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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Rule #10

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Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

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  • #16
    Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

    When I think of a team making the playoffs, I don't think of it being 36-43. Those 36 wins can turn into another 1 or 2 wins, but still an under .500 team. Basically, this team will finish with the same record of Jimmy's 1st 2 seasons. Bird's 1st 3 years as PBO is 102-144 with this year so far as 36-43. That's not exactly something to hang one's hat on. The ONLY reason this team is in the playoffs is b/c the EC has terrible teams. To me it's a consolation prize of being the better of the worst, and that doesn't say much to me.

    I won't go into Bird's assets or liabilities, as I'm on record as to what they are, BUT I will give credit when credit is due in that Bird has changed the culture of the team he took over as PBO. That in itself has been a wonderful achievement when others on this board would trade for non-milk drinkers and their baggage all for winning no matter what the cost.

    As far as the thread, it is homerism at it's finest no matter how misconstrude, BUT I can understand the over zealous optimism with making the playoffs. I can see where Bird has laid a foundation for another to build the future, and I can say thanks Mr. Bird for all your effort you put into it.

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    • #17
      Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

      Originally posted by Kegboy View Post
      I've come to a sad conclusion. Whenever someone on here says without prompting "I'm not a ..." or "This thread isn't ...", what follows will always show the opposite to be true.
      I would never and I'm not gonna try to break this down into one word, but...

      Paradox

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

        Originally posted by Midcoasted View Post
        Larry's 3 year plan was to get us to to the playoffs in said third. Sure he had to fire Jimmy and promote Frank to do it, but he did it, so a win is a win. He also has more cap space than any team in the league and a young team that will compete for a championship in the future without having to blow that cap space on anyone other than draft picks or re-signing our guys.
        Part of Bird's plan was to make the playoffs within the 3 years. Another part was to be patient and create substantial cap room while building a team of desirable assets. That much Bird has accomplished.

        But if you honestly believe that the Pacers will compete for a championship merely through draft picks and re-signing our present players, you are living in some alternate universe. It will require acquiring some talented players and veteran leadership through trades and/or free agency.

        Stay tuned this summer, I believe you will begin to see the second stage of Bird's plan start to play out. It's just a question of what players and draft choices will be traded.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

          I laid out a well thought out homer post, and noone can even dispute it with facts. Am I dellusional? Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell. There's a chance I'm right. I still don't think anyone can show me a GM that has done more with less.

          Pacer4Ever, shouldn't you be watching the promising Clippers finish with a worse record than us? I read your posts and you really think Eric Gordon is better than everyone on our team and I lol. People really think the Clippers have more talent than we do? Damn that talent has them all of 31 wins right now, and I'd bet our team and starting 5 is younger. How long have they been in lottery land and went nowhere? Since they were in existence? Sure they play in the Western Conference, but all the more reason they will be in lottery land no matter how good Griffin and Gordon become.

          It doesn't surprise me at all that some of the posters calling this a paradox, or saying my whole post should be green font, are the posters on this board who would use things like "least talented team in NBA" to describe our boys. We didn't go 19-16 by only beating up on the bad. We made it by beating the Knicks twice, Charlotte handily, the Bucks, the Bulls, and the Celtics. Imagine if we would have beat all the teams worse than us what our record would be.

          I'm sick and tired of posters here saying Hibbert is the worst starting center in the NBA, Collison is no good, Bird only drafted Hans because he is white, McRoberts doesn't belong in the NBA, George will take three years to even play. It goes on and on. What, I'm just supposed to the believe all this negative hype and live in "reality" when alot of posters here use their negative "realities" like everyone one is supposed to believe it as fact?

          Well I might not be totally right, but I'm closer to being right than the posters who look down on our Pacers. At least bandwagon fans believe in their team and players, or they wouldn't hop on the bandwagon. What's the point of even being a fan if you think so lowly of everything that Pacers have done the past few years?

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          • #20
            Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

            Originally posted by beast23 View Post
            Part of Bird's plan was to make the playoffs within the 3 years. Another part was to be patient and create substantial cap room while building a team of desirable assets. That much Bird has accomplished.

            But if you honestly believe that the Pacers will compete for a championship merely through draft picks and re-signing our present players, you are living in some alternate universe. It will require acquiring some talented players and veteran leadership through trades and/or free agency.

            Stay tuned this summer, I believe you will begin to see the second stage of Bird's plan start to play out. It's just a question of what players and draft choices will be traded.
            So what happens when Hibbert Collison Hansbrough McRoberts and Rush are all veterans, Granger is playing the Robin role, and Paul George develops into one of the best players in the NBA? We won't be competing for a championship then? I mean what position do we need all this help from we can't get from the draft? Back-up center? Sorry buddy, you are the one living in an alternate universe. That is more talent than we've ever had since I've been a fan these past 18 years.

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            • #21
              Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

              Originally posted by Kegboy View Post
              I've come to a sad conclusion. Whenever someone on here says without prompting "I'm not a ..." or "This thread isn't ...", what follows will always show the opposite to be true.
              Trust me, I could go back, and serve a heavy dose of crow to most posters on this board, with quotes and all. I didn't do that. I didn't call anyone out by name or demand anyone agree with me and eat crow. If I would have your point would be valid. More Pacers Digest illogic at its finest.

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              • #22
                Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                Originally posted by MrHale View Post
                Bynum > hibbert
                LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put Bynum on the Twolves and you quickly forgot he ever existed. I would take Hibbert over Bynum in every aspect of the game outside of lower body strength.

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                • #23
                  Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                  I'm pretty damn excited about being back in the playoffs too, but this is just bizarre stuff.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                    Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
                    almost all of this should be in bright green font.
                    I've been watching the Pacers since you were born and I'm only 27. You are one of the most pessimistic posters on the board. You know nothing about Indiana basketball or how high our players potentials are and you proved it with like 10 words. I really think the quality of posts here at PD have went down since you've spewed out 8000 posts in a year with some of the worse garbage I've ever seen come out of a diehards mouth.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                      Originally posted by Heisenberg View Post
                      I'm pretty damn excited about being back in the playoffs too, but this is just bizarre stuff.
                      Point to the bizzare stuff and I will try to dispute it the best I can. Just saying it is bizzare doesn't get us anywhere. I mean where are all these crazy callers when people said Hibbert was the least talented starting center in the NBA? Or firing Jim Obrien won't improve out record? McRoberts doesn't belong in the NBA? Why weren't you there calling them bizzare? They were actually more wrong than anything I said in my post. My post is TBD, a majority of posters here looked at Hibbert, Hasnbrough, McRoberts, Collison, George, Granger and Rush as a scrap pile. Least talented in the NBA they said. They were more wrong than I will ever be. Where was all this green font, delusional, alternate reality name calling and finger pointing then?

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                      • #26
                        Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                        Originally posted by QuickRelease View Post
                        What was the complaint about the OJ trade?
                        It would have made our team worse, not better. Honestly I think it fell through because Bird wanted more than just Mayo for what he was offering. We know Larry, he won't make a trade unless it's a steal. The poster you qutoed who credited Bird with the Murphleavy could not be more wrong. Those were the two headed monster/brawl/shooting up Indy times. It's not like Bird dreamed of that move everynight and got his wish.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                          This is offseason will make or break this team going forward.


                          Remember when we could have gotten 1-2 solid players and a possible Top 3 draft pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by trading away Paul George?

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                          • #28
                            Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                            Originally posted by Midcoasted View Post
                            So what happens when Hibbert Collison Hansbrough McRoberts and Rush are all veterans, Granger is playing the Robin role, and Paul George develops into one of the best players in the NBA? We won't be competing for a championship then? I mean what position do we need all this help from we can't get from the draft? Back-up center? Sorry buddy, you are the one living in an alternate universe. That is more talent than we've ever had since I've been a fan these past 18 years.
                            That's a pretty heaping bowl full of ifs.

                            I maintain you need a frosty glass of Free Agent and a plate of Locker Room Leader to make that a part of This Complete Breakfast of Champions.
                            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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                            • #29
                              Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                              [QUOTE=Midcoasted;1209282]

                              So what happens when Hibbert Collison Hansbrough McRoberts and Rush are all veterans/QUOTE]


                              What happens when Rush is traded this off season and McBob isn't re-signed?

                              Oh btw, that player that was to have been in the trade with Charlotte last year where Rush was part of the trade, Henderson, scored 32 points last night. Bird knew something that apparently you don't.
                              Last edited by Justin Tyme; 04-07-2011, 03:20 PM.

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                              • #30
                                Re: Larry Bird = Winning, 3 Year Plan a Success

                                Originally posted by BillS View Post
                                That's a pretty heaping bowl full of ifs.

                                I maintain you need a frosty glass of Free Agent and a plate of Locker Room Leader to make that a part of This Complete Breakfast of Champions.
                                Look at how the Colts brought a championship to Indy in far fewer years than the Pacers, if the Pacers ever do. Which I believe the FO when they say they will not stop short of a championship. The purpose of this is to bring a championship to Indiana. It gave me chills last night when I heard Vogel talking about this is how we do it. These are our guys. We build through the draft and the development of young talent.

                                If Larry trades for anyone this summer it will not be veterans. He has proven time and time again that his goal is to build through the development of the young players. Sure we got Collison through a trade, but Vogel has really started developing him into a real threat.

                                I see a draft day trade is more likely than us throwing way to much money on a trash veteran like Ben Gordon. That is way to risky. It would be a dire mistake for us do such. That's how we got Hibbert, McRoberts, and Rush, through draft day trades. All solid draft picks for where they were selected. Sure other teams picked them and traded us their rights, and in Josh's case, he developed on the bench a year in Portland, but these are our guys.

                                I'll say it again. These are our guys. This is how we build, through the draft and development of young talent. Just like the Colts a few blocks away. It will bring us a championship if Larry stays his course.

                                If anything this is a plea for Larry to hang around a couple of more years and allow Vogel to do the same and see this thing out. I'm thinking best case scenario only because I believe we will win a championship in my lifetime and this is the best chance we've had since 1998 and noone lives forever.

                                I haven't been more proud of a Pacers team since we took Jordan to game 7, in the series where Reggie proved he deserves to be a first ballot hall of famer in an NBA Hall of Fame. The years after that the glory was lost and no matter how good we were in the regular season, our team had holes and fatal flaws that made a championship almost impossible after 1998, well that and Shaq lol. Trading Antonio Davis for anyone was Walsh's biggest mistake, and it hurts even more it ended up being for Bender. I think that's ultimately what prevented us from stopping Shaq Daddy that year in the Finals.

                                Those teams were not as good as the 98 team still though. We regressed and kept regressing to the point where about 2007-2009 was the bottom. Retooling for Artest and company was a huge mistake as well regardless of how many games we won because it decimated our fanbase. I think we will keep improving from here on and hopefully to the Caliber of the 98 team, only we bring it home this time.

                                Other teams figured us out when we lost 8 out of 9, but for once, we adjusted. Thank you Vogel. We're in the playoffs. Let's steal one in Chicago in bring it back home with true purpose!!!
                                Last edited by Midcoasted; 04-07-2011, 03:19 PM.

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