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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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Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

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  • Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5629666

    FAIRFAX, Va. -- Washington Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis told local business leaders Wednesday that he expects the NBA soon will have a hard salary cap similar to the NHL's model.

    Leonsis, who also owns the Washington Capitals, spoke to a group of Northern Virginia business leaders before the Wizards' daily training camp session. He told them that the more fans a team has, the more they spend on the team, and the more the team has a chance to get and keep good players.

    "In a salary-cap era -- and soon a hard-salary cap in the NBA like it is in the NHL -- if everyone can pay the same amount to the same amount of players, it's the small nuanced differences that matter," he said.

    Asked after the speech to clarify his remarks, Leonsis pulled back from the comment, saying he was not authorized to speak about the ongoing NBA labor negotiations, but said he believed the NHL's system "is a good one."

    "It's working," he said. "The teams are very, very competitive. There is no way that big markets teams can outspend small market teams. So when the season starts everyone thinks their team can compete for the Stanley Cup."
    @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

  • #2
    Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

    Must be easy when you got a top superstar in the NHL. The cap may work but the TV contract and other things are total garbage amongst the NHL.
    "It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

    ----------------- Reggie Miller

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

      Mr. Leonsis is talking a good game here, saying things about competition and small market teams being able to spend the same as the big market teams. But allow me to paraphrase what Mr. Leonsis is really saying here.

      "The NHL salary cap model allows me to make more money on the Washington Capitals than I make on the Washington Wizards."

      If you don't think it boils down to money for these owners you're fooling yourself.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

        Originally posted by travmil View Post
        If you don't think it boils down to money for these owners you're fooling yourself.
        I'm sure owning a team is a giant ego trip, makes for nice talk on the cocktail circuit and helps to pull hot women but when you lay out 300 to 400 million for a business making a profit is reasonable expectation.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

          Originally posted by Larry Staverman View Post
          I'm sure owning a team is a giant ego trip, makes for nice talk on the cocktail circuit and helps to pull hot women but when you lay out 300 to 400 million for a business making a profit is reasonable expectation.
          I'm not saying it shouldn't be. But at least be upfront about it. He shouldn't try to pretend that his sole interest in making the NBA salary structure like the NHL is competition. The fact that Washington is a big market team tells me that. Does he want us to believe he's simply sticking up for the little guy?

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          • #6
            Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

            Can anybody explain to me what is the difference and if a deal like that could benefit a team like Indiana? making teams equal is what we want right?
            @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

              Originally posted by travmil View Post
              I'm not saying it shouldn't be. But at least be upfront about it. He shouldn't try to pretend that his sole interest in making the NBA salary structure like the NHL is competition. The fact that Washington is a big market team tells me that. Does he want us to believe he's simply sticking up for the little guy?

              I don't care what his motive is because if there is a hard cap it will benefit a team like the Pacers and keep the league more competitive . The more support the better and to that I says thanks whether he makes more money or not.

              I'm sure Stern is already unhappy he is running his mouth during negotiations but if he had said he wants the hard cap so he can more money Stern may have cut his tongue out.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5629666


                Ted Leonsis fined for praising hard cap

                FAIRFAX, Va. -- Washington Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis told local business leaders Wednesday that he expects the NBA soon will have a hard salary cap similar to the NHL's model.

                NBA commissioner David Stern said that's not necessarily true -- and the NBA fined Leonsis $100,000 for "unauthorized public comments regarding the league's collective bargaining negotiations."


                "We're negotiating and that was one of our negotiating points," Stern told The Associated Press, "but collective bargaining is a negotiating process, and that was not something that Ted was authorized to say and he will be dealt with for that lapse in judgment."

                Leonsis, who also owns the Washington Capitals, spoke to a group of Northern Virginia business leaders before the Wizards' daily training camp session. He told them that the more fans a team has, the more they spend on the team, and the more the team has a chance to get and keep good players.

                "In a salary-cap era -- and soon a hard-salary cap in the NBA like it is in the NHL -- if everyone can pay the same amount to the same amount of players, it's the small nuanced differences that matter," he said.

                Asked after the speech to clarify his remarks, Leonsis pulled back from the comment, saying he was not authorized to speak about the ongoing NBA labor negotiations, but said he believed the NHL's system "is a good one."

                "It's working," he said. "The teams are very, very competitive. There is no way that big markets teams can outspend small market teams. So when the season starts everyone thinks their team can compete for the Stanley Cup."

                NBA teams can currently exceed the salary cap if they are willing to pay a luxury tax penalty. The league's proposal to the union for a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires next summer included elements of a hard cap, and the players rejected it during last season's All-Star break.

                "There's a hard cap in the NFL, there's a hard cap in the NHL, and that was something that was part of our initial proposal," Stern said. "But we're open to a deal and it depends what the deal is."
                @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                  He might worry about getting a better product out on the court. I feel for the Wiz fans for they've had to endure.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                    Originally posted by MyFavMartin View Post
                    He might worry about getting a better product out on the court. I feel for the Wiz fans for they've had to endure.
                    I don't think is as bad as the things that pacers fans have been enduring for the past five years, JO, Tynsley, Jackson, JOB, etc,etc,etc.

                    Washington Wizards fans had to endured one year of crappy basketball and now are getting to watch maybe on the best point guards in the NBA.
                    @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                      Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                      Can anybody explain to me what is the difference and if a deal like that could benefit a team like Indiana? making teams equal is what we want right?
                      Unlike the NFL and NHL, the NBA features a so-called "soft" cap, meaning that there are several significant exceptions that allow teams to exceed the salary cap to sign players. This is done to allow teams to keep their own players, which, in theory, fosters fan support in each individual city. By contrast, the NFL and NHL caps are considered "hard," meaning that they offer relatively few (if any) circumstances in which teams can exceed the salary cap.

                      A hard cap would benefit the Pacers, IMO, because of Indy being a small market team. Teams like LA and NY could go over the cap and be able to recover because of the mere fact that their markets are much larger than a small market team, like Indy for example. Being that large market teams are able to generate more revenue, this gives their owners the flexibility to go over the cap, and luxury tax, and be able to still make a profit because of their market.

                      Therefore, if the NBA were to move to a hard-cap it would make all teams equal with respect to how much a team's salary is allowed to be. This in essence would benefit a team like the Pacers because large market teams cannot bully their way around by spending more money than the cap would allow
                      "So, which one of you guys is going to come in second?" - Larry Bird before the 3 point contest. He won.


                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                        Originally posted by MillerTime View Post
                        Therefore, if the NBA were to move to a hard-cap it would make all teams equal with respect to how much a team's salary is allowed to be. This in essence would benefit a team like the Pacers because large market teams cannot bully their way around by spending more money than the cap would allow
                        Except that the NBA teams with the biggest payrolls haven't been that competitive over the last decade.
                        This space for rent.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                          If we do see a hard cap after this season, I'm glad we're about to be well under the cap.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                            Originally posted by Anthem View Post
                            Except that the NBA teams with the biggest payrolls haven't been that competitive over the last decade.


                            Sure, there are some stinky teams with high payrolls, but even this season ('11), take a look at some of the salaries of what have very recently (and probably still are) some very good teams, including the last three champs:

                            Boston, $83.3m (~$25m over the cap)
                            Orlando, $89.8m (~$32m over the cap)
                            Dallas, $85.7m (~$27m over the cap)
                            Denver, $83.0m (~$25m over the cap)
                            Lakers, $94.7m (~36m over the cap)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap(Wizards owner)

                              A hard cap would be interesting to start. It would mean that you'd have to give teams a few years window to get under the cap, while putting restrictions on those teams to keep them from adding salary.

                              I haven't looked, but what if a team had a star player coming up soon as a FA, but were unable to sign them because of the restrictions placed on them until they get under the cap?

                              I think this whole CBA fight is going to be interesting to see how it turns out. Hopefully we don't lose an entire season though.

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