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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.

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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

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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.

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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Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

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  • #16
    Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

    He even kept the curtains around the practice court open, allowing fans on the outside to get sneak peak at the team.
    Now he tells me. Guess I might have to check in there after summer league to see if anyone is around.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

      You know where Obie is much better than Carslisle? Dealing with the media.

      Now, Rick was always nice and friendly and he's a good analyst, but he was very "protective" of his guys and kept his hand close to his chest.

      Obie loves to set up photo ops, cultivate relationships, and talk to the media.

      I guess we know why he's a survivor and keeps getting jobs.
      2010 IKL Fantasy Basketball Champion Baltimore Bulldogs

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

        Originally posted by wintermute View Post
        what? we're asking mo williams to come play backup pg for us? and to take less money too? no wonder we're not finding success in free agency

        it's pretty weird seeing mike wells write sunshiny articles.
        Indeed. I feel very .

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

          Originally posted by bulldog View Post
          You know where Obie is much better than Carslisle? Dealing with the media.

          Now, Rick was always nice and friendly and he's a good analyst, but he was very "protective" of his guys and kept his hand close to his chest.

          Obie loves to set up photo ops, cultivate relationships, and talk to the media.

          I guess we know why he's a survivor and keeps getting jobs.
          I don't think that's really accurate though. I mean he got the hard dump in Philly after a +500 season for team that was clearly in a tough spot, and was sitting out doing small writing jobs for ESPN. He hasn't even done as much with the NBA as Bob Hill. Until Bird pulled him out of nowhere off a couple of phone calls he wasn't in the coaching replacement buzz since the Philly job.


          I don't know what to think about the open practice. I don't think it's inherently wrong, but unlike Wells I don't see it as inherently better either. Sure we like it but I'm sure plenty of coaches keep it closed and for good reasons.



          On the Rush/Kapono comment, I actually think it's right to criticize Wells here a bit. Based on recent history Showtime's point is dead-on. Kapono is so good at his one dimension that he fits in an NBA plan, while Rush's streaky shooting wasn't compensated by anything else he did because none of it was good enough to have a major impact.

          This MIGHT end up being a new Rush, but it will be a rebirth for him if it is, not a natural progression. We all hope it works out for both sides, but it's WAY too early to expect it to be this way. Right now Kapono remains the far better choice, especially considering who Rush is going off the dribble against.

          When Rush shoots anywhere close to Kapono's rate AND can get by Billups from time to time, then I'll listen to that angle. Until then I'm very tenative on the acquisition.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

            I think 07-08 is going to be a fun season for Pacers basketball. Regardless of wins and losses, it's definitely a new era here. We're finally going to see the kind of basketball we've been wanting to see here for some time. I think we'll be better for two reasons: 1. The players will have fun 2. Because the players will have fun playing, the fans will have fun watching and cheering.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

              Originally posted by The_Showtime View Post
              It seems to me I got hate because I'm a Lakers fan, and not a Pacers fan in a Pacers forum.
              Maybe so, let's ask PD members of other teams that post here like DisplacedKnick 5,972 posts, or Grace (Bulls fan) with 4,113 posts, or Kstat (dreaded Piston's fan) with 13, 431 posts, or Robertmto (Wiz fan) with 3,736 posts, etc.

              Showtime, I didn't say you're a troll. I said your first post in this thread had a troll feel, but your second post is what makes this a good site.
              You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                Originally posted by MagicRat View Post
                Booooooo.....
                I'm not going to bait you.
                Narf!

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                  Originally posted by Robobtowncolt View Post
                  I'm not going to bait you.
                  If you ignore me, hopefully I'll go away....
                  PSN: MRat731 XBL: MRat0731

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                    "--Kareem Rush isn’t as good of a pure shooter as Jason Kapono, but I like his acquisition better because he’s not a one-dimensional player. Rush can put the ball on the ground and attack the basket. Kapono isn’t effective if you take away his shot."

                    I think when it's all said and done Pacers fans are going to like that TPTB got Rush at a bargain basement price over Kapono. Maybe we will start to see more options during crunch time instead of the old standard "toss up a 18-20 footer and pray that it's the game winner".

                    For my money, I'd much rather see a team force the defense to protect the basket from cutters and slasher in the final minutes of a game than I would a team just settle for jump shots. The only way you put a team back on its heals is if you force it to defend you. Having a few slashing options will do that because you're no longer just 1 or 2 dimentional. Add in a slasher when you already have a low-post presence, as well as a deep ball threat and you can throw a team so far off balance it ain't even funny! IMO, adding someone like Rush to the mix - someone who can shoot the deep ball as well as slash to the basket (provided he pans out, of course) - can be a dangerous weapon to have indeed.
                    Last edited by NuffSaid; 07-09-2007, 12:39 PM.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                      Originally posted by MagicRat View Post
                      Resident Troll
                      Hey, just because we signed a Kareem means you can take down your avy.

                      BOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

                      (I like the cotton candy hair, though.)
                      Last edited by Kegboy; 07-09-2007, 12:33 PM.
                      Come to the Dark Side -- There's cookies!

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                        Originally posted by Kegboy View Post
                        Hey, just because we signed a Kareem means you can take down your avy.

                        BOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        (I like the cotton candy hair, though.)
                        uh oh..... Now you've done it, that troll picture and yours make for a wicked mix, beware of who you try to scare!
                        So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

                        If you've done 6 impossible things today?
                        Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

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                        • #27
                          Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                          Originally posted by The_Showtime View Post
                          You didn't even give an opportunity to explain. Like I said, I wasn't directing at the direction of the Pacers organization. I was laughing at the writer of the article who thinks Kareem Rush is more important to a team than Jason Kapono.

                          C'com, are you guys really this sensitive from a fan who just expressed his honesty about certain players who he knew because he once played for us? The writer hyped up and put too much hope in Kareem. From my opinion, when he played for the Lakers, he is a team cancer. Why? because he is lazy and he thinks he has the skill and talent to be a Lakers starter. But in what position he wants? he can't play PG because he has no playmaker or passing ability. He wants to replace Kobe which are one of the reasons he got shipped out of LA.

                          The guy is a streaky shooter as hell. When he's hot, he can makes 3 with the best of them. But when he's not, don't be surprise of him having a 10-20 game of lackluster performance, while probably not showing up ready for practice.

                          That is just my 2 cents btw.
                          It's easy to take things for granted when they've been handed to you. But hopefully the time overseas will serve as a wakeup call, since he's had to work his way back. People don't have to be slaves to their past performance. What Rush was as a Laker and as a Bobcat will be as irrelevant as he wants it to be. But this could likely be the defining moment in his career. If there was ever a more tailor made situation than Indiana for him, I don't know where it would be. We are dreadfully thin at the 2, have been playing people out of position there about since Reggie retired, and he brings a skill set to the table that we sorely need. As to the Kapono comparison, I think it's valid from a talent perspective moreso than a past performance perspective. Kapono brings one thing to the table, and that's all. Rush has more all around game than he has, even if he's not the same shooter. I think this will work out as much as Rush allows it to.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                            Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View Post
                            I don't know what to think about the open practice. I don't think it's inherently wrong, but unlike Wells I don't see it as inherently better either. Sure we like it but I'm sure plenty of coaches keep it closed and for good reasons.
                            I'm glad he's having open practices. I think the fans will enjoy that more than the closed-door policy that alot of coaches have and right now, our organization needs all the positive pub that it can get.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                              I'd be surprised if all practices are open to the public or even the media. Larry Brown opened up training camp practices back when he coached the Pacers and one of my best memories was going to watch one of the practices in Larry's first season up at Purdue. That was one of the best things I ever did and wow Antonio Davis was a revelation at the time. But watching Larry Brown conduct practices was something I'll never forget.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Most of you will love this. Wells latest blog

                                A few points -

                                On open practices: don't expect open practices once the season begins.

                                On the article being "sunshiny": I don't believe that it is. It just seems like reporting to me. So why does it seem "sunshiny"? I think hearing the contrasts between O'Brien's style and Carlisle's style is making all of us giddy from the change. These changes may not equate to wins. It's just different and anything different is being interpreted as good right now.

                                Enjoy it while it lasts, but please don't get too excited. When we start the season 8-12, don't blow your top either. This will take a while.

                                We'll inevitably find out if pushing the ball up, stepping back for the 3, revealing methods and style to the press through open practices, and/or overworking your players in practice are good things. Every one of those things could be bad depending on the players you have to work with.

                                (Example: stepping back for the 3 ain't such a great idea if none of your players shoot above 40% from 3 and above 50% for wide open 3's.)

                                That said, I don't think there is a single thing wrong with emphasizing hand use on D. That's good all around.
                                “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

                                “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

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