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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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"Christmas Memories"

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  • #1

    "Christmas Memories"

    December 23, 2005

    Memories of Christmas past
    Pacers recall when they weren't millionaires

    By Mark Montieth


    They can afford to buy the toy store now. But when the Indiana Pacers were kids, they were like the other kids at Christmastime.
    Anxious and greedy, in some cases, and deprived in others. Their holiday memories are like everyone else's, spanning geographical, cultural and economic spectrums.
    They are memories of surprise gifts, broken gifts and no gifts. Of walking the streets with nothing to do and surfing in the Pacific Ocean. Some were expecting TVs. Others were thrilled with a box of cereal.
    Here are some of their stories:

    JERMAINE O'NEAL
    Childhood home: Columbia, S.C.
    "When I was 6 or 7, I wanted this wrestling thing, with a ring and fighters. It was one of those things I saw on TV and really hoped Santa Claus would bring. When I opened it up, I was in tears because that's all I really wanted. My mom put it together for me. But 15 minutes later, it was broken. My brother was walking backward and stepped on the turnbuckle. He tried to superglue it, but it wasn't the same.
    "It was like World War II at that point. I was hitting him and crying and yelling. It was one of those brother fights that wasn't going to be over until somebody quit, and he quit.
    "It took about a year to forgive him. But he's a guy who to this day looks out for me and takes care of me. He's made up for it in so many ways. He worked hard when we were young. He'd literally give me his check sometimes. When I got my deal with the Pacers, I gave him $1 million. I can't really repay him for what he's done for me. He kept me off the streets when I roamed and kept my mind focusing on basketball. It's a blessing to have a brother like that.
    "But we're always going to have that one memory."

    SCOT POLLARD
    Childhood home: San Diego.
    "I'd get a box of cereal and be really happy about it. My dad hated cereal and he wouldn't let us have it very often. He called it puffed air. We'd go out to breakfast sometimes on the off chance we had money and we'd order cereal, and he'd lose it.
    "For me to get cereal for Christmas, that was a big deal. Especially sugared cereal, because that wasn't allowed in the house. It would be under the tree, wrapped up. It was great.
    "This is the 100 percent truth. We were broke. My dad was an entrepreneur and lost a lot of money at times. He had been an asphalt paver in Utah and was very successful, but he lost the whole business. Then we moved to San Diego and we were on welfare for a while.
    "My kids now are spoiled, there's no question about that. My kids have more toys than they need. The last two weeks we've gone through their playroom to get toys to donate to charities. We've tried to explain to them that not everybody has what they have. They're young so they don't get it yet, but hopefully one day they'll look back and realize we tried."

    DANNY GRANGER
    Childhood home: New Orleans.
    "My family is Jehovah's Witnesses on both sides, so we didn't celebrate Christmas. We used to go horseback riding that day. We'd have celebrations all the time, though. We'd have big family meals throughout the year. We'd go to my grandmother's house and she had 10 kids, so there'd be 30 or 40 people there. We'd do that all year.
    "I never felt left out. I remember a lot of kids at school saying, 'I can't wait till Christmas. I can't wait till Christmas.' But what my dad did, when we got good grades he got us something nice. I never had to wait until that one day to get a present. I knew if I got good grades in school he'd reward us."

    FRED JONES
    Childhood home: Malvern, Ark.
    "My first year in the league was great, because I was able to give instead of receive. I was able to let other people reap the blessings I've received. And this Christmas is special because I adopted another family. I just asked some people in the community if they knew someone in need and I found a family. They're going to have a really good Christmas. They have two boys and they seem like really good kids . . . I did all the shopping and I'll deliver the gifts on Christmas."

    JAMAAL TINSLEY
    Childhood home: Brooklyn, N.Y.
    "I wasn't the ordinary kid growing up, I was always into stuff. From the ages of 12 to 20 I was in the streets doing whatever. As a little kid, from 5 to 11, I always wanted certain things I couldn't have. But my mom made sure we got what we needed. Mainly clothing.
    "It didn't bother me not to celebrate Christmas. It was a learning experience for me and made me a better person."

    SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS
    Childhood home: Kaunas, Lithuania.
    "When we were growing up, the Communists had made all our churches into museums. Religion was not allowed to be taught in school. I didn't grow up in a religious environment, let's put it that way. It was almost like New Year's Eve was bigger than Christmas.
    "When I came to the States, at the age of 17, it was shocking how big Christmas was here. It's starting to be that way in Lithuania now. Now it's becoming the way it should be.
    "We had some gift exchanges as a kid. I was always happy with what I had. As a kid you always want more, but we had enough."

    STEPHEN JACKSON
    Childhood home: Port Arthur, Texas
    "We weren't rich, but my mom did a great job of making Christmas feel like we were rich. We didn't get every gift we asked for, but the gift that meant the most to us, we got. We knew she didn't have a lot, but she did the best with what she had. We grew up to appreciate stuff. We didn't have a million dollars, but we had a million-dollar Christmas every year.
    "I remember being 13 and all the kids in school got Starter jackets. I was the only kid with a beat-up jacket. I wanted a Raiders Starter's jacket with a hood. Mom told me she couldn't afford it. I cried, and she told me, 'Stop crying; you know I work too hard.'
    "On Christmas morning, I woke up and wasn't really feeling like Christmas because I knew I wasn't getting my jacket. . . . Then she went out of the room and came back with this big plastic bag and threw it to me. I opened it and it was my Starter's jacket. I went crazy."

    AUSTIN CROSHERE
    Childhood home: Los Angeles.
    "Being in California, we'd go to my grandparents' house in Irvine and play football in the front yard. That's my main memory: touch football in the front yard.
    "We always got gifts, but it wasn't anything extravagant. It was almost always some kind of sports-related thing. Basketball, baseball, football, bicycling, surfing."

    DAVID HARRISON
    Childhood home: Nashville, Tenn.
    "I remember when I was 6, my dad lied to us. It wasn't Christmas yet, but my dad told us it was. It was like Dec. 20 or something. We were home-schooled, so we didn't know any better. We just knew what our parents told us. That's what got us started not trusting them, probably.
    "Dad said we were all bad, so Santa wasn't bringing us any presents. We all sat around crying until my mom thought it had gone far enough and told us the truth. He did it again on Christmas Day. He said, 'I told you, you were bad.' But he had put all the gifts in the basement."


    __________________________________________________ _____________

    Sarunas had me rollin. I always wondered what it must have been like growing up in Lithuania during that period in history. What an interesting perspective.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: "Christmas Memories"

    DAVID HARRISON
    Childhood home: Nashville, Tenn.
    "I remember when I was 6, my dad lied to us. It wasn't Christmas yet, but my dad told us it was. It was like Dec. 20 or something. We were home-schooled, so we didn't know any better. We just knew what our parents told us. That's what got us started not trusting them, probably.
    "Dad said we were all bad, so Santa wasn't bringing us any presents. We all sat around crying until my mom thought it had gone far enough and told us the truth. He did it again on Christmas Day. He said, 'I told you, you were bad.' But he had put all the gifts in the basement."
    "I'll always be a part of Donnie Walsh."
    -Ron Artest, Denver Post, 12.28.05

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: "Christmas Memories"

      Yeah, that was kind of a bummer to end the article on. Sounds like his dad was a real barrel of laughs.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: "Christmas Memories"

        I remember the time I got a second helping of porridge. Unforgettable.
        The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: "Christmas Memories"

          [QUOTE=Pacesetter]
          DAVID HARRISON
          Childhood home: Nashville, Tenn.
          "I remember when I was 6, my dad lied to us. It wasn't Christmas yet, but my dad told us it was. It was like Dec. 20 or something. We were home-schooled, so we didn't know any better. We just knew what our parents told us. That's what got us started not trusting them, probably.
          "Dad said we were all bad, so Santa wasn't bringing us any presents. We all sat around crying until my mom thought it had gone far enough and told us the truth. He did it again on Christmas Day. He said, 'I told you, you were bad.' But he had put all the gifts in the basement."
          [QUOTE]

          That sounds like something my brother would do to his kids.

          All of my Christmas memmories as a kid all seem to involve traveling to the grandparents' houses. I remember when we were little we lived up in Elkhart and would drive down to Terre Haute. My dad had this Old Ford Econoline pickup, one of the first mini trucks with a cab like a cab over semi, and he built a board platform behind the seats for my brother and i to sit on during the trip.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: "Christmas Memories"

            Ahhh - the old starter jackets.

            I remember my first one....................

            Detroit Red Wings

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: "Christmas Memories"

              Originally posted by SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS

              SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS
              Childhood home: Kaunas, Lithuania.
              "When we were growing up, the Communists had made all our churches into museums. Religion was not allowed to be taught in school. I didn't grow up in a religious environment, let's put it that way. It was almost like New Year's Eve was bigger than Christmas.
              "When I came to the States, at the age of 17, it was shocking how big Christmas was here. It's starting to be that way in Lithuania now. Now it's becoming the way it should be.
              "We had some gift exchanges as a kid. I was always happy with what I had. As a kid you always want more, but we had enough."
              There were many Lithuanian families who risked and celebrated Christmas at their homes illegaly.
              Of course, there were some who surrendered to the Communists regime, too.
              However they were minority. That's why Lithuanians were the first from occupied countries who started the rebellion.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: "Christmas Memories"

                David's dad kinda sounds like a dick.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: "Christmas Memories"

                  Originally posted by Rytas_Jega
                  There were many Lithuanian families who risked and celebrated Christmas at their homes illegaly.
                  Of course, there were some who surrendered to the Communists regime, too.
                  However they were minority. That's why Lithuanians were the first from occupied countries who started the rebellion.
                  I've always had a great deal of respect for Lithuania, for this reason. Lithuanians sacrificed more than we'll ever know to get their freedom, and I still remember reading and hearing about their independence from the Soviet Union. I was proud of them for putting everything on the line for freedom!!!!

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: "Christmas Memories"

                    I really enjoyed reading those this morning

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: "Christmas Memories"

                      Christmas for me usually means travelling to my grandparents' house in TN. One year in particular sticks out, though. There was a huge ice-storm, it basically shut the town down. We lost power for a while, and Grandpa hooked up the generator to keep us warm. But, there we were, me, my parents, my brothers and their wives and kids, my sister, and my grandparents, all in one candle-lit room, playing cards and talking. "The moment" came when the lights came on and my nephew (about 3, maybe) looked up and started clapping and said, "yeah!!!" in his little voice. Then, the lights went out again, and Jordan let out a "awwww!!!" Cutest thing you've ever seen.

                      What a great Christmas that was, especially to go outside and see the ice sparkling on the trees. Here's to you and yours, a merry Christmas!
                      It's a new day for Pacers Basketball.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: "Christmas Memories"

                        I remember that Bender scored a lot of points against Orlando on Christmas day.
                        ANDY: I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy winning or get busy losing.

                        Comment

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