I wish Paul Carr every success in getting sober, and I don’t pretend to judge his method. But his understanding of anonymity is a little different than the one I have come to in 23 years in the program. (I got my "poker chip" this morning.) As I understand the concept, anonymity means (1) you don’t tell the world who you see or what you hear at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. You don’t blow others’ anonymity. However, many AAs find it helpful to disclose their situation to  their bosses, their friends, their families and others who they feel need to know. And (2) we in AA may know a little or a lot about our fellows; that depends on how much each is willing to disclose.

But we know one at least thing about each other: that we have trouble with alcohol. That helps build a sense of unity in our common struggle. As the tradition says, principles before personalities. (The traditions say we DO stay anonymous at the level "of press, radio or film," however. That’s partly because a public relapse could reflect as much on AA as the individual.)

Another writes: