[Businessmtg] Archives

[Lynne]

Hi Edith,

Because the Archives are separate from the ASP website, we have no 
information about how often they are accessed or by whom. But I do know 
of people at ASP who use the archives daily to access shares.

Hugs,

Lynne

On 2025-01-09 11:04, Edith Villeneuve wrote:

> Lynn, thanks for this information regarding archives.  I am not sure 
> why I didn't know that such a large archive existed... but that's not 
> important.   I have a  question regarding archived ASP shares.
> 
> Is there a way to determine how often this is accessed?
> Obviously I would think that if people use it alot, it must be valuable 
> as a resource. Personally I have never used it, rather I set aside 
> emails I think I will need to reread later.  This works for me.
> 
> Thanks
> /Edith
> 
> On Thu, Jan 9, 2025, 8:16 a.m. Lynne <lynne at asp-afg.org> wrote:
> 
>> 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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