2005 Group Conscience Decisions
This is a summary of the group conscience decisions made in 2005.
January 2005
Agreed by Consensus:
- The web hosting and domain registration accounts shall list Webmaster as owner. Webmaster will provide Web Committee with the necessary contact information so they can access the account should Webmaster be unable to. This would allow the Web Committee or a designee to change the account information, make payments, etc.
- Web Committee members who have the experience and willingness to serve as back up will be provided with the necessary information by Web Master to access the webserver to make changes or updates, if necessary.
- Committee members interested in learning about web building can do so little by little and help the Web Master monitor the website for mistakes, broken links and problems.
April 2005
Agreed by Consensus:
- Combined the Greeter/Welcomer job description to reflect the combining of these positions, a decision we made in Oct. 04, and which took effect when the last welcomers finished their terms. The revised job description reads as follows:
Greeter/Welcomer Job Description
-1 Year Term 1 Year Sobriety
– Member of Business List
– Receive inquiries requesting information about GROW from Listkeeper.
– Send initial response to potential new member.
– Keep track of inquiries.
– After receiving appropriate response (sometimes need to clarify Third Tradition adherence or being female) subscribe them to the list.
– After receiving confirmation from listservice that the subscription has been accepted, send a welcome letter to the new member (letter provided), and introduce new member to the group. ( Place in subject line: New Member [email address]
– Respond to questions from new members regarding the group.
– If new member does not have access to the web, forward group information, as requested.
– Work closely with Listkeeper.
– Send resubscription requests to the Listkeeper.
– Provide successor with all necessary information, including job guidelines; and serve as a mentor for a period of time to ensure continuity of service.
– The following are helpful to this position:
-Good organizational skills
-Frequent checks for e-mail
-Good e-mail program with filters and know how to set them up
-Be able to cut, copy, paste, and save to a folder
- An Archives Committee, comprised of Susan G., Lori, Gigi, and Timi T., is tasked with revising GROW’s archives procedures to reflect, as best as possible, the discussions we have had during this business meeting. The committee will seek input from our Listkeepers regarding their proposal before it is presented at the October business meeting.
- Revised Greeter’s letter to read as follows:
Welcome to GROW! Now that you’re subscribed, this is one of two emails you will receive to help you start participating in our meeting right away. You might want to print these out for future reference.
A new meeting topic is sent to everyone on the list each Sunday and we share throughout the week. On-topic and Off-topic shares are welcome. We ask that off-topic posts be appropriate for an AA meeting. Please
note in your subject line if your share is off topic (we usually type Off: … )To share with the group, just address your email to grow@binhost.com and your post will be forwarded to all members.
Please be sure your email is set to send and receive plain text, and do not type in all CAPS.
The secretary posts information about the trusted servants and guidelines for our email etiquette once a month. The Listkeeper (the person who makes sure the technical side our email list works smoothly) also posts information monthly.
You’ll find lots more information on our GROW web site. The URL for GROW is:
http://www.g-r-o-w.com
Some of the information is for members only, so you’ll need the following:
user name: sobertoday
password: how2484
If you have questions not answered by our website information, please write me and I’ll be sure to answer or send your question to someone who can.
I hope Grateful Recovering Online Women is helpful to you in your
journey and growth in sobriety. Again, Welcome!
July 2005
By consensus:
- Reaffirmed that Co-archivist fills in for Archivist during temporary absence of the Archivist.
- Agreed to leave the Archivist and Co-archivist job descriptions as they are. Adding the word “continuous” is considered unnecessary and the words “membership of AA” redundant.
October 2005
MINUTES – By consensus
- The Secretary and Chair will carry out their duties as written and the Secretary will post Minutes to both GROW and GROW-BUS, reaffirming previous group conscience.
- GROW BUS Minutes should include enough detail to accurately record what transpires during each 4-day segment and should be identified in the subject line as “Minutes” rather than “Update” or “Summary.
- The following clarification about what Minutes should contain is to be added to the Secretary’s job description:
- What TS reports were presented to the meeting
- What discussions were on the table
- The outcome of the discussion
- How that decision would be entered into the record as a GC Decision (wording)
- What discussions are ongoing and a brief background as to why
- If there was a change to a previous group conscience decision; what it is changing from and to
- Any other business before us and the outcome
- TS positions filled and still open
- GROW website url and password
”
BIRTHDAYS – By consensus
It has been recorded as group conscience decision that GROW will celebrate quarterly sobriety dates in addition to the annual birthdays we now recognize, and the Birthday Listkeepers job description has been revised to reflect this change.
WEEKLY TOPIC – By consensus
Our Weekly Meeting Lead Listkeeper will resume maintaining a list of topic shares and pass the list on to her replacement; and for reference purposes, a list of topic shares will be displayed in the Archive section of g-r-o-w.com for a period of one year.
ARCHIVES – By consensus
GROW will discontinue the archiving of shares to GROW. We authorized our Archivist to save, at her discretion, specific GROW emails that could alter and/or further define GROW history with the understanding that these shares would never go public. (This applies to past, present and future archiving procedures).
We will maintain 10 digests at all times, leaving it to our Listkeepers and Archivists (guided by these and past unrevised group conscience decisions) to determine how and when to delete past archives and turn off the current archive option.
These decisions have been incorporated into the Archive Guidelines adopted in April 2000. GROW’s Archive Guidelines now read as follows:
GROW ARCHIVE GUIDELINES – (Adopted 4/00; revised 10/05)
The Archives are established to maintain a history of Grateful Recovering Online Women (GROW) in order to provide for an accurate rendering of the experience of GROW from its inception for the benefit of future GROW members and A.A. as a whole.
As of October, 2005, we do not archive shares to the GROW list and our Archivist is authorized to save, at her discretion, specific GROW emails that could alter and/or further define GROW history with the understanding that these shares would never go public.
We will maintain 10 GROW digests at all times, leaving it to our Listkeepers and Archivists to determine how and when to delete past archives and turn off the current archive option.
These decisions do not change the Archives Guidelines adopted in April, 2000.
Archives may include: Pertinent correspondence on founding of the group Listing of TS’s Terms, who/when, service responsibilities (when, why and if changed) Quarterly reports from each TS Group Conscience decisions Form letters (Greeter, Welcomer, Listkeeper, majordomo, meeting format, 12 Step Chair, Topic Leader Chair, Sponsor Listkeeper, FYI, E-Mail Etiquette, etc.) Changes within the group structure (ex, listserver change) Steering Committee Actions (summary) * Business meeting minutes and agenda’s Copies of the digest for a period of 2 years to be reviewed periodically to insure pertinent group history be preserved.
A representative sampling of the archives will be publicly displayed as suggested by the GSO Guidelines. These publicly presented archives will contain historical documents that may be of the greatest interest to the largest number its members. All other archives may be made available in a timely manner to current members upon request.
The current Archivist will serve as a nonrotating historian so that there will be a focal person for the collection.
The Archivist will receive copies of Steering Committee mail and be non-voice receiver of correspondence.
The Steering Committee will select a recording secretary among its members to provide a summary of Steering Committee discussions and actions.
The Archivist shall ensure that any publicly presented material appropriately protect the anonymity of anyone mentioned. i.e., the standard of first name-last initial shall apply.
A rotating Co-Archivist will assist the non-rotating Archivist. The Co-Archivist is a one year term (suggested length of sobriety – 3 years; suggested length of GROW membership – 3 months)