[Businessmtg] Archives

[Steve Rankin]

Hi folks,



Let me start out by saying that *I* do not believe the archives of the
recovery meeting are a true anonymity problem.

First, it is worth noting that nothing in our Traditions suggests that this
would is a problem.  See, there are two issues with anonymity that the
Traditions address:  (1) the prohibition against breaking our personal
anonymity in public media, (2) the spiritual concept of anonymity that
reminds us that we are all equal members in this fellowship.  Nothing in our
Traditions talks about anonymity being synonymous with secrecy INSIDE the
fellowship.  All of that stuff was conjured up later.  My position and
experience is that our Traditions are cast in concrete and will never
change, however everything else is subject to change.  For example, when I
was a Group Rep and District Rep back in the '80s, the Service Manual was a
small group of pamphlets; today the Service Manual is a 244-page book that
is changed frequently by WSO and the Board.  Later, when I was an Area
Officer in the 90s, the Area mailed out a quarterly newsletter to over 700
groups with my full name and home address on the back page of every issue.

Second, if the archives were a true anonymity problem, then would someone
please explain why it is OK for WSO to maintain an archive of the 111 groups
that WSO hosts on their "Official Mobile App of the Al-Anon Family Groups".
Not only does WSO maintain an archive of everything in those group meetings,
WSO REQUIRES that members grant WSO license to use whatever members share
even though WSO does not participate in those meetings.  In other words,
staff at WSO, which includes non-Al-Anon members, has complete access to
every share in those 111 Al-Anon meetings in spite of not being members of
those meetings.  And folks here are worried about someone accessing our
archives?

Third, ASP is an email meeting.  By default, every member of ASP maintains
their own personal archive of ASP shares until and unless they delete them.
While my hunch is that a large majority of ASP members do delete the shares
they receive, that doesn't change this point.

Fourth, some have taken issue with the fact that we don't inform new members
that the server maintains an archive of shares.  While that is true, I'll
point out that every share includes a footer that includes a link to the ASP
website, and at the top of every page on our website is a link to the Member
Instructions page, along with another link near the top of the Menu Links on
the right side of every page, along with another link near the top of the
Table of Contents on the home page.  Ample opportunity to discover the
archives.  It's also well known that new members rarely read the entirety of
what we do send them - a perpetual problem at ASP.

While I'm on #4, I need to point out that several members of this Business
Meeting do not follow the instructions concerning how to post shares to the
Business Meeting.  There have been at least a dozen posts to the BM that the
server bounced because the member didn't follow the instructions that the
Chair posts at the beginning of every Business Meeting.  Every time that
happens, the Chair of the BM (Lynne in this case) must log into the server,
check out why the server bounced the post, and make a decision whether to
approve, disapprove, etc.  Every time.  If Lynne tries to ignore it, the
server will send her messages reminding her.

Fifth, the archives are password protected, and the passwords are only
available to current members.  So, it's not like just anyone can come along
and read ASP shares.

Sixth, ASP allows members to use pseudonyms in lieu of their real name.

So, that's MY take on the anonymity issue.  YMMV.



USE OF ARCHIVES BY MEMBERS

Some members wanted to know how many members access the archives, and how
often.  IMHO, that is not important.

The Al-Anon Declaration says:

---------------------------

"Let It Begin With Me.
When anyone, anywhere,
reaches out for help - let the hand of
Al-Anon and Alateen always be there, and
Let It Begin With Me."

---------------------------

This tells me that we need to be there for anyone.



What do I know personally about members using the archives?  Well, I've had
members contact me saying things like they lost a bunch of shares; they were
traveling & very stressed out & accessed the archives to calm and re-center;
they were having issues with Topic X and wanted to read shares on that,
etc.



Administrative Use by the Steering Committee

Periodically, the Steering Committee becomes aware of share(s) that are or
may be inappropriate in an Al-Anon meeting.

Let's start out by noting that on one on the SC is responsible for reading,
much less proof-reading every share.

Most of the time the member informing the SC of the problem does not provide
a copy of the potentially inappropriate share to the SC.  Instead, their
note to the SC tends to be generic.  Afterall, there is a reluctance in
Al-Anon for members to talk about other members!  So, depending on the level
of detail we receive, the SC needs to peruse the archives for the offensive
share.  Additionally, we need to peruse the archives of all shares by the
offending member to determine if we have a habitual offender or a one-time
offense, or what exactly do we have.  How far back do we go?  Well, that
depends.  It can be just a few days, or it can be months.

Interestingly, we had 2 of these situations occur during the last couple of
months.  Both of which turned out to be somewhat challenging, including the
need to reference the archives.  Without the archives, the members of the
Steering Committee could not have researched the shares of those members and
become fully informed, and made decisions that were fair and reasonable for
both ASP and the members.



Some had questioned the need for statistical information that the SC has
been able to glean from the archives.  May I remind everyone that ASP is not
just an Al-Anon group, it is a business and needs to make well informed
decisions to survive in a changing world.



There is another use of the archives that hasn't been mentioned yet.
Determining which members are the "two 'founders' (the original founders of
A Serenity Place or those most nearly so)".  Currently, that is myself (the
original founder of ASP) and Anne, the next most senior member of ASP.
Actually, Bronwyn is the second most senior member of ASP, however she
resigned as a Founder several years ago, and Anne was the next most senior
member.  FWIW, Jerry is next in line, however after Jerry we have not
determined who is qualified as next in line to serve as a Founder on the
Steering Committee.  Determining that will require a careful study of the
archives and the current list of ASP members.



SOLUTIONS.



One member suggested that the Greeters suggest new members set up a 'free'
email account.  I have a big problem with Al-Anon recommending members use
"free" stuff.  That doesn't jive with the Seventh or Tenth Traditions so
it's not an acceptable solution in my opinion.



Lynne contacted our server provider and discovered that they can change the
access to the archives to require a username and password known only to the
members of the Steering Committee.  This would certainly resolve the general
complaint regarding the archives violating their concept of anonymity, while
maintaining the archives as a valuable tool for the Steering Committee.  My
only issue with this solution is that it denies access to the archives for
our members that wish to use it from time to time.



Love and SERENITY,

Steve