'When writing or speaking publicly ...'

When writing or speaking publicly about alcoholism, we urge each of our Fellowship to omit his personal name, designating himself instead as “a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

• There is a view that, within AA, we should always use our surnames, so that people can easily identify and find us if they need help from us
• Some people announce themselves at meetings with their first name and surname, on this basis
• I think this can be useful and is justified in accordance with the principles and with AA history
• I do this at service meetings, e.g. intergroup, region, etc., where it's important that people know my identity, because the ability to communicate within the service structure helps achieve its purpose
• At ordinary AA meetings I do not do this
• There's a virtue in equality, and the uniformity of introductions, 'My name's ..., and I'm an alcoholic', sets us all on a level, regardless of other differences
• The habit in some meetings of introducing a list of addictions, 'I'm an alcoholic, an addict, a ...' undermines this
• So, in AA, I don't list other problems or indicate other fellowship memberships, and I use only my first name.