An Online Al-Anon Family Group


Key to
Harmony

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Anonymity
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"Participation
Is the Key To
Harmony"

      -- Concept Four

Anonymity

Generally speaking, others on the Internet only know what you allow them to know about yourself. It is advisable however, whether you are a member of an anonymous fellowship or not, to never give out personal information about yourself or your address to anyone.

Many Internet Service Providers require your User ID to access their service include your name, although most do not. Most email software programs have a set-up process which includes a place for your full name and/or organization. This results in email messages sent by you that display this information to the receiver. To avoid this, and maintain your anonymity while participating in Online Al-Anon, you have several options.

Steps You Can Take

First, you can go into the Mail Preferences or Options of your email software and change or remove the information identifying you by your full name and organization. But this is not foolproof if your email address itself tends to identify or locate you.

Many members of anonymous fellowships online have found that the best way to maintain anonymity, is to subscribe to one of the many free email services available on the Internet. Typically, you can make up any User ID you wish, as long as no one else already has it, and mail sent to the new address will be forwarded by the service to your actual email address.

The results are an email address that will not identify you or even your local internet provider, such as recover@nowhere.com or odat@anywhere.net. To find a service that will allow you to create one of these anonymous email addresses, use any search engine and search for "free+email."


Some of the information on this website is copyrighted by Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., 1600 Corporate Landing Parkway, Virginia Beach, Va. 23454. The use of such Conference Approved Literature here does not constitute endorsement of this website by AFG, WSO, or any other entities. If you have any questions or comments about this website or would like to report any inoperative links or pages, please contact us. This page last updated February 4, 2021.