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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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Off season Rumors and Speculation

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  • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

    Originally posted by OlBlu View Post
    Who cares about commercials? RGIII does a bunch of them and I haven't seen Andrew Luck in any. Does that mean RGIII is a superstar and Luck isn't? Of course not. Jermaine freaking O'Neal was never a superstar and I am not talking about a popularity contest here. Patrick Ewing was not beloved by the fans but he was a superstar and so is Andrew Bynum and he is paid to be one too...... ...
    Andrew Luck is one of the most hyped college players ever by the media, are you being serious? Ewing was also mega hyped and played for New York Knicks. The fanbase absolutely makes a superstar, with the combination of a player being the man and putting up great numbers. Bynum hasn't put up great numbers, nor has he been the man.

    "I've got an idea--an idea so smart that my head would explode if I even began to know what I'm talking about." - Peter Griffin

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    • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

      you guys are always getting into the weirdest semantic arguments

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      • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

        People talk about Bynum like he's done something, and he hasn't.

        Am I the only one who realizes the 3 years before the lockout shortened season he averaged something like 14 points, and 8 rebounds? Last year was the first year he averaged anything remotely close to equal to the amount of praise he gets. Between that, his health issues, and being a big whiner, he may have the talent to be the 2nd best center in the NBA, but I can think of several guys I'd rather have.

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        • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

          Originally posted by hackashaq View Post
          you guys are always getting into the weirdest semantic arguments
          I love this post.

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          • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

            Originally posted by xBulletproof View Post
            People talk about Bynum like he's done something, and he hasn't.

            Am I the only one who realizes the 3 years before the lockout shortened season he averaged something like 14 points, and 8 rebounds? Last year was the first year he averaged anything remotely close to equal to the amount of praise he gets. Between that, his health issues, and being a big whiner, he may have the talent to be the 2nd best center in the NBA, but I can think of several guys I'd rather have.
            Does Bynum have a ring? He has done plenty. He played on a team of stars and he blended his game in. It remains to be seen if Howard can do that (I think he can). I would only take one other center in the entire NBA over Bynum and that is closer than most people think. Hibbert is not even in Bynum's class as a player. As a man, certainly, but not as a player. Now that Bynum is out from under Bryan and Gasol, he should blossom and put us spectacular numbers. The team won't be as good because it doesn't have those stars but Bynum will show just how good he really is. The Sixers may be better than the Pacers right now and it is all because of Andrew Bynum....... ...

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            • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

              Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
              He average 18 and 12 with Kobe and Gasol last year I think is fair to expect him to average more as the main guy.
              A few things....

              1. Bynum was the second option last year, while Pau played more in the high post. So it's not like he lacked touches.
              2. Last year was the first yr Bynum EVER put up more than decent offensive numbers. Yes he is very talented, but he picks and chooses what games he plays hard in and what games he coasts in.
              3. So you're telling me it's reasonable to think that Bynum's numbers were effected by playing with other talented players that're taking up FGA; but it's not reasonable to think that someone like Danny or D.West has their numbers affected by playing with other talented offensive players? Obviously different personnel and different schemes but the idea is the same.

              Speaking as a Laker fan, who's also a part of a fan forum similar to PD; most of us were happy to see Bynum go. His effort never consistently matched his talent. He would go for a 11/11 game just as often as he'd go for a 20/20 game
              Last edited by Ace E.Anderson; 10-11-2012, 09:53 PM.

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              • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                Originally posted by DGPR View Post
                Andrew Luck is one of the most hyped college players ever by the media, are you being serious? Ewing was also mega hyped and played for New York Knicks. The fanbase absolutely makes a superstar, with the combination of a player being the man and putting up great numbers. Bynum hasn't put up great numbers, nor has he been the man.
                Yes, Luck is the most overhyped college player to ever come into the NFL. Was Bill Russell a superstar? He hated Boston and the people who came to those games because the thought they were all racist. He didn't make peace with that fanbase until years after his retirement. He even threatened to not attend the ceremony retiring his jersey there. Russell had great rebounding numbers but his scoring was never anything special. He was a great shot blocker but they didn't even keep those stats during his career. Look at the money. Who is paid what? Superstars get paid big money. Andrew Bynum gets paid superstar money and that is because he one. There is only one team in the NBA that would not trade their center and just about any other player on the team for Bynum and that includes the Pacers..... ...

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                • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                  Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                  We will see.
                  Bynum had Kobe and Gasol as distractions while he put up points as the third option. Let's see how well he handles the pressure of being the top guy, and how he adjusts to entire defensive schemes focused on shutting him down.
                  "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

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                  • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                    Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
                    Bynum had Kobe and Gasol as distractions while he put up points as the third option. Let's see how well he handles the pressure of being the top guy, and how he adjusts to entire defensive schemes focused on shutting him down.
                    He will do just fine. He has a first class coach to help him through that. Bynum sacrificed his game on the Lakers and Howard will have to do that to. As Kobe said, this is still MY team..... ...

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                    • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                      Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
                      Bynum had Kobe and Gasol as distractions while he put up points as the third option. Let's see how well he handles the pressure of being the top guy, and how he adjusts to entire defensive schemes focused on shutting him down.
                      I completely agree. It is so hard now in this NBA for centers who are the main offensive options to put up big numbers. Bynum is not in Howard's class, playing with Kobe and Gasol made some people last year think he was, but it takes a serious type of talent to dominate in the post now offensively. With the way wings have gotten bigger, stronger, faster over the past decade or so the collapse defense on big men who are the focus of their offense is vicious. You either need to be an incredibly elite athlete or have some serious skill moves to be the number 1 option as a 7 footer not named Dirk.

                      Bynum is going to see guys like Lebron, Paul George, Josh Smith, Gerald Wallace, etc. collapse on him much harder than they ever did with the Lakers. How will his decision making be then? Will he make the right decision or will he turn it over? That is one of the things that Hibbert does not give enough credit for. He is generally a very good decision maker in the post, sometimes he could stand to make slightly quicker decisions but he has at least shown he can usually make the right decision. When Bynum is posted up on Brook Lopez for example and then has Gerald Wallace cheating off collapsing fast on him, how will he react?? I think you will see him make mistakes personally. I think Bynum will average roughly 15 and 10. Think about the numbers 25 and 12 for a second those are numbers Dwight has never approached (sorry he has approached them once 23 and 14 on in 2010-2011 on a Magic team that went 52-30 and was bumped int he first round, just for comparison and that was with those crazy numbers anchoring their team, can you imagine what the Pacers would do if Roy did something like that? Yikes those Magic teams were/are crap) and even though Dwight gets clowned on a lot for his lack of offensive skill the gap between him and Bynum in terms of skills is not that large and Dwight is an absolute monster athletically compared to Bynum. Now if Jrue Holiday or Evan Turner makes a huge leap this year, maybe this all changes a bit and Bynum gets a little more room to operate in the post.

                      It took Dwight Howard three years to put up 18 and 12 and he was absolutely the guy all those years. Just being "the guy" doesn't automatically mean you are going to dominate. Maybe Bynum dominates, but maybe (and his career history suggests that right now at least this is the more likely outcome) he misses 20-30 games and averages more like the 15 and 10 I foresee happening.

                      All we can do is wait, but I just don't see anything even close to 25 and 12 being in the realm of possibility. I think the Sixers would tell you that if he can repeat last season they will be thrilled and they should be.
                      Last edited by Trader Joe; 10-11-2012, 11:03 PM.


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                      • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                        Originally posted by OlBlu View Post
                        He will do just fine. He has a first class coach to help him through that. Bynum sacrificed his game on the Lakers and Howard will have to do that to. As Kobe said, this is still MY team..... ...
                        He sacrificed his game? Before last seaosn he barely ever played enough to even know how much game he had for certain. This is a guy that before last year played 54 games, 65 games, 50 games, 35 games. That's pretty alarming from a big man. We as Pacer fans should know how hard it is for big men to shake that injury bug once it bites them a few times.


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                        • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                          Did anybody else watch the gametime report on NBAtv the other day that said Bynum & Collins were already not getting along?


                          Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

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                          • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                            Surprise!

                            Bynum looks like he gained the Lockout 50 a year late. He'll be out of the league or Eddy Curry's doppleganger in three years.

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                            • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                              Originally posted by imawhat View Post
                              Surprise!

                              Bynum looks like he gained the Lockout 50 a year late. He'll be out of the league or Eddy Curry's doppleganger in three years.
                              Bynum is definitely looking a little pudgy compared to last year.

                              Right now:





                              At All Star break last year:



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                              • Re: Off season Rumors and Speculation

                                Collins is a bit like a JOB with (much) better coaching ability. Old school demeanor, stuck in his ways, his way or the high way, no coddling, all that stuff. I'm a big admirer of a lot of those traits, but they just don't work for the long term anymore. You HAVE to be a "players' coach" now. It was always true that dumping the coach instead of the team is much easier but it's way worse now with the gigantic boom of player salaries in the last dozen years or so.

                                Sure he had the giant endorsements, but in strictly NBA salary Jordan made above current MLE money twice in his whole career. And he hasn't been retired THAT long. It's just wild to me the way salaries have exploded in all sports. I'm obviously not an economist but I really don't see how it's sustainable for the NBA when pretty much every team has like a quarter of their roster making 8+ million a year. Maybe I'm being naive about it but I just don't see how the NBA brings in THAT much revenue.

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