[Businessmtg] Consideration: The WSO Works for Us per our Legacies

[Steve Rankin]

Hi Emee,

Your post makes it sound like it's our fault that ASP is a "Meeting" instead
of a "Group".  Trust me, this is not true at all.

A little history might help illustrate . . .

Don R. of Walnut Creek, CA started the first online meeting that was
available to the general public in March of 1995.  There were 2-3 electronic
meetings that preceded CAFG, however they had limited access such as
requiring a common employer.  As a result, CAFG was the first electronic
meeting that adhered to the 3rd Tradition.

Don & I had met about 6 years earlier when we were DR's in adjacent
Districts.  I joined CAFG a few weeks after it started.  Don was very
proactive and CAFG grew rather explosively and in just a few months was over
500 members.  

The members of CyberSerenity [CAFG] took a Group Conscience in November 1995
and declared CAFG an Al-Anon Group; pursued being listed at WSO; and
established an ad-hoc committee to work out a structure for the meeting,
considering the "suggestions" provided in the Al-Anon Service Manual and
seeking input from other on-line Al-Anon meetings.  I was elected the Chair
of that committee.  

CAFG attempted to register with WSO as an Al-Anon Family Group in November
1995.

In January 1996, the Board of Trustees for the Al-Anon Family Groups
Headquarters, Inc. responded by authorizing a three year pilot project to
list on-line meetings as electronic meetings and appointed an Ad Hoc
Committee "to study the impact of the Internet on Al-Anon".  FYI: my sponsor
was an At-Large-Trustee at the time.

I met with Ric B. on February 3, 1996 for several hours discussing the
online meeting situation.  While Ric agreed that the online meetings met the
definition of a Group per the Traditions, he noted that WSO would not
register an online meeting as a Group.  Instead, Ric told me about the Trial
and that WSO would register us as an "Online Meeting" with a Meeting
Contact.  Ric also talked about how the Board would renew the "Trial" every
3 years, as was their practice with some other issues.

For all practical purposes, the Board of Directors and Delegates had no
knowledge or experience with online anything, much less online meetings.
Don's sponsor was the only exception I know of; my sponsor didn't even have
a computer yet.  I remember printing reams of web pages for my sponsor to
take to BoD meetings.  The World Service Conference Delegates received the
report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Internet and saw shares posted on
CAFG.  
NOTE: the Ad Hoc Committee on the Internet did not include any
representatives from the online meetings, nor were the Delegates at the WSC
members of CAFG while they read shares of members of CAFG.  

While I was busy with the CAFG Business Meeting working on our guidelines,
Don was busy with International members of CAFG developing several
International versions of the CAFG web site.  CAFG was available in 7
languages before WSO launched the official Al-Anon/Alateen website in
October 1996.  FYI: WSO's web site was originally set up and operated by Don
R.  

I left CAFG in April 1996 and began work on starting ASP - ASP went online
on May 1, 1996.  The ASP home page has contained this statement since Day 1:
"We consider ourselves an Al-Anon group in every sense of the word; we
follow the Twelve Traditions of Al-Anon and conduct business like any other
group."

In May 1996 CAFG selected a Meeting Contact to serve as the CAFG liaison to
the World Service Office, and the fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups in
general.  CAFG was listed at WSO on June 18, 1996.  A side effect of the
timing of my departure from CAFG was that ASP missed the first boat on
registering with WSO.  Like several other online meetings, we registered in
the Spring of 1998.


As you can see, both CAFG and ASP have done what they can to register with
WSO as an Al-Anon Group.  Unfortunately, WSO et al have chosen to not allow
that to happen.  Instead, they allow us to register as an Electronic Meeting
- denying us both voice and vote in the Al-Anon service structure.  

Similarly, OLA-IS was THE online Al-Anon Information Service from 1998 to
early 2006 when the BoD 'requested' they demote themselves to being a
"committee".  See, if OLA-IS continued as an Information Service, then WSO
would have had to register OLA-IS as an "Information Service" just like they
register f2f AIS.


The last time I talked with Ric about this issue, he told me that the BoD
did discuss the issue of registering online meetings as groups about 2 years
ago but that the majority of the BoD are afraid that an online meeting will
elect an International member as a GR which would open the door to an
International member attending the World Service Conference - as if that's a
bad thing.  Seems ironic considering that WSO invites International members
from the International GSO's to attend the WSC where they have a voice - no
vote but a voice.  

So, while the WSO & WSC purport to serve the World, they deny the rest of
the world a vote in the process.  Only the f2f International members are
allowed a voice.  As long as serving as a GR in Al-Anon can lead to serving
as a DR that can lead to being a Delegate, the online meetings will not be
allowed to register as groups - the current status of the online meetings
has been set in stone. 

Way back in the early 80's when I was a GR, one of the Groups in Berkeley
wanted to change the wording of the Steps to remove the gender
identification.  The DR explained the process to the GR who then went back
to her group.  She returned the next month with a more formal request for a
motion to start the process.  While the District understood there was little
likelihood of it succeeded, we supported the idea and passed the motion to
take it to the Area.  So our DR went to the Area with the motion where it
was passed and given to the Delegate who sent it on to WSO for consideration
in the WSC Agenda.  It did not make the agenda that year.  Nor the next.  It
did make the agenda the 3rd year but died quickly and quietly at the WSC.
OK.  The important thing is that the Group in Berkeley HAD A VOICE and a
vote in the process, AND EQUALLY IMPORTANT. . . the folks that represented
that Group (the DR and Delegate) respected the Group's request and it
eventually made it to the WSC.  

No such path exists for ASP or any online meeting.

WSO does not work for us.  The road between ASP and WSO is one way -
downhill from WSO to ASP.  

Hugs,
Steve