam should ONLY be 2 on 2. I remember when they did 3 on 3, I believe it was for the PS2/XBOX versions. Terrible move. Terrible game, too.
                    Agree with you that NBA Jam should be 2 on 2, but I liked NBA Street, too. At least the original, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3. Didn't care for the one that came out for the 360.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                      Originally posted by Since86 View Post
                      With the overall level of athleticism in the NBA, I think it would end the jumpshot as we know it. The game would evolve into nothing but layups and dunks, because such a high percentage of shots that touched the rim would be swatted away.

                      I fully expect FIBA to do away with the rule relatively soon. It's just dumb.
                      Honestly, and maybe I need to pay better attention, I don't notice a lot of shots rattling around the rim off of a jumpshot. I think of those kinds of "bobbles" off of field goal attempts in the paint/around the rim (floaters, tear drops, layups, tips), but not jump shots from further out.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                        Yeah, it would absolutely kill the mid-range game, which relies heavily on putting good backspin on the ball.

                        It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                        Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                        Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                        NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                          Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                          Honestly, and maybe I need to pay better attention, I don't notice a lot of shots rattling around the rim off of a jumpshot. I think of those kinds of "bobbles" off of field goal attempts in the paint/around the rim (floaters, tear drops, layups, tips), but not jump shots from further out.
                          Like any skill, I think it would be practiced and perfected. What is currently happening now, with how the US performs the task in FIBA play, isn't what I would expect to happen if it was introduced into the NBA.

                          You would have to hit the shots cleanly, not touching the rim or atleast hitting the back of the rim square so it drops straight down. I think anything that hits the rim and bounces up would get knocked away. We're talking about athletes that already have such high wing spans that they can reach over 9ft, Hans standing reach was at 8-11 (I think that's what I saw in the other thread).

                          But then again, it might give a premium on offensive boxing out and keeping defenders away from the basket.

                          The only time I really see the US using it, is when the ball bounces multiple times and they have the time to think about doing it. If it was allowed in the NBA, it would happen a lot more just to it being more a reaction as opposed to a thought out action.
                          Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                            Originally posted by Kstat View Post
                            Yeah, it would absolutely kill the mid-range game, which relies heavily on putting good backspin on the ball.
                            it's alive?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: The FIBA commish should mind his own business...

                              If you allow goaltending then the game just deteriorates into soccer with an elevated goal. And the only position that matters is goalkeeper. That's not basketball, that's boring.
                              Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                              Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                              Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                              Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                              And life itself, rushing over me
                              Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                              Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

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