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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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Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

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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Something I keep thinking about

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  • Something I keep thinking about

    I just cannot get over the fact that we could have just signed Stephen Jackson, and used Al Harringotn in another trade. I know we have been told this is because of "financial reasons", but I really think we could have dropped some salary had we played our cards right. Erik Dampier wants to play for a winning team and wants money, I think he would have come here.

    The Hawks wanted Al Harrington. We could have worked something with them in which they signed Dampier and we could have made a trade with them.

    We could have traded Harrington, Foster, and Croshere for Dampier and another player if we wanted one, and dropped 4 million dollars salary. It would have basically just been Foster and Croshere for Dampier and another player, because we ended up trading Harrington for a player we could have signed.

    I know some of you dont want to give Dampier a big contract, but if we could have gotten rid of Croshere's, it would have been worth it.

    Instead of getting Jackson for Harrington, I really think we could have gotten Dampier, Jackson, and other player and dumped Harrington, Croshere and Foster.

    starting lineup

    Dampier, O'Neal, Artest, Jackson, Tinsley


  • #2
    Need I say more?

    The Pacers won 61 regular season games in 2003-2004 NBA season. The Pacers, had they won games 6 and 7 of the 2003-2004 Eastern Conference Finals, would have been in the NBA Finals.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Something I keep thinking about

      And that relates to what I said how?

      No one seems to get that 61 games mean absolutely nothing. It's all about the playoffs, and in a series, the Pistons are a better team than us. We havent done much to get better this offseason.

      Great. We have 61 wins and a Central Division title. That means absolutely nothing when a team in our division won less games but has an NBA championship banner hanging up.

      So since we won 61 games in 2003-2004, we shouldn't do everything possible to improve our team for 04-05? We could have signed Jackson and used Harrington in a trade for Dampier, it's as simple as that.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Something I keep thinking about

        I'm a firm believer of the "Don't fix what ain't broken" philosophy...

        edit: You don't change your team just to beat a particular team, at least in my opinion you don't...What if the Pacers had changed the team so they can dominate the Pistons in the playoffs, but end up being slaughtered by another team because the changes made them weak against that team? It doesn't make sense to me to make changes to such a good team.

        edit: Too many/drastic changes...
        [edit=53=1093202811]More Esplaining to do![/edit]
        [edit=53=1093202861][/edit]

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Something I keep thinking about

          How could adding Dampier hurt this team? Having Dampier over Jeff Foster would be better against every team. I'm not saying make any drastic changes, getting Erik Dampier could have only made us better and wouldn't have been a risk.

          I love the fact that we got Stephen Jackson. We have a replacement in line for Reggie Miller. I just think we could have gotten him and a little more had we played things differently.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Something I keep thinking about

            I don't think we would ever have traded Al for Dampier, for a variety of reasons, the bottom line being it's just not realistic.

            I would have prefered to just sign Stephen out-right, but team salary was already pretty high, and they simply weren't going to add even more. So, take that information, combine it with Al wanting to be traded somewhere that he could start, and you get what actually happened. Makes sense.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Something I keep thinking about

              Hicks, if we wouldnt have been able to package Harrington for Dampier, I'm 100 percent convinced we could have traded Harrington for someone of value, being that Harrington is such a young talent that many teams would like to have.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Something I keep thinking about

                True, but if you do that, you're taking salary back, and once again not going to sign Stephen Jackson. Since Stephen fills a clear need on this team, it made sense to get him this way. We traded a glut to fill a hole.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Something I keep thinking about

                  Originally posted by MSA2CF
                  I'm a firm believer of the "Don't fix what ain't broken" philosophy...
                  We know , but many times you sound like you're happy with a fine regular season and a deep playoff run.

                  Since we didn't win a meaningful championship last season, I have a hard time believing that it ain't "broken".

                  And I have an even harder time thinking that it ain't broken when the champs, who play in our division, aren't content with their team and are trying to impove - because they're concerned about beating the Spurs, Heat, Pacers, etc.

                  I know injuries were a factor in last season's playoffs. But the Pacers had other problems that generally fit into three broad buckets:

                  - lack of quality backcourt play (allegedly addressed by acquiring Stephen Jackson and signing Eddie Gill),

                  - lack of sufficient size in the paint - with basketball skills, Pollard doesn't count (which became a somewhat bigger concern by trading Harrington for a guard, although Harrison might be able to address this concern at some time in the future),

                  - and selfish play and potential chemistry problems (who knows?)

                  Its not beyond the realm of reasonable to state that perhaps JO's body would have held up better in last season's playoffs if we had one more big, physical post player (again, this definition excluses a stiff like Pollard, a fairly skinny guy like Foster, and a perimeter-oriented PF like Croshere) to absorb the abuse the Miami in particular, and also Detroit, put on his lower body. Sounds to me like it might broken.

                  EDIT/ADD:
                  Since I was mostly out of the loop last week, can somebody tell me if Dampier to the Mavs is official?
                  [edit=72=1093286969][/edit]
                  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

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Something I keep thinking about

                    Jay, good post, and I don't think the Dampier deal is official as of right now, but I think it could become official later today.

                    I would agree with MCA2CF's "Don't fix what aint broken" philosophy only if the Pacers made it to the finals or won the championship. How can you say that there is nothing broken when we didn't get to the finals? If you don't get to the NBA finals, you should do everything you can to try to improve.

                    Again, 61 wins means absolutely nothing if you don't back it up with a championship, or atleast a finals appearance.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Something I keep thinking about

                      Originally posted by Jay@Section222
                      Its not beyond the realm of reasonable to state that perhaps JO's body would have held up better in last season's playoffs if we had one more big, physical post player (again, this definition excluses a stiff like Pollard, a fairly skinny guy like Foster, and a perimeter-oriented PF like Croshere) to absorb the abuse the Miami in particular, and also Detroit, put on his lower body. Sounds to me like it might broken.
                      I think this may be a little off base. It's true that another big body would definitely help. However, there is no evident that JO's injury has anything related to the abuse that he took. He sprained his knee when he landed awkwardly (or was undercut) after going for the rebound. Better condition or not wouldn't really help in that situation.


                      [edit=509=1093289001][/edit]

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Something I keep thinking about

                        But if we had just signed SJax, we wouldn't have been able to use half our MLE on AJ.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Something I keep thinking about

                          Originally posted by MIPacers
                          Originally posted by Jay@Section222
                          Its not beyond the realm of reasonable to state that perhaps JO's body would have held up better in last season's playoffs if we had one more big, physical post player (again, this definition excluses a stiff like Pollard, a fairly skinny guy like Foster, and a perimeter-oriented PF like Croshere) to absorb the abuse the Miami in particular, and also Detroit, put on his lower body. Sounds to me like it might broken.
                          I think this may be a little off base. It's true that another big body would definitely help. However, there is no evident that JO's injury has anything related to the abuse that he took. He sprained his knee when he landed awkwardly (or was undercut) after going for the rebound. Better condition or not wouldn't really help in that situation.

                          Yes, he was undercut. But basketball players (especially centers) get undercut all the time.

                          That's why I said "its not beyond the realm of reasonable."

                          Clearly you're right, there is no case-specific evidence (in the public domain) either way. But there is sufficient medical research to link this type of sprain to fatigue. The fatigue could either be the result of exerting his leg muscles, tendons and ligaments during the game in question (making his leg tired), or weeks and months of wear and tear leading up to it (making his leg weak).

                          JO even said something similar when 'recruiting' Dampier.
                          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

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Something I keep thinking about

                            Originally posted by Jay@Section222
                            Originally posted by MIPacers
                            Originally posted by Jay@Section222
                            Its not beyond the realm of reasonable to state that perhaps JO's body would have held up better in last season's playoffs if we had one more big, physical post player (again, this definition excluses a stiff like Pollard, a fairly skinny guy like Foster, and a perimeter-oriented PF like Croshere) to absorb the abuse the Miami in particular, and also Detroit, put on his lower body. Sounds to me like it might broken.
                            I think this may be a little off base. It's true that another big body would definitely help. However, there is no evident that JO's injury has anything related to the abuse that he took. He sprained his knee when he landed awkwardly (or was undercut) after going for the rebound. Better condition or not wouldn't really help in that situation.

                            Yes, he was undercut. But basketball players (especially centers) get undercut all the time.

                            That's why I said "its not beyond the realm of reasonable."

                            Clearly you're right, there is no case-specific evidence (in the public domain) either way. But there is sufficient medical research to link this type of sprain to fatigue. The fatigue could either be the result of exerting his leg muscles, tendons and ligaments during the game in question (making his leg tired), or weeks and months of wear and tear leading up to it (making his leg weak).

                            JO even said something similar when 'recruiting' Dampier.
                            Good point.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              HINDER HINDER HINDER

                              Originally posted by PacerFanAdam
                              I would agree with MCA2CF's "Don't fix what aint broken" philosophy only if the Pacers made it to the finals or won the championship. How can you say that there is nothing broken when we didn't get to the finals? If you don't get to the NBA finals, you should do everything you can to try to improve.

                              Again, 61 wins means absolutely nothing if you don't back it up with a championship, or atleast a finals appearance.
                              Sixty-one wins means a heck of a lot to me. I don't believe there was anything broken moreso than the roster had some minor aches that needed adjusted, such as Al Harrington.

                              Making too many moves or making drastic ones to a roster won't improve a team; it will set it back.

                              Just because the team didn't make the Finals doesn't mean the team needs to be dramatically altered. That's why I think the Pistons won't fair too well this season because of the number/nature of the moves the team has made this off-season.

                              Comment

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