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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

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.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

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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Pacers.com> Key Issues Facing Pacers Entering Camp

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  • Pacers.com> Key Issues Facing Pacers Entering Camp


    Key Issues Facing Pacers Entering Camp

    By Conrad Brunner | Oct. 4, 2004

    When the Pacers convene for their first practice of training camp Tuesday morning in Conseco Fieldhouse, they will look much like they did when last season ended with a Game 6 loss to Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals. The starting lineup hasn't changed at all. Not yet, anyway.
    "From (the start of training camp), the competition for minutes starts," said Coach Rick Carlisle. "There aren’t many guys on the team whose jobs are going to be guaranteed."

    The second unit will have a bit of a new look because of the addition of Stephen Jackson and the subtraction of Al Harrington. Considering how well the Pacers did last season, there was little need for a major facelift. But a nip here and a tuck there can work wonders.

    With actual basketball upon us, we take a look at the key issues facing the Pacers as they enter camp.



    Miller
    If This is Really Reggie Miller's Last Year, Will He Go Out with a Ring?
    Over the summer, Miller said during an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn on CBS that he wanted "to go after it one more time." Does that mean he's going to retire after this season? Or will he play out the two seasons remaining on his contract? Those are questions Miller may let linger throughout the season to avoid the subject of his future becoming a distraction. The Pacers may have their best opportunity for a trip to the NBA Finals in years. Though they'll have to prove capable of getting past the Pistons in the East, they no longer face the daunting, monolithic presence of the dominant Lakers in the West. The door, therefore, is open. And Miller will get one more chance -- at least -- to help lead them through.


    Jackson
    What Impact will Stephen Jackson Have?
    The acquisition of Jackson wasn't a big attention-getter, nationally. But the Pacers clearly targeted the athletic, versatile swingman as a high priority because they were swift and decisive in making the trade with Atlanta, and also were willing to pay a high price in the form of Al Harrington. There is therefore anticipation his impact could be profound. Jackson will give the team much more flexibility in its backcourt matchups, which could be a major factor against Detroit. His offensive skills mesh very well with the team's needs, because he is a slasher who can create shots inside the defense as well as a quality long-range threat. He could also energize the transition offense if that becomes a priority. It remains to be seen if he will supplant Miller as the starter at shooting guard but, either way, he'll play heavy minutes.



    Bender
    Is This Really Jonathan Bender's Big Year?
    With Harrington gone, Bender will have his first real opportunity to occupy a prominent place in the regular rotation. Now standing 7-1 and weighing 240 pounds, Bender could spend some time backing up Jermaine O'Neal at power forward, as well. There is no question he has the ability to take that long-awaited step toward stardom. But can he avoid the nagging injuries that have sidetracked his progress the past two years? If so, the great things you've been hearing about for years could finally become manifest. If not, there will be no more excuses.



    Foster
    How Will Things Shake Out at Center?
    Shaquille O'Neal's presence in the East, combined with Detroit's obvious front-line depth, has caused quite a bit of consternation among fans who wonder if the Pacers are good enough at center to win the conference. They won't be able to match up with O'Neal, but no one can. The Pistons didn't even try to in the NBA Finals, focusing their defensive efforts everywhere else. As well as Jeff Foster played last season, he was ineffective against the Pistons in the conference finals, scarcely playing in the final three games. The question thus becomes one of options, should Foster falter. Will Scot Pollard regain his Sacramento form? If so, the position will be dramatically updgraded. Will David Harrison be able to contribute as a rookie? The coaching staff isn't counting on it, but neither is the possibility being ruled out. It wouldn't be fair to say this is a position of concern, but it is one of interest.



    Carlisle
    Is There More Offense in Store?
    Carlisle has been hinting since the end of last season that there might be some interesting offensive developments in store. Although he has stayed away from specifics, it appears clear the head coach would like the team to show at least a little more punch than last season, when the team averaged 91.4 points, a franchise-record low. Of course, the defense allowed a record-low 85.6, and that will remain the first priority. But it seems likely, with Jamaal Tinsley entrenched as the starting point guard and the additions of swift, active athletes like Jackson and Bender to the rotation, the team should be able to open things up at least a little more.



    Artest
    How Will Artest Handle Success?
    When a young player -- and, at 24, Artest is still a young player -- gets his first taste of real stardom, it can have an intoxicating effect. Players who spend years battling for recognition sometimes aren't sure how to respond when it finally arrives. It certainly did so for Artest last season in the form of the Defensive Player of the Year award, and third-team All-NBA and All-Star selections. It's now up to Artest to prove the accolades didn't go to his head, and demonstrate the same kind of hunger to improve that got him to this point. Though his behavior throughout the regular season was dramatically improved, his postseason missteps re-opened the door on what could've been a closed subject. Only he has the power to make it go away, once and for all.



    Tinsley
    Will Tinsley Take Command?
    Unlike last year, there is no question about who will start at point guard. Tinsley earned the job last season, beating out Kenny Anderson and earning the confidence of the coaching staff. Now, it's up to Tinsley to not only take firm command of the team on the floor, but continue to expand his game. Having been through the adjustment to Carlisle's highly placed priorities on ball-protection and sound decision-making, Tinsley now has the opportunity to grow within the framework of the offense and become a much stronger leadership force on the court. Literally and figuratively, the ball is going to be in his hands.

  • #2
    Re: Pacers.com> Key Issues Facing Pacers Entering Camp

    How Will Artest Handle Success?
    When a young player -- and, at 24, Artest is still a young player -- gets his first taste of real stardom, it can have an intoxicating effect. Players who spend years battling for recognition sometimes aren't sure how to respond when it finally arrives. It certainly did so for Artest last season in the form of the Defensive Player of the Year award, and third-team All-NBA and All-Star selections. It's now up to Artest to prove the accolades didn't go to his head, and demonstrate the same kind of hunger to improve that got him to this point. Though his behavior throughout the regular season was dramatically improved, his postseason missteps re-opened the door on what could've been a closed subject. Only he has the power to make it go away, once and for all.
    Well put, even from the team's "official" PR mouthpiece.

    Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
    Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
    Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
    Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
    And life itself, rushing over me
    Life itself, the wind in black elms,
    Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

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