FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ]
Where do I park when I come to the intergroup office?
See the Contact information page.
Where is the Lifeline?
You may now read the current and past issues of the newsletter on the Lifeline newsletter page.
Is Saint Paul & Suburban Area Intergroup a legitimate part of AA as a whole?
Read what AAWS says. Posted 18 March 2005.
Why isn't the directory available as a PDF file anymore?
The full PDF directory file was discontinued for the following reasons:
- Lack of use as shown in this extract from the Web Servant Report showing the declining number of downloads for the PDF directory:
| Statistics 2005 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directory Downloads | 996 | 844 | 1,005 | 784 | 933 | 663 | 120 | 115 | 100 | 92 | 79 | 50 |
| Meeting Page Views | 1,349 | 1,239 | 1,516 | 1,260 | 1,364 | 1,390 | 1,733 | 1,860 | 1,972 | 2,084 | 2,298 | 2,246 |
| Search Results Views | NA | NA | NA | NA | 751 | 1,126 | 4,397 | 4,194 | 5,051 | 4,854 | 5,407 | 7,206 |
- The creation of the online directory
- The excessive amount of bandwidth that was being consumed by download of the full directory
- Duplication of effort to maintain two databases, one for the PDF directory, and one for the on-line directory.
- Having the directory in PDF only made it unavailable to users who were accessing the internet from a public place (Libraries, etc.) where we were unsure there would be a copy of Adobe Reader. The only requirement to find a meeting now is to have a browser.
You can still get a listing of all meetings by leaving all the defaults on the meeting search page, and saving the search results to your desktop as an HTML document.
We started a meeting, how do we get it into the directory?
Send the following details to our office manager at lifeline@aastpaul.org.
- Group name
- Day, time and duration of the meeting
- Full address of the meeting location (Number and Street, City, State and Zip code) along with the building name, special instructions if there is a specific door to use, place to park, or room you meet in
- Indicate status: Open or Closed
- Indicate gender: Men only, Women only, or Mixed (Men & Women)
- Indicate age group: All ages, Seniors, Young people
- Indicate the meeting format, any combination of: Beginner, Big Book, Call-up, Concept, Discussion, Meditation, Principles, Problem, Prevention, Speaker, Step, Topic, Tradition, 12 & 12
- Indicate any special services, and combination of: ASL, Candlelight, Childcare, Deaf, Gay & Lesbian, Handicapped Accessible, Mental Illness, Native American, Scent free, Smoking, Spanish
Or you can call the office during business hours to give the information to the office manager or a staffer.
Some meetings in your directory say their attendance is "closed". Does that mean that someone new cannot attend? If so, is there a waiting list for these locations?
"Closed" means that attendees must have a desire to stop drinking. "Open" means that anyone may attend, even non-alcoholics. There is never a waiting list to attend meetings; in fact we always try to make sure there is always an empty chair for someone in need.