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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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Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

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  • #46
    Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

    I think as much as we want to give praise to everyone else for Lance's turnaroung, we need to give Lance the most praise and credit.

    Think about it, he was a HS prodigy, then went on to be a decent but not overly spectacular college player. He came to the Pacers and for him, kinda hit rock bottom. He wasn't playing much, and had to bust his tail in order to even stay on the team, let alone get in the rotation. A lot of guys in the past have had these types of issues, and end up being forgotten talent (Omar Cook, Lenny Cooke, Erick Barkley, Darius Washington, Dujuan Wagner, etc) Yet Lance (with the help of L.Bird) has been able to find his NBA game.

    He went from a ball dominant, playground guard that couldn't shoot, couldn't differentiate between being aggressive and being out of control (still a small prob from time to time) and couldn't play defense; to a player that moves well without the ball, is a consistent knock down shooter, and is often times the motor to a key Pacer run.

    What I'm saying is, Lance has endured a lot in a short time within his career. But he's stayed hungry has kept working hard, and is finally reaping the benefits. The great thing is, as well as Lance has played, he's still only averaging about 8 pts a game--he still has the potential to be so much more. Vogel continues to have somewhat of a leash on him, which I think is a good thing. I think we're still about 2 years away before we see the type of jump from Lance that we've seen from PG this year.

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    • #47
      Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

      Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
      No one could have known whether he would mature emotionally. But I think all of us could see he had game.

      Hmm, ....


      No. I'd say at least 50% of those who commented on Lance prior to the first week of this season did not acknowledge his basketball talents at all, and of the 50% that did, probably 10% actually wanted him on the team.

      There were a ton of unfair, whiny and quite honestly uneducated opinions that went something like this: He turns the ball over, he can't shoot, his passing is flashy but poor, he can't play defense (seriously?), he should be cut so the team can keep Ben Hansbrough (seriously!). To say nothing of the typical "Low BBall IQ" nonsense.


      So I guess maybe everyone could see he had game, but the majority decided not to mention it in their posts.

      Props to McKeyFan, I had confidence in Lance from the beginning too, although it was a shaky, please-don't-do-anything-to-get-yourself-in-the-doghouse confidence. One false step and he would've been gone. Complaining about his (admittedly probably unfair) sporadic PT and limited role last year and he would've been gone. Mope around and be lazy in practices and he would've been gone. Thankfully he's matured a lot, and we've got one of the most dynamic young SGs in the league.

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

        Originally posted by 3rdStrike View Post
        Hmm, ....


        No. I'd say at least 50% of those who commented on Lance prior to the first week of this season did not acknowledge his basketball talents at all, and of the 50% that did, probably 10% actually wanted him on the team.

        There were a ton of unfair, whiny and quite honestly uneducated opinions that went something like this: He turns the ball over, he can't shoot, his passing is flashy but poor, he can't play defense (seriously?), he should be cut so the team can keep Ben Hansbrough (seriously!). To say nothing of the typical "Low BBall IQ" nonsense.
        Yep.
        "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

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        • #49
          Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

          Lance is going to be and already has been a roller-coaster ride for most of his career. He deserves the utmost of credit for maturing greatly as a human being and as a basketball player. But make no mistake about it...he has that part of him that will always be there. That SJax, playground mentality, trashtalking, ***** at the refs inside him. Where he along with the Pacers staff deserves so much credit is for putting proper restraints on it. Bringing it under control for the most part. But it still shows its head from time to time. And almost assuredly always will...In fact as he gains more experience and tenure its likely to rear its head a bit more often, because he will have a longer leash. Hes a great talent, but lets hope he doesnt pick up technicals at just the wrong moment or go a little playground on the court at just the wrong moment...because it will happen...and if at the wrong time, you will have more than a few on here doing another 180 saying they knew it all the time and were just fooled. How good he becomes is actually the real interesting part. Larry thought he could be really really good...so i tend to trust that. And u can see the signs of it. But at times you can also see things that if not dealt with very gingerly could hold him back from reaching whatever potential he might have. Either way, like i said, its going to be a roller-coaster and should be pretty entertaining at times.
          The Most Common Cause of Stress is Dealing with Idiots

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          • #50
            Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

            Originally posted by cinotimz View Post
            But make no mistake about it...he has that part of him that will always be there. That SJax, playground mentality, trashtalking, ***** at the refs inside him.
            Totally disagree.

            Yes, I understand your sense that Lance is passionate and that he can be vocal and flashy. But I see very, very little resemblance to Stephen Jackson and his utter ugliness and poor character on the basketball floor. When does Lance complain to the officials? I hardly ever see it. When has Lance visibly defied his coach? I've never seen anything like that. When has Lance puffed up his chest and gone after the opposition or the fans? Never. He's done the exact opposite, even when terribly provoked in the most unjust manner.

            You do Lance a terrible disservice, even a slander, to compare him to Stephen Jackson. They are both passionate, and that is where the similarity ends. Jackson directed his passion toward the refs, toward violent behavior, and toward rebellion against his coaches. Lance directs his, verbally, toward the competition—in a proper, healthy, nonviolent way—and, even better, toward defense, rebounding, and cheering on his teammates.
            Last edited by McKeyFan; 02-04-2013, 12:09 PM.
            "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

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            • #51
              Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

              Originally posted by 3rdStrike View Post
              There were a ton of unfair, whiny and quite honestly uneducated opinions that went something like this: He turns the ball over, he can't shoot, his passing is flashy but poor, he can't play defense (seriously?), he should be cut so the team can keep Ben Hansbrough (seriously!). To say nothing of the typical "Low BBall IQ" nonsense.
              No, prior to this year..that was all completely true. (Although, maybe not cutting him for Ben Hansbrough) Prior to this year, Lance turned the ball over, couldn't shoot, would make ridiculous flashy passes that often did more harm than good, and was too slow to play defense.

              Credit Lance Stephenson for his improvement. He wasn't always playing anywhere close to it and most of us "just couldn't see it." No, he worked on his shot, he worked on understanding team basketball, he reduced his stupid passes, and he got in, IMO, the best shape I've seen him..and has learned how to use his strength on the defensive end to make up for his lateral speed.

              I want to be clear, I still don't think he's going to be nearly as good as Paul George. And I don't think he'll come close to "revolutionizing the Pacers." But I think he's made himself into a microwave role player, who actually understands passing. Which is significantly better than what he showed us his first two seasons.

              Lance has matured to the point where his trash talking/passion is amusing to fans (and probably teammates), harmless, and probably annoys the opposition a bit. There's nothing wrong with that.
              Last edited by Sookie; 02-04-2013, 12:24 PM.

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              • #52
                Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
                Totally disagree.

                Yes, I understand your sense that Lance is passionate and that he can be vocal and flashy. But I see very, very little resemblance to Stephen Jackson and his utter ugliness and poor character on the basketball floor. When does Lance complain to the officials? I hardly ever see it. When has Lance visibly defied his coach? I've never seen anything like that. When has Lance puffed up his chest and gone after the opposition or the fans? Never. He's done the exact opposite, even when terribly provoked in the most unjust manner.

                You do Lance a terrible disservice, even a slander, to compare him to Stephen Jackson. They are both passionate, and that is where the similarity ends. Jackson directed his passion toward the refs, toward violent behavior, and toward rebellion against his coaches. Lance directs his, verbally, toward the competition—in a proper, healthy, nonviolent way—and, even better, toward defense, rebounding, and cheering on his teammates.
                Stop. Nothing worse than someone who argues against something that was never said. Noone ever said anything about defying his coach. Or going after fans...I was very specific about what the similarities were. Playground mentality. *****ing at the refs. Trashtalking. And if you dont believe Lance doesnt do those things, then youre either not watching or flat out ignoring the obvious. And he definitely puffs out his chest at times. He hasnt become a suddenly different person. But hes definitely learned to be more focused and direct his emotions, etc in generally the right direction. Stephen Jackson wasnt as bad in is early years either. But once they get a bit of experience and a longer leash. Then these things become a bit more frequent and more noticeable. Now I'm not saying he's gonna turn out exactly like SJax. Lets hope not, though SJax was a very fine ballplayer and has rings to boot-though I despise him personally and wish he never woulve worn a Pacer uniform. What I did say was Lance has some of those same things in him. And not unlike the Spurs did a great job harnessing and directing them in Sjax's younger years the Pacers have done similar with Lance. So time will tell...
                The Most Common Cause of Stress is Dealing with Idiots

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                • #53
                  Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                  Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                  No one could have known whether he would mature emotionally. But I think all of us could see he had game.
                  I think there were a few people who claimed he didn't have any game.

                  Not me. I was firmly in the "it won't matter because of his baggage" camp.

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                  • #54
                    Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                    It wasn't a matter of him not having any game. It was a matter of his highs always being countered by lows. Lance has done a great job of eliminating the valleys.


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                    • #55
                      Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                      Originally posted by Sookie View Post
                      I want to be clear, I still don't think he's going to be nearly as good as Paul George. And I don't think he'll come close to "revolutionizing the Pacers." But I think he's made himself into a microwave role player, who actually understands passing. Which is significantly better than what he showed us his first two seasons.
                      Yea...I agree....I think Frank has done a great job of putting him in a great position to succeed...the more I watch him the more I doubt he would ever be that successful as a starting pg on a winning team. Starting sg? absolutely...Starting sg that handles the backup pg minutes? Yes to that too...but put the ball in his hands for starting pg minutes and I think some of his weaknesses or questieonable tendencies might become more exposed.
                      Originally posted by Sookie View Post
                      Lance has matured to the point where his trash talking/passion is amusing to fans (and probably teammates), harmless, and probably annoys the opposition a bit. There's nothing wrong with that.
                      Yea...its all new and fresh right now. And his positive growing and maturation has gotten him teh benefit of the doubt with everyone..and rightly so....Now if he gets a tech late in a playoff game thats swings the game for taunting or causes Lebron or wade to go off and the Pacers lose the game, well....we will see how long its amusing to fans. In small doses with no major consequence its cute and amusing...however....hes walking a fine line...and its likely Lance will always live right on the edge-which will be part of what makes him succeed-but when u live that close to the edge there will be times you crossover....u only hope that when he does the consequences arent too severe...
                      The Most Common Cause of Stress is Dealing with Idiots

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                        Originally posted by cinotimz View Post
                        Stop. Nothing worse than someone who argues against something that was never said.
                        Does Lance ***** at the refs? Or is this something you "never said."
                        "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                          Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
                          Does Lance ***** at the refs? Or is this something you "never said."
                          He absolutely does...
                          The Most Common Cause of Stress is Dealing with Idiots

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                            Yep, big props for manning up

                            I will do the same.

                            After watching Gerald Green in pre-season I thought he just might have more impact this year than...

                            Paul George

                            Sittin on top of the world!

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                            • #59
                              Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                              Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                              No one could have known whether he would mature emotionally. But I think all of us could see he had game.
                              UB, I coulda swore you once said he wasn't an NBA player. Did I get that wrong?
                              This space for rent.

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: Mmm mmm this is a tasty dish

                                Originally posted by cinotimz View Post
                                He absolutely does...
                                I don't see much myself of Lance complaining to the refs. David West would be five times more guilty.
                                "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

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