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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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Jim O'Brien, another chance?

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  • #16
    Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

    Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
    He's not the worst coach in the world. He's mediocre to okay. Maybe even good in the right situation. But we've had him three years, way too long to keep a mediocre coach.
    I understand that, but what is the point of having an awesomely-amazing freaking bestest in the world coach when you have sub-mediocre to poor talent? Kind of counter-productive it seems...

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

      Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
      I understand that, but what is the point of having an awesomely-amazing freaking bestest in the world coach when you have sub-mediocre to poor talent? Kind of counter-productive it seems...
      Yeah but nobody is talking about having the best coach in the world. But there are plenty of assistant coaches out there that are better than JOB. Lester Conner proved it last year.
      You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

        Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
        Yeah but nobody is talking about having the best coach in the world. But there are plenty of assistant coaches out there that are better than JOB. Lester Conner proved it last year.
        Lester coached one game. Just one game. We happened to win that game. It's just a coincidence.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

          Or Is it......? Same opponent, different line ups, different results.

          Lester went big and forced the Raptors to try and adjust and we killed them by 15. Jimmy went with this coveted small ball line up and we lost by about the same.
          You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

            The sample size is far too small to draw a conclusion from. Trying to extrapolate or come to conclusions from such a small sample size is always bad logic. Furthermore JOB's real cardinal sin was leaving roy hibbert out of small ball lineups and allegedly he is comfortable with giving big roy 35 minutes each game if he can handle it.. Also didn't danny guard chris bosh that game? That isn't exactly big ball in my books
            Goodbye Captain, My Captain. I wish you had the chance to sink or swim with your ship on its quest for the "ship".

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            • #21
              Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

              Originally posted by daschysta View Post
              The sample size is far too small to draw a conclusion from. Trying to extrapolate or come to conclusions from such a small sample size is always bad logic. Furthermore JOB's real cardinal sin was leaving roy hibbert out of small ball lineups and allegedly he is comfortable with giving big roy 35 minutes each game if he can handle it.. Also didn't danny guard chris bosh that game? That isn't exactly big ball in my books
              Lester cost himself his job during that game by upstaging JOB. Purposely went away from JOB's preferred line up. I remember he was asked, what elements of JOB's system will you bring with you as a coach. He said none! Then JVG ripped him on during a broadcast the following night.

              Yes Danny guarded Bosh at times during the game, and totally shut him down.
              Last edited by graphic-er; 09-28-2010, 09:55 AM.
              You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

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              • #22
                Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                I understand that, but what is the point of having an awesomely-amazing freaking bestest in the world coach when you have sub-mediocre to poor talent? Kind of counter-productive it seems...
                How about just a good coach?

                Do you prefer mediocre over good?
                "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                  I am with Duke on this one. I think the Jim O'Brien era in the end will not be looked upon so favorably by most fans. It really shouldn't, but I think that JOB has done a very good job with what he has had. He hasn't had **** from a talent perspective. We gutted our whole team in an effort to remove the negative stigma. When your best three players are Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and a rookie/young Danny Granger who is learning the ropes, that is not a great lineup. It is weak, terrible defensively, poor rebounding, and requires the team to outscore other teams to win. Jim implemented a perimeter ball movement system to utilize his three best players on the perimeter. He went small because the team didn't have the front court to compete in a more half court, slowed down matchup. If we push the tempo, we could be more effective and give ourselves a better chance of winning.

                  I am not a JOB apologist by any means. I don't necessarily agree with his assessments of how ready the young players are for more minutes, but he has stayed the course by letting Bird accumulate more talent. Bird made some major moves, and yet stayed patient by drafting well and letting those players develop. We were only going to get better by drafting because nobody wanted our over-priced pupu platter of huge contractual obligations to mediocre players and less than stellar defenders. Our "fountain of youth" is the key moving forward. Heavy minutes will go to our core of Granger, Hibbert, and Collison. I think we will still see our veterans getting significant burn and it will be complemented by the other young players like McRoberts, Tyler, George, Lance, and AJ. We will see a bigger distribution of minutes to the young guys this year. The last two or three years, our young guys just weren't ready enough to get more minutes. I would have played those younger guys more, because we knew then that our bread and butter going forward is with the young guys.

                  I am a Pacers fan forever. Jim O'Brien is not a Pacer forever. I have been looking long-term the last couple of years, while JOB has had the "privilege" of trying to balance current winning with moving forward. I am not envious of JOB's role. But this was something that he and Bird discussed three years ago. JOB knew the plan going in. He took the job, because his phone wasn't ringing off the hook. He has done a good job with the mess that our franchise has been. Would I run things differently? Absolutely, but again, I am a Pacer forever. He only has a short timeframe to be successful.

                  I think JOB at the end of this year will probably be let go. I think a fresh voice will be good for everybody. If our team makes the playoffs, it will be time for a head coach that will make us a contender. If we miss the playoffs, we will need someone toenergize this team and move it forward in that direction. This is a huge year for JOB. Not for himself, necessarily, but to finish the work that he started. He has been at the helm of a small fishing boat trying to cross the Atlantic. That beat down and battered ship is in its last leg of the journey, beaten and downtrodden. Let's hope we make it succecssfully back to the shores of our playoffs home where the Captain can retire.
                  Last edited by pacergod2; 09-28-2010, 10:02 AM.
                  "Your course, your path, is not going to be like mine," West says. "Everybody is not called to be a multimillionaire. Everybody's not called to be the president. Whatever your best work is, you do it. Do it well. … You cease your own greatness when you aspire to be someone else."

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                  • #24
                    Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                    Jimmy always talks a good game, but his actions never match his words.

                    In respect to the Pacers new ad campaign, Jimmy's should be "I promise...to actually do what I promise to do this year."
                    Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

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                    • #25
                      Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                      There is no reason to give him another chance because he never lost my faith. He has done our game plan completely and fully and deserves at least one year with the team he helped build.

                      I'm all for giving him an extension right now. He has done nothing to hurt the mandate that the team has given.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                        You really need to be a masochist to say that you want to give JOB another year, he is going to end up maybe as the worst coach to ever coach the Pacers, he already had three years to prove that he could do something with this team and didn't do anything so is time for him to say godbye.


                        By the way his record is 104 wins and 142 loses in his three years with the pacers.
                        @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                          Originally posted by flox View Post
                          I'm all for giving him an extension right now. He has done nothing to hurt the mandate that the team has given.
                          OK, now that's just crazy talk.

                          Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                          You really need to be a masochist to say that you want to give JOB another year, he is going to end up maybe as the worst coach to ever coach the Pacers, he already had three years to prove that he could do something with this team and didn't do anything so is time for him to say godbye.
                          "This team" as it stands this year is completely different from "that team" as it stood when he took over.

                          He's not very good, but I don't think he's the worst coach the Pacers ever had.
                          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...

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                          • #28
                            Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                            Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post


                            By the way his record is 104 wins and 142 loses in his three years with the pacers.
                            And where exactly does that not fall onto the talent (or lack therof)?

                            Face it, these past few years this team has sucked. And it isn't entirely Jim's fault, as you make it out to be each and every time.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                              Originally posted by BillS View Post
                              "This team" as it stands this year is completely different from "that team" as it stood when he took over.

                              He's not very good, but I don't think he's the worst coach the Pacers ever had.
                              That is the reason why I said maybe, I know that old schoolers are going to come out with stats telling me that he is not the worst, my point is that JOB has not done anything for Larry to consider giving him an extention, JOB is lucky that he got one last season and gets to coach this one.
                              @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Jim O'Brien, another chance?

                                Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                                my point is that JOB has not done anything for Larry to consider giving him an extention, JOB is lucky that he got one last season and gets to coach this one.
                                If it looks like ****, smells like ****, it must be ****. Jim wasn't given the best of circumstances coming into coaching this team. This team had no talent except for Danny Granger, and old, worn out Jermaine O'Neal, busted Tinsley, and an old, worn out Jeff Foster. Not to mention a revolving door on defense.

                                To throw that record solely on his shoulders is not fair in his defense.

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