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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.

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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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Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

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  • Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

    http://basketball.realgm.com/article...#ixzz1mOcZh2DP

    As losers of three-straight games, the youthful Indiana Pacers have hit a rough patch for the first time this season. They went 26 games before losing back-to-back contests and their skid worsened on Saturday night when the Denver Nuggets came into Bankers Life Fieldhouse and extended their losing streak to three games.

    Things won’t get easier for the Pacers as the Miami Heat come to Indianapolis on Tuesday night, but after that the schedule will get easier for the remainder of the month.

    Brutal Schedule To Turn Favorable

    Indiana is in the midst brutal stretch of seven games against teams with winning records that can be extended out to 12 of 14 – only the New Jersey Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves (both wins) were below .500

    Starting with their Feb. 3 game at Dallas and ending Tuesday against the Heat, the Pacers will have played seven teams with a combined record of 113-75 and a winning percentage of more than 60%.

    Over the 14-game stretch that ends against the Heat, Indiana’s opponents have a winning percent of more than 57%. So far, the Pacers are 7-6 in those games.

    While they can’t let up, they will get a bit of a break beginning on Wednesday at Cleveland. After dealing with the Heat, they’ll face seven-straight opponents that appear headed for the draft lottery. From Feb. 15 to Mar. 3, their opponents have a combined winning percentage of just 22% -- including the two worst teams in the NBA (Charlotte and New Orleans) twice each.

    The Starting Five Effect

    When Jeff Foster and George Hill are healthy, Frank Vogel has no problem playing 10 players. Louis Amundson gets more time when Foster is out (chronic back issues), while Lance Stephenson and A.J. Price are seeing more minutes with Hill (chip fracture in ankle) sidelined.

    A relatively large rotation would lead you to believe that the Pacers have a strong bench, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case this season.

    Tyler Hansbrough (9.4 points) is their leading scorer off the bench, which ranks him 43rd among reserves. Hill flirted with double-figures at one point, but he is out indefinitely and was often either hot or not before his injury against the Nets last month.

    Not surprisingly, Indiana’s starting five of Darren Collison, Paul George, Danny Granger, David West and Roy Hibbert is their most effective group. According to 82games.com, the group is +99 this season. The next best group is just +22 with Hill in place of George.

    The Pacers have been blessed with good health this season, as their projected starting five has begun 26 of their 27 games (Granger missed a single contest). Of the 240 minutes available per game, Collison, George, Granger, West and Hibbert play roughly 67% of the time (160 total minutes). The reliance on the starting five isn’t too great in terms of minutes. The Bulls, for example, have one of the NBA’s deepest rosters but their ‘Fave Five’ has played 66.3% of the time when Derrick Rose is healthy.

    The issue for the Pacers is offensive effectiveness. The starters score 67.8 points per game, which represents 72% of the team’s total. There is a significant enough breakdown in offensive efficiency that the starting five are scoring a disproportionate number of points in relation to their minutes.

    One would expect that a starting five, presumably the team’s five best players, would be better offensively than the second unit, but the contrast has been rather stark.

    Mr. Jones And The Second Unit

    The bench is averaging 26.4 points per game on 40.3% shooting over a five-game stretch in which the Pacers have lost four games. The percentage is poor, but the scoring itself is not. The real indicator is the plus-minus numbers this season.

    The starting five are all in the positive, while bench contributors like Amundson, Hill, Tyler Hansbrough and Dahntay Jones are all under water. Jones, who gets some run with a variety of starters but plays mainly on the second unit, is a horrendous -75.

    At this point, his ineffectiveness can’t be an aberration. He has essentially been the team’s eighth-man and has moved up to seventh with Hill injured. Jones has the lowest PER (9.9) among the team’s rotation players and only Hansbrough has a lower TS% and eFG%. His offense has never been his area of strength, but his defense hasn’t been consistently good enough to offset that.

    Jones was a very good signing for the Pacers in July of 2009 when he left the Nuggets for a four-year, $11 million contract, but at this point he is hurting them more than he is helping them

    I was going to post the schedule. After the HEAT, our next games are

    @ Cleveland
    vs New Jersey
    vs Charlotte
    vs New Orleans
    @ Charlotte
    vs Golden State
    @ New Orleans

    Acording to the "schedule" we should really go 7-0. Of course being expected to win and wining , can be different things at times

    After this run, schedule gets much tougher, so we REALLY REALLY need to take care of business!!!
    Sittin on top of the world!

  • #2
    Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

    Yuck! Back to Back to Back.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

      Originally posted by QuickRelease View Post
      Yuck! Back to Back to Back.
      The only thing that I have to look forward in a B2B2B schedule is that I get to see 3 Pacer games in a row.

      One more thing....it's expected that Kyrie Irving will return from a concussion against the Pacers on Wednesday.
      Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

        http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-chat-w...c-pincus-21412


        Eric P

        So “sources” say regarding JR Smith, Pacers are going “another direction” Any clue what “direction” they are going?

        Eric Pincus

        The direction of not-J.R.

        Daniel

        People are saying JR is a good fit for the Clippers, but I’m skeptical. Not the most stable player, on or off the court, and can hog the ball sometimes. Also, despite his size and athleticism, I don’t think he fills our biggest need as a strong wing defender. He isn’t exactly known to play great defense. What do you think? Is he a good fit?

        Eric Pincus

        JR would help in areas. He isn’t a bad defender when motivated.


        Eric P

        Greetings Eric, So is Eric Gordon Jonathon Bender , part 2? Or are these injuries a result of bad luck , timing etc.? Will this effect his net worth or do you see a “max like” contract next year?



        Eric Pincus

        I expect Gordon will be fine eventually. Remember, the Hornets want that number one pick more than they want to win any games this season.

        Eric P

        How are the two ex Pacers fiting in so far? (McBob and Murphy)?

        Eric Pincus

        Good in spurts – ineffective in others.

        Eric P

        Alright so my Pacers have lost 3 in a row. My question is , is this a bump in the road that all teams will have during the course of a season, or is this a result of teams starting to fugure them out and adjust?

        Eric Pincus

        The Pacers will adjust. I do think they played a little over their heads so far but this is a playoff team.

        Eric P

        Pacers have a lot of cap room, does Bird make a move or do we sit on the cap space until next year?

        Eric Pincus

        If someone viable comes available, the Pacers will act. I could see Chris Kaman as a possibility to bolster front-court depth.
        Sittin on top of the world!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

          Dahntay hasn't been as bad as this articles says, but I haven't been impressed with his defense this year. I'm about over him trying to pull the chair every other game. It works occasionally, but more often than not it's an easy lay up.

          I still think we'd be better, especially offensively, if we benched Dahntay and used Paul at the backup SF when Hill comes back. That would free up more minutes for Hill and Lance/AJ to be on the floor which should help the offensive flow.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

            that's interesting about dahntay. i've always hated him, but this season he's been growing on me. maybe I'm just trying too hard to like him, idk.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

              Originally posted by Haywoode Workman View Post
              that's interesting about dahntay. i've always hated him, but this season he's been growing on me. maybe I'm just trying too hard to like him, idk.
              Suprising to me as well, but its why I hate the +/- stats so much

              Dhanty has been the only one in the second unit to consistently drive to the basket and make a play(Ty too, but talking guards here)

              I felt like he has been one of the brighter spots on the team so far this year
              Sittin on top of the world!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

                I hope that we bounce back from this rough patch going 7-0. If we do this, then we'll regain our confidence and be in a great spot once again. If we don't, I'm afraid of what is gonna happen.
                Originally posted by IrishPacer
                Empty vessels make the most noise.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

                  I liked that article a long time ago when it was called "here comes the hammer", but whatever.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

                    Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
                    I liked that article a long time ago when it was called "here comes the hammer", but whatever.
                    This was the remix

                    but point taken
                    Sittin on top of the world!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

                      I think that 6-1 over the next 7 games gets us where we need to be for the tough part of the schedule coming up after that.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Pacers Hit Rough Patch Before Schedule Turns

                        Originally posted by joeyd View Post
                        I think that 6-1 over the next 7 games gets us where we need to be for the tough part of the schedule coming up after that.
                        Theoritically we should go 7-0

                        Anything less than 5-2 and I will be very disappointed
                        Sittin on top of the world!

                        Comment

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