Revised: 2/16/02
I next considered the problem of how someone could find Twin Cities NicA contact number(s) and local meeting locations on the Web. I tried one local Web regional guide, Yahoo Twin Cities (YTC). I typed "nicotine" into the YTC search engine, and got no hits. But, in YTC, there is a way for anyone to add a link to a web page. So, at the YTC site, I clicked on the "Add URL" button, and then specified the web site for the International Nicotine Anonymous home page ( http://rampages.onramp.net/~nica/ ). I typed into the "Description" box a few words about what Nicotine Anonymous is and that "this page has a link to a list of U.S. Meetings, which includes 4 meetings in the Twin Cities". However, YTC refused to accept this link, saying that their policy is to link only to pages with primarily Twin Cities content. Thus, in order to be listed with YTC, I would have to create a Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous web page. This seems reasonable and simple enough at first, but it turns out there are a number of issues and complications involved. These will be discussed shortly.
I should say that another way to find out about NicA meetings in the Twin Cities is to go to a "global" directory like Yahoo. Yahoo is not a regional directory like Yahoo Twin Cities. Yahoo is a global directory meaning that it is not specific to any region, but rather covers the world.
In Yahoo, if you type "Nicotine Anonymous" in the search box, you will be presented with a page that includes a description of Nicotine Anonymous, and a link to the International Nicotine Anonymous home page at http://nicotine-anonymous.org/ . As stated above, that page has a link to a page of U.S. Meetings, which includes the Twin Cities meetings.
Some people might say, what's the problem? Why am I so concerned about getting listed in regional web directories? Meetings of Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous are not that hard to find on the web, even if Nicotine Anonymous is not listed in the Twin Cities regional web directories. Anyone smart enough to get on the web and search a regional directory like Yahoo Twin Cities is also smart enough to go to Yahoo next and search it. (Or google.com or whatever)
My response is yes, that's probably true in most cases. Someone specifically searching Yahoo Twin Cities for words like "nicotine", "smok*", "tobacco", "support group*" etc. and not finding what they want will probably try the same search on Yahoo. But there are also some regional web directories, such as those run by local newspapers, that are not linked to global web directories. A person searching the regional Twin Cities Web directory Minnesota Guide (run by the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper) will not always think or know about "global" web directories like Yahoo.
Also, many people just browse directories rather than search them. They might just browse a regional web directory's Health or Health-Addiction or Support Groups section, looking for what kind of interesting things are listed there. We would like that casual browser to see Nicotine Anonymous listed there.
Others focus on what's available in their local communites, rather than checking out global directories and then hoping there are local meetings or local chapters of whatever organizations they find to be of interest (seldom the case in small towns except for huge organizations like AA).
Imagine there is a regional Web directory for the Twin Cities called "Find-TC". (I made up the name).
Imagine that there is a web page called International Nicotine Anonymous, http://nicotine-anonymous.org/index.html , which is the home of the international Nicotine Anonymous organization. I'll refer to this organization as "international NicA", and I'll refer to its home page as the "international NicA home page". This organization and web page is not local to any city, region, or country; but rather it serves the whole world. The home page links to a page of all meetings in the U.S. It also links to a page of all meetings outside the U.S.
In the following, "TC" is an abbreviation for Twin Cities. Imagine that we are _thinking_ of creating a web page called Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous (TC-NicA) at http://tc-nica.org/. (I made up the URL). But we haven't created it yet. (We don't want to create it. The only reason we would create it is to be included in Find-TC.)
The TC-NicA web page, if created, is an example of a "local" TC page, because its content is primarily Twin Cities related.
For easy reference, I've listed the above information in the below table:
Short Name Long Name
Of Of URL Of Its
Organization Organization Home Page
--------- --------------------- ---------------------------
Find-TC Twin Cities Regional http://Find-TC.com
Web Directory
Intl-NicA International NicA http://nicotine-anonymous.org/
TC-NicA Twin Cities NicA http://tc-nica.org/
("local" NicA) (Doesn't exist yet)
In short, Find-TC refuses to link to the International NicA page.
We (Twin Cities NicA) must therefore create a Twin Cities NicA
page and find a host for it. Then Find-TC will link to that page.
The problem is that producing and maintaining the page, and
particularly finding an inexpensive host (below $120/year)
for it is difficult.
Ideally we want Find-TC to link to the international NicA home page. If they do that, we are happy -- because NicA is included in the Find-TC directory, which is all that we wanted. And we didn't have to bother building a TC-NicA page in order to do it.
Unfortunately, Find-TC refuses to link to the International NicA home page, because it isn't a "local" TC page. Find-TC's policy is to link only to "local" TC pages. We complain to Find-TC, telling them that the International NicA home page has a link to a page of U.S. Meetings, which includes 4 meetings in the Twin Cities. And that therefore it is a resource that many Twin Cities residents will be interested in. But Find-TC tells us no way -- Find-TC will only link to local TC pages.
We then ask Find-TC if they will simply "list" us. E.g. simply have a page somewhere that lists organizations without linking to them. We ask them to list us like below. Notice that there is no URL given, and thus no link. The listing is simply a piece of information (by the way, the phone number is fictitious):
Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous -- provides support groups for people trying to quit smoking or other nicotine use. There are 4 meetings a week in the Twin Cities. Call 612-123-NICA for further information.
We also ask that Find-TC includes pages with listings like this in its search engine. Thus, if one types "Nicotine Anonymous" or "nicotine" or "smoking", then this listing will appear -- because these words are contained in the above description.
It seems like a simple thing for Find-TC to do. No URLs to mess with or maintain or check. And it enhances the informational value of the Find-TC service. But, for some reason, Find-TC has no concept of simple listings. They insist that everyone expects regional web directories to provide links. The idea of a web page with only information about organizations, and no links to them, seems like a step back to the pre-Web Dark Ages thinking. So again we are refused.
We say we agree, that it is kind of pre-Web Dark Ages thinking. But how else can we be included in your directory, if you won't accept links to non-local web pages? Do you really expect every lousy town and city with a NicA group to create a web page, in order to be listed with their regional web directory? And pay some ISP to host it? Some towns have only one NicA group with maybe an average of 5 in attendance, none of whom are at all Web-literate.
But our arguments fall on deaf ears. We have no choice. We have to build a TC-NicA web page in order to be included in the Find-TC directory.
In this document, I sometimes talk about being "listed" in a regional web directory. "Listed" (or "listing" etc.) is a broad term meaning included in some way or another in the directory. Included as either a "simple listing" or as a regular link.
A "simple listing" of an organization is simply listing the name of the organization and a short description of it, but without any URL or link. As discussed above, web directories seem to have no concept of a "simple listing".
(1) Yahoo Twin Cities -- www.minn.yahoo.com
(2) Yahoo Minnesota -- http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/Minnesota/ (3) Pioneer Planet Hotlist (St Paul Pioneer Press) -- www.pioneerplanet.com/planethotlist/
(4) DigitalCity -- Go to www.digitalcity.com and click on Twin Cities on the map
(5) Dive In Twin Cities -- Go to www.divein.com and click on Twin Cities
(These are all general Twin Cities directories. There are some other ones, such as "Sidewalk" and "Just Go" that limit themselves to listing arts, entertainment, and restaurants).
Most of these directories will not link to a non-local web page. Thus, in order to be listed with those directories, we must create a Twin Cities NicA web page.
This might seem like a small job. But one has to find a permanent low cost place for a Web page. Also, Twin Cities NicA must organize more fully in order to maintain the page, because people come and go from NicA, and meeting times and places change frequently. Nor can just anybody do it. It does take someone computer- and web- literate to change the page and upload it to the host; its not rocket-science, but it does take some time to learn the fundamentals. Finally, it seems just plain wasteful to clutter the Web with an extra unneeded page just so NicA can be listed by Yahoo Twin Cities.
Later: 2/2002 - a free and ad-free host for small web sites for non-profits is at www.orgsites.com. I haven't investigated thoroughly, but if low cost and ad-freedom are very important to you, I recommend you investigate.As for me, I've been settled in at the advertising-heavy Geocities for the Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous home page for so long, and its address so widely distributed that I hesitate to move it, but if I had to move it, I would certainly look at orgsites.com. I strongly recommend AGAINST Geocities
One drawback is that these free commercial hosting services do advertising -- they pop up ads in a little separate window. Or they place an ad directly on the page (CustomForums). Or they give you a choice of which form of advertising will be done -- either pop-up or on-page.
Some 12 Step groups will object to the idea of allowing any form of associated advertising, based on their Traditions. For example, NicA has the following relevant Traditions: "Tradition 6 - A NicA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the NicA name to any related facility or outside enterprise...", "Tradition 7 - Every NicA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions", and "Tradition 10 - NicA has no opinion on outside issues; hence the NicA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." (These are the same as AA's traditions, except for the name NicA instead of AA).
However, I've seen some 12 steps groups' pages hosted on Geocities and Tripod, so not all 12 step groups object. The ads that pop up in separate windows as one navigates through Geocities (or Tripod) have the appearance of being advertising by Geocities, rather than being advertising associated with the page. These ads have the appearance of popping up as one navigates through Geocities, and not when accessing a particular page. For example, if you access a page for the first time, an ad pops up. In the same session if you access the page again, no ad will pop up.
Consider this analogy -- It is considered by virtually all 12 step organizations to be O.K. to run a notice for a 12 step organization in a newspaper, even though the newspaper is full of advertising. No one would suggest that running the notice in the newspaper implies that the 12 step organization endorses any of the products advertised in the newspaper, or any products advertised on the same newspaper page. Nor does it imply that that the 12 step organization endorse the newspaper itself.
Similarly, a 12 Step group web page hosted by Geocities does not imply that the 12 Step group is endorsing any ad that is popped up by Geocities. Just to be clear about that, however, I believe that one should also add an ad disclaimer to the 12 Step group's web page -- saying that this 12 Step organization does not endorse any products or services advertised by Geocities.
Another consideration is that many 12 Step groups meet in churches. But their meeting there, and listing the churches as meeting locations in their meeting directories, does not imply that they endorse the church or any particular religion.
Many 12-step groups also get meeting space rent-free or at nominal rent from local churches and hospitals or clinics. That is probably a violation of the "self-supporting" tradition. So one should consider that imperfection before one argues for perfect purity regarding Geocities pop-up ads. (On the other hand, one wrong don't justify another wrong.)
I selected Geocities for some of my projects. It looked real good at first. However, Geocities only supports the "personal pages" concept. That is, each person is (legally) allowed only one set of pages. In other words, that means in practice that each person can have only one project on GeoCities -- unless the person masquerades as multiple people. That is a problem for me, because I have several projects, including: (1) the Quit Smoking Methods and Techniques project, (2) the Visibility Project (what you are reading now), and (3) the Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous page. And I don't want to masquerade as multiple people. Unfortunately, that is what I ended up having to do.
When I created my first project -- the "Quit Smoking Methods and Techniques" (abbreviated "QS") project -- everything went smoothly. I followed the procedure to find a "homestead" in an appropriate "neighborhood". I selected the neighborhood HotSprings/Spa/ because it dealt with health issues. And I found a vacant site (8122) for my pages. Then I followed the procedure to apply for that new homestead at www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/8122/. That included providing my full first and last name, mailing address, email address, and a 6 to 12 character member name. Also, I provided a short description of the project's purpose for the search engines and the Geocities directory to use.
When I created my second project -- the "Visibility Project", things also began smoothly. I followed the same procedure as for the QS project above, but this time at the vacant site www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/9595/. I supplied the same name, mailing address, email address, and member name. But when I submitted the application, it told me that the member name was already taken! (Namely by me in setting up the QS project). So I came up with a different member name. Then it told me that the email address was the same as that of another Geocities member! (Again, me). Fortunately I had another email address available to use.
What do I do when I create my 3rd project, the Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous site? I will have to come up with a different member name and a different email address. I don't have a 3rd email address. Although I can get one at Geocities, Juno, Hotmail, Yahoo, and probably many other places. But having several email addresses unnecessarily complicates life.
Later: In 1998 I established the Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous page at http://geocities.datacellar.net/jalars/tcnica.html. Currently, the only choice for ads is "on page". I handle the ads issue with a disclaimer --
This page is not an official page of Nicotine Anonymous nor of Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous. Rather, it is my (Jim L) personal list of current Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous meetings. Neither Nicotine Anonymous nor I endorse any ads that Geocities may place on this page. There is currently no official Twin Cities Nicotine Anonymous web site.
Why do I want each project at a different site? Because each site can have one and only one description for search engines and the Geocities directory to find. Each project must have a separate description because each is very different from the others.
For now, what I plan to do for the Twin Cities NicA page is just to stick it at the Quit Smoking site ( www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/8122/ ). I don't really need a separate description for it, and I don't care if it is findable in the Geocities directory. With meta-tags, it should be findable in the major search engines (e.g. Alta Vista, HotBot, etc.) anyway. And my only real purpose for having a Twin Cities NicA page is to link it to the regional web directories like Yahoo Twin Cities. So putting it at the Quit Smoking site should be fine, although not ideal.
I have not looked into GeoPlus yet. This might be a solution to the problem of hosting multiple projects. And I wouldn't mind paying $60/year if that paid for all my projects. And it gets rid of the ads too. However, I would object to paying $60/year for each project. And most small local support group organizations would consider the $60/year cost as being too much just to have a local web page.
JAL copy: e:\online\visib\vis_webpage.html
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