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The Rules of 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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Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

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  • #1

    Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

    Mike Wise has been around the NBA a lot of years.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/in-nba-playoffs-wizards-pacers-reverse-outlooks-in-just-a-week/2014/05/12/bc9404ae-d9dd-11e3-bda1-9b46b2066796_story.html


    Mike Wise Columnist

    In NBA playoffs, Wizards, Pacers reverse outlooks in just a week

    By Mike Wise, Published: May 12E-mail the writer

    Looking back to just last week, it’s frankly wild how quickly fortunes change in this league.

    Seven days is all it took for the Washington Wizards to go from winning Game 1 and golden to down three games to one and almost goners — to being on the cusp of shaking up the axis of power in the Eastern Conference to taking their rightful place below the team that took LeBron James and Miami to seven games a year ago.

    You think the Wizards are shaken? Think how the Pacers feel.

    Between Games 1 and 2 in Indianapolis, I caught the elevator from the court level to the business offices of the Pacers above to see an old friend.

    Donnie Walsh was at his desk in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, wondering whether his team was going to find itself before the season expired.

    “Washington has a really nice blend of youth and experience,” said Walsh, the Pacers’ former team president and now a consultant to Larry Bird. “I really like that back court; [John] Wall and [Bradley] Beal are really good together.

    “You know, in a way, that team really reminds me of us a year ago and even two years ago
    .
    That’s when we had something to prove. The Wizards play like they have something to prove, like they have a hunger that we had.”

    There was a little lament in that last part, as if Walsh was almost worried the window was closing.
    The Pacers were down in the series at the time, having been picked apart by the Wizards on their home floor in the opener. Malicious (and completely unsubstantiated) reports of love triangles and bad juju among players in the locker room were awash on the Internet.

    Lance Stephenson and Evan Turner had gone toe-to-toe in practice during the Atlanta series, a grueling seven-game affair the Pacers barely withstood.

    Paul George appeared to have his head more in the clouds than on the court, and Roy Hibbert had become the NBA equivalent of a major league catcher who inexplicably couldn’t get the ball out of his glove to throw to second.

    It might be hard to believe, but the heartland hoops of NBA teams had more drama than any big-market team could concoct.

    The Pacers weren’t just fallible as a No. 1 seed; a squad that started the season on fire at 40-11, that was by far and away the best reason to bet against the Heat winning its third straight title, was now combustible.

    All of Coach Frank Vogel’s optimism and no-worries mantras were starting to resemble deep denial more than unbridled support of his team.

    Walsh wouldn’t let on about what the future held last Tuesday, but the Pacers seemed to have two choices: Get their game together now or detonate themselves, blow up their championship-team visions — and possibly the roster.

    Legends such as Bird and lifers such as Walsh, who once played for Frank McGuire and Dean Smith at North Carolina and is now 73 years old, die inside a little when the team they assembled can’t get over the hump. Sure, no one is going hungry, and it’s still sports and all that. But there is nothing worse for an NBA executive than the realization the team you put together simply doesn’t have the necessary heart and hunger to do what you thought it could.

    David West was looking like a faux tough guy in the middle. All the bench pieces were looking rusty and dated. The gamble at the trade deadline to bring in Andrew Bynum failed. Turner had turned into nothing but a quick rental.

    And three games later, here are the Pacers, their faith in each other renewed, their goal of unseating Miami still alive and very much kicking.

    Now comes the realization on the other side for Ernie Grunfeld, the team president of the Wizards. Now comes the hard part for Washington’s executives after a Game 4 meltdown at home, after a winnable Game 2 in Indiana that rightly could have helped the Wizards be up three games to one instead of playing for their season Tuesday night.

    Wall and Beal are going to win many more games together with much of the cast around them. There is no window closing for a franchise that had championship designs this season.
    But there is a harsh realization that the Wizards, who seemed so poised to make noise beyond mid-May for the first time in 35 years, are not ready to take the gigantic step from playoff team to serious contender.

    They are much more than happy to be here, but the team Walsh saw as one with something to prove, like the Pacers before all the success that breeds drama, has not yet fully arrived.

    The Wizards enter Game 5 with a sense of victimhood about the referees, but they have no one to blame but themselves for how this series got away from them. Washington reverted back to the team Wittman saw blow 11 double-digit leads in the second half during the regular season, the most of any team in the playoffs.

    One week, that’s all it took. One franchise can put any plans of blowing up the roster on ice — if that’s even what the Pacers had in mind. Another needs to reevaluate and be glad for a decent postseason run for the first time in five years.

    “I hope we can get it together,” Walsh said before I left his office last week. “We’ll see.”


    He saw, all right. He saw Wall’s postseason inexperience catch up with him and the re-emergence of a contender from Indiana, which is now just one win from returning to face the Heat again for all the marbles in the East.

    It really is wild how quickly it happened.
    For more by Mike Wise, visit washingtonpost.com/wise.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

    Damn good article

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

      Basketball is a game of runs. Not just within the games but within the season.
      #LanceEffect

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

        Originally posted by khaos01207 View Post
        Basketball is a game of runs. Not just within the games but within the season.
        That's a very good comparison to how I felt during the season. Like having a rich, fantastic, hours-long dinner filled with good wine and great conversation, then waking up the next morning with an awful case of the runs
        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

        • #5
          Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

          It has been an amazing week, we went from when will Hibbert get it together to man that was a great game I hope he can keep it together to holly **** this team is back in the course of a week.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

            Originally posted by Ragnar View Post
            It has been an amazing week, we went from when will Hibbert get it together to man that was a great game I hope he can keep it together to holly **** this team is back in the course of a week.
            Yeah, but really it was just over the course of a weekend. Game #2 didn't do anything to improve my confidence. Sure a win, but didn't think we played very well.

            Game #3 was the game. That showed me we were still capable of playing like we did through January. It wasn't the final score, it was the way the Pacers took the heart from the Wizards in that game. It has been three months since we saw that. Game 4 was great - comebacks are fun, but to me game #3 was the game that opened my eyes again.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

              I thought one of the biggest things we avoided in game 4 was getting focused on the refs when we were down. We just kept playing. That is what you have to do. Shut out everything you can't control and just play.


              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                I thought one of the biggest things we avoided in game 4 was getting focused on the refs when we were down. We just kept playing. That is what you have to do. Shut out everything you can't control and just play.

                The Pacers need to finish the series tonight because I can almost guarantee you Miami will Wednesday.
                {o,o}
                |)__)
                -"-"-

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                  Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                  Yeah, but really it was just over the course of a weekend. Game #2 didn't do anything to improve my confidence. Sure a win, but didn't think we played very well.

                  Game #3 was the game. That showed me we were still capable of playing like we did through January. It wasn't the final score, it was the way the Pacers took the heart from the Wizards in that game. It has been three months since we saw that. Game 4 was great - comebacks are fun, but to me game #3 was the game that opened my eyes again.

                  I agree and with the come back in game 4 that showed that they wont just wilt, two weeks ago if they were down 16 it was OVER.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                    Originally posted by khaos01207 View Post
                    Basketball is a game of runs. Not just within the games but within the season.
                    This is true, but I'd still like the offense to be watchable at least. It's just so ugly and awkward.

                    At least the Pacers defense is back for now. Hope that continues to get more dominate. Going to need that vaunted D vs Miami.
                    First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                      Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                      I thought one of the biggest things we avoided in game 4 was getting focused on the refs when we were down. We just kept playing. That is what you have to do. Shut out everything you can't control and just play.
                      This what I've noticed the last several games - the team (except for West) is not worrying about the refs or outside influences. They are simply playing basketball and playing it the way that got them off to the great start.

                      This team is immature in a lot of ways and I'm afraid if Washington can win tonight (which will only happen if the immature Pacers show up) then they will have a great chance to win game 6 at home and force a game 7. Things could spiral the other direction very quickly with this team due to their fragile psyches. I really don't think this will happen but, as this team has proven for 3 months, anything is possible.
                      "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
                      - Benjamin Franklin

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                        I do wonder if we will ever find out if something changed after game 1 of this series. Seems emotionally and chemistry wise things have changed. Although I'll always say game 1 of this series the pacers were just tired coming off the Hawks series

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                          Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
                          I do wonder if we will ever find out if something changed after game 1 of this series. Seems emotionally and chemistry wise things have changed. Although I'll always say game 1 of this series the pacers were just tired coming off the Hawks series
                          At least emotionally tired. I know I was. I was not ready for another opponent so I'm sure the team felt the same way. The Wizards came out like a team that was happy to be playing basketball again while the Pacers looked like a team that needed another day to move on from the near collapse against the Hawks.
                          Slug 'em Sabres!!!!!
                          http://youtube.com/watch?v=cj1SUF4wzu0

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Good article from Mike Wise of the Washinton Post

                            I keep having the thoughts that I had in 2004 during the Yankees/Red Sox series (I was a Yankee fan because I hadn't moved to Cincinnati yet). I could, at that time, see the way out for the Red Sox. At that time it had to do with starting pitching matchups. If Derek Lowe had a good outing in game 4, then you got to Pedro and Kurt who would certainly pitch better in games 5 and 6 than in the first two games of the series. I said all this to a friend and they told me that I was crazy. This time, it seems to me that the Wizards have a game plan that works as evidenced by quarter one in game one and especially the second quarter in game 4. And unlike the Hawks game plan, it doesn't require an unreal percentage from 3 to be effective. If the Wizards come out shooting hot tonight in the first quarter and especially control tempo and turn the game into the track meet that they want like they did in the second on Sunday, they could build confidence and force a game seven. If that happens, anything goes. I realize that this is just the fan in me talking, but we need to control the tempo from the opening tip to the final buzzer tonight to get them frustrated.
                            Slug 'em Sabres!!!!!
                            http://youtube.com/watch?v=cj1SUF4wzu0

                            Comment

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