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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"

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"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:

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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.

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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

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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.

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Rule #10

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

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USA Today article on Artest

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  • USA Today article on Artest

    http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...-changed_x.htm

    Posted 5/5/2004 11:07 PM Updated 5/6/2004 3:02 AM







    Artest's play heats up, while temper cools off
    By Mike Dodd, USA TODAY
    INDIANAPOLIS — Ron Artest wants to be known as the poor man's Michael Jordan. To do it, he knows he has to overcome his label as Indiana's equipment-tossing heir to Bob Knight.

    Indiana's Ron Artest has turned his attitude around this year and his game has followed suit.
    By Adrian Wyld, AP

    The Indiana Pacers' forward, who again will draw the toughest defensive assignment tonight in the second-round NBA playoff series against the Miami Heat (9 ET, TNT), is almost there on both counts.

    A year after a tempestuous season in which he led the NBA in suspensions (12 games) and flagrant foul points (eight), Artest has turned the spotlight on his game and his new reputation as one of the more versatile players in the league.

    He'll be presented the NBA's defensive player of the year award tonight. It follows his first selection to the All-Star Game and a breakout year that was simply a matter of mind over mayhem.

    "I told him, 'Look, you should have been an All-Star last year. You should have been defensive player of the year last year. But nobody's going to notice that if every time you step on the court ... they're waiting for you to do something off the court or something crazy,' " All-Star teammate Jermaine O'Neal says. "He really understood that and has just been playing."

    O'Neal's message had been repeated in various forms by friends, coaches, his agent, even his family. His daughter Sade, now 7, led the teasing at home. "My daughter was always making jokes when I got ejected," Artest says. "She'd say, 'Daddy, you were suspended. That's why you're home.' "

    Artest has been home just twice this year: once for a flagrant foul (he had three flagrant foul points this season) and once for leaving the bench area during O'Neal's confrontation with Brandon Hunter in the first-round playoff series against Boston.

    He decided near the end of last season he was hurting himself and his team too much. Not to mention his bank account: He lost nearly $500,000 in fines and suspensions.

    "No positives came out of last year," he says. "I wasn't embarrassed about anything. I was more ashamed and ... disappointed in myself because a lot of that stuff had nothing to do with the game."

    The 24-year-old fifth-year pro, polite and friendly off the court, is learning to keep the games in perspective as he maintains intensity.

    "Whatever Ron's feeling, he expresses," says Mark Bartelstein, Artest's agent. "It's almost like a faucet turning the water on. His emotions get turned on and they come out. ... He had to learn to channel it."

    Solving the problem

    As he promised coach Rick Carlisle before the season, Artest made this year about basketball and improved at both ends of the court. He worked on his shooting in the offseason and averaged a career-high 18.3 points.

    "He put in a lot of hours on his shooting, and they posted him a lot more than they had in the past," says Larry Bird, the Pacers president of basketball operations. "He doesn't have to score 25 points a game. If he keeps it at 17, 18, it's really beneficial to the team."

    Defensively, the 6-7 forward has become a force, and he'll draw his typical assignment against the Heat. "Whoever is on fire," Artest says, providing no advance notice if he'll open on Caron Butler, Dwyane Wade or Lamar Odom.

    "He's 250 pounds and can guard any one of four positions," Indiana's Reggie Miller says, citing Artest's quick hands, feet and uncanny anticipation. "His dad is a boxer, and he takes that adage to keep pounding and pounding away. Like wearing a fighter down."

    Remember, this is the guy who broke two of Jordan's ribs when His Airness was training for his comeback with the Washington Wizards. But to hear Artest, defense is almost an intellectual exercise.

    "It's a matter of effort, but you've also got to know how to adjust. I take defense the same way I do math," says Artest, a math major his two years at St. John's University. "I really have to try to think about it. It's like solving a problem."

    The Pacers, not satisfied that standard statistics did justice to Artest's defensive contributions, sent staff aides into the video archives to research his play. The study concluded that Artest held opponents to 8.1 points a game on 42.6% shooting. In Pacers wins, Artest's opponents shot just 35% when he was on them.

    San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich called it fuzzy math, arguing the Spurs' Bruce Bowen deserved the award. Artest suggested a one-on-one matchup to settle it. If there's one thing that rivals his on-court intensity, it's his confidence.

    "No one can ever be Michael Jordan, but I'm like the poor man's Michael Jordan. That's how I feel," he says. "I can play defense, I can play 'O.' I haven't found anybody that can stop me yet."

    Not seeking publicity

    He likes the challenge of playing defense against the top offensive players during the summer, and he travels to different gyms across the country for the workouts.

    He also spends time in the offseason working with youngsters on the playgrounds of his old Queensbridge neighborhood in New York City. He prefers that to high-profile work with kids that might generate headlines.

    Howard Garfinkel told The Indianapolis Star he invited Artest to give a speech at his Five-Star camp and accept admission to its hall of fame. Artest instead stayed for a week to teach, sleeping in the dorms with players and counselors, eating cafeteria food, even running errands.

    It's that side that makes friends and family even more upset with the public image, courtesy of Artest's self-destruction highlight film. "He doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but when he plays basketball, his self-esteem is on the line," Bartelstein says.

    This year his reputation as a person also was at stake. He says he learned that his family and his faith are more important than winning. "I was sending a message to be out of control, and I don't think that's the Lord's message," he says.

    Clamping down

    Indiana forward Ron Artest usually is assigned to guard the opponents' top-scoring shooting guard or small forward. A breakdown of his performance against four tough opponents this season:

    Player (games) Season avg. Avg. vs. Artest Season FG% FG% vs. Artest
    Carmelo Anthony (2) 21.0 8.0 .426 .364
    Keith Van Horn (2) 16.1 3.0 .454 .188
    Stephen Jackson (4) 18.1 3.5 .425 .333
    Latrell Sprewell (2) 16.8 4.0 .409 .400

  • #2
    Re: USA Today article on Artest

    The greatest thing about this article...He's all ours!!!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: USA Today article on Artest

      Ron is becoming my favorite player . And a math major to boot
      Alright Ron!!!!!!!!!!



      owl
      {o,o}
      |)__)
      -"-"-

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: USA Today article on Artest

        Artest the math major - it seems funnier every time I hear that

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: USA Today article on Artest

          here is another good article


          http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/b...la-sports-heat

          Published May 6, 2004


          INDIANAPOLIS -- The guy's still a menace.

          Yet this season, he's merely been a menace to the opposition, and not to cameras, legendary coaches, fans, polite society or his own team. In other words, not the way he used to be, and the way the Heat needs him to be to have any chance to steal this series -- by somehow getting him off his game, and his rocker, before his tenacious two-way play gets a slew of Heat players off theirs.

          In the old days, the odds were against Ron Artest surviving an 11-day layoff without earning some sort of suspension. Instead, after Wednesday's practice, he sat in the corner (by choice), answering questions quickly and quietly. Praising the Heat and his teammates, offering to come off the bench, declaring "we haven't proven nothing yet."

          Again showing no sign of his weakness, perhaps the only his Pacers have:

          His destructive inner child.

          This is a Pacer team so deep that, when it splits into two squads to scrimmage, each side faces a five as fearsome as any foe's this season. This is a team so deep it plans to go deep; as baby-faced killer Jermaine O'Neal put it, "We feel we're supposed to win the championship." This is a team so deep it can only be deep-sixed by a return of Bad Ron.

          You know that character. He's the one who missed 12 games in 2002-03 due to league or team-imposed suspensions, unable to go a week without a technical foul, flagrant foul or five-figure fine. He's the one who, in a January 2003 game, kneed Caron Butler out of bounds, forcing Butler to get an MRI on his foot; got in a shouting match with Heat assistant Keith Askins; twice sauntered over to taunt Pat Riley, who was forced to shove the intruder away; gave the Heat crowd his middle finger; and flexed for effect.

          "It was a pretty big bicep, too," a smiling Riley said. "He let us know he's a man."

          No, Artest actually did that this season, by staying out of trouble, and letting his play speak for him, until his appreciative coach, Rick Carlisle, spoke on his behalf for Defensive Player of the Year, distributing stats showing Artest's assignments scored just 8.1 per game. No one ever questioned Artest's ability. Lamar Odom saw it on the AAU teams the two New Yorkers shared with Elton Brand: "You can imagine. We didn't lose much. We kind of kicked the whole country's butt."

          Even Riley said, after last season's incident: "I'd like to have two or three Ron Artests myself."

          "He makes his guys do all kinds of crazy stuff, and then when they finally get past him, we are right there," O'Neal said. "It makes it easier for us to slide over and make these guys take tough shots or throw the ball away. We're going to throw him on the best offensive guy every single night."

          Some nights, Artest has been the Pacers' best offensive guy, averaging career-highs in points (18.3), rebounds (5.3) and assists (3.7). He won that Defensive Player of the Year award, a spot on the All-NBA third team and the trust of his teammates.

          "I think I've gotten more opportunities to shoot the ball," Artest said. "I was always playing defense, but just having the ball in my hands a little bit more, that's the biggest thing."

          To O'Neal, Artest's mental growth has been the biggest thing. O'Neal admitted that their relationship started slow, but now they understand each other.

          "I told him coming into this year, `Look, you should have been an All-Star, you should have been Defensive Player of the Year last year. But nobody is ever going to notice that if every time you step on the court, they're not even watching what you're doing on the basketball court, they're waiting for you to do something off the court or something crazy that's going to change the tone of the game,'" O'Neal said. "And he really understood that, and he's just been playing."

          Now Artest is the first guy to calm O'Neal down during an emotional moment. "He'd probably be the last guy to come and grab me last year," O'Neal said.

          Upon taking over for Isiah Thomas, Carlisle knew the player he was inheriting. The coach has been surprised by Artest the person, his "generosity, his kindness, he's a family man, he's a fun guy to be around." He hoped the former St. John's star could reinvent himself as aggressive Nets forward Kenyon Martin did the season before. He thinks some of Artest's progression was conscious, and some was the natural result of aging from 23 to 24.

          Odom remembers the Queensbridge kid at 13: "There's nothing but love between me and Ron Artest." And while he knows that "right now Ron is my enemy," Odom expects them to soon talk just "like we're in the eighth grade again, or the ninth grade."

          Even if Artest, much to his menacing team's benefit, no longer acts like he still belongs there.

          Ethan J. Skolnick can be reached at eskolnick@sun-sentinel.com.
          Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: USA Today article on Artest

            Great, great articles. I've been saying this for the last 2 years - Ron Artest is as valuable to this team as JO is. They are a 1-2 punch that will only continue to get better.
            "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
            - Benjamin Franklin

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