YIPES

Hi Gordon,

Full circle back to my original doubt. I suspected that affiliation to DS was the key issue inhibiting us from calling ourselves an AA group.

Thank you for your clear, concise answer and sound knowledge of the AA traditions - that is exactly what I asked for and needed to hear to clear up my own doubts.

The chatroom i alluded to in my other post is actually paid for out of the 7th tradition of the face to face end of the group and is viewed as a medium for 12 step work for the group and online members. It has no advertising, accepts no outside donations and as far as I am aware, visitors to the site are welcome to contibute to the group's 7th tradition, which, in reality, does not happen as of yet as we do not have a paypal donation thingy set up. The difficulty with online AA is that the domain name is often attributed to one person and yes there are moderators that have the power to ban and/or mute visitors. However if a group conscience structure is in place along with rotating servants, I don't really see it as a problem - perhaps I am wrong on that.

The online environment in terms of AA is such a complicated animal, I really don't have definitive answers, aside from the fact that New York has stated that online AA groups are possible and do exist.

As for AA approved groups/sites. That is a strange concept for me, as, to my knowledge, no group has to seek approval in order to call themselves AA. A webisite is not literature is it? An AA group is not even obliged to register with GSO to my knowledge, although it is advised so that they can appear on meetings lists etc etc. Tradition 3 clearly states who can and can't call themselves an AA group as long as they adhere to the other traditions.

I'm sure there must be pamphlets available on the topic and will look into it further. I'll also post this on Gailly's other topic.

Thanks again Gordon.

It was only ever a spin off from the main board. No one has ever claimed it is otherwise. The AA traditions, concepts for world service, warranties or legacies do not apply here as it is not an AA endorsed or affiliated group. Naturally, as this group is made up of (mostly) AA members we would seek to apply spiritual principles to the running of the board - that I believe is already the case with our current admin.

OMG I have heard that Alcoholics can complicate a hot dog! and boy is that true here!
This is just my opinion but I truly thought that this was called Alcoholics Anonymous because we were having so much trouble just talking about AA on the main board, some members that didn't use AA for their recovery were getting upset by people mentioning the 12 steps of AA. So this group was a "spin off" of the original board. just a bunch of people talking about recovery that also use the principles of AA for their method of recovery! isn't that clear enough? Do we need to beat the dead dog?

At the time Lori set this group up we had far too much "war" going on at the main Alcoholism Support Group in respect of personality and opinion. There was no admin on that group monitoring what was going on. Any complaints had to go direct to DS. Members around at that time, like your good self bkc, will know exactly what I mean. The overwhelming concern was how many alcoholics, sick and desperate for some help and support, just turned away and disappeared? Of course we would never know.

DS has had an explosion in membership and has - and still does - stay vigilant to iron out the growing pains.

When DS set up the facility to set up more specific support groups, we had a chance to get away from the debate about methods of recovery and offer some helpful support as we have been shown through the programme of recovery.

Just look at the main support group now though - I have never seen it so harmonious and the membership changes and grows. Now people are posting discussions on AA topics and being supported for it. It is a joy to see.

Our group has grown too and there are some great spin-off groups for those who do not want AA.

Like anything in life, change and growth is challenging and we learn from it.

The tradition states that any two or three alcoholics meeting for the purpose of soberiety may call themselves an AA group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation. There are thousands of meetings, but fewer groups. Some people simply don't know they can become an AA group by just filling out a form and sending it off to GSO.

I think the conference has struggled with the question of the status of on line meetings and groups for the last few panals. In the meantime an International Online Intergroup has been formed and is very active.

If we want to treat this as an AA meeting, we probably can. However, I think it would best be an open meeting. As I do at any AA open meeting, I would make sure I remained anonymous, just in case there is someone in the group who does not respect the anonyminity tradition.

Generally such a decision would be made by a vote at a group conscience meeting. Who gets to vote could become a little sticky.

Crusty, the state of play is that after much debate on the subject, this group cannot be an official AA group as it is a part of Daily Strength and therefore bound by DS rules.

The founder who originally set up this group did not intend for this to be official AA, just a refuge for AA members who seemed to be constantly under attack on the main group at that time. The title of the group may be the only problem. It was innocently done - to attract AAs and those interested in this method of recovery. I believe the situation has been reported to AA GSO New York and DS. If DS wish to change the name of the group that is fine.

The main group, at present, is the best I have seen it for people discussing recovery without argument. Long may it last.

if it isn;t registered with AA-online,or GSO, it is not a recognized group by world services.

The ONLY ANSWER TO THIS will be found by contacting GSO direct with the registration process there...

The rest are just opinions or dribble drabble..

>> "Alcoholics Anonymous" is a trademark-protected entity and any use of this title must have approval from AA, New York.

Whew, Huw! I just began taking a look at this thread, and I had to stop and ask whether that matter has since been clarified for everyone!

I sure hope so!

Back to reading ...

I was kinda hoping you would just read and not drag it all back up - but actually it was a big learning curve for me personally and I'm sure many others. Lots of issues with affiliation and general considerations about the AA tradition.

Enjoy!

Aa group, hell with all this arguing it's more like a GSR meeting !
Call it what you will, it's a message board. If it helps it helps.

Oops.