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The Rules of Pacers Digest

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Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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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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My Jim O'Brien thread...

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  • #16
    Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

    Originally posted by Ryan View Post
    Are you seriously looking at that roster and seeing an ECF team?
    Well... They did have Bruno.



    ... but ya, pretty bad team.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

      Originally posted by Ryan View Post
      Are you seriously looking at that roster and seeing an ECF team?
      better team than what the pacers have had the last couple years or close to it.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

        I feel the same way as Peck. I posted a thread a few days ago about some changes I've seen in the offense.

        First off, they've run a very high number of pick and rolls. Several involve Darren and Roy, but almost as many involve freeing Danny for a drive to the basket.

        Secondly, we've really put the ball in the low post. My fear going into the season was that Roy would be used almost exclusively at the elbow. Instead he's been closer to the basket, where he deserves to be.

        Finally, his treatment of Josh has been very, very impressive. The message that shooting isn't as important has been clearly delivered to Josh as he's now hesitant to shoot a three. As a result we've seen the Josh of old, who set picks and ran motion. This is easily the best Josh has looked in a long time, and that's because Jim is allowing him to play to his strengths.

        Let's see what we have after the Pacers start losing a little. I'm hoping we'll stick to our strengths. But for now, Jim has been different and it's worth noting.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

          Originally posted by Peck View Post
          Oh believe me I understand but what I ask is that we give it a chance. We can't just have a change and then not recognize that there has been a change.
          My issue is that I don't know if he is finally changing because he is trying to keep his job, why no change last year or the year before? I know there is nothing I can do so the only thing I can do is wait and see
          @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

            Originally posted by Peck View Post
            ...The combination of Jim O’Brien & Troy Murphy was more than I could bear. To me they brought out the worst in each other and the combination of the two was an abomination before the basketball Gods...

            In the meantime I offer détente over the Jim O’Brien war.
            Oh jeez... please don't ask me to do the same.

            The statement I've included above is a common thread with me as well.

            But, I will agree with you that I have appreciated his handling of McRoberts and George so far. And, there seems to be much less of his infamous "outside-in" offense.

            Another thing that I like about O'Brien is that he is very blunt. He is a brutally honest man. But, something I hate about O'Brien is that he is very blunt and a brutally honest man... publicly. Practice and in the locker room is where you take your players to task. You do NOT do it in the news media.

            My thing about O'Brien is that I consider him to be a lame duck coach. Normally, I would say fine, let him coach out the year and let's move on. But unfortunately, we have a lot of young players and will have a lot of cap space next summer. I believe the best course of action would be to have a new coach now who begins coaching the existing players in a manner consistent with the long-term roles he expects them to have. I also think it is important that the coach be in place to offer his opinion about possible acquisitions at the trade deadline as well as next summer using the available cap space.

            So sorry, I cannot waive the olive branch and offer a reprieve.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

              I'm willing to watch for a few games a see what happens.

              Your are saying that the Troy Murphy phenom was just one terrible lapse in judgement that won't happen again. I'm saying if he is capable of one such huge lapse, he is capable of another. But let's hope for the best.
              "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                Originally posted by pacer4ever View Post
                42 Vin Baker F 6-11 232 November 23, 1971 9 University of Hartford
                4 Tony Battie C-F 6-11 230 February 11, 1976 5 Texas Tech University
                30 Mark Blount C 7-0 230 November 30, 1975 2 University of Pittsburgh
                9 J.R. Bremer G 6-2 185 September 19, 1980 R St. Bonaventure University
                5 Kedrick Brown G 6-7 222 March 18, 1981 1 Okaloosa-Walton Community College
                11 Mark Bryant F-C 6-9 245 April 25, 1965 14 Seton Hall University
                12 Bimbo Coles G 6-1 180 April 22, 1968 12 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
                7 Tony Delk G 6-1 189 January 28, 1974 6 University of Kentucky
                43 Grant Long F 6-8 225 March 12, 1966 14 Eastern Michigan University
                0 Walter McCarty F 6-10 230 February 1, 1974 6 University of Kentucky
                31 Mikki Moore C 6-11 225 November 4, 1975 4 University of Nebraska
                34 Paul Pierce F 6-6 230 October 13, 1977 4 University of Kansas
                41 Bruno Sundov C 7-2 220 February 10, 1980 4
                8 Antoine Walker F 6-8 224 August 12, 1976 6 University of Kentucky
                55 Eric Williams F 6-8 220 July 17, 1972 7 Providence College
                11 Shammond Williams G 6-1 201 April 5, 1975 4 University of North Carolina
                45 Ruben Wolkowyski F 6-10 270 September 30, 1973 1


                no talent??? he had talent lol he had more than some teams who make the playoffs had
                I dunno, that roster looks pretty terrible to me.


                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                  Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                  My issue is that I don't know if he is finally changing because he is trying to keep his job, why no change last year or the year before? I know there is nothing I can do so the only thing I can do is wait and see
                  Peck answered your question already, Troy Murphy is why. O'Brien is in a mindset that it's all about winning now. Win now, don't lose. Losing is bad. You must win. Get it? Now with Troy gone there is a true youth movement here. Jim is forced to go against that and try and win with whatever he has. Youth.

                  The guy already knows his ticket out of town is punched after this season ends. (And I mean that with all due respect.) Nothing he can do this year will grant him an extension. TRUST ME.

                  I want to know who exactly they would've brought in so early into this season (Mind you while still paying for Jim's final year.) that would fit this growing team. Please, oh please don't say Mark Jackson.
                  Last edited by duke dynamite; 10-19-2010, 10:07 AM.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                    Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                    Peck answered your question already, Troy Murphy is why. O'Brien is in a mindset that it's all about winning now. Win now, don't lose. Losing is bad. You must win. Get it? Now with Troy gone there is a true youth movement here. Jim is forced to go against that and try and win with whatever he has. Youth.

                    The guy already knows his ticket out of town is punched after this season ends. (And I mean that with all due respect.) Nothing he can do this year will grant him an extension. TRUST ME.

                    I want to know who exactly they would've brought in so early into this season (Mind you while still paying for Jim's final year.) that would fit this growing team. Please, oh please don't say Mark Jackson.
                    Mark Jackson?
                    @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                      Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                      Mark Jackson?
                      Mmm hmm...

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                        So far he has done everything right, lets see if he can stick with it.
                        "As a bearded man, i was very disappointed in Love. I am gathering other bearded men to discuss the status of Kevin Love's beard. I am motioning that it must be shaved."

                        - ilive4sports

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                          Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                          The guy already knows his ticket out of town is punched after this season ends. (And I mean that with all due respect.) Nothing he can do this year will grant him an extension. TRUST ME.

                          I can see him getting an extension if the team wins 46+ games or so. That is a huge improvement from last year and he would certainly be in the running for COY. How can they not extend him in that case?

                          I am not saying this is very likely, but it is possible.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                            Originally posted by Thingfish View Post
                            I can see him getting an extension if the team wins 46+ games or so. That is a huge improvement from last year and he would certainly be in the running for COY. How can they not extend him in that case?

                            I am not saying this is very likely, but it is possible.
                            I stand corrected. I agree with you that getting COY is probably the only way he'll get to stick around.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                              Originally posted by duke dynamite View Post
                              I stand corrected. I agree with you that getting COY is probably the only way he'll get to stick around.
                              I thought that was the kiss of death.
                              "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: My Jim O'Brien thread...

                                Well thanks to Mike Well's tweet this just became a little more bitter to swallow.

                                Don't get me wrong I'm not changing my mind about trying to keep a level head for the season but I have a feeling he is going to run home to Momma again as soon as we hit the first rough spot.


                                Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

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