TimF opened with a moment of silence at 10:05 PM
EST.
Members present were: AllenH, Cathy, Marabel, TimF, Frodo, sisterjam, CarrieL_1, Charlie
R and VJ-Vicki.
Announcements were made by TimF:
A) We would like to welcome our new operators since
4/15/02 -- bringing us to 71 operators:
debbie=Debbie (4/18); SarahR=Sarah (4/23); Toni=Tacey (5/2);
JamesC=James (5/7); DaveofMa=Dave (5/17); Janice (5/17); and AllenH=Allen
(6/2).
B) Two operators’ email accounts are “bouncing”
because of being too full (Memlock=David, and Bri). Four operators’ email accounts are “bouncing” because they no
longer are accurate (Aryeh, Dave, Linda, and Pony). If you see any of these six operators, please let them know. They may email slaaonline@yahoo.com with any
updated information.
C) There are a number of upcoming SLAA conferences
or retreats:
Fri-13-Jun-03
Annual SLAA Summer Retreat (3 days)
Orillia, Ontario, Canada -
416-486-8201
Tue-08-Jul-03
2003 Annual Business Conference/Meeting (4 days)
Dedham MA - http://www.slaafws.org
Fri-25-Jul-03 12-Step Weekend Retreat (3 days)
Chester VT - 617-625-7961
Sat-09-Aug-03
Connecticut Summer Intergroup Conference
http://www.slaact.org
Fri-05-Sep-03
Seattle SLAA 5th Annual Healing Retreat (3 days)
Seattle WA - 206-583-0848
Fri-03-Oct-03
12-Step Weekend Retreat (3 days)
Chester VT - 617-625-7961
Fri-10-Oct-03
2003 International Recovery Convention (3 days)
Clearwater FL - 727-896-SLAA
Fri-19-Dec-03
12-Step Weekend Retreat (3 days)
Chester VT - 617-625-7961
Please
let us know if you know of any others to add.
D) The #SLAA Online Group has closed nominations for the five officer positions May 31st. VJ=Vicki will be the new Chairperson and hhope=Becky will be the new Co-Chairperson by acclamation. All members are encouraged to vote throughout June for Secretary (Marabel or Chuck), Webmaster (Steve or TimF), and Co-Webmaster (TimF or Steve). Details are at https://www.angelfire.com/on/slaa/nominate.html. Please be sure to review this page and vote as you see fit.
E) The SLAA-FWS Anorexia Committee is asking, “Does
anorexia tie in with your sex and love addiction and how?” More information is posted at
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/slaa/info/info.html
F) The “Openletter Committee” was formed in January
and currently includes Camille, Dave, Marabel, and Steve. If anyone is interested, please email
slaaonline@yahoo.com to express an interest.
This committee is open to anyone with a desire; you do not have to be an
operator to join.
G) Christina(cb), one of our operators, had a baby
girl (Paige Alexis) on Thu-29-May-03 (four weeks early). Gail, one of our operators, had a baby boy
(Avraham Meir) on Mon-14-April-03.
Pictures of both babies are available at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/timothyf/baby/
At 10:11 EST, TimF opened the floor for the agenda.
Old
Business:
The
first item of business is approving the minutes of 05/15/03 (posted at https://www.angelfire.com/on/slaa/minutes/030515.html). TimF asked if there were any additions or
corrections to the minutes, and then noted that he found three minor
inaccuracies that
needed
to be corrected.
These are the errors and suggested corrections, quoted directly from Tim:
“I noticed three very minor inaccuracies...In the paragraph that reads...
‘As for the SLAA2 Yahoo group, there are no plans to replace it, as it was started by a member of the #SLAA Online Group as a supplement to recovery, just as the SCA board and other boards can be used to supplement one’s recovery....It is a publicly listed group in the Yahoo Directory and recognized by SLAA-FWS and requires a signup process by e-mail, and has no archives.’
The second paragraph could be better worded as such… ‘It [referring to SLAA2] is a publicly listed group in the Yahoo Directory. SLAA-FWS also recognizes a Yahoo group which has no archives.’
This is because SLAA2 does have archives and is not recognized by SLAA-FWS - whereas, slaa-fws does recognize a different group that is email-only based via Yahoo.”
“Point #2:
In the paragraph that reads... ‘James offered that if an SLAA group were meeting in a town, they are already being offered services for free that were already there for them, such as police, fire department, street lights and other services. As long as the hosting company provides this service to all non-profits in general, it should not conflict -- however, in the interest of abiding by our Traditions, we would pay them at least a nominal fee.’ I believe the final line was intended to be “we could pay them at least a nominal fee,” could instead of would.”
“Point #3
In the paragraph... ‘To add to that reply, Tim also noted that Starlink-IRC.org offers free rooms to #SCA and #SAA as well as to us, and that Starlink-IRC.org will NOT accept any money from us. As for webspace, we currently have free webspace at Angelfire.com - however, their site sometimes has triggering advertising, which is something we are having to “live with”. We could use Yahoo for free webspace, but they also have the same problem. As James had said,’... I believe we should delete the sentence ‘We could use Yahoo for free webspace, but they also have the same problem.’. The rest is accurate.”
Marabel responded with the following:
“I am in agreement with your changes, however, I wrote what was shared in the meeting, and did not realize the thing about the archived meetings was untrue, however I stand corrected. Thanks.”
TimF said, “Another possibility is to include these points in tonight’s minutes.
I am seeking for overall accuracy - and how we accomplish it is not important. I know it was a challenging meeting to say the least, so I will defer to Marabel to review the raw minutes and either brief the Webmaster for corrections or include correcting information in tonight’s minutes - IF we are in agreement now.”
Marabel then said she would accept Tim’s corrections, and TimF asked the group if there were any comments, objections or questions. There were none, so the minutes were put to the group for a vote of approval.
Before the vote, sisterjam had a question not related to approval of the minutes.
“I’m not sure if you can use this information and its not an ad but as for webspace I know a place where you can get free hosting and a minimal yearly fee. I’m not sure if its relevant to the meeting, just wanted to mention it.” TimF let sisterjam know that the group had recently acquired free webhosting, and that sisterjam could e-mail slaaonline@yahoo.com with the information.
Cathy then made a motion to approve the May minutes, with the corrections noted in June’s minutes for accuracy. Vicki seconded the motion.
Seven voted for the minutes, and one voted against. Marabel had the dissenting vote.
Tim said to Marabel, “12-step groups look at group conscience (not entirely Robert’s Rules of Order)... So I’d like to hear from the minority opinion. Marabel - please explain your vote.”
Marabel replied, “Tim, I believe that what I have written from the raw minutes are accurate as they stand with the data that I had before me. However, I cannot in good conscience fully agree to the changes without my reviewing the raw data again. Therefore, I vote no. Thanks.”
Tim then said, “Marabel, may I explain something? I’m not sure if James said “would” or “could” – and that is easy to check in the raw minutes, and we can certainly leave it stand if it was stated as “would”, although that implies having a Treasurer, which is a lot about what followed in the meeting. So I leave that discretion to you, as Secretary, but the other two points I made were from things that I shared at the meeting, and if I said anything inaccurate, tonight I am correcting myself in those two points and simply ask that it be noted in TONIGHT’s minutes (for posterity). Given that, would you care to change your vote? (and if not, can you live with the majority vote?)”
Marabel said, “I can live with the
majority vote.” Tim then said “Thank
you. Motion passes by majority.”
Tim
brought two other items of Old Business to the floor.
2)
As we grow closer to launching our new Forum and website, the behind-the-scenes
work going into our “new site” becomes more important. Last month we approved testing the new Forum
and paying for a domain name. Now as we
grow closer to launching a new site, we will need group conscience to approve
the MANY pages at our “new site.” ... To that end, we request establishing a
committee to carefully review each and every page of the “new site” carefully
and report back in the coming two months about their findings -- so that the
group conscience can elect to incorporate the pages as being “approved” by our
#SLAA Online Group. The “new site” is available for review at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/slaa. Until that time, we can mirror the angelfire
site at the new URL and add the Forum.
The agenda also mentions two of the S.L.A.A. Fellowship Wide Service
suggested guidelines for web sites. In summary - no ONE person act solely on
their own and that site creators have some sobriety.
Tim
asked, “Are there any comments or questions before we move forward on this
item?”
Marabel
asked, “Is there already someone heading up this committee, or is that yet to
be determined?”
Tim
replied, “Very long ago, we had a Web Committee, that is how some two years ago
we prioritized 40 things into top 10 and threw away some items, but that group
is long disbanded. One of the top priorities was (and has always been) having a
Forum but that required a server (which we finally have and was approved for
final testing last month). (It) likely
will be made public in a month or two. For about 20 months ONLY I have also
worked on this new website, because I saw the need for more information being
provided more clearly. And while I have shared this site with many members
along the way, I always mention that it HAS NOT PASSED GROUP CONSCIENCE because
that is the truth. But now that we are
soon to unveil the Forum, it would be really neat to also unveil a new and
fresh look for the website with announcments being kept fresh all the time. So
far, the site offers about 95% of what the angelfire site offer and about 200%
ADDITIONAL stuff that angelfire doesn’t have, but I cannot act alone, so I seek
others to review it and allow us to ascertain group conscience.”
Cathy
then asked, “So would we put together this committee by asking for volunteers?”
Tim
replied, “This is again only my opinion, having been here 5+ years and also
being technically savvy. I have worked
on the site and feel it to be about 80% finished. I would welcome a committee
to review it page by page and say what is good/bad/needs tweeking on each page
what is missing; what is confusing, etc. And since I can write in HTML code, I
would keep up with the committee’s suggestions so that the site could be ready
in a couple months.”
Tim
then asked if there were further comments or questions, and noted that “actually,
creating committees does not require action (no motion or vote), it simply requires
volunteers.” Tim then asked if anyone
would care to volunteer.
Marabel
replied, “I would care to volunteer, if someone else will head up this
committee.” Vicki and Cathy also
volunteered.
Tim
said, “OK - I, of course, will be on the committee. So four of us now...I encourage you all to mention this
occassionally at a meeting as we welcome others. I have the email addresses for
all four of us. If new members join, we
just need their email (if they are operators, I have it).”
Sisterjam
also volunteered, and Tim said, “Sisterjam, please email slaaonline@yahoo.com
so that we have a record of your email address.”
Tim
then asked, “Would anyone care to volunteer to be the Chairperson of this
committee?” No one volunteered to head
the committee, so Tim answered the question with, “Ok - seeing none now, we
will work as a team group.” Then Tim
proceeded to the next item of business.
3)
Irv B., SLAA Internet Committee (CIC), responded to last month’s reminder about
our business meeting with an invitation for us to join the SLAA-FWS Internet
Committee. In turn, he would provide
minutes to our selected member. Would
we like to participate in this committee, and if so, who would be the contact
person?
Tim
noted that “S.L.A.A. Fellowship Wide Services has some 15 committees. They
conduct business between the ABC/M using email and phone and welcome one of our
members to join their committee if we choose to do this. That party would share
their email address (and perhaps phone number) with the committee and become
briefed about that committee (at the FWS level). Any comments or questions?”
Cathy
asked, “In SCA, one of our sister fellowships, they have an ISO officer, who
would do this in their position, as well as being the vehicle for communication
between the irc based group and the rest of the fellowship. Perhaps creating
this position would be the best way to handle this for us as well.”
Tim
replied, “Thanks, Cathy. That is a wonderful idea. For instance, I talk with
Jenny and Ann at FWS quite a number of times a year, but I’ve also been the
Chairperson for the last year. Having a new position affords another
opportunity for service work so they could brief SLAA-FWS about any meeting
changes, etc. Any further comments or questions?”
Sisterjam,
in a question referring to the newly formed Web Committee, asked, “What would
the chairperson of the committee we just volunteered for responsibilities be?”
Tim
replied, “Sisterjam, while each member’s input about the site (on a page-by-page
basis would be important), the Chairperson of the committee would likely send a
monthly (or so) reminder to the members of the committee with progress notes
and perhaps the committee would decide to meet here in #SLAA2 for an hour every
other month (just an example) so the person would ascertain the best time for
participation and remind people about it, just an example. Once we have your
email, we can chat offline about the committee.”
Tim
then asked, “Any further comments or questions about this position with the
SLAA-FWS-CIC?” Then, in realizing how
much time we had left for the meeting, Tim made the comment, “By group
conscience long ago, we decided that business meetings run 90 minutes with no
new business being introduced after 75 minutes, and we have one item under new
business that is timely. Perhaps we should ponder the SLAA-FWS-CIC until next
business meeting - and we will have new officers in place at that time, too,
just a suggestion.”
Then
Tim brought the question, “Further comments, questions, a motion on this, or a
motion to table, or something else? (as Chairperson, I don’t make motions - but
frankly I think tabling this to move onto the last item of business would be a
good tactic).”
Cathy
then moved to table this item to the next business meeting, and Marabel
seconded the motion.
Tim
then opened the floor to vote to table this last item of business to the July
15 meeting. The motion passed by
majority, (nine votes) with two abstentions because two members came in just
before the voting began.
New
Business:
4)
January 2002, we registered #SLAA2 with StarLink-IRC.Org for Women’s Meetings
and business meetings. Last term of
office, TimF was the 500-level operator in #SLAA and Vicki was the 499-level
operator in #SLAA2 because StarLink-IRC.Org does not allow one person to be the
500-level operator in more then one room.
With the new officers, Vicki will become the 500-level operator in
#SLAA. We need group conscience about
who to make the 499-l. This person is
often in charge of making adjustments to CStar, specifically adding masks for
operators when new operators come onboard or when existing operators change ISP’s. This can be changed in July when the new
officer positions are known. The obvious choices are hhope=Becky (the new
Co-Chairperson), TimF (the existing Chairperson, familiar with CStar commands),
or someone else familiar with CStar 400-level commands. Whomever we decide, that person needs to be
willing to share their personal email address with StarLink-IRC.Org staff.
Tim
said, “Sounds complicated - but it really isn’t. One member cannot be the
500-level operator in two rooms. For
us, that means #SLAA and #SLAA2, so with Vicki becoming the 500-level op in
#SLAA we need to figure out who to make the 500-level op in #SLAA2 so that the
transition can occur smoothly on July 1st. Comments, questions,
suggestions?”
Vicki
then asked, “I thought the reason that I got the 499 in slaa2 this past term
was because I was the co-chair. Is that what had been decided previously?
Tim
answered, “True. That is one good
reason to make Becky the 500-level op in #SLAA2, keep it super simple. I (of course need to make sure she is
willing to share her email address) if that is the case, but, point well taken.
For the most part we have 2 tiers of operators: Officers and other
operators. The officers are 450-level
(or above), all the rest are 100-level. Here is the potential problem--as ops
add isp’s, we add new masks to CStar, and ANY officer can do that for ANY
100-op, but only the 500-level and 499-level op can do this for ALL the many
100-level ops. So having someone that
is here often can make things a bit more smooth in that regard, but I
understand what you are saying. Further comments, questions?”
Cathy
then made the comment, “Like Vicki, I also was under the impression that the
co-chair was responsible for the 499 level in SLAA and the 500 in SLAA2, and
the chair was responsible for 500 in SLAA and 499 in SLAA2. It makes sense to
me that those 2 people would keep that responsibility.”
Tim
then responded to Cathy’s question and then put forth a question: “ Thanks
Cathy.
Indeed
that keeps it simple. Our meeting minutes never really addressed this when we
registered the #SLAA room, just that Chairperson is 500-level and Co-Chairperson
is 499-level in main room (our only room for so many years), but this attitude
certainly keeps it simple. Sounds like
we have a few in agreement. Do I see
that as a motion (for now and posterity)?”
Marabel
replied with, “I move to keep things simple and do whatever the heck it was you
just said.” Then Cathy seconded that
motion.
Tim
restated the motion and opened the floor for a vote: “OK - the motion is that
Chairperson responsibilities be amended to be 500-level in #SLAA and 499-level
in #SLAA2 and 499-level in #SLAA and 500-level in #SLAA2 (and Co-Chairperson be
amended to be 500-level in #SLAA2 and 499-level in #SLAA2 and 499-level in
#SLAA and 500-level in #SLAA2).”
The
motion carried with a majority (8 votes), and two abstentions.
Tim
then said, “Based upon group conscience, we close after 90 minutes, so no need
for a motion and second to close (for a change), and I thank you all for
attending and participating.”
Cathy
moved to close, and TimF closed the meeting with the Serenity Prayer at 11:37
PM EST.
In
humble service,
Marabel,
Secretary
#SLAA
Online Group