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Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

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"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

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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.

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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:

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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

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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.

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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

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Rule #11

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The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

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  • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

    Originally posted by GrangeRusHibbert View Post
    There's been some truly horrific #2 overall picks in recent years...

    2000: Stromile Swift
    2001: Tyson Chandler
    2002: Jay Williams
    2003: Darko Milicic
    2004: Emeka Okafor
    2005: Marvin Williams
    2006: LaMarcus Aldridge
    2007: Kevin Durant
    2008: Michael Beasley
    2009: Hasheem Thabeet
    2010: Evan Turner
    2011: Derrick Williams
    2012: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
    2013: Victor Oladipo

    By my count there's been at least seven outright busts (Swift, Williams (all three[!!!] of them), Milicic, Beasley, and Thabeet), one player who's giving off potential bust vibes, but it's too early to say for certain (Kidd-Gilchrist), a couple of solid-but-unspectacular picks (Chandler and Okafor), one very good pick (Aldridge), and one grand slam (Durant).

    Edit: I forgot Evan Turner, who was speeding down the bust highway until this season. We'll see if he continues playing like a stud in Philly...

    That's not a good track record.

    By the way, I fully expect people to shed tears over my labeling of Kidd-Gilchrist as a potential bust. Flame away, children.

    I felt Williams was playing some good ball at times last year, and was expecting to see more improvement this year. Personally, I feel the Kings got the better end of the trade, but only time will tell.

    Yeah, 1 year under his belt and MK-G is a bust. No chance he can turn his career around. Must be b/c he went to KY.

    I was just looking at the top 10 stats, and I noticed Victor O was ranked 4/5 in TO's. And to think I get upset with PG for his silly careless TO's, and he's not even ranked in the top 10 let alone the top 5.

    Comment


    • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

      Originally posted by spreedom View Post
      Players take discounts all of the time. Kobe just wants to have his cake and eat it too. Sure, he's worth it from a financial standpoint for LA, but that's only one aspect of this signing. The fact that a 37-year-old is going to be making upwards of $25M two years from now is ridiculous. Not only that, but that will be close to half of the salary cap each of the next two years. Next year will probably be around $60M and the year after will likely be similar... The Lakers are going to have about $25M to fill 9 roster spots this summer. They're going to be in trouble unless they can sign-and-trade Gasol for multiple good players next summer.

      All the time? Usually no but for those that do how often has that actually helped them in getting better players.

      Tom Brady took less and well the Pats didn't use it to retain talent they kept it for themselves. So really what was the point of his paycut? Nice gesture but you can't expect others to be as selfless either. Just not realistic.

      Comment


      • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

        Originally posted by Nuntius View Post
        I don't know about blowing up the roster but tanking would be good for them.
        Yeah....they can just have the 14th worst record in the league and Silver will just give them the #1 pick so that they can get Wiggins to replace DRose. Lightning can strike twice, right?
        Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

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        • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

          Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
          Iman Shumpert posted a historically bad line on Monday, becoming the first Knicks player in 30 years to play 20 minutes without recording a single point, a single rebound or a single assist.


          There is some evidence that he was on the court, however, given that the boxscore notes three missed shots and two turnovers in his 23 minutes, and, yes, one positive: a steal.
          And to think the Knicks thought they could get The Manimal for him.
          Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

          Comment


          • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

            Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
            Iman Shumpert posted a historically bad line on Monday, becoming the first Knicks player in 30 years to play 20 minutes without recording a single point, a single rebound or a single assist.


            There is some evidence that he was on the court, however, given that the boxscore notes three missed shots and two turnovers in his 23 minutes, and, yes, one positive: a steal.
            Most people would not care about a Knicks Player putting up crappy #s....in fact, I am sure that there are some here on PD cheering this.

            Unfortunately, I do care.....cuz I have him on both my Fantasy Teams.
            Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

            Comment


            • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

              Originally posted by Basketball Fan View Post
              All the time? Usually no but for those that do how often has that actually helped them in getting better players.

              Tom Brady took less and well the Pats didn't use it to retain talent they kept it for themselves. So really what was the point of his paycut? Nice gesture but you can't expect others to be as selfless either. Just not realistic.
              Guys that probably could have gotten max deals the last 5 years and instead took less: LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Dirk, Duncan, KG... and ALL of those guys were on teams that routinely made deep postseason runs. That's Kobe's problem... he wants to compete AND get his money, but unless they waive their rights to Pau and trade Nash for nothing, they won't be able to afford anything after signing a top-level free agent. I think this signing all but guarantees that Kobe will not win another ring and that he will be all-out gunning in hopes of winning the all-time scoring title. Should be fun to watch, but Kobe really should have taken $10M a season so the Lakers could have signed a couple of real difference-makers.

              Comment


              • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                You cant count the discounts Lebron, Bosh and Wade took because the tax laws in florida.

                Comment


                • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                  [QUOTE=GrangeRusHibbert;1741534]

                  Edit: I forgot Evan Turner, who was speeding down the bust highway until this season. We'll see if he continues playing like a stud in Philly.../QUOTE]


                  If you watched or paid any attention to Turner last season, you would have noticed he was in the process of changing his career around then, not all of a sudden this season. Too many people are too quick to use the term bust if a player doesn't play to their expectations in their precieved time frame. NOT ALL PLAYERS DEVELOP AN NBA GAME AT THE SAME RATE! NOT PLAYERS ARE DRAFTED BY A TEAM THAT HAS THE RIGHT SYSTEM FOR THEM.

                  A player is rated a bust if they become a bust on where in the draft they are picked, and yet they have no control over where they are drafted. It doesn't mean they can't play in the NBA, it means some GM overvalued them as a pick. In reality, the GM's are at blame b/c they picked a player at #2 who wasn't a #2 quality player, but the player gets the bust label. Sometimes players are drafted by the wrong team, and it just isn't a good fit. Yet, the player get labeled a bust.

                  Then OTOH, a player like Chandler Parsons, #38 pick, who develops from his rookie year forward, and 37 players were drafted by GM's who undervalued his ability to play in the NBA. Houston GM drafts him, and looks like a draft guru.

                  Then a team gets a player by trade or FA, and that player isn't a good fit. Thus the BUST label is applied to that player. Prime example is Gerald Green. He was signed for how he played the last half of the season for the Nets. He never produced as expected as a Pacer, thus he was considered a BUST, and yet he's traded to the Suns where he's playing good ball. He's a Top 10 3pt shooter who is producing for the Suns at 3.5 mil which is anything but being overpaid for his production. He's on the RIGHT TEAM for his abilities.

                  Comment


                  • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                    Originally posted by Mad-Mad-Mario View Post
                    You cant count the discounts Lebron, Bosh and Wade took because the tax laws in florida.
                    They took about a million dollar pay cut for each season.

                    This says LeBron will make $110,000,000 over the lifetime of the contract. They say he'll lose 15mil than what he could have with Clevaland.
                    http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...-on-the-table/

                    Pretending like Florida has a 6.5% income tax, which is the national average for the 43 states that have an income tax, they would have to have signed a contract worth about $120,000,000 in order to take home that $110,000,000. So they'd still miss their max from each respective former teams by about 5mil, over 6 years.
                    Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                    Comment


                    • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                      Since86, There is also his Nike income to consider, a deal which dwarfs his basketball contract.

                      Establishing a Florida residence protects him from any state income tax on that as well.
                      The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                      Comment


                      • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                        Yeah, I was just trying to keep it just to his NBA salary. Bosh might actually end up making a similiar amount, with how high Canadian tax rates are. They cap the national tax rate at 29%, so 6% less than the US, but Ontario's provinical tax rate is a whooping 13%. (Nova Scotia is 21%!!)
                        Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                        Comment


                        • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                          Originally posted by Mad-Mad-Mario View Post
                          You cant count the discounts Lebron, Bosh and Wade took because the tax laws in florida.
                          Then you can't count any player who has ever taken less money to play for the Spurs, Mavericks, Rockets, Heat or Magic. That's ridiculous. They still could have gotten more than they ended up getting. Kobe technically did too, but the fact that he'll be taking up about 40% of their available cap space on his own is insane. I'm not saying that he doesn't want to him, but when he signs a contract like that it sure looks like it.

                          Comment


                          • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                            Originally posted by spreedom View Post
                            Guys that probably could have gotten max deals the last 5 years and instead took less: LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Dirk, Duncan, KG... and ALL of those guys were on teams that routinely made deep postseason runs. That's Kobe's problem... he wants to compete AND get his money, but unless they waive their rights to Pau and trade Nash for nothing, they won't be able to afford anything after signing a top-level free agent. I think this signing all but guarantees that Kobe will not win another ring and that he will be all-out gunning in hopes of winning the all-time scoring title. Should be fun to watch, but Kobe really should have taken $10M a season so the Lakers could have signed a couple of real difference-makers.

                            The Lakers won it all 3 years ago last I checked that was within 5 years.

                            Kobe wasn't going to win another ring anyways not because I don't think he's capable but they hired D'Antoni as a coach and well he sucks.

                            So really the amount of $$$ he took doesn't matter. Would I have paid him that much? No but considering that the Lakers aren't going anywhere anytime soon they offered this and he took it.

                            Its nice that others who did take less but KG took less and he ended up getting traded to the Nets along with Pierce (only 1 ring for them)

                            Dirk took less and well the Mavs haven't done much since their last title. They let Chandler go and others and brought in Lamar which was an epic fail.

                            So how did a paycut help them? Management matters here. The Spurs are a well oiled machine and the Big 3 in Miami well no need to explain them.

                            I just think its unrealistic to expect all players to take a paycut for the sake of winning especially since owners are so quick to dump their players the minute they are no longer useful.

                            Comment


                            • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                              I don't think the Bulls are tanking as much as I believe their spirit is broken.

                              Comment


                              • Re: The 10th NBA Random Thoughts thread 2013-2014: Coveting Miami's Crown

                                Originally posted by Shade View Post
                                I don't think the Bulls are tanking as much as I believe their spirit is broken.
                                This. They will get over it and start playing good ball again sooner than later. Besides, they clearly aren't tanking since that isn't how tanking works anyway.

                                Comment

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