[Businessmtg] Archives - Anonymity Pamphlet received

[Anne K]

Hello!

I received the "Why Anonymity in Al-Anon" pamphlet that I ordered. I would encourage everyone to get a copy for it has a lot in it. 

The text on the back of the pamphlet is interesting about how no part of it can be "...reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in an form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission...."  I know ASP has limited permission to quote CAL for the meeting so I will select a few sentences to quote and try and summarize the rest - which is why I am encouraging others to pick up a copy as well. 

It starts with "Anonymity in Al-Anon is a sacred trust, basic to our fellowship and its survival" Al-Anon / Alateen Service Manual (P-24-27)

It talks about how anonymity is reassuring to newcomers, and reminds us that we are all equals here. 

It goes on about how as we work the program, we may choose to share more information about ourselves with other members of the program, reducing our anonymity, but that decisions - how much to reveal and to who, is up to us. In no way are we to reveal any names or other personal information about others in the program - whether that be AA, Al-Anon, or Alateen.

In talking about anonymity at the public level, it talks about Tradition 11 and 12; and this is where it talks about the internet and public social networkings sites and all other publicly accessible aspects of the Internet - breaking anonymity when someone is identified as a member by full name or full face, or by repeating someone else's story. 
"We also need to be careful when sending e-mails. It is imprint to use e-mail addresses that do not contain last names. It is also important to not put the name "Al-Anon" or "Alateen" in the subject line, if sending a message to an email address that is not private. When posting newsletters or minutes on Web sites, we need to remove last names and personal contact information from the documents first, or use only password-protected member sites."
It goes on to talk about making contact with professionals for outreach  and how Al-Anon is not a secret society.

It ends with a reminder on Tradition 12 and some thoughts to remember, the first of which is "When we remember "to place principles above personalities" everyone can attend the meeting secure in the knowledge that what we share will not be repeated". 

I have to say, I was hoping the pamphlet would say "do not save any e-mail shares because that's a violation of Tradition 12!" LOL  

I still feel strongly that saving every share is indeed a violation of Tradition 12 and we should stop this practice and delete what we have saved. 

We can certainly have further  discussions on what constitutes "minutes" and are those shares actually "minutes" of every single meeting; and the pros and cons of the password protection of the site; but overall I think that may be a distraction from ' should we actually be saving every share'   

We also may want to review the business meeting minutes that are saved to make sure last names and personal contact information - like our email addresses - are removed.

I have read the discussions on why shares are saved as well. I appreciate that old shares can be used to lend assistance.  I believe there are other avenues to get information or find out information or report on information that would not rely on old shares. 


Thanks


Anne K
annabelina2 at gmail.com