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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

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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Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

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  • Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

    At the halfway mark of the season for the Pacers, how would you grade this team so far? I'll simply grade them on offense and defense, or somebody can make an elaborate grading of their own (starters, bench, home, road, etc.). Here are my takes:

    Offense: C

    It's been a struggle all season long so far, and it has been a problem not only of the bench but by the starters as well. 2nd worst offense overall will need to be fixed if this team needs to go full throtle in the playoffs. We are starting to get some production from PG, but it's practically being offset by Hibbert's poor offensive outing most of the time. Danny may fix the current offensive woes somehow, but we still need to see some consistency from our current starters.

    Defense: A+

    I can't say anything much as it was already said by many, but the Pacers are the biggest surprise in defense this season. Sure, they have been great last season, but nobody thought that they'll have the superb and elite defense that once owned by the likes of Chicago and Boston in the past few years. I can say it has been an improvement overall by everybody from the starters (special mention: PG and Hibbert) and the bench (special mention: Mahinmi), and a wonderful job by Vogel and company.

    Overall: B

    Defense is at playoff level at this stage. No question about it. Just needs to keep this up and improve further to get the wins and possibly end up getting the rings. But offense is still left to be desired. Better FG%, even better FT%, less turnovers, and better control of the pace will do wonders for this team.

    It's still a long ways to go and anything can happen, especially with the tight race in the East. A loss or two can easily put this team from third to 6th. But keeping up the wins and we maybe surprised to be sitting at the top after 82 games. Our boys just needs to keep the consistency and defense and hopefully once Granger comes back this team will improve further by a notch or two.

  • #2
    Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

    I would venture to say that our best start in a decade (since 2003) despite missing arguably our best player from the previous season merits better than a "B". People were ready to jump out of windows after we struggled to adjust initially and the season has turned around so drastically that even our own beloved vnzla may be drinking some of the kool-aid!
    Goodbye Captain, My Captain. I wish you had the chance to sink or swim with your ship on its quest for the "ship".

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    • #3
      Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

      I like the B overall rating. As ecstatic as we all are, Indiana is truly a "B" team right now. A lackluster start, soon righted and playing just below the contenders. Now when Danny comes back, it'll be a different story.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

        Originally posted by daschysta View Post
        I would venture to say that our best start in a decade (since 2003) despite missing arguably our best player from the previous season merits better than a "B". People were ready to jump out of windows after we struggled to adjust initially and the season has turned around so drastically that even our own beloved vnzla may be drinking some of the kool-aid!
        I'm also very much excited about the current success the Pacers had in the 1st half of the season. But I'll admit I am conservative on the grade I give. Sure, the defense has been superb, and PG is looking like an all-star right now, but I gave the grade that low because I still see a room for improvement and growth. Like I've said, the ability to score (not essentially scoring high, but can get buckets with relative ease) really needs to improve.

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        • #5
          Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

          As of today, following the Memphis game, we are 10 games over .500. Like Peck, I was hoping we could maintain a .500 record while Granger was out and hope to improve on that as we closed out the season. If we were to continue right along and finish around 20 games over .500, that would put us at 51-31, which is about what I thought we could achieve WITH Granger.

          So, despite our offensive woes, I'll go with B+ or A- because we have very much overachieved.

          By the way, I'll also go with an A++ for Vogel and staff. Exceptional defense, even without Granger. And an extreme willingness to make changes at any time to find something that "works better". It is great to see a coaching staff that seems totally egoless, that puts emphasis on only one thing... winning. They are willing to change anything and everything to achieve that goal. And, they've proven they are very successful in the adjustments they have made, making them very dangerous for anyone to face in the playoffs.

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          • #6
            Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

            A+ for the defense, best defense on the league.

            C- for the offense, this offense is not going to cut it on the playoffs, the predictable offense also needs to change, way to many Iso's, the Pacers still take too much time to see up a play, too many last second shots.

            With all that said I'm going to give them a B-
            @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

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            • #7
              Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

              Defense: A+
              Offense: D

              Overall: A

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              • #8
                Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                Overall B plus, considering the circumstances.

                I've watched every game this year and only once, against the Thunder, did I think "Wow this team is just flat out better than the Pacers."

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                • #9
                  Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                  Personally I give them a B+. Not even the brightest sunshiner thought we'd be better at this point than last years team once we learned about Danny having to be out for so long. Most reasonable people were hoping we stayed afloat until Granger returned.

                  I don't give them an "A" because we did give away some stupid close games to a few stupid bad teams really early on, but we've played at a 70 percentage (59 wins) Pace over the last 31 games (73 percent of the season). Considering our record at home, and the fact that all but one game is at home during February, and the fact that Granger is returning soon, I'm not entirely convinced we won't end up with 55+ wins overall.

                  I won't grade them separately for offense and defense. The fact of the matter is either our defense is so good that we don't need good offense yet, or our offense is good enough to win even if it isn't good enough to be ranked well. Either one is OK with me, and i'm optimistic that our offense will be at least league average once Granger gets back comes back in the picture.

                  So B+, and a solid A for our play in December and January so far (18-8). Also an A+ for our play home, period.
                  Goodbye Captain, My Captain. I wish you had the chance to sink or swim with your ship on its quest for the "ship".

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                  • #10
                    Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                    The offense is coming along. The more PG asserts himself and becomes a star the better it gets. I give it a D to start the season. I would rate it a B today.

                    The defense has been outstanding. Guys have really bought into the system. David West in particular is playing amazing defense, something he hasn't been known for before, and still gets a bad rap about here. Some folks can't let go of their preconceived notions about him. But watching the games, I see David West as one of the best defenders on the team. Lance has also become Very solid on defense. The whole team is pretty badass on defense. A++

                    Coach Vogel is my favorite coach ever after this year. Maybe it's because the night was so dark before the dawn... but I just love the guy and he has these guys believing and buying into his system. A+

                    Overall, this team is exceeding all my expectations. I thought they would be an under .500 9th seed team without Danny. A

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                    • #11
                      Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                      Originally posted by Thingfish View Post
                      The offense is coming along. The more PG asserts himself and becomes a star the better it gets. I give it a D to start the season. I would rate it a B today.

                      The defense has been outstanding. Guys have really bought into the system. David West in particular is playing amazing defense, something he hasn't been known for before, and still gets a bad rap about here. Some folks can't let go of their preconceived notions about him. But watching the games, I see David West as one of the best defenders on the team. Lance has also become Very solid on defense. The whole team is pretty badass on defense. A++

                      Coach Vogel is my favorite coach ever after this year. Maybe it's because the night was so dark before the dawn... but I just love the guy and he has these guys believing and buying into his system. A+

                      Overall, this team is exceeding all my expectations. I thought they would be an under .500 9th seed team without Danny. A
                      Amen. West's defense has been great. Amazing to see him at this age play the best defense of his career. As a huge fan of defense, (and why I've criticized West's game), I'd argue this is West's best season ever.

                      I'd say he's the Pacers 4th best defender though, and that's not a bad thing when you consider our two best defenders are defensive player of the year candidates.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                        Originally posted by daschysta View Post
                        So B+, and a solid A for our play in December and January so far (18-8). Also an A+ for our play home, period.
                        What's truly outstanding is the fact that we have protected the home court so well in 41 games. 16-3 at home is as good as Miami and Denver, and the only teams that are much better are OKC and SA. That's a nice group of teams playing so well at home court. That A+ as well for me.

                        The road has been pretty painful so far given the schedule, but they'll get better in there.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                          Originally posted by mattie View Post
                          Amen. West's defense has been great. Amazing to see him at this age play the best defense of his career. As a huge fan of defense, (and why I've criticized West's game), I'd argue this is West's best season ever.

                          I'd say he's the Pacers 4th best defender though, and that's not a bad thing when you consider our two best defenders are defensive player of the year candidates.
                          I agree about West having a great season on defense. I think playing alongside Hibbert has benefited him and vice versa. West is the "strength" while Hibbert is the "length".

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                          • #14
                            Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                            Originally posted by 15th parallel View Post
                            while Hibbert is the "length".

                            @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

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                            • #15
                              Re: Pacers Midseason Grade: What will you give them?

                              Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

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