FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions About: This Site

This site was created and funded completely by its author and creator. No outside funding has been received to build, launch, host or maintain it.  It was completely funded by one individual member of A.A. as a 12th Step service to those who want to use it. God Bless!

It was originally created as a tool by its author to use with his sponsees.  Having been sober since 11/17/87, and being a web designer, he felt it a great method by which to share his experience of the Steps, Traditions and Concepts with them.  In looking at the website’s analytics and realizing that it consistently has over 15K pageviews a month, the author realized it was time to “refresh” the site in May 2020 in the hopes it would make it easier to use for its visitors.  It was a labor of love first for his sponsees, and then it became so for all who visit it.

Absolutely!  I am just one drunk who is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  If you see anything on this site that you would like to make a suggestion about, feel free to reach out to me anytime.  As we learned in Tradition 1…. “Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on A.A. unity.”  WE BEFORE ME!

A. PERSONAL USE:

Some uses of A.A. copyrighted literature and other copyrighted A.A. materials are allowed by A.A.W.S. if the following conditions are met:

1. Use must be for non-fiction commentary, news reporting, parody, summarization or similar. For use in creative/fiction writing, please submit a completed “Request for Permission to Reprint” form.

2. Use must be on a one-time basis only and not replace a sale of the work or diminish the market for, or value of the work.

B. EDUCATORS:

No permission to reprint need be submitted to A.A.W.S. if all of the following conditions and guidelines are met:

1. Text of A.A.W.S. copyrighted literature shall be presented as-is, with no amendments, changes or editing permitted.

2. An educator may make one copy of the following items for purposes of scholarly research, or for use in teaching or preparing to teach a class: one chapter from a book, one article from a periodical, one short essay, one chart/graph (unless otherwise noted). Copying shall not be used to create, replace, or substitute for anthologies, compilations or collective works.

3. An educator may make multiple copies of A.A. material, not to exceed more than one copy per pupil in the course, provided the amount of material copied is sufficiently brief. Each copy should include the following notice of copyright:

“This photocopy was reproduced with the permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (A.A.W.S.) for inclusion in a course package. Permission to photocopy this material does not mean that A.A.W.S. has reviewed or approved the contents of this course package, or that A.A. necessarily agrees with the views expressed herein.”

4. Educators are permitted to provide web links to A.A. material on the A.A. Website.

Frequently Asked Questions About: The Big Book

When Alcoholics Anonymous was published, the founding members wanted purchasers to be sure they were getting their money’s worth. So, they instructed the printer to run the job on the thickest paper he had. “The original volume proved to be so bulky that it became known as the ‘Big Book,’” Bill W. said.

Bill W. wrote that chapter. According to his wife, Lois, she wanted to write it, but Bill “insisted” on doing it himself. “I was mad,” she said, adding, not “so much mad as hurt.” The reason he gave for wanting to write the chapter himself, said Lois, was that “he thought it should be in the same style as the rest of the book.” (‘Pass It On,’ page 200)

A man by the name of Mort J. sobered up in 1939 solely from reading the Big Book. He moved to Los Angeles in 1940, and at his own expense rented a meeting room in the Cecil Hotel. He “insisted on a reading from Chapter 5 of the A.A. book at the start of every session,” according to Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age (page 93). The practice took root on the West Coast and spread from there.

The original price of the Big Book was $3.50; the hardcover Fourth Edition is now $9.50 and is available in 71 languages, including the original English, and in a range of formats including softcover, large print, audio (on cassette or CD), Braille, DVD (for ASL) and portable abridged versions.

Frequently Asked Questions About: A.A.

If you repeatedly drink more than you intend or want to, if you get into trouble, or if you have memory lapses when you drink, you may be an alcoholic. Only you can decide. No one in A.A. will tell you whether you are or are not.  Ask yourself this, when you drink – do you develop the phenomenon of craving for more?  This doesn’t happen in the average temperate drinker.

We are a Fellowship of men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking and have found ourselves in various kinds of trouble as a result of drinking. We attempt — most of us successfully — to create a satisfying way of life without alcohol. For this we find we need the help and support of other alcoholics in A.A.

No. A.A. does not keep membership files or attendance records. You do not have to reveal anything about yourself. No one will bother you if you don’t want to come back.

An A.A. meeting may take one of several forms, but at any meeting you will find alcoholics talking about what drinking did to their lives and personalities, what actions they took to help themselves, and how they are living their lives today.

We in A.A. know what it is like to be addicted to alcohol, and to be unable to keep promises made to others and ourselves that we will stop drinking. We are not professional therapists. Our only qualification for helping others to recover from alcoholism is that we have stopped drinking ourselves; and problem drinkers coming to us know that recovery is possible because they see people who have done it.

You are an A.A. member if and when you say so. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking, and many of us were not very wholehearted about that when we first approached A.A.

There are several ways to get a sponsor. One, listen in meetings to those sharing, and when you hear someone share, and what they say resonates with you, or you say to yourself, “I want what THEY have” – ask them after the meeting if they are taking on new sponsees.  Or, visit with the meeting chair after one of our meetings and let them know you need to find a sponsor, and they will be happy to help you find one (even if it’s only temporary to get you started).

Meetings are certainly an important part of the A.A. Fellowship, however, they ARE NOT the solution to our problem.  Our solution is found in the first 164 pages of our Big Book. Getting a sponsor and learning how to take (not study – not work) the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous so that you can experience the “personality change sufficient to recover from alcoholism” – IS the solution to our problem.

Got a Different Question? Ask Me

If there is a question not answered here that you need help with, feel free to reach out to me.