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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**"

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"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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Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

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  • Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

    Fair warning: If you're looking for Homer's Digest, this post may not be for you. Meanwhile, here are my key thoughts for the post-ASG stretch of the season.

    This could also pay homage to another of my infamous thread titles, as This Team Is Built to Play Miami in the Playoffs.

    When we drafted Paul George, I was looking forward to the day we could trade one of our two SFs for a shooting guard that can create his own shot off the dribble. Granger's injury now has me looking forward to just seeing how much better we'll be with both of our wings on the court, taking pressure off each other. Paul George has shown tremendous growth. His next challenge is to show that its not just because he's in the role of "best wing on the team" and that he can keep it up with the team at full strength. I think the next step could be challenge for him to as assertive on a team at full strength vs. stepping up on a depleted team. I think he'll get through this challenge, but with growing pains along the way. Probably more growing pains than PD overall is expecting.

    I thought Paul George's ASG appearance was impressive, but I think for different reasons than the rest of you. I now know exactly where I want Paul George when Hill and West run a pick and roll at crunch time. I want him on the weakside baseline for (1) spacing and (b) he's deadly there in a catch-and-shoot when the ball is reversed. I still think the play MUST start in Hill's hands as a Hill & West pick and roll is the offensive option in which all five guys are threats to make the last shot and must be played straight up defensively. And I still don't want him in a position where he has to put the ball on the floor.

    I'll go one step further, although I think I saw this somewhere else on the web yesterday. Paul George's performance was the best Pacers' performance in an ASG over the past 25 years. While Paul's offense is still primarily as a catch-and-shoot guy, he brought defense and wing rebounding to the second quarter of an NBA all-star game. That's a rare accomplishment.

    I'm looking forward to Lance with the second unit, becasue the second unit needs a go-to guy. A little concerned, though, that he'll act like Dhantay Jones with the second unit and hog the ball. He's really cut down on his, "what in the world is he thinking?" kind of mistakes. He's played well within in the team structure. We'll know soon if Lance is better as the fifth option with the starters or as the go-to guy with the bench. Either way, he's made so much progress that we could have two most-improved candidates right now.

    Was debating with a Bulls fan over the weekend... he said Miami would walk away with the East this year. I said, "No, they can't beat us." West and Hibbert together mean that Bosh is worthless, and while some of us (okay, maybe just me) may not have ever been believers in Bosh, they don't really have a better alternative. We are a matchup problem for them. Clearly our best hope is to chase down the #1 seed, but is that realistic? I don't know. I know Miami would rather play NYK than us.

    Hibbert's contract gets too much attention on here. There are two common and popular fallacies that keep appearing - (a) that there is a statistic that measures the "presence" of a post player and that (ii) compensation of an NBA center is tied to some metric or statistic. I know his FG% has been awful this year, but I can't imagine this team leading the Central Division right now with somebody else playing C, at both ends of the court. I hope over the second half of the year he rediscovers his shooting touch and crushes this silly conversation.

    And lastly, what this team really needs is Chuck Person.

    And I could use more confidence against a team like the Knicks, because I'm worried that we won't get to take our best shot at Miami if we end up in the 2/3 bracket against New York.

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


  • #2
    Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

    NY struggles against teams that defend the 3 and have a player that can guard Melo 1 on 1. I'm not really concerned about them.
    "Danny Granger is one of the top players in the league. To move Danny, you better get a lot back." - Larry Bird

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    • #3
      Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

      That March 10th game at Miami will be telling. I hope both teams are healthy for that one. The Pacers are still a 11-16 team on the road, a really bad mark for a team this good. If they beat Miami on the road, that'll prove a lot more to me than the home wins, where the Pacers are virtually unbeatable.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

        I think people vastly underrate what Hibbert contributes in terms of the overall effectiveness of the Pacer's defense. We're the #1 or #2 rated team in that category. That's not happening without Hibbert just basically "being there" in the middle. If all he does is keep us at the top of the league in team defense, then he's worth that contract, especially when you consider what legit 7'rs are paid.

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        • #5
          Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

          Originally posted by indyaway View Post
          I think people vastly underrate what Hibbert contributes in terms of the overall effectiveness of the Pacer's defense. We're the #1 or #2 rated team in that category. That's not happening without Hibbert just basically "being there" in the middle. If all he does is keep us at the top of the league in team defense, then he's worth that contract, especially when you consider what legit 7'rs are paid.
          I don't understand how people can watch LeBron James avoid driving at Hibbert, and then plow right into Mahinmi as soon as he comes in, and then dismiss Roy's defense.
          "Danny Granger is one of the top players in the league. To move Danny, you better get a lot back." - Larry Bird

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

            Originally posted by ChicagoJ View Post
            I thought Paul George's ASG appearance was impressive, but I think for different reasons than the rest of you. I now know exactly where I want Paul George when Hill and West run a pick and roll at crunch time. I want him on the weakside baseline for (1) spacing and (b) he's deadly there in a catch-and-shoot when the ball is reversed. I still think the play MUST start in Hill's hands as a Hill & West pick and roll is the offensive option in which all five guys are threats to make the last shot and must be played straight up defensively. And I still don't want him in a position where he has to put the ball on the floor.
            I thought "bingo" about 5 milliseconds after Paul's first corner three made it through the net. He is lethal in the corner, and he's quick/athletic enough to get to the rim before the defense adjusts on most teams. He's rarely in that spot on the floor for us, but I'd wager he'd be top 5 in the NBA in 3 pt % from the corner.

            The only problem with it is, if he misses, our best transition defender is the last person back, and we cannot afford to do that against teams like Miami in the playoffs (Knicks maybe, Heat no way). I don't know if the risks outweigh the rewards to put that in the regular rotation. It might be good to switch up in the playoffs, like a zone defense, from time to time.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

              Wheres the unpopular opinions? I was told there was going to be unpopular opinions!

              I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
              "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

              "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

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              • #8
                Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                Lance going from 5th option to #1 option off the bench just reeks of failure. Just don't think he's ready for that. I think Granger off the bench makes the most sense.
                First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.

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                • #9
                  Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                  Originally posted by Sparhawk View Post
                  Lance going from 5th option to #1 option off the bench just reeks of failure. Just don't think he's ready for that. I think Granger off the bench makes the most sense.
                  Who says he's going to be the #1 option? There's not going to be a lot of minutes that don't have DG or PG on the floor.
                  "Danny Granger is one of the top players in the league. To move Danny, you better get a lot back." - Larry Bird

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                    Originally posted by imawhat View Post
                    I thought "bingo" about 5 milliseconds after Paul's first corner three made it through the net. He is lethal in the corner, and he's quick/athletic enough to get to the rim before the defense adjusts on most teams. He's rarely in that spot on the floor for us, but I'd wager he'd be top 5 in the NBA in 3 pt % from the corner.

                    The only problem with it is, if he misses, our best transition defender is the last person back, and we cannot afford to do that against teams like Miami in the playoffs (Knicks maybe, Heat no way). I don't know if the risks outweigh the rewards to put that in the regular rotation. It might be good to switch up in the playoffs, like a zone defense, from time to time.
                    I understand but I don't agree. If a long rebound, break opportunity is your concern you can go into a zone D immediately on the shot instead of crashing the boards. Good transition defense is a choice, and you deal with it by having the wings drop back instead of pursue ORs. If he releases immediately on the shot (which also precludes every shooter's favorite "stand there with your arm in the air showing off your follow-through for the cameras" pose, it should be fine.

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

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                      Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                      Wheres the unpopular opinions? I was told there was going to be unpopular opinions!

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

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                        All i remember is the Bulls swept Miami in the regular season year before last, then Miami swept them in the playoffs. Miami (particularly Wade and LeBron ) have that other notch they can take it to anytime they want
                        Sittin on top of the world!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                          A midseason report from Jay? It feels like I stepped back to 2005.

                          I agree with you about the Hibbert contract. Knowing what we know today, I would still give him that contract without hesitation. I think virtually every GM in the league would too. The offensive troubles are indeed frustrating, but you can't put a price on the rebounding and defensive presence. It's not just the blocked shots, it's also all of the ones that he alters. That being said, it would be nice to see some Smits-like offensive production. I'm not saying that he should have the same skill set as Smits, just that it would be nice if he had the same sort of efficiency, i.e. 15-17 ppg a game on 50% shooting. We could certainly use an offensive boost from him.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                            I see the standings at the top remaining fixed: Miami #1, Knicks #2, Pacers #3. Melo will beast down low; Chandler will outplay Roy. Problems, problems.


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

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

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Jay's unpopular "midseason" (close enough) opinions

                              First off, great writeup ChicagoJ.

                              While I agree about LBJ and DWade turning it up in the playoffs, we just flat out cause them problems. Whether it's Roy and David West(they have NO ONE to guard him) or PG guarding one of the other two. Add in the fact that our team is not scared of them at all and that we've beat them multiple times both regular season and post season. Which I think can be attributed to #21 and our bench . They bring that toughness and swagger. I'm almost to the point where I'm ready to guarantee beating them in the playoffs.

                              The Knicks scare me a little though. Tyson Chandler causes problems and I don't think we have an answer defensively for Melo. He's too big for PG/DG and too quick for David West. There just one of those teams that I'd rather not see. Can we beat them? Yeah but I think it would be a long, tough series.
                              The 19 Line Coming Soon!

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