[Businessmtg] Anonymity and archives

[LaVaughn Rynearson]

That makes sense, Lynne.

LaVaughn

On Sat, Jan 11, 2025 at 9:12 PM Lynne <lynne at asp-afg.org> wrote:

> Hi Mary,
>
> I have to disagree that having one share that someone sent that someone
> else finds problematic is enough for a list administrator to effectively
> handle situations that arise.
>
> The recent history (i.e 2-3 months) of shares is  just as important and
> necessary for handling those situations. That has at least been my
> experience as list administrator.
>
> Hugs,
> Lynne
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jan 10, 2025, at 10:15 PM, Mary Abbott <maryaonlinealanon at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > 
> > I’m opposed to keeping archives shares.
> >
> > The concept of anonymity is repeatedly emphasized in every aspect of
> Al-Anon. Those archives break the anonymity of people who shared back in
> 2009 and every other year since. Most of those people who shared are no
> longer around to give their permission to have their shares used for any
> purpose or to be contacted for any reason. But we share their contact
> information when we archive their shares. Even if someone who shared in
> 2010 decided that they no longer wanted their shares in the archive, they
> would be told that their shares cannot be deleted. That doesn’t sound like
> Al-Anon anonymity, nor Al-Anon principles to me when we tell someone that
> their Al-Anon anonymity cannot be protected because it is huge data dump of
> shares for which keep are all of them or none of them.
> >
> > If I want to save a share, I can save it on my email server. If my email
> server is not compatible to read or save ASP shares, I can opt to use an
> email server that does, if I want to be a member of ASP.
> >
> > If someone has a problem with a share’s content and takes that concern
> to the list administrator, the administrator can get a copy of the share
> from the person who felt the share was inappropriate. Keeping shares
> archived is not required for the list administrator to review a potentially
> inappropriate share.
> >
> > ESH shared at meeting is not CAL. Keeping meetings archived so that
> members can go look up a topic does not seem appropriate to me. We have
> members who share more mess than message. That is their right to do so but
> it is not the model we want to promote to newcomers or anyone else for that
> matter who are looking for help them with their recovery. That is what CAL
> is for. The importance of using CAL as the model for recovery is repeatedly
> mentioned throughout Al-Anon literature. CAL keeps the focus us, not the
> mess that surrounds us and CAL is a community endeavor that keeps the
> authors’ identity private. Share are an important part of recovery to but
> they are not meant to be a permanent record to be used like CAL
> >
> > Finally (yes, my final point), I love data and the data shared with us
> is unidentified collapsed data. But the list administrator does not have
> specific written permission from anyone on whom these individual data are
> collected. My profession was collecting data. I was not in the healthcare
> field but I was still bound to abide by US HIPPA regulations for everyone
> just in case there were any individuals whose health care issues might even
> remotely tangentially be associated with our studies. And there always
> were. We have people regularly share about seeing mental healthcare
> professionals. That is healthcare information. On the Al-Anon WSO website,
> in regards to their chat rooms, it is no coincidence that anonymity and
> safeguards to insure HIPPA compliance occur in the same paragraph. No
> permanent record is allowed of chats that take place on the WSO website.
> Collecting and keeping identifiable information that contains any kind of
> health care information without specific written permission can be
> construed to be a HIPPA violation. It doesn’t matter if it is collapsed
> data having nothing to do with content of the share. It is principle of
> violating anonymity that is the basis for US HIPPA regulations and Al-Anon
> recovery.
> >
> > Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our Al-Anon recovery. Our
> archives violate the spirit and directive of that tradition.
> >
> > Thanks for reading this long share.
> >
> > Mary A.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> > ____________________________
> > To Unsubscribe, go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/asp
> > The ASP web site with all kinds of info for ASP members is
> http://asp-afg.org/members/
> > For assistance with other ASP issues, contact Lynne, the List
> Administrator of ASP, at lynne at asp-afg.org
>
> ____________________________
> To Unsubscribe, go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/asp
> The ASP web site with all kinds of info for ASP members is
> http://asp-afg.org/members/
> For assistance with other ASP issues, contact Lynne, the List
> Administrator of ASP, at lynne at asp-afg.org
>