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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

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

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Good article about the series

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  • #1

    Good article about the series

    http://mweb.cbssports.com/general/wr...at-in-playoffs

    INDIANAPOLIS -- This is a first, but here we are. The Miami Heat are in a playoff series, and the story isn't LeBron James. The story isn't anywhere in the Miami Heat locker room, a spartan place Sunday without leather chairs or stainless steel nameplates or any of the trappings of NBA wealth.

    LeBron sat in his empty locker after Game 1, icing his knees and shoulders after this 107-96 loss to the Indiana Pacers, talking quietly with Ray Allen beneath a single decorative touch: a one-inch strip of trainer's tape stuck on the panel above his head, the number "6" written in black ink.

    That's his locker, but this isn't his story.

    The story is on the other side of Bankers Life Fieldhouse, in the other locker room, and that just doesn't happen when LeBron is in the playoffs. It definitely doesn't happen when he's in the playoffs and I'm in attendance, because I'm obsessed fascinated with LeBron, win or lose, and when the Heat wins it's because he's done something great, and when they lose it's because he's done something not so great. Or because his teammates let him down.

    Whatever the case, he's the story, every time. And he's almost the story here, until I switch tracks right now to get to the truth of the Eastern Conference Finals:

    The Indiana Pacers could actually win this thing. And LeBron might be powerless to stop it.

    The Pacers were built not to win 60 games or even to win the NBA Finals. The Pacers were built to get past the Miami Heat in a seven-game series, and as ludicrous as that idea seemed when the postseason began, I'll remind you of this:

    It has been a month since the postseason began.

    Along the way the Pacers have shown inklings of the team that emerged in full on Sunday, the team that began this season with a 46-13 record and then manhandled the Heat by attempting 22 more free throws and grabbing nine more rebounds. That 46-13 team, that team that manhandled the Heat on Sunday, had a great center named Roy Hibbert.

    The Pacers also have a matchup nightmare at power forward named David West. And one of the best young players in the game in Paul George. And the outrageous Lance Stephenson, who saw he had the 6-foot-9, 275-pound LeBron on him during the second quarter and chose to back him down for a bucket.

    The Pacers have a lot of size, and a lot of girth, and a lot of moxie. And the Heat are in a lot of trouble.

    They don't see it that way, of course, which is fine. The Miami Heat of this LeBron-Dwyane Wade era have lost the first game of a seven-game series four times -- and they won the series all four times. Been here? Done that. And they were talking on Sunday like a team that expects to do it again.

    "There's so much more basketball left," Wade said.

    "They took care of business in Game 1," LeBron said. "We'll figure it out going into Game 2."

    Maybe so. But what if "figuring it out" requires changing the roster? Bringing in a center who can handle Hibbert -- and a power forward who can slow down West? On Sunday the Heat had neither, opening the game with Chris Bosh on Hibbert and Shane Battier on West, and realizing before the end of the first quarter what a bad idea that was. The Pacers scored the first seven points, led 23-14 and never let the Heat get closer than four points. And only briefly. The Pacers spent most of this game leading by double digits, even after the Heat adjusted to the Pacers' size by putting Chris Andersen at center and LeBron on West. Didn't matter.

    Hibbert finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. West had 19 and seven.

    "Obviously that's a physical front line," LeBron said of the Pacers. "It's got to be a collective group [defending], not just one guy, two guys."

    It won't be Bosh. He missed shots on the Heat's first and third possession, sandwiching those around a turnover when he threw the ball away, and was borderline useless the rest of the way. Bosh finished with nine points on 12 shots and grabbed two rebounds in 32 minutes. He blocked no shots. He was the world's smallest 7-footer.

    Hibbert was enormous. Until the Heat caught him in the fourth quarter, Hibbert had attempted more free throws than the whole Miami team. He finished with 13 FT attempts, two fewer than Miami's 15, and hit nine (one fewer than Miami's 10).

    Bosh dismissed Hibbert's impact, because of course he did.

    "He shot 5 of 13 [from the floor]," Bosh said. "I'm not going to pay attention to that. The difference was that they were plus-22 at the free-throw line."

    But, um, Hibbert had the bulk of those free throws for Indiana and ... nevermind. Let's go to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who says nothing better than anyone, and who said the solution is to change not a damn thing.

    "We just need to do it better," he said. "Yeah, we need to do it better. It's as simple as that. We need to get to do what we do, and then do that better."

    Hey, it could happen. Bosh could hit his first two shots instead of missing them. He could use that quick start to score 20 points, and use that offensive confidence boost to grab seven or eight rebounds. Hibbert could disappear like he disappeared late in the regular season, and for most of the first-round series with the Hawks, and then for Game 1 against the Wizards (zero points, zero rebounds in 18 minutes).

    Lots of stuff could change. Lots of stuff will change, probably. The Pacers probably won't hit five of their first six 3-pointers in the next game. The Pacers probably won't attempt 22 more free throws (37 to 15) again. Heat guard Mario Chalmers can score a lot more than six points. As a team, the Heat can do so much better than 6 for 23 (26.1 percent) on 3-pointers.

    Oh, and LeBron. He can do more than the 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists he had in Game 1.

    But the story for this night, and probably for this series, won't be LeBron. It'll be in the other locker room, the one where Roy Hibbert resides, capable of going for 19-and-7 and nearly shooting more free throws than the whole roster of the Miami Heat -- and also capable of going scoreless twice against the Hawks and once against the Wizards.

    What happens the rest of the way, even if they win this series and advance to the NBA Finals, it could happen around Miami. It could happen to Miami. It'll happen in the other locker room, the one where Hibbert was surrounded by leather chairs and steel nameplates and about 25 reporters on Sunday, when his postgame press conference was interrupted by the sound of Paul George's cell phone erupting in a hail of congratulatory messages after the Pacers had done something enormous and yet not so astonishing at all.

    They were built for this series. Built to win it, even.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Good article about the series

    Originally posted by Chris Soft-as-a-baby's-butt Bosh
    .

    "He shot 5 of 13 [from the floor]," Bosh said. "I'm not going to pay attention to that.
    How about your 4-12 game with 2 rebounds, Mr. Fake Tough Guy?

    LOL
    Last edited by Slick Pinkham; 05-18-2014, 10:08 PM.
    The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Good article about the series

      Originally posted by Slick Pinkham View Post
      How about your 4-12 game with 2 rebounds, Mr. Fake Tough Guy?

      LOL
      I don't think that calling Bosh a fake tough guy is fair. The guy is probably one of the few likable Heat players.
      Originally posted by IrishPacer
      Empty vessels make the most noise.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Good article about the series

        Originally posted by Nuntius View Post
        The guy is probably one of the few likable Heat players.
        An oxymoron if I've ever heard one.....

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Good article about the series

          Originally posted by Sollozzo View Post
          An oxymoron if I've ever heard one.....


          Oxymoron is an awesome word, by the way.
          Originally posted by IrishPacer
          Empty vessels make the most noise.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Good article about the series

            been reading a few articles about game 1. Really liking what i'm hearing from our players about this series. They don't wanna talk no more. They just wanna go out and play.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Good article about the series

              Originally posted by Nuntius View Post
              I don't think that calling Bosh a fake tough guy is fair. The guy is probably one of the few likable Heat players.
              How? He talks more **** than the rest of them combined. And he doesn't even have the talent to back it up, he is riding LeBrons coattails.
              #LanceEffect

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Good article about the series

                Originally posted by LeRyan07 View Post
                been reading a few articles about game 1. Really liking what i'm hearing from our players about this series. They don't wanna talk no more. They just wanna go out and play.
                They seem very focused on the goal at hand.
                #LanceEffect

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Good article about the series

                  Originally posted by khaos01207 View Post
                  How? He talks more **** than the rest of them combined. And he doesn't even have the talent to back it up, he is riding LeBrons coattails.
                  I don't think that he really talks a lot of **** but I don't put much emphasis on what players say either so I could be wrong. It's just that he doesn't come as conceited as Wade and LeBron do. The fact that he isn't dirty helps as well.
                  Originally posted by IrishPacer
                  Empty vessels make the most noise.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Good article about the series

                    Originally posted by Nuntius View Post
                    I don't think that he really talks a lot of **** but I don't put much emphasis on what players say either so I could be wrong. It's just that he doesn't come as conceited as Wade and LeBron do. The fact that he isn't dirty helps as well.
                    I'll have to somewhat disagree with you this time Nuntius. Heat players are all conceited the whole lot of them. D****ebags even.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Good article about the series

                      Originally posted by Nuntius View Post
                      I don't think that he really talks a lot of **** but I don't put much emphasis on what players say either so I could be wrong. It's just that he doesn't come as conceited as Wade and LeBron do. The fact that he isn't dirty helps as well.
                      I see what you're saying.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Good article about the series

                        Originally posted by piggyKing View Post
                        I'll have to somewhat disagree with you this time Nuntius. Heat players are all conceited the whole lot of them. D****ebags even.
                        They've won two titles. They're supposed to be conceited.
                        The poster formerly known as Rimfire

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