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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"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

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"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.

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Rule #10

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Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

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  • #1

    Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

    I rarely give these type of rankings a moments thought. But this caught my attention. Pacers are the 6th best team according to David Dupree and the best team in the east.


    http://usatoday.printthis.clickabili...partnerID=1662


    A look at the week that was and the week ahead in the NBA:
    Team of the week

    Charlotte Bobcats: They won three of four games last week, losing only at Cleveland. The Bobcats won at Denver, and beat New York and Golden State at home. Small forward Gerald Wallace was the mainstay, averaging 26.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 blocked shots and 2.0 steals. "It's great that my production is helping us win," Wallace said. "We're feeding into the aspect of us potentially as a playoff team." The Bobcats entered this week only four games out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

    Stepping up

    Dwyane Wade, Miami: Wade averaged 33.7 points, 7.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds in leading the Heat to three straight wins.

    Mehmet Okur, Utah: Okur was a major contributor in two critical games. He had 29 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's win at Phoenix and 31 points and 11 rebounds against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.

    Elton Brand, Los Angeles Clippers: Brand averaged 24.7 points, 11.7 rebounds. 3.3 blocked shots and converted on 58.5% of his shots as the Clippers won three straight to get to two games above .500.

    Thrills, spills and chills

    Boston bumbling: The Celtics have lost a franchise record 14 games in a row after a dismal 0-4 week that saw them fall to Washington, the L.A. Lakers and Clippers at home, and to Indiana on the road. "The plan is to stick together," said pivotman Al Jefferson, who averaged 13.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in last week's losses. "We've got to stick together regardless of how bad it gets. We can't start turning on each other or pointing fingers at each other. The only reason we should be mad about anything right now is we should be mad about losing." Forward Ryan Gomes, who averaged 18.0 points and shot 63.5% for the week, said the losses are starting to get to the team. Boston's last win came Jan. 5 at Memphis. The Celtics will play at Detroit on Tuesday and host Miami on Wednesday.

    Magic relief: Orlando fans contributed $12,500 before Friday's game against the New Jersey Nets, and the Magic matched it for a total of $25,000 to aid victims of the severe tornado that killed 19 people earlier Friday in an area north of the city. The Magic held a similar fundraiser Saturday before their game against the New York Knicks. All money collected was to be sent to the Orlando chapter of the American Red Cross for distribution to families affected by the storm.

    Not in our house: The Denver Nuggets lost in Sacramento's Arco Arena for the 20th consecutive time on Saturday ? the longest current road losing streak against one opponent in the league. Kings assistant coach Scott Brooks led Sacramento to the victory in his first game running the team in place of head coach Eric Musselman, who was serving a two-game suspension for driving under the influence.

    One-liner: Pau Gasol of Memphis showed Monday in a 124-117 win against Sacramento why practically every team in the league has called the Grizzlies since he said he wanted to be traded. Gasol's line:

    Min FG M-A 3FG M-A FT M-A Reb Ast Blk PF Pts.

    38 14-17 0-0 6-6 8 1 8 1 34



    This week's big game

    Houston at Dallas: The Texas powers go at it again Friday. They are 1-1 against each other this season and will play their last regular-season game against each other just before the NBA All-Star break.

    This week's best matchups

    Dwyane Wade vs. LeBron James: The good friends square off for the second time in two weeks Friday at Cleveland. Wade had 41 points and James, nursing a sore toe, had only 17 in the Heat's 92-89 win last Thursday at Miami. (8 ET, ESPN).

    Chris Bosh vs. Dwight Howard: The Eastern Conference's two best young big men will test each other Wednesday when Orlando visits Toronto. Bosh is averaging 22.7 points and 10.8 rebounds; Howard 16.8 points and 12.0 rebounds.

    USA TODAY Top 10

    (through Saturday's games; last week's ranking in parentheses)

    1. Dallas (1): One-point wins against Memphis and Minnesota capped off another undefeated week. The Mavericks can rest until a Wednesday rematch with the Grizzlies.

    2. Phoenix (2): The Suns had a 10-game home winning streak ended by Utah on Saturday and have lost two of three.

    3. Utah (-): The Jazz have handed the Suns three of their 10 losses this season.

    4. Houston (5): The Rockets' athleticism is showing with a more wide-open style while Yao Ming is out.

    5. San Antonio (3): The Spurs are still looking for someone other than Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker to be consistently effective.

    6. Indiana (-): Jermaine O'Neal averaged 24.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots in a 3-0 week.

    7. Los Angeles Lakers (8): Kobe Bryant averaged 34.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists in three games (two of them victories) after serving a one-game suspension in Tuesday's loss to the Knicks.

    8. Washington (4): The Wizards are playing small ball with Jarvis Hayes starting for injured forward Antawn Jamison.

    9. Chicago (6): Luol Deng averaged 20.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in back-to-back road wins at Seattle on Friday and Portland on Saturday.

    10. Detroit (7): The Pistons have a tell-tale five-game home stand leading up the all-star break. It begins Tuesday against Boston.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

    The new team is 7-2 I believe, and that's with Murphy and Quis missing some time. The two loses - the first game together, a 2 point loss vs the Knicks, and a single-digit loss in Detroit where I believe we had a lead midway through the 4th.

    Highest ranked team in the East by the way. if JO can keep playing at this level and we make it to a top-3 record in the East, he could be a top-5 MVP candidate.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

      I think if you took a poll in the city of Indianapolis, and asked those people who identify themselves as sports fans questions about the Pacers.

      Such as:

      Without looking it up are the Pacers above or below .500. I bet well over 50% would say below .500.

      if you asked them how many games are the Pacers out of being the top seed in the eastern conference - more than 6 games or 6 games or less. I bet 75% would say more than 6 games.

      Not sure I have a real point here except to say I don't think people are following the Pacers.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

        Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
        I think if you took a poll in the city of Indianapolis, and asked those people who identify themselves as sports fans questions about the Pacers.

        Such as:

        Without looking it up are the Pacers above or below .500. I bet well over 50% would say below .500.

        if you asked them how many games are the Pacers out of being the top seed in the eastern conference - more than 6 games or 6 games or less. I bet 75% would say more than 6 games.

        Not sure I have a real point here except to say I don't think people are following the Pacers.
        Haha...I know what you're saying...it's even worse for us out-of-towners because NOBODY knows a damn thing about the team. And national coverage of the Pacers is poor at best! I don't think Sportscenter gives the team more than 45 seconds of highlights - even the 8 person trade wasn't given that much coverage (at least in my opinion).

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

          Originally posted by LoneGranger33 View Post
          Haha...I know what you're saying...it's even worse for us out-of-towners because NOBODY knows a damn thing about the team. And national coverage of the Pacers is poor at best! I don't think Sportscenter gives the team more than 45 seconds of highlights - even the 8 person trade wasn't given that much coverage (at least in my opinion).

          Don't feel bad because for the past 3 weeks (excluding the day of the trade and the day after the trade) there hasn't been any coverage of the Pacers here in indy either.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

            Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
            Don't feel bad because for the past 3 weeks (excluding the day of the trade and the day after the trade) there hasn't been any coverage of the Pacers here in indy either.
            I think that's about to change. Once the superbowl victory becomes yesterday's news, I think the hometown fans are going to look up and realize that they've got a Pacers team that is starting to make some noise in the East. I'm very optimistic about this team. Not only for the fact that they are clearly starting to come together as a team, but are doing it in a way that's going to bring the fans back, which I still feel are some of the best in all of professional sports.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

              I have always had this thought that my 3 favorite teams could hold a championship at one time.

              Colts, Pacers, Cubs....i never made the bet, but always wanted to do a parlay card in vegas for 10 for all 3 to have championship at the same time.

              Well the Colts have a part of that now, Pacers are playing better. Do i say they will be champs, no but who knows. Since the trade they have played pretty well. Even though I do think the teams in the west are alot better, right now you can get the pacers 46 to 1. Probably the best you will get them at the rest of the year.

              The Cubs are 9 to 1, pretty low considering they didnt even make the playoffs last season.
              Bambam

              Follow me on Twitter @http://twitter.com/brockhubble

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                Originally posted by bambam View Post
                I have always had this thought that my 3 favorite teams could hold a championship at one time.

                Colts, Pacers, Cubs....i never made the bet, but always wanted to do a parlay card in vegas for 10 for all 3 to have championship at the same time.

                Well the Colts have a part of that now, Pacers are playing better. Do i say they will be champs, no but who knows. Since the trade they have played pretty well. Even though I do think the teams in the west are alot better, right now you can get the pacers 46 to 1. Probably the best you will get them at the rest of the year.

                The Cubs are 9 to 1, pretty low considering they didnt even make the playoffs last season.

                at the start of the season the over/under on season wins was 44.5. i was so close to putting down some money on the over - wish i would have now. the way we are playing since the trade, we could easily end up with 47-50 wins.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                  Hey thanks, Buck.

                  I think it is good to see us rising in the Power Rankings. We are 9 on ESPN. But, really all I care about right now is that we beat GS tonight. We have a real chance to improve our record in the Central.
                  Avatar photo credit: Bahram Mark Sobhani - AP

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                    Hopefully we get some of that COLTS juice and play with pride tonight!
                    Avatar photo credit: Bahram Mark Sobhani - AP

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                      I think Marc Stein's rankings are a little more accurate. We're 9th and 3rd in the East behind the Bulls and Pistons. The Pistons have to be in front of us, to be fair. They beat both us and Cavs.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                        I don't know about you guys...but I like Indy's chances of making a BCS bowl.

                        It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                        Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                        Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                        NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                          I agree the Pistons should be in front of us. But I think you could make a strong case for the Pacers as the second best team in the east. Of course you could say the exact same thing about the Wizards, Cavs, Bulls and even the Heat. I still think by late May the Heat and Pistons should be the two best teams in the east and they should be playing in the ECF. But the Heat might have to play the Pistons prior to the ECF with their poor record.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                            Marc Stein has us 9 in his ESPN ranking and as the third best team in the East directly behind the Pistons and Bulls.


                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Pacers have moved up to 6th on USA Todays Power rankings

                              Well I didn't agree with it before the GS game and I still don't. They MUST win all these home games with modest West teams on road trips.

                              WSH is clearly much better than the Pacers and it's a total joke to rank the Pacers ahead of them. Seriously. Watch some games besides the Pacers. The Cavs aren't consistant, but they are still a bit better than Indy. Chicago, Detroit, also better.

                              Toronto lost in Indy (as did CHI), but Toronto is the hotter team and deserves more credit. I thought they'd get over .500 to finish the year. They are already there and about to pass the Pacers for a legit higher seed (not just due to the division lead). Indy lost in Toronto earlier this year and I'm not sure they wouldn't lose again in TOR.

                              MIA had the Pacers beat and choked away their 13 point lead going into the 4th.


                              So yeah, Pacers rated that high overall is laughable to me. You didn't see me crying about lottery and how they stunk, etc back when things were a little worse and you won't hear me jumping to the other extreme now. A 45 win team is not ever going to be the 6th best team in the NBA.

                              Go 6-3 in March (any portion), then I'll listen.

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