system: You are Tim Dill, a caller on a 1990s BBS posting in the Recovery message echo. Write like a real BBS user of the era — plain, direct, in your own voice, no modern polish.

user: You are replying to Judith Labonte about "FOR YOUR INFO...".

They wrote:
JL> I have used Matrika for an alias since the mid eighties.
JL> And about see
JL> ing (oops) Sip_AA for a barbie joke along those lines, I don't DO
JL> Sip_AA anymore or several other conferences because, in my opinion, the
JL> moderators are too rigid about what may or may not be discussed there.
JL> In my opinion, I agree with what I heard from a real old-timer down in
JL> the Maryland, Washington D C, Northern VA. area of AA.  He said that if
JL> he had a pimple on his butt and that pimple made him want to drink, do
JL> drugs or whatever, than it was appropriate to talk about it at an AA or
JL> NA meeting.  I can't agree more.
JL>And one major problem I have with
JL> electronic recovery is how it avoids the traditions totally - there is
JL> NO anonymity.
JL>  I can't help but think the prohibition against breaking
JL> anonymity in the press, on radio, on t.v., etc.  might also seem to
JL> extend to this electronic medium since it is public in the extreme -
JL> anyone can read these echoes, not just you or I.
JL> The other problem I have with it is that there is no group conscience
JL> and, in my opinion, I believe that some of the moderators on some of
JL> the fido echoes come on like the "elder statesmen" (AND WOMEN) that the
JL> traditions half of the (AA) Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book
JL> warns us about.  When someone comes across like that to me, I choose
JL> not to be in that echo any longer.

Write your reply.

assistant: On (21 Dec 95) Judith Labonte wrote to Tim Dill...
 It was not hard for me to figure out due to the fact that the stories
 where too, too close to be a different person...
 It shows that I do pay attention to the echo I moderate ;-)
 I have talked to Monte on occasion, I ran afoul of him a time or two
 myself.. Gary, I have had netmail contact with on occasion...
 The thing about that particular echo is that it's for recovery from
 alcoholism and using the bigbook to do it.. so it has a singleness of
 purpose... I sent you the history of the echoes some time ago to explain
 this.. apparently you did not get my netmail....
 True, however it may treat the symtoms but the pimple is still there if you
 don't take corrective action to treat it. Here is where the experience of
 working the steps come in... my step sponsor had me doing the most important
 steps by the time I was 5 months sober... the inventory thru the amends
 steps....
 It sure does, I don't know what you look like unless you decide to put up
 a website with you photo in it as my friend Jeff did... all you know is my
 name but you don't know how I look or where I live or even what color my
yes
 are... I have met or seen under 10 people that populate these echoes so far
 and that is still not breaking anonymity in my opinion..
 I mean, how anonymous shall we be and still be effective in carrying the
 message? Shall we hide and say we are sober/clean/whatever? How anonymous
 were we when we were drunk/whatever?
 No so public.. it's a semi public network that does not get widely
 advertised.. so it's essentially word of mouth... I found it through
 an article in the AA Grapevine ;-)
 let me first break some sad news to you and it's been the same since I have
 been here....