[Businessmtg] Next topic

[Kathleen Haskell]

Greetings,

Oh....now I understand better after looking at the archives.   The archives are for the business meetings, when I thought it was for all shares, and thought it was a monstruous file.   LOL.    Unless I am missing something.

It is good information to have for historical purposes and reports.       Is there a way to separate the older ones into a a different place?  For example, have the current 5 years in a file and older ones in a different file?

I am thinking of keeping them since the Steering Committee uses them.   However, I would like to hear other input before making a final decision.

Thanks,
Kathleen H

________________________________
From: Businessmtg <businessmtg-bounces+khaskell217=gmail.com at asp-afg.org> on behalf of Lynne <lynne at asp-afg.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2025 5:15 AM
To: khaskell217 at gmail.com <khaskell217 at gmail.com>
Cc: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
Subject: [Businessmtg] Next topic


The discussion of staff reports is now ended and we move on to our next topic, which is a discussion of archives at ASP. We will discuss this topic until January 20th.



This discussion includes the potential for making a major change at ASP and so this is the second of three business meetings that we will be discussing this topic. There will not be any motions or votes on this topic during this business meeting. Also, we are using the KBDM method for discussion. Please see here for more details: https://asp-afg.org/members/kbdm/



This is a complicated topic. Please ask questions. A short summary is below. But please remember that the Business meeting archives are the official record of our October Business meeting discussion of the archives. My summary below is filtered through my brain and so might inadvertently leave out or emphasize something. This is not intended - I am simply human :) Which is why our BM archives are the official record of our BMs. https://asp-afg.org/members/business-meeting/



ASP keeps all shares going back to 2006 when Steve transferred the meeting to the membership. These shares are kept on the ASP server in a password protected archive. Only current ASP members have access to these archives using a password unique to their account. When a member leaves ASP, they no longer have access to the archives. Please note that these are the official ASP archives stored on an ASP server and are separate from any personal archives that any ASP member could choose to make on their email client/server of all email shares that they receive while they are a member. ASP has no control over how members use the email shares that are sent to their email addresses, although we have multiple places where we encourage members to follow the Al anon principles and to keep those shares private.



The archives are used in different ways:

Newcomers, or any member who needs them, can use them as a resource to read shares on a topic that they have immediate need of - they are essentially an instant meeting on the topic they need.
Some members have issues with their email clients sending all of their ASP mail to their inbox (this is not on the ASP side, this is their email client) and so some members use the archives as a way of reading the daily shares.
The Steering Committee uses the archives in various ways, most often when dealing with a member whose shares they need to review in the course of their duties. But they are also used to get data that the List Administrator reports to the group.


Some concerns brought up last time (I'm sure I won't remember all of them, these will be brought up again in the discussion) about the archive:

Are members aware that there is an archive and that their shares are kept indefinitely for the uses stated above?
Keeping shares in any way goes against the principles of anonymity.
Safety concerns of people not in ASP gaining access to shares through members devices and using those shares against them. Or joining ASP under false pretenses to gain access to the archives. (**we have no evidence this has ever happened in the nearly 20 years where archives have been available at ASP.)


Some possible future actions for the Business meeting to take that were mentioned last meeting (all up for discussion, including ones I have probably forgotten or new ones):

The archives are currently mentioned here https://asp-afg.org/members/member-instructions/. Could we modify our greeting process to make it more explicit that the archive exists, its purpose, and use? Include strategies for a new member to be "more" anonymous if that is something a member wishes?
Stop archiving shares as of a date set by the Business Meeting. This would not affect the existing archives. This was last voted on by the business meeting in Feb 2019 in Motion 19, which failed to pass https://asp-afg.org/members/group-conscience/
Stop archiving shares and delete the archive. This is irreversible. And it is the reason we are discussing this for 3 business meetings before even discussing if we have a consensus as this is a major change that cannot be undone.


 This topic is open for discussion.



Hugs,

Lynne
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