When I first came into Overeaters Anonymous, I quickly learned to respect anonymity: who I saw, who said what—none of that was mine to share with anyone. Basically, I learned not to gossip about who, what, where, or when. This made sense to me, especially because I didn’t want anyone to know who I was or tell anyone what I …

The German Language Service Board would like to upload audio recordings of meeting speakers to our homepage. I know such podcasts already exist on oa.org, so we wanted to learn the procedure. I’m especially interested in whether the contributions are reviewed beforehand and whether any violations of Tradition are removed. I would also like to know if the people who …

The OA-HOW structured meeting format says to avoid sharing with others the names of anyone who sponsors me or whom I sponsor. I avoid discussing with third parties particular identifying details of what other OA members share with me unless the member has given me permission to do so. If another member begins to mention in casual conversation an OA member …

Did you know that the opposite of anonymous is “onymous”? How different would our lives be if we were Overeaters Onymous? I believe that OO would not still be around if we published member lists and our before-and-after pictures or if we gossiped about meeting discussion. Sometimes, I forget the power of that little “An,” but it is easy to …

OA suggests that personal anonymity be practiced not only when we meet or talk about someone in the outside world but also within our Fellowship. The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition clearly discusses the dangers of “setting certain members on pedestals” (p. 166) and suggests we take care not to “mention OA members’ names to …

Recently, I experienced having my anonymity broken. It was painful, but in working through it, I was guided by my sponsor to look inward and to HP, which led me to face some of my own choices. Do I gossip or tolerate hearing gossip? Do I walk away from situations where anonymity is being rejected or neglected? Do I nurture …

After not seeing a regular attendee at my home meeting for several months, I decided to call to see how they were doing. This person was really glad to hear from me but had decided to attend an outside support group for eating issues and reported having much success with abstinence and physical recovery. We had a great conversation, and …

Since coming to program in 2006, I’ve struggled with the idea of anonymity as a Tool of recovery: a Principle and Tradition, yes, but a Tool? The other Tools (a plan of eating, sponsorship, meetings, telephone, writing, literature, action plan, and sponsorship) have an identifiable action or directive I can take, plan, do, go, call, write, or read. Anonymity felt like …