Since you gave the okay for comments, I will speak up.

I think you are doing a great service first of all. But anything online, in my opinion, should only be a supplement to an already established face to face recovery. If anyone would of came to me while I was at my bottom and placed a computer in my face I would of been compelled to find a way to sell it for money. I had the attention span of a gnat when I was jonesin' real bad so to sit down and focus on typing in that condition is well - laughable. There is a certain level of humility that is extremely important, that we get from physically walking into a room and sensing it all, that cannot ever be felt through an online meeting. Good luck on your journey.

I initially thought that online would be the way to keep me from actually having to see people. I didn't realize the power of hearing another drunk relate their experiences, in person. Once I got past the initial anxiety of actually going to a meeting, I stopped with the online. For me, the virtual meeting is not as effective for me.

There are many kinds of meetings in AA. They can be evaluated in several ways. Online meetings can be crucial in .a first or early exposure of AA to a person who is seeking some help about their problem with alcohol. On more than one occasion a desperate visitor to this forum has been referred to an online meeting that is occuring within the hour, such as at http://aaonline.net

It can be much easier to get a shaky newbie to an online meeting than to find and schedule attendance at some unfamiliar Quicker, too. Late night, too.

Most (almost all?) of the shaky potential newbies who come surfing round here and are given information and direction to a F2F meetings don't follow through. They bale. Just look at all the 1-post dormant accounts we have here.

Online meetings are a part of AA now. In some ways they follow the pattern of AA's early network growth. Classic diffusion model. Anything you can do, Shooter, to encourage more online AA meeting is good service work. It helps AA and it helps our membership, which includes the newbies.

@Tanin: great insights, much appreciated.

@peecee: yeah, that is a challenge I've noticed as well regarding the quality of online meetings. If I were to go through with a new website for online (video) meetings, perhaps their could be a rating system (uber-like) for users. If the chairperson gives a user a poor rating for a specified reason, the website could send a private message to the person telling them what the feedback was and suggest some short tutorial style videos on how to share better. Perhaps a visible "reputation" score based on the twelve traditions could help promote a better community.

Does anyone else have any critiques of online (video) meetings that may have a potential fix? Or something they would like to see added?

Visionz wrote:

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Since you gave the okay for comments, I will speak up.

I think you are doing a great service first of all. But anything online, in my opinion, should only be a supplement to an already established face to face recovery. If anyone would of came to me while I was at my bottom and placed a computer in my face I would of been compelled to find a way to sell it for money. I had the attention span of a gnat when I was jonesin' real bad so to sit down and focus on typing in that condition is well - laughable. There is a certain level of humility that is extremely important, that we get from physically walking into a room and sensing it all, that cannot ever be felt through an online meeting. Good luck on your journey.

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I couldn't have put it better myself! If I had had a computer it would have been in the pawn shop for sure. That's where my electric guitar and CB radio ended up. IMO there is no substitute for the good old 12 step call, one alcoholic talking to another, to get the most frightened alcoholic on the road to recovery. On line meetings may be more use to travellers like me, in areas where there are no meetings, but I never use them. I find I don't need that kind of support, the program has given me a 24/7 defence against the first drink. I do like to visit sites like this one to see if I can contribute something.

I guess the diference between this site and an online meeting is that the discussion, while often about the newcomer, also gets into the other steps and living the solution on a daily basis. There is a broad range of experience and we can pick and choose where we want to go. We can see most aspects of AA in practice. However an online meeting trying to 12 step newcomers does not seem all that practical to me. It can be very random what someone might learn. IME a person can learn more about the AA program in 2 hours with a recovered alcoholic, one on one, than they could in fifty meetings.

 

Welcome Name.

I was too frightened to go as well. What I did was ring the AA line and arrange to see a recovered alcoholic privately on a one to one basis. Best thing I ever did. I spent an afternoon with him learning about alcoholism, and figuring out what was wrong with me. I learned about the AA solution to alcoholism which, it may surprise you to learn, is not the meetings. I learned what the meetings are about and what they are for, and how I can expect people to behave and what my obligations were. This man understood. He won my confidence. He knew about the fear, and he took me under his wing and took me to my first few meetings, answering my questions and helping me find my feet in AA.

He saved my life. Through the meetings I was able to find a sponsor who helped me, one to one, with the program of AA. Most of the work on the program and daily living is of course not done in meetings. AA is very much about how I live my life when I am not at meetings.

Glad you have joined us. I hope you will get as much out of the AA approach as I have.