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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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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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2004-02-20

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  • 2004-02-20

    What happens next in the NBA?
    By Chad Ford
    NBA Insider
    Send an Email to Chad Ford Thursday, February 19
    Updated: February 20
    9:34 AM ET

    Eighteen hours after Joe Dumars pulled off the trade of the year, NBA GMs were
    still picking themselves up off the floor.

    "Unbelievable," one GM told Insider.

    "I've never seen a more lopsided deal in my career," another moaned.

    "They're morons," claimed another executive referring to Danny Ainge and Billy
    Knight. "I can't believe they just did that."

    "Detroit just shifted the balance of power in the East," another said. "I think
    they just became the team to beat."

    The reverberations from the last blockbuster in what has been an enormously busy
    trading season were still being felt as the night wore on. Two Eastern
    Conference teams in particular, the Pistons and Knicks, have fortified their
    teams while another East team, the Hawks, called it quits.

    What do you bet that Knight is hanging out with Howard Dean in Vermont tonight?
    The Hawks, with all of their assets, will walk into the summer with Jason Terry,
    two first-round picks and a large pile of rubble to rebuild. Our guess is that
    Knight won't be there to see it.

    What's gone down in the past few weeks will not only have ramifications on the
    playoff race, but on what's shaping up to be one of the busiest offseasons in
    NBA history.

    Now that the hangover has subsided, here's the breakdown . . .

    THE SEASON

    The East is now wide open. With Ron Artest now out indefinitely, the Nets
    surging under Lawrence Frank, the Hornets getting healthy and the Pistons,
    Knicks and even the Bucks fortifying their positions, we should be in for a real
    treat the last trimester of the season.

    Much is going to depend on how quickly the Pistons, Knicks and Bucks can
    integrate their new talent. The Pistons are six games back from the
    conference-leading Pacers, but have a favorable schedule and a new low-post man
    (Rasheed Wallace) to fix their only real weakness.

    The Hornets are sitting nine games behind the Pacers, but should be much
    stronger with Jamal Mashburn back in the lineup. The Bucks will also improve
    with Keith Van Horn in the lineup, but again, there will be an adjustment
    period.

    The Knicks have been adjusting on the fly, but with the trade rumors now over, I
    think they'll settle down and really start playing inspired basketball.

    Those six teams seem like a lock for the playoffs at the moment. Good luck
    trying to pick which one comes out of the East. I think you could make an
    argument for all six teams, though I'm leaning toward the Pistons at this point.

    The bottom is going to get ugly. The Magic didn't do enough to turn their season
    around. Is it just me or does Tracy McGrady look likes he's ready to kill
    someone? The Sixers are in the same boat with Allen Iverson. If the Hawks win
    another game . . . I'll be stunned.

    The West, on the other hand, did relatively little. The Jazz probably helped
    preserve a .500 season by adding Gordan Giricek and Tom Gugliotta. In my mind
    the playoff race there is almost over. There's a pretty big gap between the
    eight seed, Denver, and the ninth seed, Seattle. The Sonics had a chance to
    really improve but balked at several interesting trade scenarios. The Blazers
    are coming together at the right time, but I have a feeling that the dissension
    with Zach Randolph isn't going away any time soon.

    Chris Webber's return should have a major impact at the top of the standings.
    The Kings have the best TEAM in the NBA right now, and Webber's ability to fit
    in should make the transition pretty seamless.

    The Lakers are getting healthy again, which makes them pretty dangerous, but
    will they have played together long enough to make a difference?

    Minnesota will have chemistry issues once Wally Szczerbiak and Michael
    Olowokandi return. The Grizzlies probably missed an opportunity to become more
    dominant by adding Erick Dampier, but I don't blame Jerry West for balking at
    what the Warriors were asking for Damp. Jeff Van Gundy still has to find a way
    to get along with Steve Francis, but our guess is that they get that taken care
    of.

    The bottom won't be nearly as bad in the West. The Suns, Clippers and Warriors
    will jostle for last place, but with little remorse. Both the Suns and Clippers
    will have windows to improve dramatically this summer. The Warriors? Well . . .
    they feel at home at the bottom anyway.

    THE FALL GUYS

    There have already been a record number of coaches fired and it doesn't look
    like the end will come soon.

    The Hawks' Terry Stotts may have just been handed the worst team ever. He has
    more tenure than any other coach in the East, but there's about a 99.9 percent
    chance that he'll be looking for work this summer. Billy Knight should probably
    join him.

    The Sonics' Nate McMillan has grown frustrated with the direction his team is
    heading in. McMillan was holding out hope that GM Rick Sund could move Vladimir
    Radmanovic, who has no business playing the four, for a real power forward. Will
    the frustration get the better of him? The players could revolt and Sund may
    have to send Nate packing.

    The Magic insist that Johnny Davis is their man, but with the rest of the
    Titanic about to sink in the next 30 or so games, it's hard to believe anyone is
    going to survive in Orlando. GM John Gabriel is going down with the ship, and
    unfortunately, Davis will probably be right there with him.

    The Celtics' John Carroll is as good as gone. The Celtics are getting shakier by
    the day, and you know that Danny Ainge is itching to bring in his guy to start
    putting together the pieces.

    The Sixers will try to get permission from the Blazers to land Maurice Cheeks
    this summer. Chris Ford is already in Allen Iverson's doghouse. AI is so tough
    to move, it probably makes more sense to bring in a coach who can co-exist with
    Allen. Billy King, on the other hand, probably won't be around long enough to
    make that decision. The Sixers are a mess and his inability to get something
    done by the trade deadline just emphasizes it.

    The Mavericks are the other team to watch. They have supersized expectations and
    Mark Cuban won't hesitate to pull the plug on Don Nelson if he feels there's a
    guy out there who can get more from his team.

    Who's going to replace all of those guys? Jim O'Brien, Doc Rivers and even Byron
    Scott will probably land jobs this summer in the coaching ranks. Possible
    replacement GMs? Pistons V.P. John Hammond (who turned down the Portland job
    last summer), and Pacers assistant GM David Morway are at the top of the class.

    The Pistons and Pacers have become models of how to rebuild without blowing
    things up and both guys played a big part in their team's success. Both will be
    getting long looks from a couple of teams contemplating a change.

    THE DRAFT

    Start with the expansion draft set to be held on June 22. Every team is allowed
    to protect only eight players, meaning that several teams are going to have some
    tough choices. For teams that have eight or fewer players on their roster, they
    must leave one person unprotected. Expect a lot of side deals with the Bobcats
    as teams try to wiggle and get more cap space.

    You could definitely see a team like the Suns (with Jahidi White), the Wizards
    (Christian Laettner) or the Pistons (with Elden Campbell) try to move a player
    in the expansion draft to get more room. What is the Bobcats' incentive?
    Promises of picks, players or both. They'll be in the driver's seat and could
    really shake things up just days before the draft.

    The Celtics now have three first-round picks (their own, the Mavericks' and the
    Pistons'). The Jazz have three (their own, the Rockets' and likely the Knicks').
    The Blazers have two (their own and Memphis'). They now become the power brokers
    as the draft approaches. With so many young players and international players in
    this year's draft, it makes little sense to have all of those picks. Expect them
    to use the picks as bargaining chips this summer.

    This is a good year for bigs in the draft, if you don't mind them coming so
    young. There will be Emeka Okafor (6-foot-9), Dwight Howard (6-11,
    18-years-old), Pavel Podkolzine (7-4, 19 yrs), Kosta Perovic (7-2, 19 yrs),
    Andris Biedrins (7-0, 18 yrs), Peja Samardzski (7-0, 18 yrs), Ivan Chiriaev
    (7-1, 18 yrs), LaMarcus Aldridge (6-11, 18 yrs.), Robert Swift (7-1, 18 yrs),
    Rafael Araujo (6-11, 23), Ha Seung Jin (7-3, 18 yrs.) and possibly big guys like
    Colorado's David Harrison (7-0) and Michigan State's Paul Davis (6-11). That's
    good news for a lot of vertically challenged teams in the lottery.

    Expect the theme of this year's draft to center on the high school kids. As many
    as eight of them could slip into the first round this year -- a record. Scouts
    are also predicting another 10 international players to make it into the first
    round. That really puts a squeeze on the college players who could be looking at
    a record-low eight spots this year. What does that mean? With no LeBron in the
    high school class of 2004, this is a prospect draft, meaning no first-year
    impact players this year with the possible exception of Arizona's Andre
    Iguodala, St. Joseph's Jameer Nelson and possibly Duke's Luol Deng, if he puts
    his name in the draft.

    THE SUMMER

    Several GMs are now predicting that with the increased revenue the league is
    seeing this year, the cap could raise to $46 or $47 million next year. They also
    believe there will be no luxury tax for the 2004-05 season, which frees folks up
    significantly.

    The players in free agency? Assuming there's a $46 million cap, the Jazz will
    have roughly $28 million in cap room. The Hawks are looking at around $20
    million. The Nuggets will have between $17 million and $24 million depending on
    what they do with Marcus Camby. The Clippers will have around $15 million. The
    Spurs should come in at around $12 million. The Pistons are now looking at
    roughly $9 to $11 million in cap space. The Suns could are also looking to be in
    that $9 to $11 million range. And don't forget the Bobcats, who could have as
    much as $24 million under the cap.

    What does this mean? We'll probably see some intense bidding wars and see higher
    contracts this year than in the past few offseasons. With so much money out
    there, it's going to be a lot easier for free agents to leave the nest and much
    tougher for teams to match their restricted free agents.

    The Pistons may be the center of the universe again. All eyes will be on Rasheed
    Wallace and Mehmet Okur in Detroit. Both are top-six free agents this year.
    Here's the bad news for those thinking that Thursday's trade means that one of
    them is available. Pistons president Joe Dumars wants to re-sign both Wallace
    and Okur this summer if they both get along over the next 30-plus games.

    Sources claim that Wallace has already sent out feelers about staying in
    Detroit, quashing the notion that he'll only play for the Knicks next season.
    With the Pistons looking at between $9 and $11 million in cap room, can Joe D
    get it done?

    The Pistons probably have the cap space and flexibility to work something out.
    If they can get Okur to sign for the mid-level exception (expected to be around
    $5.1 to $5.5 this year) then they can use their Bird Rights to get Wallace. If
    Okur is commanding more money on the open market, the Pistons can always try to
    package a few more players to a team with cap space to get far enough under to
    sign them both this summer.

    That's bad news for just about everyone in the East.

    The Kobe Bryant situation is going to be a mess. If the trial isn't over by the
    summer, does a team really risk throwing a huge contract his way if he's headed
    off to jail? It could really slow things down, and who has the patience to wait
    around for a long shot?

    Other top free agents like Steve Nash, Antoine Walker and Emanuel Ginobili are
    probably staying put. Kenyon Martin will probably be the best guy who's actually
    available on July 1st. After that guys like Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford
    and possibly Erick Dampier will be the best available.

    Looking for some mid-level free agent bargains? Here's an early list of who
    might sign with your team even if it's over the cap: Vlade Divac, Gary Payton,
    Marcus Camby, Stromile Swift, Antonio McDyess, Brent Barry, Carlos Arroyo,
    Gordan Giricek, Etan Thomas, Rodney White and Adonal Foyle.
    Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
    Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
    Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
    Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
    And life itself, rushing over me
    Life itself, the wind in black elms,
    Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you


  • #2
    Re: 2004-02-20

    No luxury tax this year or next.

    Has there ever been a worse GM than Danny Ainge? Maybe Ted Stepian but he was an owner and that was 20 year ago

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: 2004-02-20

      No luxury tax this year or next.

      Has there ever been a worse GM than Danny Ainge? Maybe Ted Stepian but he was an owner and that was 20 year ago
      Maybe Stu Jackson with Vancouver?
      Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
      Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
      Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
      Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
      And life itself, rushing over me
      Life itself, the wind in black elms,
      Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: 2004-02-20

        No luxury tax this year or next.

        So does that mean we are going to admit that keeping Brad would not have put us in LT?

        Comment

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