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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"

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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.

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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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Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

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  • Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

    This is a really good piece, discussing everything from trades and free agency, to offensive and defensive strategies. Would recommend giving it a read, but some bits I found interesting:

    Cracks opened in the second half of that 2013-14 season. The offense collapsed. Chemistry frayed. Stephenson bristled at his All-Star exclusion, and maybe at Hibbert making it over him. Swapping Danny Granger for Evan Turner upset the locker room, and unnerved Stephenson, who may have seen Turner as a threat to his minutes ahead of free agency.

    "There were issues with Lance not making the All-Star team," Vogel said. "The addition of Evan kind of screwed him up. Evan's a great guy. The moves totally made sense. They just messed us up a little." (Hibbert, Turner, and Granger all either declined comment, or did not respond to inquiries. Stephenson could not be reached).
    Bird knows he is on the clock with George. The Lakers loom as a threat in free agency. The Pacers engaged at least the Celtics, Sixers, Hawks and Nuggets in trade talks for George at the deadline, though they never appeared serious about moving him, per league sources. (Bird has called the George rumors "fake news"). They explored trading Rodney Stuckey for a backup rim protector, including John Henson, sources say, and Bird will dangle Indy's first-round pick again this summer in search of veteran help. Bird has been aggressive trading picks for Luis Scola and Thaddeus Young.

    "Our pick is in play," Bird said.
    Turner is already smart about ignoring false action to barricade the rim. George remains one of the premier wing stoppers alive. He is a proven big-game player. A blah resume may be hiding a dangerous playoff team; Indiana's 5-11 record on back-to-backs is dragging down its overall mark, and back-to-backs vanish in the postseason. They're 16-11 against the West, with sweeps over the Rockets, Clippers, and Thunder. They've been a top-5 defense since the All-Star break.

    The Pacers' non-Ellis starting lineups -- with Miles or Robinson III in his place -- have destroyed opponents, and their bench is a sinkhole. Shrink the rotation, and the Pacers are a different beast.

    It all makes you wonder if the Pacers are one player away from being really good, and if they might be able to find that player this summer. George would love to play with hometown boy Gordon Hayward, according to sources, but that would appear unlikely. Even so: bring back Teague and Miles, get expected Year 3 improvement from Turner, add a couple of bench pieces, and the Pacers might be able to give George a road map back to the No. 2 seed.
    http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...indiana-pacers

  • #2
    Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

    Even so: bring back Teague and Miles, get expected Year 3 improvement from Turner, add a couple of bench pieces, and the Pacers might be able to give George a road map back to the No. 2 seed.
    Oh! But wait! The Pacers need to blow it up and are a mess with no assets and....

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

      that is an excellent article. I liked this.

      >Few watched the Pacers-Hawks first-round series that season, but everyone within the team will always remember it as the moment they began to worry about Hibbert's future -- and the future of their defense. They still curse the name of Pero Antic, a little-known "stretch center" who forced Hibbert to chase him around the 3-point arc. The Pacers barely survived in seven games.
      >
      >"The league had changed," Bird said. "Roy wasn't as effective as he had been."
      >



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      • #4
        Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

        Larry talked with Philly & Phoenix as well? We're getting a top 5 pick.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

          This is the best article I have read on the pacers this season.

          Regardless of who succeeded Vogel, Teague would ignite a drive-and-kick machine and free George to work more off the ball. Nope. Their shot selection profile hasn't budged: They're 19th in total drives, 28th in shots within the restricted area, 27th in 3s, and toward the top in mid-range jumpers. They're 15th in offensive efficiency, and 17th on defense. They might be the most average team in the league.

          "We ask ourselves all the time: What kind of team do we want to be?" George said.

          "Sometimes we look like a playoff team," Al Jefferson said. "And sometimes we look like a team that has no business being together."

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

            Looks like trades really did mess up that team, on paper it looked good, the egos clashed. Also seems like Larry Bird really didn't interview anyone else which is kind of disappointing, seems more like making a change for the sake of it.

            As everyone else has said, we are on one above average player to make this Lego piece work.

            Also stop playing monta ellis
            Last edited by immortality; 03-21-2017, 12:24 PM.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

              The most telling point to me was..............

              The Pacers' non-Ellis starting lineups -- with Miles or Robinson III in his place -- have destroyed opponents, and their bench is a sinkhole. Shrink the rotation, and the Pacers are a different beast.
              That's my only issue, I wish Nate would stop subbing all five starts for five bench players at once. I think we should always have at least two starters on the floor at all times
              Sittin on top of the world!

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              • #8
                Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                So great when there are national stories about the Pacers, they're so much better than the local stuff there.

                Don't trade the pick! I think its a terrible move, Larry has been very good with draft picks when he's actually made them for most part...his trades have pretty much all been bad outside Hibbert.
                "It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

                ----------------- Reggie Miller

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                  I'm pretty sure he twitted about this right before the Pacers starting unit went to **** and then Nate had to start Miles, the fit starting was pretty bad.


                  The Pacers' non-Ellis starting lineups -- with Miles or Robinson III in his place -- have destroyed opponents, and their bench is a sinkhole. Shrink the rotation, and the Pacers are a different beast.
                  @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                    Originally posted by 90'sNBARocked View Post
                    The most telling point to me was..............



                    That's my only issue, I wish Nate would stop subbing all five starts for five bench players at once. I think we should always have at least two starters on the floor at all times
                    Nate seems to ride the starters toooooooooooo long. Other than Ellis coming in for CJ, he waits till like 2 minutes left in the first. Then he brings in the herd. I really don't know what the best rotation would be though. The first two out that make sense would be Thad and CJ. But LaVoy and Christmas play well together, would hate to break that up. Though I think LaVoy playing next to Turner and Thad next to Christmas isn't a bad thing. With the way Stuckey is playing, I'd cut him out of the rotation. Bring Ellis in early for CJ, then let CJ come in for Teague and move Ellis to pg. So the second unit running would mainly be Ellis, CJ, GRIII, Thad, Christmas.
                    Use a 9 man rotation, but be quicker subbing out.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                      Originally posted by freddielewis14 View Post
                      Oh! But wait! The Pacers need to blow it up and are a mess with no assets and....


                      When we are actually contending with this roster, contending as in a real chance to make the NBA Finals, I'll admit I'm wrong.

                      ..but thats not gunna happen.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                        Is this the first time anyone has actually spoken to the collapse in 2014 regarding turner and lance? I had never really heard anything this detailed from the players or coach before. I had only heard speculation up to this.
                        Lifelong pacers fan

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                          Originally posted by pacers_heath View Post
                          Is this the first time anyone has actually spoken to the collapse in 2014 regarding turner and lance? I had never really heard anything this detailed from the players or coach before. I had only heard speculation up to this.
                          They got in a scuffle during a practice. Not sure why but rumor was Lance said something to Hibbert that crossed the line and Turner said something to Lance

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                            Originally posted by Dr. Awesome View Post


                            When we are actually contending with this roster, contending as in a real chance to make the NBA Finals, I'll admit I'm wrong.

                            ..but thats not gunna happen.
                            It's not that I think you are completely wrong. Maybe the best move is to rebuild and trade off all our assets for picks and youth. It's that the side that wants to rebuild speaks with so much certainty, like the Pacers are fools to try and keep PG, Teague and Turner and build off that.

                            I myself like the strategy of trying to win and drafting well, because that's how we got our most recent contender.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Zach Lowe: Pacers hurtling toward a wild summer

                              Originally posted by freddielewis14 View Post
                              It's not that I think you are completely wrong. Maybe the best move is to rebuild and trade off all our assets for picks and youth. It's that the side that wants to rebuild speaks with so much certainty, like the Pacers are fools to try and keep PG, Teague and Turner and build off that.

                              I myself like the strategy of trying to win and drafting well, because that's how we got our most recent contender.
                              Well, obviously I like that strategy as well.

                              I just don't think that strategy is going to work this time unless we hit a true home run in the draft. Certainly possible, but unlikely.

                              Again, our team was a lot younger when we built our most recent contender. We had a lot of players with room to really improve their games. While Turner, and to a lesser extend GRII, have potential, I don't think we have the time to wait for them with the makeup of other players on our roster.

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