Announcement

Collapse

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.
See more
See less

Place Your Bets!

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Originally posted by Dece View Post
    When you say things like that, Cubs (and others), you're starting at the 60 games into the season point. All it takes is going further back, trade Hield 20 games into the season all the sudden you are further down. Could also trade Myles at the deadline and you're even further down. It's so asinine to say, "well they were 6th with 20 to go, nothing could be done." Why is that the point in time that you want to cling to?

    When people say, "the draft lotto could have gone anyway, you can't count on it," it reminds me of people who are terrible at Texas Hold'em who say, "any two cards could win!" Sure, yea, you go all in with 2-7 I'll play aces. Anything could happen.
    You could have benched Benn and Hali as soon as you saw they were any good and lost all the games. Then, based on the current outcome of the lottery, we'd be picking a whole 2 positions higher. Whoopee.

    Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

    BillS

    A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
    Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Dece View Post
      When you say things like that, Cubs (and others), you're starting at the 60 games into the season point. All it takes is going further back, trade Hield 20 games into the season all the sudden you are further down. Could also trade Myles at the deadline and you're even further down. It's so asinine to say, "well they were 6th with 20 to go, nothing could be done." Why is that the point in time that you want to cling to?

      When people say, "the draft lotto could have gone anyway, you can't count on it," it reminds me of people who are terrible at Texas Hold'em who say, "any two cards could win!" Sure, yea, you go all in with 2-7 I'll play aces. Anything could happen.
      I think this is a good example of showing that it's ok to be generally on one side of an argument and still be allowed to point out the excesses of your own side.

      My point above was simply pointing out that the Pacers had the 5th spot and then dropped down to 7th due to mismanagement at the end of the season is not true. They had a chance to tie for the 5th spot, and honestly that likely wouldn't have happened even if they had benched those two completely because bad teams just win games occasionally (as was true of the game Portland won at the end of the season).

      However, I was generally on team tank this season. I wish the Westbrook trade would have happened, that would have been a home run for where the Pacers were. I am less certain of other trades because if it was good salary coming back how impactful would that really have been for the tank, and if it was bad salary coming back how much does that affect future seasons. I generally was on board with trading those two in order to get worse, but I wasn't ready to do it at all costs.

      I also don't think the Pacers could have gotten into the bottom 3 just trading the veterans.

      But I 100% was on board with the thought that the team needed to get as high as possible this season because there weren't going to be many chances going forward to add an impact talent, so they needed to do it while they could.

      Comment


      • Looking forward for homers and anti tankers to tell us in ten years that San Antonio didn’t tank and that tanking doesn’t work.
        @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

        Comment


        • Rigged works or SA is just beyond incredibly lucky. Pacers have never been lucky. Of course someone will say the more I tank(lose) the luckier I get.
          I would rather just be lucky. Complete unknown.
          {o,o}
          |)__)
          -"-"-

          Comment


          • When I read some of these comments, I wonder how it's enjoyable to be a fan of a sports team. The amount of gross exaggerations are also exhausting. I'm not sure I'd consider myself to be a homer, and I certainly wanted a higher draft pick, particularly in this draft. I think the need for more talent is very evident, particularly as Hali went out and we went on our spectacular losing streak. As I said before, it really showed me that we are depending far too much on him individually, and we have no business contending for the playoffs. That would be a fruitless endeavor.

            However, I also balance that, knowing that our starting PF was 6'5, and we were essentially playing without a max contract when the Suns matched Deandre's contract and we subsequently did nothing. Our roster was very broken, but we still have talent. I'd say I encourage games playing out in their natural course, and to allow our players to grow and congeal with another. I don't want to develop a losing mentality, and to essentially tell our players, you are going to fail, failing is a good thing, and will not be successful with the addition of a 19-year-old player.

            Because of that, I'm content with how the draft happened. I wish we had a top 4 pick, but I'm absolutely not devastated. Would it be nice to get pick 5 or 6? Sure. But there isn't a player guaranteed to be taken at 5 or 6 who might not be available at 7. As an aside, I'll happily admit that I was one of the posters last summer who was devastated that we didn't get Jaden Ivey, and I was equally as mad that we didn't trade up for Tyty Washington. I was very happy to be wrong on both counts, at least so far.

            This past season was frustrating for a number of reasons, but I just don't understand why the negativity is continuing as such, especially since we did end up where we were supposed to.
            Peck is basically omniscient when it comes to understanding how the minds of Herb Simon and Kevin Pritchard work. I was a fool to ever question him and now feel deep shame for not understanding that this team believes in continuity above talent.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by BillS View Post
              You could have benched Benn and Hali as soon as you saw they were any good and lost all the games. Then, based on the current outcome of the lottery, we'd be picking a whole 2 positions higher. Whoopee.

              Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
              Does winning 36 games really bring you so much more joy than winning 26 Bill? It's so weird to see people so committed to accomplishing nothing on repeat. 10 years without a playoff series win incoming.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by BornReady View Post
                When I read some of these comments, I wonder how it's enjoyable to be a fan of a sports team. The amount of gross exaggerations are also exhausting. I'm not sure I'd consider myself to be a homer, and I certainly wanted a higher draft pick, particularly in this draft. I think the need for more talent is very evident, particularly as Hali went out and we went on our spectacular losing streak. As I said before, it really showed me that we are depending far too much on him individually, and we have no business contending for the playoffs. That would be a fruitless endeavor.

                However, I also balance that, knowing that our starting PF was 6'5, and we were essentially playing without a max contract when the Suns matched Deandre's contract and we subsequently did nothing. Our roster was very broken, but we still have talent. I'd say I encourage games playing out in their natural course, and to allow our players to grow and congeal with another. I don't want to develop a losing mentality, and to essentially tell our players, you are going to fail, failing is a good thing, and will not be successful with the addition of a 19-year-old player.

                Because of that, I'm content with how the draft happened. I wish we had a top 4 pick, but I'm absolutely not devastated. Would it be nice to get pick 5 or 6? Sure. But there isn't a player guaranteed to be taken at 5 or 6 who might not be available at 7. As an aside, I'll happily admit that I was one of the posters last summer who was devastated that we didn't get Jaden Ivey, and I was equally as mad that we didn't trade up for Tyty Washington. I was very happy to be wrong on both counts, at least so far.

                This past season was frustrating for a number of reasons, but I just don't understand why the negativity is continuing as such, especially since we did end up where we were supposed to.
                Are people supposed to be positive about a decade without a playoff series win? What is there to be positive about? The Pacers have become a completely irrelevant franchise, are people supposed to be pumped about that? Woohoo we're number 25? Not sure what emotion I'm supposed to have here, help me out.

                Comment


                • Honestly if a decade of bad moves and failure doesn't upset you, I don't think you're a fan. I think you're a stooge.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Dece View Post

                    Does winning 36 games really bring you so much more joy than winning 26 Bill? It's so weird to see people so committed to accomplishing nothing on repeat. 10 years without a playoff series win incoming.
                    Seeing players on the floor playing hard and having some success gives me joy. Having good players taken off the court completely and then hearing so-called fans despair about how horrible they must be (or how fatally injury-prone) does not.

                    Tell the truth, if we had traded all the vets and the combination of Hali & Benn ended up winning only a couple of dozen games wouldn't people be complaining that we whiffed in the trade and draft and were still a decade or more from contending?

                    At some point young players need to also be shown they can play hard and win.

                    Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

                    BillS

                    A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                    Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Dece View Post

                      Are people supposed to be positive about a decade without a playoff series win? What is there to be positive about? The Pacers have become a completely irrelevant franchise, are people supposed to be pumped about that? Woohoo we're number 25? Not sure what emotion I'm supposed to have here, help me out.
                      I don't think you can just take one end result and have blanket grumpiness. Were you happy when we didn't resign Oladipo? Were you happy when Sabonis played well? Were you particularly mad when we drafted TJ Leaf? Were you particularly mad when we gave Myles a front heavy contract this season? If those things don't move the needle for you, then I guess you should ultimately always be grumpy because at the end, we're all going to die. I say that facetiously, but that's essentially the argument you're making, and again, why be a fan at all then.
                      Peck is basically omniscient when it comes to understanding how the minds of Herb Simon and Kevin Pritchard work. I was a fool to ever question him and now feel deep shame for not understanding that this team believes in continuity above talent.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Dece View Post
                        Honestly if a decade of bad moves and failure doesn't upset you, I don't think you're a fan. I think you're a stooge.
                        Facts.
                        @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by Dece
                          Honestly if a decade of bad moves and failure doesn't upset you, I don't think you're a fan. I think you're a stooge.
                          Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                          Facts.
                          There is no binary response on this particular topic where one is wrong and the other side is right.

                          One can be upset about the sheer ineptitude and failures of the FO while choosing to recognize that it is important to create a Team culture for younger Players that encourages them to play hard and try to win games. I ( and others here ) think that it is important to not create a culture of losing. Stuff like this negatively impacts not only the Players but also the fanbase over the long term.

                          Of course, the talent level may not carry the Team to win games no matter how hard they try. But there is a difference between intentionally losing games and trying to win games but recognizing that isn't winnable simply because the opposing team is better.
                          Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by BornReady View Post

                            I don't think you can just take one end result and have blanket grumpiness. Were you happy when we didn't resign Oladipo? Were you happy when Sabonis played well? Were you particularly mad when we drafted TJ Leaf? Were you particularly mad when we gave Myles a front heavy contract this season? If those things don't move the needle for you, then I guess you should ultimately always be grumpy because at the end, we're all going to die. I say that facetiously, but that's essentially the argument you're making, and again, why be a fan at all then.
                            That's not at all the argument I'm making. The argument I'm making is that if you are happy when the team makes bad moves, or fails to make good ones by doing nothing, than you are a mark. You might as well just come out and say, "please daddy billionaire please let me give you my time energy and money, I want nothing in return from you, please just take it!"

                            I was mad when they drafted Leaf. I was mad when they drafted Psycho-T. I was mad when they drafted Duarte. I was mad when they traded for George Hill. I was mad when they gave up a draft pick for the honor of signing Brogdon. I was mad when the Pacers traded a first round pick for Thad Young. I was mad and I have consistently been mad at the team for 15 years or so, because they have consistently made bad moves. The evidence is in the product, it's been a bad team for a decade. What you're suggesting, though, is that the team is only capable of making bad moves, that it is impossible for them to make good moves. That isn't true. They could start making good moves tomorrow, I just don't believe they will.

                            Someday, at least, ownership will have to change hands. That's really the best hope, aside from just getting dumb lucky and winning the draft lottery from the 10 spot, or drafting (another) Paul George at 10. I am tired, though, of having to wait for dumb luck because management is incompetent.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by BillS View Post
                              Seeing players on the floor playing hard and having some success gives me joy. Having good players taken off the court completely and then hearing so-called fans despair about how horrible they must be (or how fatally injury-prone) does not.

                              Tell the truth, if we had traded all the vets and the combination of Hali & Benn ended up winning only a couple of dozen games wouldn't people be complaining that we whiffed in the trade and draft and were still a decade or more from contending?

                              At some point young players need to also be shown they can play hard and win.

                              Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
                              No matter what happens, someone will complain. That much is true. If your standard is, "I want no one to complain," I think your best bet is to stop using the internet. I can't speak for "people" though, I only speak for myself. If the Pacers had gone out there and won 20 games, I would not be complaining.

                              I mean this completely sincerely, are you sure the NBA is the right product for you Bill? If all you care about is playing hard success or not, is not the college game the right game for you? You can't tank in college. There's no draft. All you can do is put the best squad you can out, every night. The options for longer term strategy are extremely more limited in that environment. I really feel like that product is the one you are looking for. The immediate, only tonight matters, just win tonight baby fans -- that's college. NBA involves longer term strategy, and losing is part of the correct overall long term strategy sometimes.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post

                                Two players that are not part of the future but you let them screw up your future, it's what the Pacers do every time (see Thad Young/Hill).


                                Pacers had a hold on the 5th pick but they decided to win some garbage games moving down two spots just because this is Indiana and we love the roundabouts.
                                I do love me some roundabouts. First encountered one in Negril Jamaica of all places. I went the wrong way and about killed a local guy on a scooter. Had to buy some crappy Ganja from him to make it up to him.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X