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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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Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

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  • Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

    I've mentioned it before. I think we really do have something special going on with this team. They are deep, and Frank has most players doing almost exactly what is expected, despite the shortened off-season. Teammates seem to genuinely like each other, and have self-confidence, but not over-the-top bravado. The team plays with discipline, but if I have one criticism that still persists after the Bobcats game, it's that there are some players that will still pick up silly technical fouls. Don't argue with the refs! Simple as that!

    I see a big test this week with Philly, Altanta and Boston. Philly also only has 2 losses, and like us, most of their wins came against bad teams. A win on the road against Philly will be huge to help establish the early pecking order.

    I think I'm looking forward to facing Atlanta more than I am the rematch vs. Boston. Atlanta is 1-1 against the Bulls and the Heat, having lost both games on the road and they were not blowouts. I think how we play this week will be a good barometer for us.

    Thoughts?

  • #2
    Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

    i too am curious to see how the pacers match up vs ATL. mainly to see if the pacers have anyone who can guard josh smith. ATL uses individual iso's and pacers cannot seem to guard josh smith. be nice to see if the pacers have upgraded the 4 enough to deal with josh.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

      Originally posted by xIndyFan View Post
      i too am curious to see how the pacers match up vs ATL. mainly to see if the pacers have anyone who can guard josh smith. ATL uses individual iso's and pacers cannot seem to guard josh smith. be nice to see if the pacers have upgraded the 4 enough to deal with josh.
      No, we cannot seem to guard Al Horford. Then again most teams in the league have a lot of difficulty with that.
      Trying to enjoy every Pacers game as if it is the last!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

        Looking at Philly and Atlanta in a little more detail, I'd gladly trade a home victory against Boston next Sat. for ones against Atlanta here and also Philly on the road. The Boston game here is the end of a back-to-back at the end of a long 8 day stretch of tough games. So I could understand if we come out a little flat against the Celtics. Good to be up on them by 1 game, and need to get up on the others by one game as well.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

          Originally posted by pacersgroningen View Post
          No, we cannot seem to guard Al Horford.
          We have never had DWest before.
          "Larry Bird: You are Officially On the Clock! (3/24/08)"
          (Watching You Like A Hawk!)

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          • #6
            Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

            I was looking ahead to Philly last night a little closer and they're actually leading the atlantic currently, we can't overlook them. I think that game is going to be a very tough grind it out sort of game and I really hope we can get some shots to start falling. As it stands they're 2nd in the NBA in points allowed and we're 3rd. The winner of this game very well might only score in the 70's if both teams really show up defensively. I think this game will be very telling of where we're both at and I hope we don't disappoint. The games following this game don't get much easier for us with games against Atlanta and Boston. I think 2 out of 3 wins during this stretch would be very impressive.

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            • #7
              Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

              I would put Paul George on Josh Smith on his iso possessions.

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              • #8
                Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                There are more tough teams than Miami in Chicago in the east. We will have to work very hard to beat Philly and Atlanta. If we are as good as either of them this year, we have come a long way. Not long ago, Atlanta could completely dominate us.

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                • #9
                  Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                  I've also been looking at our upcoming schedule. It gets tough for awhile all the way to a 3 game road trip to Cali. If we want to establish ourselves as one of the teams to beat in the eastern conference then we have to play good this week. Tomorrow could establish who is in 3rd place record wise in the eastern conference, at least for now.

                  Philly is alot like us. They don't have one guy who is their leading scorer every night, they have an upcoming center who is averaging a double-double, and their once leading scorer (AI) is not having to put up the big numbers anymore.
                  Last edited by pacers74; 01-08-2012, 05:50 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                    Originally posted by TheDon View Post
                    I was looking ahead to Philly last night a little closer and they're actually leading the atlantic currently, we can't overlook them. I think that game is going to be a very tough grind it out sort of game and I really hope we can get some shots to start falling. As it stands they're 2nd in the NBA in points allowed and we're 3rd. The winner of this game very well might only score in the 70's if both teams really show up defensively. I think this game will be very telling of where we're both at and I hope we don't disappoint. The games following this game don't get much easier for us with games against Atlanta and Boston. I think 2 out of 3 wins during this stretch would be very impressive.

                    I'll be interested in the Hibbert/Hawes match up. 2 young C's who are having good seasons going toe to toe. Hopefully, Hibbert will win the match up.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                      Originally posted by pacers74 View Post
                      Tomorrow could establish who is in 3rd place record wise in the eastern conference, at least for now.

                      Philly is alot like us. They don't have one guy who is their leading scorer every night, they have an upcoming center who is averaging a double-double....
                      I agree about the battle for 3rd or 4th, maybe even 5th. I don't think that Boston will have the ability to keep up with the grind during the shortened season and would not be surprised if 2 teams leapfrog them. I don't think Orland will keep Dwight and they will lack firepower. It looks like the fight will be between Atlanta, NY, Philly and us for the remaining top two seeds. And yes, I also see some similarities with Philly, but I think on a man-to-man basis, we are better than they are.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                        Originally posted by PacerGuy View Post
                        We have never had DWest before.
                        And that would leave us with Roy covering Smith, Johnson, Marvin Williams or Teague?
                        Trying to enjoy every Pacers game as if it is the last!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                          Originally posted by joeyd View Post

                          And yes, I also see some similarities with Philly, but I think on a man-to-man basis, we are better than they are.
                          That brings up another interesting match up. Iggy's "D" vs Granger's "D".

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                            I'd take our Roster over Phillies.

                            Danny=/> Igoudala: Danny plays similar defense when he focuses on that, but has far more offensive skill and as a shooter. Iggy is the better distributor, but if you aren't a PG offense is more important from the SG/SF position than passing is.

                            Paul George > Turner: far more athletic and is a better defender and shooter, turner is the better rebounder and passer though, as well as a ball handler.

                            Hibbert> Hawes: Hawes is on a ridiculously hot streak right now, but I don't think he stays there. Roy has proven himself superior over their careers and is more valuable.

                            Collison< Holiday: With collisons improvement it's not a gigantic gap right now thuogh. Holiday is bigger, and plays more effective defense. Collison is the better scorer when he looks for his shot. Neither are super talented passing the ball, but holiday is a bit better there. Holiday also has a higher ceiling than DC and is years younger.

                            D West> Brand: At this point in their careers. West is the better rebounder and scorer, though it's more even since West is still getting back in the swing of things. Neither are super good defenders. West's passing is also better than advertised and he's better than brand there.

                            Hansbrough> Speights

                            Hill <= lou williams: Williams is more explosive as a scorer for sure, but Hill is a great defender. I'd take williams personally though.

                            Philly is good, both teams have up and comers that could become stars in the future between Turner, George, Hibbert and Holiday, but man to man we have more talent, and have looked like a pretty cohesive unit so far.
                            Goodbye Captain, My Captain. I wish you had the chance to sink or swim with your ship on its quest for the "ship".

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Something Special Going On, But Biggest Test Ahead

                              Originally posted by daschysta View Post
                              Hansbrough> Speights
                              No doubt. I bet Speights doesn't even score a point when we play Philly.
                              This space for rent.

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