The Future of the Matt Talbot Way of Recovery

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I have been thinking over the future of the Yahoo Group, Matt Talbot Way of Recovery.

It appears to be going in much the same way as previous incarnations of it. For those not in the know, I started “Catholics in Recovery” (later dropping the “in”) in 2008, which lasted until 2010. The service it was on, Ning.com, went to a paying model and we couldn’t afford it. I then renamed it “Recovery for Christ”, purchased a domain name and loaded it on a server I host my blogs on. It lasted until 2011. (See: Sober Catholic: Recovery for Christ is shutting down)

In all of these, there’d be periods of activity interspersed with periods of inactivity. But mostly inactivity. But for some reason I’d persevere.

This is the 3rd version of a recovery forum for Catholics struggling with alcoholism and other addictions that I’ve put together. It may be the last. I am NOT pulling the plug, but I am thinking of altering its focus.

I posed a question in the MTW as to the possibility of starting a discussion forum elsewhere than on Yahoo(there are free forums offered here and there). A stand-alone discussion forum website, no money is needed for hosting, and they offer decent functions.

I WOULD ONLY BOTHER SETTING IT UP IF I HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE and MODERATION ASSISTANCE!

Basically, I would want the site to continue on if something were ever to happen to me. When I had CR and R4C, if I died, so would the networks as no one else had admin or moderator status and no one but me had the admin passwords.

But I usually had insufficient help. No complaints, as the Sober Catholic post I linked to above has my take and confessions regarding that.

I was thinking that a standalone discussion forum, nothing fancy, would serve to aid in long-term discussions.

In the Yahoo forums, older discussions tend to fade away too quickly. A discussion forum is better suited for this.

The Yahoo Group would continue on as a sort of 911/emergency “I’m thinkin’ of drinkin’” hotline, as well as a quick accountability platform.

Someone on the MTW recently mentioned the idea of chatrooms. That has never been successful on CR or R4C. I am open to something if it is doable.

Anyway, I am just tossing this out there. Any thoughts?

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)