Taken from elsewhere:

To North East Regional Forums

Hi my name is Al
I have 33 years sober have been GSR for several different meetings DCM for a NH District

I have been recently handicapped and have not been able to attend F2F meeting as often as I would like to

I have been chairing AA meetings on line for the past three years in recoverychat.com and have been told by a person online about the AA meeting online not being a real AA meeting

I need some advise on this matter and about GSO position on meetings online being real AA meetings

one person insists that to be an AA group we have to be registered with GSO and have a group ID Number

My reply to this person was No where does it say to be a group you are required to have a GSO #
Where any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group Provided that as a group they have no other affiliation

Recovery chat has nothing to do with how the meeting is run or does not have any influence over the
content of our group meeting that is all up to the group's conscience and yes we did have a group
conscience meeting

What I would like is clarification from GSO as to wither or not we can call ourselves an official AA
online group and do we need a group ID Number to become one
Respectfully
Al M


From: Regionalforums Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 2:56 PM To: Groupservices
Subject: FW: clarification

Dear Al

Warm greetings from G.S.O.!

Please accept my sincere apology for my delay in responding to your question regarding on-line A.A.
groups.

Somehow, your earlier messages to this office which were forwarded to me fell into a dark hole on my computer.Again, I am sorry.

My name is Warren; I am an alcoholic; and it is my privilege to respond to the inquiries and concerns of A.A.s and individuals residing in the southeast region of the United States.In addition,I respond to questions regarding G.S.O.’s Web site as well as other questions involving the internet.

Unfortunately, Al, there are many A.A.s under the misconception that an A.A. group has to be registered or listed at G.S.O. in order to be an A.A. group. Not so!Being listed (many use the term registered) at G.S.O. does not bestow upon an A.A. group any sought of official status.

As described in the A.A. Group pamphlet, “Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as an A.A. group, they have no other affiliation (p.10).”

This office serves the United States and Canada. A.A. groups within those two countries are listed at
their request.In addition, the General Service Conference has recommended that on-line groups may be listed if they provide physical contact information as well as an e-mail address.

A.A. groups register with this office in order to be connected to A.A. as whole. We provide information through publications such as Box 459 that help groups stay aware of what’s going on throughout the A.A.
community.

In answer to your Question: No – A.A. groups need not have a G.S.O. number in order to call themselves A.A. groups.

Thank you for taking the time to write to your General Service Office. All of us here send our warmest regards.

In fellowship,

Warren S

General Service Staff