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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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Muffett McGraw steps down as women's basketball coach at Notre Dame

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  • Muffett McGraw steps down as women's basketball coach at Notre Dame

    End of an era. This really surprised me but considering she's in her mid 60s and who knows when basketball will return I can understand it. I hope its not health related.

    https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...ach-notre-dame

    Muffet McGraw steps down as women's basketball coach at Notre Dame

    Hall of Famer Muffet McGraw is retiring as women's basketball coach at Notre Dame after 33 years, she announced Wednesday.

    "It has been my great honor to represent the University of Notre Dame these past 33 years, but the time has come for me to step down as your head basketball coach," McGraw said in a statement.


    "... I am grateful to have worked with the best assistant coaches in the business, and I have been blessed to coach so many phenomenal women. To the best fans in the country, it was my honor and privilege to play for you."

    EDITOR'S PICKS

    Muffet McGraw is fighting for wins, equality and another title. Failure is the foe.

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    What Muffet McGraw means to me: Ruth Riley's tribute to the Notre Dame coach
    McGraw, 64, will be replaced by Niele Ivey, who spent 17 seasons at Notre Dame as a player and an assistant coach before serving as an assistant coach for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies this past season.

    McGraw said in a Zoom teleconference call that since the 2018 championship season, she had been approaching her career from a "let's take one more year" perspective. In 2019, the Irish were national runner-up. However, after losing five players to the WNBA draft, Notre Dame had a 13-18 record in 2019-20.

    "We have a great recruiting class coming in," McGraw said. "I think the program is right back where it should be and poised to make another run to the Final Four. So I feel like I'm leaving the program in a good place. And also a chance for me to do something else."

    McGraw went 848-252 at Notre Dame and led the school to national championships in 2001 and 2018. The Fighting Irish won 67 NCAA tournament games and have made 24 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances under McGraw.

    What They're Saying

    UConn coach Geno Auriemma: "It was a real surprise when I found out Muffet was retiring, as I'm sure it was to a lot of people. She leaves behind a great legacy of coaching, winning and competing that translated into a Hall of Fame career. We're going to miss the competition and we're going to miss the impact she had on our game. Congratulations to Muffet on a tremendous career. We had some memorable moments that will live forever in the history of women's basketball."

    Baylor coach Kim Mulkey: "I have much respect for her as a wife, mother and a coach. She is a Hall of Fame coach who has achieved it all in her career."

    UNC coach Courtney Banghart: "Muffet has meant so much to our game for as long as I can remember. As a woman, a mom, a leader, and a national champion, she was someone so many could look up to. ... She cemented her legacy with how much she gave always back to the game and wanted more opportunities for young coaches to get into it."

    Ruth Riley, who made the winning free throws for Notre Dame in the 2001 national title game: "Muffet is a pioneer, a trailblazer, a fierce competitor, a champion, a leader and an advocate for women's empowerment and equality. Her sustained success over decades has etched an incredible legacy in the archives of sport. It has elevated Notre Dame to one of the elite programs in the country, and I will forever be grateful for the privilege to have played for her."

    Digger Phelps: "What Knute Rockne did for Notre Dame football, @MuffetMcGraw did for @ndwbb. Not just a national power but more importantly part of mystique and traditions of our great university."

    WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert: "Coach McGraw is a giant in the game of women's basketball. She has coached and mentored thousands of young basketball players throughout her career, including me at Lehigh University. She also developed many elite players who have gone on to become transcendent stars in the WNBA and impacted countless players and people around the world through her empowering messages. I look forward to seeing the impact Muffet will continue to have as she embarks on her next chapter.''

    While McGraw is stepping away from the court, she said she would remain active within the university and local communities.

    "This is a retirement from coaching," McGraw said. "I am excited about the opportunity to continue to promote women's equality and to speak on behalf of all women across the country. And to use my platform in any way I can. I'd like to get more involved in community work. I find I've turned into a real activist, and I'm really enjoying that. I hope a lot of things are in store, and definitely a different page than I've been on."

    McGraw said forced time away from her normal coaching routine because of the coronavirus pandemic also gave her time to reflect.

    "Tomorrow is promised to no one," McGraw said. "What is your life going to look like down the road? We wanted to continue to enjoy it. I'm excited about knowing that I can handle not having basketball in my life."

    McGraw was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017 -- the 13th female coach to achieve that honor. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. Her 936 career wins ranks sixth all time among Division I coaches.

    She is one of just five NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball coaches with at least 930 wins, nine Final Fours and multiple titles. The others are Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer, Geno Auriemma and Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski.

    Under McGraw, Notre Dame had one of the great rivalries in college sports against UConn. The teams met 51 times, with eight of those in the NCAA tournament. The Huskies lead the series 38-13 and won the two national championship games in which they played (2013 and 2015). But Notre Dame beat UConn five times in the national semifinals, including both years the Irish won the NCAA title.

    The rivalry between her and Auriemma got heated a few times, but McGraw said it'll be one of the things she'll miss most.

    Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he wants McGraw to continue to be heavily involved with the university.

    "This is a great teacher, and we want to create platforms for her to teach," Swarbrick said. "We have some specific ideas about programs which are being developed at the university. We want her to help our coaches. And we'd like to have her continue to represent the university publicly."

    She sent 20 players to the WNBA during her coaching career, including Skylar Diggins-Smith, Kayle McBride, Arike Ogunbowale and Ruth Riley.

    "There's something about her that makes you want to move a mountain for her. I believe it's how much she cares about her players," Diggins-Smith said.

    Before coming to Notre Dame, McGraw got her start as an assistant at her alma mater Saint Joseph's before taking over as head coach at Lehigh in 1982 until she left for the Irish after the 1987 season.

    Ivey has made nine Final Four appearances with Notre Dame -- two as a player and seven as an assistant coach.

    "I am so honored to be able to follow in the legacy that Coach McGraw built here at Notre Dame," Ivey said in a statement. "My love and appreciation for Coach McGraw is beyond anything I can express. She's more than a mentor, more than a friend, she's one of the most influential people in my life.

    "I am full of gratitude for Coach McGraw and what she has done for me. She was the first to give me an opportunity to play for Notre Dame and coach here as well. I will forever be grateful for her love and support. I would also like to thank Jack Swarbrick and [Notre Dame president] Father [John] Jenkins for having the faith to move this program forward with me. I can never thank you enough for this incredible opportunity."


    As far as her favorite memory, McGraw said it was probably the 2018 NCAA title, which the Irish won in a season in which they'd dealt with four ACL injuries. They defeated UConn in overtime in the semifinals on Ogunbowale's game-winning shot. Then Ogunbowale hit another game-winner in the final against Mississippi State.

    Notre Dame nearly repeated in 2019, but fell 82-81 to Baylor. Notre Dame was national runner-up five times.

    "You learn so much more through adversity," McGraw said. "The biggest thing I've learned is never be too high or too low. And you have to appreciate the moment. I really had a hard time with that. We'd win a game, and I'd immediately be focused on the next one. I'd continually talk to the team about, 'We've got to celebrate the victories.' And I wasn't as good at doing that. But I'm happy about where I've left things."
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