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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"

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"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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Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

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  • #46
    Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

    Originally posted by Taterhead View Post
    Fair enough.

    I've thought Lance was gonna be a great pro the first time I ever seen him play, which was about 4-5 years ago. So Larry's statement resonates with me a little different than most. I think the kid is in the top 5-10% of NBA players in terms of natural ability. That is just my opinion so you can take that for it's worth. Now as far as whether he'll be better than Granger.....we all know that is impossible to say right now. But his ceiling IMO, is MUCH higher. And again, that is just my opinion. But, you know me and you have widely differing opinions on Danny as well as Stephenson.
    I agree and think those are valid points. Lance was not your typical second round pick or #42. He is a guy whose pure talent and potetnial would have made him a lottery pick (several scouts have said as much) if not for off court drama

    Hence why all the talk and excitement
    Sittin on top of the world!

    Comment


    • #47
      Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

      Originally posted by Hicks View Post
      I think Larry is simultaneously putting it on Lance to try to work hard and achiever whatever his ceiling may be, while also expressing that he thinks he really is pretty talented.
      I think that's probably true.

      But I think there's another element to it. The local press was writing articles before the season began saying that the coaching staff was tired of having to repeat themselves to Lance and were ready to give up on him. Then they'd always tack on a few paragraphs lamenting his guaranteed contract.

      Everything I heard from the Pacers (not filtered thru Wells) always said the opposite.

      I think in many of Larry's statements about Lance he was just trying to refute what Wells was reporting. If he had come out and just said "we're not giving up on Lance" then everyone would have seen it as the dreaded "vote of confidence". So instead Larry went big with the praise.

      I don't think Larry would have felt it necessary to make those statements were he not trying to correct false impressions spread by Wells.

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

        Originally posted by imawhat View Post
        We already had the player when Larry made the statement. I was never clear on whether he was talking about Diener or Kareem Rush, but in either case it was an exaggeration, which Larry is prone to.
        Ya, I believe it was Kareem Rush he was talking about..
        "Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

          Originally posted by Strummer View Post
          I think in many of Larry's statements about Lance he was just trying to refute what Wells was reporting. If he had come out and just said "we're not giving up on Lance" then everyone would have seen it as the dreaded "vote of confidence". So instead Larry went big with the praise.
          That makes sense.
          This space for rent.

          Comment


          • #50
            Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

            Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
            Oh man, sounds like I made someone internet mad. I am sorry, still friends?

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

              Originally posted by Since86 View Post
              He said he was going too, not wanted. I remember it pretty clearly, because it raised quite a stink when it happened around here. Lot's of "this is your best shooter?" type comments etc.

              He was still being referred to as the "Boomer for adults" and it just added fuel to the fire because it was one of his first FA signings.
              Saying something is true because you remember people raising a stink about it here is not remotely credible.:-)

              I remember the situation but I am pretty certain it was said prior to signing Diener. I believe it was possible that we missed on Birds target. However, My memory is no more a credible than yours.

              Edit: to be clear, I was implying that people rant on things that aren't accurate occasionally.

              Comment


              • #52
                Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                I don't have huge expectations, but if he manages to be a competent 5th guard without distractions, it's a major win. Anything above that - a cherry on top.

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                  Originally posted by ballism View Post
                  I don't have huge expectations, but if he manages to be a competent 5th guard without distractions, it's a major win. Anything above that - a cherry on top.
                  Humor for the day: As soon as my eyes passed by the word expectations, my brain got creative and read the next phrase as "... but if he manages to act like a competent 5th-grader"....


                  "He’s no shrinking violet when it comes to that kind of stuff."

                  - Rick Carlisle on how Kevin Pritchard responds to needed roster changes.

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                  • #54
                    Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                    Originally posted by Strummer View Post
                    I think in many of Larry's statements about Lance he was just trying to refute what Wells was reporting. If he had come out and just said "we're not giving up on Lance" then everyone would have seen it as the dreaded "vote of confidence". So instead Larry went big with the praise.

                    I don't think Larry would have felt it necessary to make those statements were he not trying to correct false impressions spread by Wells.
                    I think this is a really good point and something that I hadn't put too much thought into until you mentioned it. I absolutely don't doubt this is a huge reason for him speaking out. I think Bird takes the criticism from Wells as a direct shot at him and was being a little defensive about it. However, I do believe Larry thinks Lance is our most talented player. And if he could go back and say most talented, instead of "best player" he probably would, and should. Lance is not our best player until he has proven it on the court and shouldn't be hyped as so. Mainly because it is an insult to the guys who actually did it on the court for the whole season last year, and especially Granger who has been our best player for several years now.

                    Originally posted by El Pacero View Post
                    When he was getting a lot of minutes, I felt more confident with Diener running the point than anyone else we had at the time.
                    Diener was by far the best PG on the roster and I always thought he should of been starting, as sad as that is to say. His weakness was his defense obviously, but it's not like TJ Ford was playing defense on a consistent basis anyways. Offensively though, he has a real nice game. I was a huge fan of his in college and loved watching him and Wade play together.
                    Last edited by Taterhead; 07-16-2011, 11:01 PM.
                    "Don't get caught watchin' the paint dry"

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                      Your not smug taterhead, you're right. To compare Lance with Shawne Williams or James White does not make sense. There is no comparison as far as talent goes. I think sometimes somebody sees something in someone that other people don't. Maybe that is what Larry is seeing. Sometimes someone believing in you can help you turn your life around and achieve the success that you are capable of. If that happens with Lance that would be a great thing for the Pacers. But most of all, it would be great for him. I hope Larry is right, but even if he is not, it doesn't hurt to try. There have been many so called lost causes that have turned out great because someone believed it could.

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                        Originally posted by doctor-h View Post
                        Your not smug taterhead, you're right. To compare Lance with Shawne Williams or James White does not make sense.
                        Meh, if that's the point the person was making when he replied, sure some would think he's right. However, it wasn't the point, so it's a pretty useless comparison.

                        The point is Taterhead puts blind trust in Larry being right, when obviously Larry isn't always right. The examples? Shawne and James White. That was the point made, it had nothing to do with talent, or not talented. Larry believed Shawne and White were very talented too.

                        That said, I don't agree that Lance is more 'talented' than Shawne anyway. If both were in the draft at 19/20 years old, I'd take Shawne. Obviously most NBA people agree. Shawne was going to go in the first round even if we didn't take him, and Lance didn't. Anything else is going to be hindsight because we already know how Shawne turned out.

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                          Originally posted by El Pacero View Post
                          When he was getting a lot of minutes, I felt more confident with Diener running the point than anyone else we had at the time.
                          I felt that way too, but when a guy gets limited minutes it's easier to feel that way. Teams aren't prepared for that guy to play, and they don't game plan to attack that guys weaknesses.

                          I know what you mean, but I always felt with extended minutes would come more stressing of his weaknesses.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                            Originally posted by xBulletproof View Post
                            That said, I don't agree that Lance is more 'talented' than Shawne anyway. If both were in the draft at 19/20 years old, I'd take Shawne. Obviously most NBA people agree. Shawne was going to go in the first round even if we didn't take him, and Lance didn't. Anything else is going to be hindsight because we already know how Shawne turned out.
                            You think Lance was a 2nd round pick because of his talent level? I don't.

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                              Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                              You think Lance was a 2nd round pick because of his talent level? I don't.
                              In a league where DeMarcus Cousins just went top 5? Of course. He didn't just fall out of the first round. How many teams in the 2nd round even passed on 'all that talent' with an unguaranteed contract? If he was taken with one of the first couple 2nd round picks then maybe I would see that argument. He wasn't though. Even without guaranteed contracts teams weren't interested.

                              I do, and always have believed this talent concept with Lance is manufactured more than it exists. If he was half as talented as the hype would indicate here, he'd have been a 1st rounder. Rarely do teams pass on talent for any reason.

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: Lance Stephenson Showing Signs Of Progress This Summer

                                Originally posted by xBulletproof View Post
                                In a league where DeMarcus Cousins just went top 5? Of course. He didn't just fall out of the first round. How many teams in the 2nd round even passed on 'all that talent' with an unguaranteed contract? If he was taken with one of the first couple 2nd round picks then maybe I would see that argument. He wasn't though. Even without guaranteed contracts teams weren't interested.

                                I do, and always have believed this talent concept with Lance is manufactured more than it exists. If he was half as talented as the hype would indicate here, he'd have been a 1st rounder. Rarely do teams pass on talent for any reason.
                                Lances past is much much worse than Cousins. Plus Cousins was arguably the most talented player in the draft.

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