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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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Uncle Buck speaks....

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  • #76
    Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

    Originally posted by D-BONE View Post
    The biggest trend amongst our dialogue seems to be blame either Paul or Lance, with a smattering of you have to look at both. I'm in this latter camp, and I suspect the truth is closer to this middle ground that at either extreme. It has to be their developing profiles, increased attention, and larger roles on the team, particularly offensively.

    Although I will freely admit that Hibbert is maddening and it may well be that "bad" Hibbert stretches are more the norm and "good" Hibbert stretches the exception. Not long ago many of use were touting this as our foundational core for years to come. Now they are all playing poorly and apparently they cant get along at all. Is this turning into a JO/Ron-Ron situation where two guys can't find a way to negotiate being "the man" with the best interest of the team and winning? Sounds like a bunch of unprofessional, immature behavior. Somebody has to step in and get those three straightened out or it is about to spiral out of control.
    I don't think Lance wants to "be the man". I think he knows and realizes this is Paul's team right now. I also think that Lance gets the "little brother" treatment from the other 4 starters. Last year he had the least amount of FGA among the starters, and he was essentially the 5th option, glue guy. He now feels (rightfully so) that he's outgrown that place on the totem pole, and is wanting a more prominent role within the team..especially offensively.

    I think this is affecting D.West, Roy, and Hill more than it has affected PG. PG knows he's going to get his FGA regardless (good FGA be damned) The other three starters have been knocked down the totem pole by a player that up until this year was seen as a complimentary piece as opposed to a featured piece.

    I think everyone is professional enough to accept their role and accept the erratic/demonstrative play of Lance when we are winning 65-70% of our games. But now that we have hit a rough spot, they don't seem to be quite as accepting of their new roles within the offense, and they're wanting Lance to play more within the team. In Lance's defense, he had to wait two years of being buried on the bench to get his chance, and last year he sacrificed individual numbers in order to be that glue guy I mentioned before. Now he's shown that he's a player in this league, and he doesn't want to go back to a reduced role.

    So now what do we have? We have PG who is struggling with defenses concentrating on him, Lance trying to show that the offense should run through him more (as it did earlier in the season), and 3 other starters who are trying to prove that they should be a more focal part of the offense as they were last year when we were a game from the NBA finals. This all equates to too much ISO ball, too much holding the ball (or dribbling in Lance's case) and not enough passing/facilitation.

    Just my opinion of course
    Last edited by Ace E.Anderson; 03-25-2014, 03:20 PM.

    Comment


    • #77
      Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

      Originally posted by Since86 View Post
      Then why are we giving Lance an out, brining up his FG%, when talking about his performances? His shot selection has been down right AWFUL.
      Has his shot selection been downright awful for 3 months? And I'm not giving Lance an out BTW. He hasn't been that good lately, he holds on to the ball too long, he looks for the highlight reel, he has had bad shot selection recently, and his defense was poor last night.

      That being said, in the month of March, Lance is still averaging 47.8% from the field. He is taking 11.35 field goal attempts per game this month. This is compared to 15.28 attempts per game in March for PG on 37.4 FG%.

      It's not even close. Paul George's shooting is a much bigger detriment than Lance's. This month, PG has been shooting 10% worse than Lance, yet takes 4 more shots per game. That's not to say that Lance doesn't have plenty that he deserves to be criticized on, including shot selection, but he continues to make way more of his shots than PG.

      This PG cold spell isn't some slump that's merely been going on for a couple of weeks. No, this is THREE MONTHS worth of hideous shooting percentages.

      Comment


      • #78
        Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

        Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
        Has his shot selection been downright awful for 3 months? And I'm not giving Lance an out BTW. He hasn't been that good lately, he holds on to the ball too long, he looks for the highlight reel, he has had bad shot selection recently, and his defense was poor last night.

        That being said, in the month of March, Lance is still averaging 47.8% from the field. He is taking 11.35 field goal attempts per game this month. This is compared to 15.28 attempts per game in March for PG on 37.4 FG%.

        It's not even close. Paul George's shooting is a much bigger detriment than Lance's. This month, PG has been shooting 10% worse than Lance, yet takes 4 more shots per game. That's not to say that Lance doesn't have plenty that he deserves to be criticized on, including shot selection, but he continues to make way more of his shots than PG.

        This PG cold spell isn't some slump that's merely been going on for a couple of weeks. No, this is THREE MONTHS worth of hideous shooting percentages.
        Yes, it's giving him an out because, Lance is getting his at the detriment of the other players.

        Lance's shooting FG% means zip, if they don't win. Allowing Lance to dominate the ball, while allowing PG to dominate the ball, while allowing Evan Turner dominate the ball, is absolutely horrible for the rest of the team. It really doesn't matter, to me, what each guy is shooting because even if they (PG/ET) were shooting better, I still don't think they'd win. They still looked like crap last night, when PG was hovering around 50%.

        I just don't understand being unhappy with the way PG is playing, but being satisified with the way Lance is playing, when they're playing the exact same. Sure, Lance's FG% hasn't dipped, but the rest of the team has.

        PG's FG% is really the least of the problems I'm worried about. Getting him to playing the style he played earlier in the season will fix that. Getting Lance to play the style he was earlier in the season will go a long ways to fix a lot of the other issues too. It starts and ends with both of them, not just one.
        Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

        Comment


        • #79
          Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

          Originally posted by Since86 View Post
          He could have asked for a trade and gotten the hell out of here.
          True, but that doesn't mean he would have been granted one
          Sittin on top of the world!

          Comment


          • #80
            Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

            Ace's post about building a team to combat superstars, only to revert to superstars carrying the team was 100% spot on. I think it's impossible to get closer to the mark. It's completely went to PG's/Lance's head.
            Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

            Comment


            • #81
              Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

              Originally posted by Eleazar View Post
              Bird clearly did not understand the problem. If he did he would have traded Lance. You would have to be blind to think the main problem isn't Lance. It was prior to the All-Star break, and still is. Yeah Paul hasn't been great, but the guys have bought into him being a great player. They like him and respect him. Lance they don't. I also think Paul has respect for the other players on the team as well, where Lance clearly does not. Paul's play clearly isn't helping, but it starts and ends with Lance.
              Really?

              Do you not recall when Lance got his first tipple double how the whole bench was up cheering and high fiving him when he came out the game?

              I think they like Lance , although I will say I dont see Hill and West as his best buddies
              Sittin on top of the world!

              Comment


              • #82
                Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                Is Paul George not allowed to call Danny Granger anymore? I mean Danny didn't even always travel with the team. They can still talk.


                Comment


                • #83
                  Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                  Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                  Is Paul George not allowed to call Danny Granger anymore? I mean Danny didn't even always travel with the team. They can still talk.
                  Oooooh, that's what the picture taking device is really for....

                  who knew?

                  Comment


                  • #84
                    Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                    Dudes, this is the biggest cry-baby thread yet!!! I guess we can't wait for our play off performance before we blow up the team??!! This **** gets unbelievable at times.
                    What you own is your own kingdom
                    What you do is your own glory
                    What you love is your own power
                    What you live is your own story

                    Comment


                    • #85
                      Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                      So, do you think our little drama play has affected Lance's potential number$?

                      Wait, its the NBA, we throw stupid money over and over again at guys like Ron World Peace.

                      Nevermind.....

                      Comment


                      • #86
                        Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                        Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
                        I can only get so frustrated with a wing who is shooting 50% on the season. He's not perfect. He makes mistakes, holds the ball too long, and likes to focus on getting on the highlight reel. But he's also been our most consistent player this year and is a huge reason why we won so many games. He's been way better at his role than PG has at his lately.

                        Our biggest problem is that we allow a guy who has been shooting about 40% for three months to hog such a disproportionate amount of our shots.
                        The issue with creation is a serious one though. For a team that needs any ounce of easy scoring they can get, Lance's assists going down by 2 a game over the past few months, along with Roy's rebounding going down by one offensive board a month is a major issue. Paul's shooting % doesn't help and I think you'll obviously see I'm not letting him off the hook, but Lance has definitely changed his game since he got snubbed.


                        Comment


                        • #87
                          Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                          Originally posted by WInslow22 View Post
                          Dudes, this is the biggest cry-baby thread yet!!! I guess we can't wait for our play off performance before we blow up the team??!! This **** gets unbelievable at times.
                          This is the worst stretch of basketball this team has ever played together for no apparent reason. It is not an overreaction at this point. Even with the slow start in 2012-2013 last year, there was a tangible thing, Paul was not ready to step in for Danny yet. Now we don't have anything tangible to point to and the car is falling apart around us.


                          Comment


                          • #88
                            Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                            Originally posted by WInslow22 View Post
                            Dudes, this is the biggest cry-baby thread yet!!! I guess we can't wait for our play off performance before we blow up the team??!! This **** gets unbelievable at times.
                            Awesome signature. Can't believe my band is still around after 40 years.

                            Comment


                            • #89
                              Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                              Where do things go from here? Sounds like the players have had meetings, I'm sure the coaches and players have had meetings. We don't know anything the players and coaches didn't know weeks ago. So this is not new to them. But what they have done so far doesn't seem to have righted the ship.

                              We can still get homecourt in the east. We can still beat the Hawks in the first round, and the Nets or Bulls in the second (although that would likely go 7 games) we can still get to the Heat in the ECF. Is the ECF's where the chemistry issues stop the season? Maybe the players can put their deferences aside for the playoffs. My experience tells me things don't work like that in the NBA - other teams are too good.

                              I honestly don't know where we go from here. I suppose I expect us to keep muddling through. I don't expect us to suddenly turn it around now or in the playoffs. And I don't expect the wheels to come completely off as in lose 10 of our last 12 and in 5 games first round.

                              I suppose I see us being in real trouble in the second round of the playoffs against the Bulls, Nets, or Raptors.

                              Comment


                              • #90
                                Re: Uncle Buck speaks....

                                Hopefully Paul George wasn't texting pictures of his dick to somebody else's significant other. One of Bill Simmons rules for what always cause unrest in the locker room other than card games.


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