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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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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' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

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  • #16
    Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

    I'm going with Tyler. He's had all summer to work on learning West's counter moves.

    I have a theory that one of the reasons we signed David West is because he has a grounded offense. The same kind of offense that Tyler could develop. They were hoping that Tyler could learn that offense. He spent the season observing it. This was his summer to learn it.

    btw, my answer was influenced by a Conrad Brunner article from earlier this summer.

    "Tyler needs an offseason," Coach Frank Vogel said. "He's a guy I'd like to work with more than any player on our team this summer. With the motor that he has, if he ever develops the game, the skill-set, the moves and the counter-moves someone like David West has, really the sky's the limit for what he can do.

    "Since he's been drafted he hasn't had an offseason to work with the coaching staff whether it's injuries or the lockout or whatever. He has a tremendous area for growth in terms of developing his skill set and his moves."
    Last edited by Strummer; 09-20-2012, 11:32 PM. Reason: Added the article link and quotes

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    • #17
      Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

      As for the guys left from last year's squad I think Roy will make the biggest improvement. I know he'll make it his job to show that he deserves that contract. For the new guys, I think DJ will have a nice year and average some nice assist numbers. Gerald Green is my next option.

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      • #18
        Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

        I'd love for it to be Tyler Hansbrough, but that doesn't seem very likely. I'm going to go with Paul George. In any case, it's more important for Paul to improve than Tyler.

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        • #19
          Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

          Originally posted by DGPR View Post
          I'm predicting a 5-6 ppg improvement for Paul George this coming season. I'm sure he has been putting in the work this offseason, plus he has been hanging around the likes of Lebron and company probably picking their brains in the process to get ideas for improvement.
          That would mean 17-18 ppg.Although that would be great and welcomed of course,is something not easy to accomplish especially when you are in a team that has many scorers and not one go to guy.
          Never forget

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          • #20
            Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

            Originally posted by Johanvil View Post
            That would mean 17-18 ppg.Although that would be great and welcomed of course,is something not easy to accomplish especially when you are in a team that has many scorers and not one go to guy.
            If Paul's handles have gotten better than last year, I think the team will look to go to him as much as if not more than Granger when they need scoring.

            "I've got an idea--an idea so smart that my head would explode if I even began to know what I'm talking about." - Peter Griffin

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            • #21
              Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

              Originally posted by DGPR View Post
              If Paul's handles have gotten better than last year, I think the team will look to go to him as much as if not more than Granger when they need scoring.
              I disagree. PG is one of the worst mid-range starting SG in the league.

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              • #22
                Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                Why would Tyler suddenly improve now? The guy has been the same exact player since he was 21.


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                • #23
                  Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                  Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                  Why would Tyler suddenly improve now? The guy has been the same exact player since he was 21.
                  I think people just want to see Tyler be smarter and more consistent. Improvement doesnt alwaus mean the advancement/developmemt of a new skill set.

                  For example; If he becomes money with that 15 ft J like he was two seasons ago, that alone would mark improvement.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                    PG has a load of talent, but...... he has soooooooooooooooo much to work on, offensively. The reason I say that is because he is capable of doing anything; but his offensive game is pretty low-dimensional, as in, there's not a lot of skill or diversity in his skills. He mostly seems to be a free-ranger, winging it, and trying to find opportunities off other people's actions. He uses almost exclusively his athleticism, and lacks a lot of acquired skills, or moves. He's the opposite of David West, who is not athletic at all, but has a wide range of skills in the post and mid-range that he can use to his advantage. If PG could learn the low and mid-rang skills of David West and combine that with his own athleticism and range and defensive ability, you're talking an elite player. His game is mostly in 3 tracks --- the fast break, the 3 point line, and finishing around the rim. His game in between the rim and the 3-point line is damn near non-existent. But he has the ability to be very good. One thing he could be a beast at is posting up or even the high post. At 6'9" or 6'10", whatever you want to believe, there is no SG in the league that could guard him down there. It requires building a skillset down in the post, it's not something you can just wing, which is mostly how he plays. He just wings it. He needs some set moves, that he can string together randomly to create scoring opportunities.

                    Having better handles certainly helps that. But he seriously needs to work on his moves. There is no limit to what this kid can do, he just needs to work hard.
                    Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 09-21-2012, 10:52 AM.
                    There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                      Originally posted by Ace E.Anderson View Post
                      For example; If he becomes money with that 15 ft J like he was two seasons ago, that alone would mark improvement.
                      His effective FG% on jump shots was .408 two seasons ago.

                      Obviously significantly better than last year's .326 but not exactly "money".

                      He shot it a ton both years so you remember more makes two seasons ago but the rate of makes to misses was still really poor.
                      "I had to take her down like Chris Brown."

                      -Lance Stephenson

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                      • #26
                        Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                        Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                        I'd love for it to be Tyler Hansbrough, but that doesn't seem very likely. I'm going to go with Paul George. In any case, it's more important for Paul to improve than Tyler.
                        Don't underestimate what an improved Hansbrough could do for this team. Not having a post player who could consistently score off the bench was the biggest problem with the bench last season, and if Tyler was able to score consistently we would have had as good of a bench as everyone thought we did going into the season. With that kind of a bench we most likely would have been competing for the number 1 or 2 seed instead of striving for the number 3.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                          West.

                          He playing amazing during the end of the season and playoffs. Now hes finally healthy again, and has a full training camp - I can see him having a great season
                          "So, which one of you guys is going to come in second?" - Larry Bird before the 3 point contest. He won.


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                          • #28
                            Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                            I guess my thing for Tyler is this.... he goes back to NC in the off-seasons and so does David West. Why aren't they working out together? They literally live a short distance apart on the outskirts of Raleigh, NC. Maybe they do and I don't know. But there is no way David West doesn't teach Tyler these things if they are working out together. Why hasn't Tyler made obvious changes to his game in the off-seasons? Is he too busy playing against old NC players that are no longer in the league? Is he too busy pimping UNC co-eds? (I would be too, but I am not a professional basketball player). I just don't understand why we haven't seen Tyler as one of the first people back to training camp. It seems like he doesn't even like his teammates or something.

                            I think Hill will have the biggest imapct for us with improvement. He is money from deep, but if he improves his handles and our playbook improves, he should be the one that literally can improve our whole offense. I think ball movement is the single biggest thing we can improve on as a team and it all starts with Hill. I think Hill will have the biggest impact on our team with his improvement, but not necessarily the biggest improvement overall.

                            I think Hibbert's conditioning is a major area of improvement as well. A few more minutes per game from him would do wonders for us. We also have a better big rotation that won't make it as glaring of a problem when he goes out either. That is a key improvement area for me as well. For Hibbert, I think him having consistent confirdence would be his biggest area of improvement. Dominate Big Fella!

                            David West I just want to see improvement in his mobility. I think his early season issues had a lot to do with his lack of mobility. I think if he improved his flexibility and continued to work on his leg and hip strength, he will have a monster season for us and be much better defensively.

                            Granger just needs to be better at picking his spots on offense, and becoming a better defender. The biggest thing he could do for us next year is to bring the defensive intensity and efficiency from the SF position that will improve the team defense overall. Hibbert is a cornerstone on the block, but if we can get a more evenly spread scoring effort from everybody, it will allow Granger to be that much better on the defensive end. Granger and Paul could be a top three defensive pairing on the wing next year. That would be as important to our team as any scoring load he could add. He needs to work out of the post more as well, which I have been saying for years. The dude needs to add that as part of his arsenal and has yet to do it. I think it is because he is scared of going inside the three point line.

                            George has pretty much been covered and I think he will be in the running for the MIP award.

                            Our bench overall needs to be an improvement. We need more cohesiveness out of this group and there can't be such a drop off when our starters leave the floor. I think we improved our bench significantly this off-season. There needs to be a little less mass subs by Vogel next year as well. I think if our starters play a few more minutes with a couple of the reserves our eight man rotation come playoff time won't be so undermanned. I would like to see less of the five-on five-off type of substitutions. I'd like to see more of the eight or nine man rotations used throughout a game where it is four starters and a sub or three starters and two subs and we don't really see much of having four or five subs on the floor together. I really like the job Vogel is doing and really appreciated his substitution patterns last year, but I just didn't feel like our second unit took advantage of other teams enough by going with all five reserves at once. I can't wait to see what our bench is. The player I am most excited to see what they bring is Orlando Johnson. I think the kid could develop into a solid rotation player for us if he can earn the playing time with his defense.

                            Vogel, I think is a very good coach. I think the playbook improvement and general philosophy of how we get the ball into the post will be something he does address. I think his game management will be better, although that is not necessarily a weakness IMO. I really think as this guy gets comfortable, he will be a very good coach long-term.

                            The biggest improvement I think we can see as a franchise would be ATTENDANCE! This year we better be in the top third for attendance.
                            Last edited by pacergod2; 09-21-2012, 11:45 AM.
                            "Your course, your path, is not going to be like mine," West says. "Everybody is not called to be a multimillionaire. Everybody's not called to be the president. Whatever your best work is, you do it. Do it well. … You cease your own greatness when you aspire to be someone else."

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                            • #29
                              Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                              The guy I expect to have the biggest improvement will be either tyler or lance. Both kinda had down years last year and can improve their games with some minor fixes.

                              The guy I would like to be the Pacers MIP is Paul George. He is the guy with the highest ceiling. If he improves the most, he gives the Pacers another really good player to go with Danny, Roy and David. Best case scenario, Paul George becomes good enough to be a year in and year out all star.

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                              • #30
                                Re: Pacers' Most Improved Player for the 2012/2013 season

                                I hope it's Paul but Hill would be my bet. I think we'll see him be more of a point guard this year than he was last year.

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