CA.org Website (1994)

History of CA.org

1994 – Two members of the 1994 Conference, Craig H. (Midwest Regional Trustee) and Jim S., a delegate from Northern California Area brought a motion to the Conference floor through the Public Information Committee. This motion was to obtain an internet domain (https://ca.org) and to put up a very limited web site on a server that Craig H. managed. The site was to be limited to the Preamble, the Self-Test and local telephone contact numbers. The “Escape Cocaine” billboard art was also used. This motion passed after considerable debate.

The domain ca.org was registered on October 20, 1994. The site was online shortly thereafter generating a small number of telephone contacts to CAWSO. There was no e-mail address. CA was the first 12-Step Fellowship to have such a web site—NA, AA and Al-Anon all put up sites during the following year.

1995 – PI brought a motion to the Conference floor to add certain specified information to the website, such as “What is CA?”, “…And All Other Mind-Altering Substances” and “To the Newcomer.” The motion passed with an amendment from to allow the PI committee to add Conference-approved information at its discretion.

Kevin M. undertook a redesign of the website. More pieces were added: a page on the Storybook, the PI Fact File, the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, “Crack”, and some of the results of the PI Survey of the previous year and an opening page describing the Fellowship and its goals. There was still no e-mail contact listed.

This new version of the site went up, but it should have been reviewed and approved first by the WSBT and/or the WSOB, but none of them had Internet access!

1996 – The new website was formally announced at the Conference and made available for viewing by the fellowship. E-mail addresses for Public Information inquiries (pubinfo@ca.org) and for technical comments (webmaster@ca.org) were also created, and all of these addresses were listed on the web site.

1996 – A motion was passed at the 1996 World Conference that any future substantive changes to the site would require Trustee or Conference approval and a motion was passed to translate the web site into French. The Montreal Fellowship translated the web site into French, and provided text and detailed information on how that text correlated to the English version, so that posting the French web site was merely a technical issue. The French version of ca.org went up August 1, 1997, with WSO approval.