Area 54 NE Ohio General Service

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Purpose

    This is an "official" Area 54 Northeast Ohio General Service of Alcoholics Anonymous website open to all AA service entities in NE Ohio. Please contact us at the email address provided on each page if you have questions or would like related AA information posted here. This site is maintained through volunteer efforts and we only ask that information posted not require frequent updates.
    This site is an Area 54 Public Information Committee communication vehicle and is line with the April 1997 General Service PI conference action where AA now includes "Electronic Media" as yet another method to carry the AA message. This site was accepted with complete unanimity by the Area 54 Assembly at the May 18, 1997 Third Legacy Meeting and is fully self supporting though Group contributions provided to Northeast Ohio General Service. As of June 3, 1997 this site obtained an "official" Web site address domain of "www.aaneoh.org" (domain naming detail below).
    This site is not endorsed nor approved by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. or any given Internet Service Provider. It is an AA service solely provided by the Area 54 NE Ohio General Service Public Information Committee. To adhere to our tradition of personal anonymity, last names of AA members will not be listed nor email addresses that include full last names. Some of the items at this site may have been published by AA World Services, but do not assume that this implies continued approval by the General Service Conference for their use.
    Alcoholics Anonymous®, AA®, and The Big Book® are registered trademarks of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. The Grapevine® and AA Grapevine® are registered trademarks of The AA Grapevine, Inc.

Personal Anonymity and Email

There is a very clear difference between posting last names on a website and using them within an email or email address. A website is a public communication vehicle not unlike "Press, Radio, and Films". Carrying our AA message on a website or other media is within our traditions as long as last names or facial pictures are not posted.
The Area Web page has taken great pains to ensure that last names are not used anywhere, including within the website address. On the other hand, personal email between members and/or non-members is no different than using the US Mail (snail mail) or telephone. Disclosing AA membership in this way does compromise our tradition of maintaining anonymity at the public level.

Guidelines

Other than what's been covered, these will be established as needed. It is hoped that the General Service Office (GSO) will assist in this matter through future publications. The GSO has published answers to some frequently asked questions here.

Domain Name Details

On June 3, 1997, this website address (URL) changed to the easy to remember "domain name" of www.aaneoh.org.

        "We felt that very few members would know, or be able to remember, our area
        number (54). Plus, we want this to be a NE Ohio AA webpage, hosted by Area
          General Service - not a NE Ohio General Service webpage. This is a service
        we can provide to our Intergroups and other service committees."
                                                                             - Bob McK., Area 54 Panel 47 Delegate

    Though the Area will incur added expense to maintain the domain name, the change in the name prevents us from lending any apparent affiliation with a given Internet provider. The consistent domain name can also travel with us if we change Internet providers.
    The new name lends itself to setting a easier pattern for other Areas to follow. In this instance, the majority of them in the US and Canada can be a clean and consistent set of 6 characters (aa:region:state).
    An important note on selecting a name is that the 'sense' of it isn't that important - Web search engines work off the 'content' of the Web page, not the name, so the shorter and simpler the name, the easier to remember. Please don't hesitate to email us if you have questions on this issue.