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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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Where do we rank now?

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  • #91
    Re: Where do we rank now?

    I didn't think their Chicago series was very convincing.

    Comment


    • #92
      Re: Where do we rank now?

      Originally posted by Hicks View Post
      I didn't think their Chicago series was very convincing.
      There's no doubt the Bulls gave Miami the toughest series in the east.

      Miami still got rid of them in 6 games. They were obviously tested when it was knotted up at 2 apice, but practically every NBA champion has been in a position where a team has a series tied up against them.

      It would be nearly impossible for a team to win a title without getting in a tough series.

      Miami disposed of everyone in 6 games or less.

      And back to the Pacers: I'm actually optimistic about them for once. I think the Pacers will make significant strides this year. I'm really looking forward to what the Pacers could be capable of in 2007-08.

      I wish Tinsley would go, but I'm sure he has practically no trade value.

      Comment


      • #93
        Re: Where do we rank now?

        As I see it right now, Miami is in the top tier of the East, with possibly Chicago and Cleveland not far behind.

        I see us, at least talentwise, in the second tier, with Washington and Detroit.

        Then, just below, New Jersey and Orlando.

        I'm still currently sticking with my original rankings from this thread, but in terms of pure rankings, I consider us the 4th best team in the East right now.

        1)
        2)
        3) :cavaliers
        4) :thepacers
        5)
        6) :thepiston
        7)
        8)

        I also feel that our division is the best in the entire NBA.

        Comment


        • #94
          Re: Where do we rank now?

          Originally posted by pizza guy View Post
          That poll is almost funny.



          No respect.
          Respect has to be earned.

          I currently would rank the play-offs teams in the Eastern Conference about this:

          On the seeding system:

          1) Miami
          2) Detroit
          3) New Jersey
          4) Cleveland
          5) Chicago
          6) Indiana
          7) Orlando (my "surprise" team in the east)
          8) Washington

          II: Based on actual strength of the team:

          1) Miami
          2) Detroit
          3) Cleveland
          4) Chicago
          5) Indiana
          6) New Jersey
          7) Orlando
          8) Washington

          Regards,

          Mourning
          2012 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

          2011 PD ABA Fantasy Keeper League Champion, sports.ws

          2006 PD ABA Fantasy League runner up, sports.ws

          Comment


          • #95
            Re: Where do we rank now?

            Basicly we know that Miami and New Jersey will be in the Top 3 based on seads and that its the a central Division mix up as to who makes up that 3 and who is 4th 5th and 6th

            Cleveland Detroit Chicargo and Pacers .... any one of those 4 could come top of our division and anyone come 4th .... personally ithink the least likely to come top are Cleveland ... but the other 3 includign us are all to close for me to call at this point. .. i cant wait to see how we actually do!
            'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'
            Animal Farm, by George Orwell

            Comment


            • #96
              Re: Where do we rank now?

              I think the regular season is gonna be a little tougher for us, our defense is going to have to be there every night for us to win games. We don't have that outside scorer who's not dependant on anyone else and can win games even when the offense isn't clicking. A big man like JO is too reliant on teammates getting him the ball in the right position to carry us when the energy's not there. And we don't have good shooters, it's too easy for teams to sag off of us when we're on a 5 game road trip and have dead legs. So I predict we'll do well at home, poorly on the road, anywhere from 5th-7th in the East.

              That being said, we have a really nice post season team. A dominant inside scorer, good D, a 7-8 man rotation, athleticism to match up in the "new NBA," a solid postseason coach, I like our chances a lot better in April than in January. Maybe even Eastern Conference finals if we get healthy and some lucky breaks. 3-4 teams in the East might be a little better than us but no one is totally out of our league right now, not even Miami.
              2010 IKL Fantasy Basketball Champion Baltimore Bulldogs

              Comment


              • #97
                Re: Where do we rank now?

                Originally posted by The Hustler View Post
                Basicly we know that Miami and New Jersey will be in the Top 3 based on seads and that its the a central Division mix up as to who makes up that 3 and who is 4th 5th and 6th.
                In case you missed it, the NBA changed the playoff seeding format. The 3 division winners and the team with the best record that is not a division winner will be seeded based on best regular season record.

                So a team that did not win their division can be the number 2 seed if they have the second best regular season record in their conference. Or even the number three seed if you have the 3rd best regular season record. Being a division winner no longer guarantees you one of the top three seeds.

                Comment


                • #98
                  Re: Where do we rank now?

                  Originally posted by naptown View Post
                  In case you missed it, the NBA changed the playoff seeding format. The 3 division winners and the team with the best record that is not a division winner will be seeded based on best regular season record.

                  So a team that did not win their division can be the number 2 seed if they have the second best regular season record in their conference. Or even the number three seed if you have the 3rd best regular season record. Being a division winner no longer guarantees you one of the top three seeds.
                  :| ...when was this announced ... i cant believe ive missed this!... my homepage is NBA.com i thought a big thing would have been made of that ... so for example this year Dallas would have been seeded 2nd in the west?


                  Thanks for the heads up ... i guess that changes a few of my thoughts!
                  'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'
                  Animal Farm, by George Orwell

                  Comment


                  • #99
                    Re: Where do we rank now?

                    Originally posted by bulldog View Post
                    We don't have that outside scorer who's not dependant on anyone else and can win games even when the offense isn't clicking.
                    I personally dont want a team that has to rely on the three ball to win games. I would much rather have a team that goes to the hole and gets to the free throw line.

                    We may not have any very good 3 point shooters, but we have several very good 18-20 feet shooters. Which is all you really need to keep teams honest. Lets be a team that is going to the hole (and subsequently the free throw line) than a team that lives and dies by the 3 point shot.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Where do we rank now?

                      Originally posted by The Hustler View Post
                      :| ...when was this announced ... i cant believe ive missed this!... my homepage is NBA.com i thought a big thing would have been made of that ... so for example this year Dallas would have been seeded 2nd in the west?


                      Thanks for the heads up ... i guess that changes a few of my thoughts!
                      It was announced some time ago (shortly after the playoffs ended if I am not mistaken) and was all over ESPN and such for some time.

                      Exactly, Dallas would have been the 2 seed. This years playoff scenario with Dallas and San Antonio is exactly what prompted this change in the rules.

                      Comment


                      • Re: Where do we rank now?

                        Originally posted by naptown View Post
                        I personally dont want a team that has to rely on the three ball to win games. I would much rather have a team that goes to the hole and gets to the free throw line.

                        We may not have any very good 3 point shooters, but we have several very good 18-20 feet shooters. Which is all you really need to keep teams honest. Lets be a team that is going to the hole (and subsequently the free throw line) than a team that lives and dies by the 3 point shot.
                        That's not what I was saying at all. By outside scorer, I mean perimeter scorer who can make things happen by himself, whether that be a shooter or a driver. Unlike a big man, they can make it happen when the offense is falling apart.

                        And considering I said we'd be pretty good in the postseason, I don't think I was even saying we really needed one of those.
                        2010 IKL Fantasy Basketball Champion Baltimore Bulldogs

                        Comment


                        • Re: Where do we rank now?

                          Here is a link to the story on that.

                          http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2537369

                          Comment


                          • Re: Where do we rank now?



                            :cavaliers
                            :thepacers
                            :thepiston


                            STARBURY

                            08 and Beyond

                            Comment


                            • Re: Where do we rank now?

                              No, I didn't read every post in this thread, but am I the only one that thinks people are giving way too much credit to Chicago for the addition of Ben Wallace? I don't see how his presence lifts them into the top 2-3 teams in the conference. I never saw their deficiencies to be defensive ones, but rather somone on the interior who will take pressure off their guards on offense. I don't see Wallace filling that void. They are still going to be a team that plays hard on both ends, but they are a piece or 2 from playing for the conference title.

                              Until proven otherwise, you have to consider Miami and Detroit to be the teams everyone else is chasing. From there on down there isn't much separating Cleveland, Indiana, Chicago, Washington, and New Jersey. And Orlando will probably be in there somewhere by the end of the season. I still like Cleveland and Indiana over Chicago, but it could once again be very interesting down the home stretch.

                              Comment


                              • Re: Where do we rank now?

                                Currently I see the top 8 teams in the East as...

                                Heat (The champs you have to put them here until they lose or collapse)
                                Bulls (Even without the Ben signing they were a team on the rise)
                                Pacers (Come on if JO is going 20 and 10, Al is going 19 and 7, Danny is going 16 and 8 and Tins is healthy we should not be any worse than third. Tins is the biggest if of the bunch IMO.)
                                Cavs (I'm still not sold on anyone after my top 3 not really sold on the Pacers either. Is Hughes healthy enough? No Flip to bail them out if he goes down.)
                                Nets (I dunno Carter has to keep his head on the game or this team could disappear)
                                Pistons (The return of Rashweed starts this year IMO. They won't be as good as they have been and with no Ben to lead him and keep him in line things sour for the Pistons.)
                                Wizards (Eh why not?)
                                Magic (On fire end of last year. D12 and Jameer are young studs)


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