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If you don't like long posts, pretend this is fairly short. Please read it all. What I'm going to address doesn't date back to this summer, but to January 26th, 2005, when I started this site. Most know the story, so I'll keep it simple: OTR was created because I wanted to get away from personal attacks on message board members. I wasn't happy reading sexist remarks, disappointed in racist jokes in AIM chats directed to those I posted with, and those attacks were never against me...but members were looking to me, as a team forum moderator, to do something about it. Well, I did. And now, I'm doing it again. Members are going to get suspended or banned for personal attacks. It has been that way forever, although I've let it go for quite some time, in hopes that it would die down as we grew as a community. Instead, the exact opposite happened, and we were way too comfortable posting here. Don't get me wrong...being comfortable here, as a poster, is what we want. We just don't want it to alter the way you treat everyone else. You can disagree with anyone you want when it comes to basketball discussion. That's your right as a poster. However, when you call someone a "f---ing idiot" if they believe that Steve Nash is an MVP candidate this year (just an example), right or wrong, you are crushing all hopes of an intelligent basketball discussion topic. If you are for or against religion, you don't need to mock others opposing your views. Are you right or left wing? Either way, don't make it a habit throwing jabs at the opposition...not in a demeaning way, or what could be considered inappropriate to our forums. As far as bans and suspensions go...guys, there is a rule: three strikes, and it's a suspension. You double that, and you're done. Our last two banned members have been suspended a combined eight times. In fact, all of this can be found in our rules below. http://www.otrbasketball.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules What you won't see in those guidelines (and what you haven't seen since we restarted the board) would be a rule on baiting. But let's dip into that. Since 2005, it has been known that excessive, severe baiting will not be tolerated here. We have had baiting every other day, and it elevates during the playoffs. To date, very few members have been banned for baiting. If you want to know what excessive baiting is, go back to the Yao/Dwight topics before we were hacked. When you register here with the intention of stirring up a certain team's fanbase, or a particular member or two, you're more than likely going to be baiting our members excessively. Also, when half of your posts are directed at a member or a fanbase, you're probably in the same boat. Weeks of the same thing, with that member creating irrelevant topics about how bad a team is, making numerous repetitive posts about players, fans and teams with the intent to shake cages...that's excessive baiting. I'm sure a lot of you understand the bans and suspensions, and I'm sure some don't. That's how it should be. If everyone understood, it means that they were involved in it all the time, and we'd be lacking member activity even more, in that case...so I'm happy for that. Just something to think about, though: many of you don't like when things are being resolved with open invitation to the public. However, you point fingers and don't understand anything when things are resolved. You can't have it both ways. Both irritate you, so that might be something some need to make a decision about, and accept other members' mistakes as their own demise, rather than me just wanting to get rid of them. I have kept many along for the ride for far, far too long, even those who are notorious for baiting Lakers fans (and bangbangbang is the best example of this). And that brings me to my final point...why members are banned, and what others think they know. Members are not staff members...big difference. As a member, you don't have to deal with anything other than your own post content, and debates you find yourself glued to. The admins and mods here know why these members get banned, and we have discussions about them as well. We've talked about keeping them, despite things they've should've been banned for...and we did, two or three times, all for the sake of giving them that opportunity to post along with the rest of the guys they've been around for 4-5 years. When it's all said and done, you can't abuse that right...and there comes a time when there isn't a single person on staff that wants to take up for you anymore. You know, almost five years of this and it seems like we still have a few guys who believe they are old enough, or dedicated enough, to say what they want. Believe it or not, I'm fully aware of what a lot of people say on AIM, because for some reason, it always gets back to me, full pasted conversations. I read them quite often. I'm also aware that people will rat you out if they feel it's for the best, and that has happened a lot recently. I know that the popular thing to do (and something that has been discussed) is to get me angry, have me suspend someone, and see if members will jet because of it. I know about a "posting strike" that was put into effect, also, between a group of members. I realize that members from other sites are being asked to register and start trouble. Most forget that, despite the few that truly want this place to go down in flames, I am respected by a LOT of site owners, and I have access to plenty of databases and IP addresses. It's not hard to find out who is doing what, and get help from those owners in the process (which only hurts you in the long run, on those other sites). Yes, posting has been down. It has been on the decline since July 19th, 2009, where we fell below 500 posts for the first time since going back up (428 to be exact). Aside from what you may have thought, or what some say, the post decline has more to do with the hack than anything. Four days of 1,000 posts since we restarted...that's all...the first four days. After that 16 days before we fell to less than 500. Do the math...had nothing to do with suspensions, bans, or anything of the sort. But through all of this, we'll move on. I'll find a way to bring in new members once I get home next week. I'll start working on the player database, team pages, and everything. I'll go back to the Brandon of old when it comes to doing work, and we'll see how genuine those statements concerning this site's last days really are. The more people to rebel and leave, the more our dedicated guys have to step up, becoming bigger names in the community, maintaining bigger roles as a poster (or even a staff member), and making the contributions we've been looking for in every member that registers here. There are guys that talk about being on my bad side. They forget that there are plenty of members on my good side, and it's those that I trust the most, and those that I want standing with me when it's all said and done. It's going to take much more to bring the site down, probably three times as much to crack me...so we know what needs to be done. I'll get promotion sigs out (finally), get to work on the player profiles and such, try and post more in these gameday topics, put out some front page news and maybe a new podcast sometime in the next couple of weeks, and we'll see how well you guys work in the clutch. Something you've heard me say for almost five years now...thanks for all of the contributions, whatever you do for us (posting, moderating, administrating, promoting, etc). Nothing ever goes unnoticed.

Either way it's still pretty lame of Smitty. And Peyton Manning doesn't have any semen left, he emptied it all on Bill Belichick two weeks ago.

anyone who expected anyone to be able to fix anything in a year is psycho... i don't follow politics much because they're all basically corrupt liars and its impossible to find out whats really going on anyway, nor do i claim to know what i'm talking about when it comes to it, but i would have to imagine you wouldn't see the effects of things hes doing for awhile down the road and to be fair, as far as spending more than any other president, no other president has really come into the country with it this Fed up...at least not since the last depression, and you can't really compare the country then and now money/problem wise

Paul, can you make a topic about how impressive Eddie Jordan's been coaching this season?

If I remember correctly, didn't most people say this was a horrible trade to begin with? Only Cleveland or Shaq jockers were defending it. Anyways, I'm not surprised at all that the Shaq trade hasn't worked out yet. It's gonna take some time for Lebron and the rest of the team to get used to Shaq's presence, if that ever happens. With that being said, I predicted before the season started that Cleveland is the weakest of the Big 3 in the east (BOS, ORL, CLE), looks like I was right. I don't see the Cavs beating either BOS or ORL in a 7 game series, and I sure as hell don't see them taking out the Lakers.

Atlanta Hawks: Josh Smith Boston Celtics: Paul Pierce Charlotte Bobcats: Gerald Wallace Chicago Bulls: Luol Deng Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki Denver Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony Detroit Pistons: Ben Gordon Golden State Warriors: Monta Ellis Houston Rockets: Trevor Ariza Indiana Pacers: Danny Granger LA Clippers: Chris Kaman LA Lakers: Kobe Bryant Memphis Grizzlies: Marc Gasol Miami Heat: Dwyane Wade Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson New Jersey Nets: Chris Douglas Roberts New Orleans Hornets: Chris Paul New York Knicks: Al Harrington Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Durant Orlando Magic: Dwight Howard Philadelphia 76ers: Lou Williams Phoenix Suns: Steve Nash Portland Trail Blazers: Brandon Roy Sacramento Kings: Tyreke Evans San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan Toronto Raptors: Chris Bosh Utah Jazz: Deron Williams Washington Wizards: Antwan Jamison

I have a suggestion that I'm sure many of the members will hate but I feel it would help new members fit in a bit more. How about eliminating individual post count being shown in threads? Maybe they could still be available on the user's page but just not in threads. That would in a way make everyone "equal" when posting and people wouldn't feel like they had little impact on the site due to their post count. Just a thought.

It's sad but true. I wish EA sports made 2k10. The game had so much potential, but they blew it with all the glitches plus so many minute things that made the game much worse than it should have been. They gave us a broken game, and 2K STILL hasn't fixed it. Out of all this, though, my biggest problem in the game is the [expletive]ing defense. Steal animations, on ball defense, and computer help defense. I absolutely hate the steal animations. First of all, there is no way to protect the ball. All your opponent has to do is run at you, press X, and hope for a steal. 1/5 times its a steal. 7/10 times it's an animation going after the ball, and 1/10 times it's called for a reach-in foul. Man defense is about staying in front of your man, not constantly pressing x hoping for a steal plus having an extremely low chance of a foul call. The absolute WORST part of this game. Going after steals should be about timing, steal rating should not be THAT big of a part of that. Again, there NEEDS to be a way to protect the ball when dribbling. Speaking of staying in front of your man... i mean, it's nearly impossible. I made my My Player a 99 on ball defender and offensive players still get around him with ease, no matter what I do. Whether you are holding the left trigger or not, no matter if you are using Bruce Bowen or Tracy McGrady, you have to rely on mere chance that the defender was able to stop the drive, only to find that he's been beatin on the second attempt from a random behind-the-back move of some sort. And with man defenders getting beat so easily, the help defense hardly reacts, even with the best defensive team in the league like the Celtics. Help defenders hardly react to anything really. Also, even after the update, inside scoring is way too damn easy. When playing online or against the computer, the most successful way to win is to abuse the paint, just like it's been for a long time in video game basketball. People should have to establish an all around game, and should also be about how the defense is playing you. I wish there was more strategy to video game basketball. 2k is getting closer to that, though. Really, 2K, it wouldn't have taken much to simply fix the defense, and to actually test this game for glitches. There are so many things about this game that COULD have been great, but no, you had to screw it up. Sorry, I'm a little ticked off right now..