GSO provides some general website guidelines for creating and running a website. The entire contents can be viewed by clicking on this link. The policies and procedures involved in setting up and maintaining our Area 78 web site are derived from these guidelines where applicable.
The website shall operate under the auspices of the Area 78 E-Services Committee. This committee is responsible for determining the website content and appointing trusted servants to manage its administration.
A webmaster may be appointed (or hired) as needed to manage the most technical aspects of the web site and to provide consultation expertise. The Webmaster would report to the E-Services chair.
Two volunteer web content administrators (known as web administrators) will be appointed to manage the day-to-day maintenance of the Web site content. Experience indicates that managing the site content, keeping local meeting information and other postings current can be time-consuming if only one person is responsible for doing so. This also provides some built-in redundancy in that one web admin can back up the other when he/she is unavailable to perform necessary website updates.
A volunteer Email Administrator (sometimes also known as a postmaster) will be appointed to manage the day-to-day maintenance of the Area 78 email system and to handle troubleshooting of related issues.
Keeping in mind that adherence to our Traditions and Concepts overrides the need to have technical expertise; an effort will be made to sponsor volunteers into the positions of web and email administrator.
The web and email administrators must have access to a personal computer and the internet. It is suggested that they have at least one year of sobriety.
The web and email administrators serve for a term of two years but may be reappointed for one additional, consecutive term of two years.
The E-Services chair (or proxy) and the web admins are authorized to make changes to the website as deemed necessary within the limitations of these guidelines.
The E-Services chair (or proxy) and the email administrator are authorized to make changes to the Area 78 email system as deemed necessary within the limitations of these guidelines.
The E-Services Committee shall regularly canvass the membership of the Area 78 Assembly to ascertain whether the website is fulfilling its purpose.
These guidelines may be revised upon approval of the voting membership of the Area 78 Assembly at the semi-annual scheduled business meetings.
The E-Services Committee will employ a web hosting company to host the website and provide email services. The chair of this committee will act as the primary contact and liaison to the hosting company. The E-Service chair must provide the necessary credit card information to be kept on file with the web host company for the period of their rotation.
The E-Services Committee will employ a web domain registration company to manage the domain registration for area78.org. The chair of this committee will act as a contact to the domain registration company. The E-Service chair must provide the necessary credit card information to be kept on file with the domain registration company for the period of their rotation.
At the end of their term, the outgoing E-Services Chair shall provide the incoming Chair with a document containing valid server and website maintenance information. This shall include (but not be limited to) URLs, passwords, and security information items.
At or after the Transition meeting and prior to the beginning of the next rotation, the outgoing Chair shall facilitate any necessary change with the web hosting provider and the domain registration companies in regards to billing/contact information for the Area 78 website and domain name.
The Website shall be registered with Area 78 AA in the domain name.
The domain organization will be “Area 78 Assembly” and all domain contact information will be kept private. Email sent to the privacy proxy will be forwarded to the E-Services Chair email address.
The billing contact will be the E-Services Committee Chair, who is responsible for renewal of the domain name and hosting services.
The technical contact for the website’s Internet Service Provider is either the E-Services chair or an appointed proxy.
Technical access to the website will be limited to the following: the E-Services chair (or appointed proxy), the web master, and the web administrators.
A website is a way of communicating to the world who we are and what we do. We must be all-inclusive, technically user friendly, and ensure confidentiality and member anonymity.
The web site shall serve as a communication tool for the Area 78 General Service Assembly by providing approved, publicly available information about Alcoholics Anonymous to:
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• the public (including those who need AA and are searching for help)
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• the media
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• the AA fellowship
The Website shall present information to enable the still-suffering alcoholic to make direct, face-to-face contact with Alcoholics Anonymous, and to provide information regarding the service structure in Area 78.
The website shall be operated by the E-Services Website Committee of the Area 78 Assembly and shall present only approved, publicly available information about AA. The approval required for any information is commensurate with the delegated responsibility for the information (Concept X).
In keeping with the 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Area 78 Website shall:
Not publish any member’s telephone number or email address that identifies the first and last name of the member.
Not publish an individual’s full name or identifiable picture.
Not present any affiliation, endorsement, display of or link to any non-AA entity.
Be funded exclusively by the Area 78 Assembly and cannot accept funds from any other source.
Operate under the auspices of the Area 78 E-Services Committee which is responsible for determining the website’s content and appointing trusted servants to manage its administration.
Allow anyone to make a request for the addition, change, or removal of group information from the Area78 website at any time using the Update Meeting List feature. See procedure #2 for more detail about this.
Facilitate announcements of AA events to be posted, and that they be submitted to the web administrators by the host of the event, using the Calendar feature Post An Event.
Ensure (in the spirit of anonymity and keeping with the wishes of the Area 78 Assembly) that any submission that does not adhere to these guidelines not be accepted until amended.
The website shall contain content as deemed appropriate by the E-Services Website Subcommittee.
To facilitate the operation of the website within the Traditions of AA, the E-Services chair (or appointed proxy) will keep the email address aliases of the Area Service Positions and the Districts features up-to-date. These are methods for sending emails to Table Officers, Committee Chairs, and DCMs anonymously. Email addresses may be set up to route communication to the member’s own private email client, or the member will be set up to access their Area 78 mailbox account directly.
Any AA member may request the addition, editing, or removal of group information from the website meeting list at any time using the Update Meeting List feature. Keeping in mind that accurate meeting information is critical for AA members and newcomers, web administrators may accept or deny meeting information changes at their discretion. Audit information is always available, thus meeting changes can easily be reversed if found to be incorrect at a later time.
Members of AA in Area 78 may submit announcements of AA events within or connected to Area 78, to be posted on the website, by using the Post An Event feature under the main Calendar item. AA related items from outside Area 78 may also be accepted and posted on the area calendar, but may not appear on the home page Calendar Links section unless deemed to be of importance to the Area 78 general membership (i.e. WRAASA, Forums, ect.).
All submitted event posting requests must observe the following:
- An event must clearly indicate that it is being put on by AA members.
- An event must adhere to all the AA Traditions.
- The contact info for an event may not be an outside organization.
- The contact info for an event may not contain a person’s last name.
- Posted information must not infringe on AA copyright.
- Email and phone numbers should not identify a member directly.
A home page displaying the name of the website as well as clearly identified connections to the other sections of the Website.
The following shall be displayed on the home page: “This web site observes all AA’s practices and principles. Since anonymity ‘is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions’, we practice anonymity at all times. A web site is a public medium which has the potential for reaching the broadest possible audience and, therefore, requires the same safeguards that we use at the level of press, radio and film.”
An information page containing the “Third Legacy Procedure”.
Maps displaying the geographical boundaries of Area 78, and the districts which partition it.
A list of AA meeting information for groups within Area 78.
A page where each General Service Committee of Area 78 may post relevant information.
A page listing the latest contact information for all active districts of Area 78, keeping anonymity in mind.
The Conference-approved “AA Fact Sheet”.
The “Anonymity Letter to the Media” as supplied by GSO.
Listings of AA events and roundups within or connected to Area 78, as provided by the membership.
Links to the GSO, the Grapevine, and other AA related websites.
An “About” page, a privacy statement, and these guidelines.
A list of the AA Central Offices within Area 78, with phone numbers, addresses and hours of operation.
Phone numbers and help lines for AA call centers in Area 78.
A “Search” function to assist in site navigation.
A Site Map function to assist in understanding the site organization and navigation.
A searchable calendar listing upcoming events in Area 78.
Separate public and private download pages, with necessary security protocols implemented.
The software which operates the website should be responsive, in that it displays the website on phones and mobile devices in a friendly fashion.
Other content that is approved by the E Services committee. If necessary, the Area 78 table officers may reverse the E Services subcommittee approval of website content.