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AA Freethinkers Group Conscience
Our two main mailing lists, for the recovery and the business meeting, will use the anonymous format so that the sender's email does not appear in the 'From' field of the mailing list message.
We do not keep archives of the meeting list because we remember the AA dictum, "Who you see here, What you hear here, When you leave here, Let it stay here." We keep archives of the business meeting because we want a record of how decisions have been reached.
Meeting Format. The weekly chair will start with AA Preamble, followed by the Agnostic Preamble and then introduce the topic he or she had chosen for the week. Throughout the week, any member may respond to the topic and/or share in a general way.
Six days after the meeting is opened, the chair will thank those who shared and close the meeting. Finally, the chair should include words something along the lines of...
7th TraditionThis group will maintain a group conscience document where decisions of the business meeting are recorded after being approved by the group conscience. (15 Jan 2009) The group conscience document will be kept on the website, publicly available for anyone to see, but with no names of trusted servants. (23 Feb 2009). An individual member has responsibility for moderation of the meeting list. The moderator is accountable to a small committee and informs the committee of the reason behind the action. (15 Aug 2009)
We are self-supporting through our own contributions, but this group has no expenses so we do not collect financial contributions. If you wish to show your gratitude for this meeting we suggest you put a little extra in the pot next time you attend a face-to-face meeting.
The group will establish a forum system on its website and run it for a trial period of 3 months to establish if it provides a workable solution for running an online meeting and other online discussion areas. (8 April 2010)
Speaker Secretary
This is the most important job in ensuring that our meetings run every week with a variety of speakers to chair each meeting. The speaker secretary should invite a sober member to chair the meeting each week. The secretary may allow the invited chairperson to select his or her own topic, or may pre-select topics (for example, if he or she has decided to cover the Steps). The speaker secretary will also keep a note of group members' sobriety anniversaries and invite them to chair as soon as possible after their AA birthday. The speaker secretary will serve for a period of 6 months or 1 year, as the group decides. Suggested sobriety requirement is 1 year.
Listkeeper
This is a semi-technical job and involves adding and removing members from the meeting list and the group business list. Our mailing lists are controlled via web forms, so it is easier to look after than older mailing list systems (like majordomo). In the event of disruptive members, the listkeeper can 'moderate' members which allows them to continue receiving the group mail but each message they send must be approved by the listkeeper. In other words we do not have to eject disruptive members as we can temporarily gag them. Suggested sobriety requirement is 1 year.
Group chair
The group chair conducts the group conscience/business meetings as and when needed. Members can ask for matters to be discussed at any time but the chair is responsible for setting the agenda and timescales for discussion, and for voting if votes are necessary. The group chair is also responsible for conducting elections for group jobs when members finish their rotations in service positions. Suggested sobriety requirement is 1 year.
Group Service Representative
The GSR is responsible for representing the group at online service bodies and reporting matters discussed there during group business meetings. Suggested sobriety requirement is 1 year.
Webperson
The group's website provides information about the group and its meetings, and a method for existing AA members or those with a desire to stop drinking can join the meeting list. The webperson consults the group during business meetings and get approval for proposed changes and additions to the website. An interesting job for someone who knows about web design or wants to learn about it. Suggested sobriety requirement is 1 year.