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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**"

"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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2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

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  • 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

    Hey guys,

    So I'm planning to visit Indy for a few days in late May (or possibly early June), and of course I'd like to time my trip in such a way as to be able to attend a home ECF game (assuming of course the Pacers get that far).

    My question to the folks that follow such things (Unclebuck, you there?) is: when is the best time to visit? I want to book my flight soon before rates go up.

    Here's what I know or remember:

    - Game 1 of the ECF should be between May 18-21 (see link below)
    - If I'm remembering right, each conf. finals series typically plays every other day (game night, off night, game night etc).
    - The Finals begin June 5, so of course the ECF must be over before then

    Since it's unknown whether the Pacers would have home court advantage or not, I'd want to plan my trip in a time window that includes one home game AND one away game. Also game 7 might be too late - most series don't go a full 7 games. So I guess I'd be aiming for Game 4 and Game 5, something like that. Game 5 and Game 6 could work too. (Some series don't go 6 games, but I'm not as worried about missing the game if it's only a 5-game series, for reasons that should be obvious.)

    SO. ECF schedule might be something like (give or take a day or two in either direction):

    May 20 - Game 1
    May 22 - Game 2
    May 24 - Game 3
    May 26 - Game 4
    May 28 - Game 5

    May 30 - Game 6
    June 1 - Game 7

    Does this seem reasonable? Any schedule junkies out there with a different opinion? Thanks in advance.

    (note: I hope no one thinks I'm jinxing the P's by posting this. Obviously it's not a given that the Pacers will even make the ECF. They have to win two series, after all, beforehand. However I'm comfortable with this assumption since I'll also be visiting for reasons other than basketball.)

    Edit: Here's the link to the official NBA "important dates" page http://www.nba.com/news/important-dates/
    Last edited by rabid; 03-19-2014, 03:05 PM.

  • #2
    Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

    The ECF is on ESPN this year. And your dates are correct. One thing I will mention is this, if the semi-final rounds in the eastern conference all end early it is probable that game 1 of the ECF would be on Sunday May 18th. May 20th is the draft lottery (and that is always on ESPN) so that is locked in for either game 1 or game 2.

    Beyond that if we assume the heat and pacers will meet you will need to decide if you figure the pacers will get the homecourt advantage. if they do the first two games will be here either 18th and 20th or 20th and 22nd.

    or if you want to gamble and try to be here for game #5, you can count on that being May 28th. (if they start the ECF early on the 18th,m there will be 3 full days off between game 2 and 3 - so game 5 is locked in for may 28th.

    ESPN and TNT balready have the days reserved, so there will not be any changes, except if they end early or start earlier. hope that makes some sense

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

      Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
      The ECF is on ESPN this year. And your dates are correct. One thing I will mention is this, if the semi-final rounds in the eastern conference all end early it is probable that game 1 of the ECF would be on Sunday May 18th. May 20th is the draft lottery (and that is always on ESPN) so that is locked in for either game 1 or game 2.

      Beyond that if we assume the heat and pacers will meet you will need to decide if you figure the pacers will get the homecourt advantage. if they do the first two games will be here either 18th and 20th or 20th and 22nd.

      or if you want to gamble and try to be here for game #5, you can count on that being May 28th. (if they start the ECF early on the 18th,m there will be 3 full days off between game 2 and 3 - so game 5 is locked in for may 28th.

      ESPN and TNT balready have the days reserved, so there will not be any changes, except if they end early or start earlier. hope that makes some sense
      Thanks UB.

      I think my plan is to be there for games 4 AND 5, that way I'll be in town for 1 home game no matter which team has home court advantage.

      It's good to know that the 28th is locked-in for game 5. And it sounds like game 4 is either 2 days before or 4 days before that, depending on when the ECF starts (2 days being more likely). So if I was in town, say, the 24th-29th I'd be pretty much guaranteed to see a Pacers' playoff game (assuming they make the ECF and it goes at least 5 games)

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

        Question to all those that live in Indy.....when I visited Indy to watch the 2nd round a few years back against the Heat.....the start of the Indy 500 time trials ( I think that is what you call it ) was around that time.

        When does the Indy 500 start?

        Is it around the end of May-ish?

        Would it coincide with the ECF?
        Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

          Originally posted by CableKC View Post
          Question to all those that live in Indy.....when I visited Indy to watch the 2nd round a few years back against the Heat.....the start of the Indy 500 time trials ( I think that is what you call it ) was around that time.

          When does the Indy 500 start?

          Is it around the end of May-ish?

          Would it coincide with the ECF?
          Race day is always the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (so May 25 this year). Carb day, bump day, time trials etc. occur in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the race. And yes this coincides with the ECF, so every time the Pacers make a deep playoff run it's always at the same time that all the race-related stuff is going on. Locals are pretty used to it though, or at least they were when I lived there.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

            Originally posted by rabid View Post
            Hey guys,

            So I'm planning to visit Indy for a few days in late May (or possibly early June), and of course I'd like to time my trip in such a way as to be able to attend a home ECF game (assuming of course the Pacers get that far).
            rabid...just out of curiousity....r u planning to visit for some other reason to the Indy area during that time?

            or

            Is it purely in the hopes of attending the ECF?

            For me, if they can make it to the ECF....then there is an acceptable chance of them going to the next step and make it to the NBA Finals. I thought to myself a few years ago that I'd rather save the $$$ and vacation time and gamble a bit in the hopes that they will make it to the NBA Finals...cuz I would hate it if I blew the chance to see them in the NBA finals...while spending the money to see them in the ECF.
            Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

              Originally posted by rabid View Post
              Race day is always the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (so May 25 this year). Carb day, bump day, time trials etc. occur in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the race. And yes this coincides with the ECF, so every time the Pacers make a deep playoff run it's always at the same time that all the race-related stuff is going on. Locals are pretty used to it though, or at least they were when I lived there.
              That's great timing then.....you can catch both the ECF and the Indy 500.
              Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

                Another reminder for all planning anything for the NBA Finals.....the NBA is adopting a 2-2-1-1-1 NBA Finals format....not the old fashioned 2-3-2 format.
                Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

                  Originally posted by CableKC View Post
                  rabid...just out of curiousity....r u planning to visit for some other reason to the Indy area during that time?

                  or

                  Is it purely in the hopes of attending the ECF?
                  I'll be working while I'm there (my job allows me to work remotely sometimes) and catching up with old friends. I lived in Indiana for over 30 years but haven't visited since 2008.

                  If we make the NBA finals I will find a way to go to at least 1 game, even if it means flying back the following week or extending my stay. I made the mistake of not attending in 2000 and it's haunted me ever since.

                  I'm not so interested in the race, though I might go if I'm in town. The race was always blacked out on TV when I was younger so I never got very attached to the event (great marketing there folks).

                  So this trip is kind of its own thing. I don't want to miss out on the ECF unless something super crazy happens, like Miami or Indy losing in the first or second round or something like that.

                  I guess there's a sliver of a chance that Golden State and Indy could both be in the Finals and I could see them here, but there is probably a 1 percent or less chance of that happening and the Warriors tix would be impossible to get or afford in that case anyway.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: 2014 NBA playoffs: calendar questions

                    Originally posted by rabid View Post
                    I'm not so interested in the race, though I might go if I'm in town. The race was always blacked out on TV when I was younger so I never got very attached to the event (great marketing there folks).
                    It's why to this day I love listening to the 500 on the radio while at the grill with a beer and a race chart. Unfortunately, the coverage has gotten so chart unfriendly that it is almost impossible to do any more (if they would just give the freaking car numbers along with the names when they do the rundowns...)


                    Sent from my TouchPad using Tapatalk
                    BillS

                    A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                    Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                    Comment

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