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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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Are the Indiana Pacers the NBA version of America’s Team?

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  • Are the Indiana Pacers the NBA version of America’s Team?



    Are the Indiana Pacers the NBA’s version of America’s Team?

    Sometimes you just have to credit people for staying with it. Your dad may not have ever been a rich man or had the plushest job in the world, but regardless he kept at it. Day in and day out, he went into work and took care of the necessities to provide for you and the family. That man reminds me a lot of the Indiana Pacers over the years.

    Though they’ve had great players and competed for titles in the past, the Pacers have more often, especially as of late, just been one of those pretty good teams. Aside from giving Lebron and the Heat a run for their money in the conference finals, the team has largely been average. Dating back to the time they traded the Kawhi Leonard pick for George Hill, there have definitely been some questionable choices made, but overall the front office decisions have been solid.


    Allow me to get sidetracked for just a moment and let’s imagine a team with both Kawhi and Paul George…but anyway. Having previously used the 10th pick to get a player of almost the same caliber of Leonard, the team was nevertheless still in a good position for the future. They put veterans and rebounding around PG as he grew in the league, though questions did remain. What was he? A true small forward? A shooting guard?

    There were even talks at one point by Bird of playing Paul at power forward which was…definitely an idea…? He eventually settled into his natural place as a versatile wing ball-handler who can defend four positions adequately, shoot the lights out, take you off the dribble, and be smooth as butter while doing so.

    As much as the front office thought they were trying though they never did enough to properly surround PG with the right talent. Though the east has really been a monopolistic entity the entire tenure of LeBron’s past 10 years, so can you truly blame them? I think the Pacers were just simply being too laissez-faire about the fact that they had a star on their hands. Maybe the fact that he was young moved them to be patient or something, but PG13 has been a championship level player since he fully returned from that injury. Ultimately this leads to the disgruntlement of Paul and instead of getting nothing in return, the team decides to get something back for him.

    This trade for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis was a very shrewd move by them and is one of the better, almost mutually, trades in recent memory. The Thunder had just lost their first love, and that isn’t a team wanting to rebuild, so Russell Westbrook needed a partner and he got it. While risky due to the chance of him not resigning, it worked out for them.

    The Pacers, on the other hand, obtained two undervalued and underutilized players in return. First of all, the fact that Oladipo even ended up on the Thunder is just a glimpse at the Magic front office for you, but that’s aside from the point. During his time in OKC Oladipo was playing to his weaknesses. He’s not Klay, he’s not an off ball shooting guard. He’s a combo guard that makes the most of his skills with the ball in his hands and a pass-first point beside him.

    In Oklahoma City, the offense was dominated by Westbrook and him giving Dipo the leftovers. Not ideal. Sabonis, on the other hand, was firstly a rookie but also underutilized as well. Basically used as a catch and shoot or secondary layup option, he never got to really show what he could do. With the Pacers, they’ve allowed him to come off the bench and be one of the primary scorers of the team and especially the second unit, though I believe he should start next year.

    In both of those players, Myles Turner, and a couple of other young guards, I think the Pacers did the best job possible in terms of recovering from losing George. Not only is it a decent free agent destination, but they have other surrounding pieces to match with new players who also happen to be young. They aren’t strapped for the cap, although they will have to pay Turner and Sabonis soon, and they have time to build further.

    Ultimately they’re even better than last season and I think it’s pretty clear they intend to contend for years to come. With signings of a great combo guard in Malcolm Brogdon, a versatile wing with Jeremy lamb, and trading barely anything to acquire T.J. Warren. I love all three signings, but the one I’m most excited about is the latter. People seem to discredit him for the team he was on, but he’s become a walking 15/8 with a 40 percent shooting clip from deep. Don’t sleep, these can more than makeup for the team losing Darren Collison (to retirement) and Thaddeus Young (in free agency).

    I think the Indiana Pacers will continue to be a perennial top 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and likely host an ECF within the next 4. Until then though they’ll remain a fun watch and respectable opponent. They’ll be one of those teams that simply keeps at it, which perfectly embodies the mindset of the state of Indiana and their loyal fans.

    Cue Vnzla in 4..3...2...1...
    Are the Indiana Pacers the NBA's version of America's Team? Before you laugh us out, hear us out. We explore that narrative.
    Sittin on top of the world!

  • #2
    Nice article but it would sure be nice to win a title someday. I like the way the team is set up.
    Last edited by owl; 07-12-2019, 09:25 AM.
    {o,o}
    |)__)
    -"-"-

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    • #3
      @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

      Comment


      • #4
        Our main pieces are:

        Oladipo - 26 years old.
        Turner - 23 years old.
        Sabonis - 23 years old.
        Brogdon - 26 years old.
        If he pans out, Bitadze - 19 years old.

        Then you have other important pieces in place:

        Lamb - 27 years old.
        Warren - 25 years old.
        Holiday - 22 years old.

        If Sabonis and Turner works together well.... we have a loooong window to compete. These guys, especially Turner and Sabonis(and Holiday/Goga) have a lot of room to grow and get better, none of them are in their primes for the most part. And, if it works we have another advantage most teams won't have outside of maybe PHI and POR … two really, really good bigs(add a third if Goga pans out) that can not only rebound/defend, but can shoot. Yes, I know everybody wants small ball, but I'm 100% in favor of breaking the "mold" because that's how teams win. Golden State's style of play wasn't the norm until they were the norm.
        Dear P_George,
        You have received an infraction at Pacers Digest.

        Reason: Unacceptable Comment and/or Content

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        • #5
          Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
          um.no!!

          Come Jan1 2020 in Chicago....it will be like walking into a CVS
          Sittin on top of the world!

          Comment


          • #6
            " Don’t sleep, these can more than makeup for the team losing Darren Collison (to retirement) and Thaddeus Young (in free agency)."

            Hmmm. Well, I know I didn't sleep through the fact we lost our second best player (Bojan).

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
              " Don’t sleep, these can more than makeup for the team losing Darren Collison (to retirement) and Thaddeus Young (in free agency)."

              Hmmm. Well, I know I didn't sleep through the fact we lost our second best player (Bojan).
              yeah bro, that hurt me too

              Boggie was my fav player last year, really wanted to see him back
              Sittin on top of the world!

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by 90'sNBARocked View Post

                yeah bro, that hurt me too

                Boggie was my fav player last year, really wanted to see him back
                He is really good. I'm sure Brogdon is good too. It will be very interesting to see how he performs in what will likely be a bigger role for him.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                  " Don’t sleep, these can more than makeup for the team losing Darren Collison (to retirement) and Thaddeus Young (in free agency)."

                  Hmmm. Well, I know I didn't sleep through the fact we lost our second best player (Bojan).
                  Yep I keep listening to people talk about Utah being contenders because they got the last piece in Bogdanovic and then few minutes later they talk about Pacers getting better
                  @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

                    Yep I keep listening to people talk about Utah being contenders because they got the last piece in Bogdanovic and then few minutes later they talk about Pacers getting better
                    Utah will be at least top 3 seed next year I think
                    Sittin on top of the world!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by owl View Post
                      Nice article but it would sure be nice to win a title someday. I like the way the team is set up.
                      And by that I mean it is in position to make a trade if needed to get a wing if the three bigs do not work out.
                      {o,o}
                      |)__)
                      -"-"-

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

                        Yep I keep listening to people talk about Utah being contenders because they got the last piece in Bogdanovic and then few minutes later they talk about Pacers getting better
                        Because Brogdon is better than Bogdanovic.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by BlueCollarColts View Post

                          Because Brogdon is better than Bogdanovic.
                          I don't believe that.
                          @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

                            Yep I keep listening to people talk about Utah being contenders because they got the last piece in Bogdanovic and then few minutes later they talk about Pacers getting better
                            Bogey wasn’t even looked at as “the missing piece” until he got to Indiana and played well. Let’s see how well Warren does now that he’s here. Brogdon is a real difference maker for this team as well.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

                              I don't believe that.
                              I like Bogey but he’’ll never be much more than a scorer. He offers very little in the way of play making and defensively he’s a solid player, but far from elite on that end.

                              Brogdon has the potential to be a much more well rounded player, not just scoring the basketball but also with his ability to create. He also has shown the ability to be an elite defender. His defense against Kawhi in the playoffs (albeit limited in scope) was fantastic. He defended him better than anyone else who got that assignment.

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