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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.

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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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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

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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.

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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.

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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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Rule #10

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Ok, it's officially time to panic

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  • Ok, it's officially time to panic

    When the Pacers first starting slumping before the All-Star break, I attributed it mostly to fatigue. Then, when they continued to do so after the break, it was because we were adapting to the new acquisitions Bynum, Turner, and Allen. Then, I speculated that maybe the team was bored with the regular season, and expected the Miami game to wake us up. And though we won that game, the Pacers and Heat have gone in polar opposite directions since.

    I'm officially worried.

    All season the media has been talking about the Pacers' historically elite defense. However, the Pacers are now playing historically bad offense. Offense so bad that, even though the defense is largely still there, we're losing to teams like 29-45 Cleveland by 14 points.

    Today's loss has likely cost us the #1 seed and, deep down, I think we all know that we have very little chance of beating Miami without home court advantage. Assuming, of course, that we can even get that far.

    Larry did everything he could to put together a title contender this year, and everyone else is squandering this very rare opportunity. With the salary cap concerns, we will likely never have a more talented team with this core than we have right now.

    This is absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

  • #2
    Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

    Anyone see Frank's postgame Q&A? I've never seen him as down trodden and depressed as that. He looked like he had nothing left.
    Last edited by Phree Refill; 03-30-2014, 06:07 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

      Yeah, it is heartbreaking, but it is no use to panic.

      Why panic about something we can not change? It is a tough deal for us, but it is what we have to deal with.

      I need to watch a few games in the Pacers greatest games DVD collection to get this taste out of my mouth.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

        Originally posted by Phree Refill View Post
        Anyone see Frank's postgame Q&A? I've never seem him as down trodden and depressed as that. He looked like he had nothing left.
        I didn't see it, but I can only imagine.

        Can you really blame the guy at this point?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

          The team flaming out so spectacularly reflects on Frank. Even if it's not really his fault and the players are letting him down... It's still ultimately his fault (because it's his job to figure it out and fix it).

          So either this team has a miracle in them and can flip the switch when the playoffs arrive... or else we've seen a season go from serious championship contender to wondering if we can even get out of the first round. Let alone make it to the ECF's...
          Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

          ------

          "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

          -John Wooden

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

            Originally posted by Shade View Post

            Larry did everything he could to put together a title contender this year, and everyone else is squandering this very rare opportunity. With the salary cap concerns, we will likely never have a more talented team with this core than we have right now.

            This is absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
            We were 21-8 with Granger in the line up. I think somebody in the game thread today said it best. If it aint broke, you don't fix it.

            One might say Larry Bird did too much. The acquisition of Turner was made with out consulting the head coach. Without any thought on how that type of player could realistically fit with in our offense.

            Some of you would say that we showed signs of trouble before that trade and I would agree with you. For about a month before the trade deadline the Pacers were winning ugly, but the most of the losses were to streaking WC teams. I was not worried back then. Granger simply didn't have his legs back yet. Pacers still had one of the best records. They just needed to tweak some things.

            The fact that nobody seen the Pacers making any moves at the deadline should tell you how out of left field this trade was. Larry got a GM *****, and ****ed this team over. Some say Vogel is to blame, certainly he has his share as he has not been able to figure out a proper rotation. But this is on Larry.
            Last edited by graphic-er; 03-30-2014, 06:11 PM.
            You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

              Originally posted by joew8302 View Post
              I didn't see it, but I can only imagine.

              Can you really blame the guy at this point?


              Yeah, I can. It's his fault. He has no idea how to manage a team with personnel or minutes. He needs to be fired. Only when the Pacers lose in the playoff's. But nothing will change until Vogel changes his bench. Mahinmi can't score, and Lance and ET cancel each other out. Cannot be on the floor at the same time. Vogel is a lunkhead. He's about as cerebral as a fruitfly.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                I know Frank Vogel is loved around here, but two things hurt this team. First Brian Shaw leaving hurt..... then followed by Danny being traded killed the little spirit we had left. Vogel isn't a good offensive minded coach. Shaw was replaced by McMillian who same as Vogel is a defensive mind. So now we focus on defense and no one to put good offense into the young guys and also I think we lack a locker room presence that I think Shaw and Granger brought to the team.
                I'm not perfect and neither are you.

                Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim,
                Ephisians 4: 32 And be kind towards one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as Elohim also forgave you in Messiah.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                  Do we really need another one of these threads? Want to panic? Go do it in the postgame thread

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                    Originally posted by sportfireman View Post
                    I know Frank Vogel is loved around here, but two things hurt this team. First Brian Shaw leaving hurt..... then followed by Danny being traded killed the little spirit we had left. Vogel isn't a good offensive minded coach. Shaw was replaced by McMillian who same as Vogel is a defensive mind. So now we focus on defense and no one to put good offense into the young guys and also I think we lack a locker room presence that I think Shaw and Granger brought to the team.
                    I'm sorry, how does Shaw factor into this equation? This team was playing fantastic at the beginning of the season.
                    You can't get champagne from a garden hose.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                      Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
                      The fact that nobody seen the Pacers making any moves at the deadline should tell you how out of left field this trade was. Larry got a GM *****, and ****ed this team over. Some say Vogel is to blame, certainly he has his share as he has not been able to figure out a proper rotation. But this is on Larry.
                      "Trading Danny was the toughest thing I ever had to do," Bird said. "He's the last guy I thought I'd trade. About 20 minutes before we made the deal, I told Kevin Pritchard (the assistant GM) that I gotta wait. I didn't know if I could do it.

                      "But I remembered what Red taught me. The franchise is always first. He said he had great players leave and people would say the franchise was going to fold and all of that. Well, that didn't happen. The franchise is the most important thing and so in this case I had to do what's best for the franchise."

                      http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...ce-paul-george

                      Im just gonna say heads are gonna roll if this team fails to reach the ECF.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                        Originally posted by graphic-er View Post
                        I'm sorry, how does Shaw factor into this equation? This team was playing fantastic at the beginning of the season.
                        This is false. Losing a coach often seems to have its effect later the following season. Seemed the same with Dungy when Caldwell had taken over. In this instance, it wasn't the Head Coach but a vital cog to this Pacers team success. Shaw I believe had a way of getting through to guys like PG and Lance.

                        Vogel and Shaw worked exceptionally well together. I feel like McMillen has no impact whatsoever with this team.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                          Originally posted by PacersPride View Post
                          Im just gonna say heads are gonna roll if this team fails to reach the ECF.
                          I'd say Finals. But if so that's fine with me. Firing Vogel and trading Hill might be for the best.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                            If Lance stays, Vogel is gone. I don't want to see a repeat of this same offensive dog**** again next year. Hopefully the give Lance a max contract this offseason fans have had a change of heart. If this team wins a BANNER as currently constructed I would be pleasantly surprised.

                            Otherwise, keep Vogel and sign and trade Lance for a point guard. Move Hill to SG next year. As far as this season goes, insert Turner in the starting lineup, let lance dictate the second unit.

                            We get bent over by SA tomorrow and changes have to be made. Our offense at this point in time cannot get any worse than it is already.

                            I love lance but his immaturity is killing our starting unit. Let him dominate the bench. its not like scolas worth a **** right now.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Ok, it's officially time to panic

                              Originally posted by Grimp View Post
                              I'd say Finals. But if so that's fine with me. Firing Vogel and trading Hill might be for the best.
                              no GM is taking GHILL off our books at 8 per. better chance of Roy getting a double double than dealing Hill at 8M.

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