In The Rooms

I found this site a week ago, 3 Days in to severe Norco withdrawals when looking on the internet I found this site and thought I could get some support and some help to get through the tough times, no one in the community would help me so I turned to in the rooms, anybody that ever did contact me sounded like a robot wouldn't answer any questions those that I did try to contact I was able to figure out how never contacted me back except mr. Clean I believe I contacted one of them I think members somebody that oversees the site, I can't remember his name, I was in a I think I was a three or four days into withdrawals and he told me he wasn't a woman that he wasn't going to help me. I tried to seek out women I know the deal and I wrote him back and told him I forgot what I even told him anyway these rooms have not helped me during my detox. It has frustrated me, it has irritated me more than I already am so I pray for all of you out there that is using this site if you know how to use it that's great. I pray for those like me that are in serious condition needing help I pray somebody helps them. Reach Out guys to those reaching out to you

I am comfortable with this site, they always acknowledge my recovery dates and give me warm wishes for every new year that I achieved in staying clean. I don't chat much I do check in daily to read the new message each day. I listened to one of the shows that had on the air, there was just one thing I was not to excited with the speaker using profanity while speaking live. Other then that I am fine with INTHEROOMS.

Have spoken with both of the founders of ITR and they don't care at all about recovery. Their only concern is making money off of you. If you need help find a phone or online video meeting for the group your interested in instead of ITR who profits from your recovery. When you contribute to ITR or become a member of ITR (corporate sponsors) you are just making a couple of old white dudes rich that could care less about your recovery.

You get what you pay for. This is not a proper 12 step service, this place has a bunch of people selling books on how to quit drinking and using by plagiarizing the big book. They got Internet begging and over all watered down 12 step service. They kick people out of the AA meetings for smoking vapes whiles on camera yet allow the chair person to? A lot of step 13 going on and over all i would say if intherooms.com got shut down, the 12 step world would be a better place. If you say the word sober whiles in the NA room they kick you out, so much for free speech. If you download the agreement to join, you will also notice intherooms.com files everything you say and can give it out to whoever they want, of course they say they do not sell info but they do not empathise trading with the authorities and government.

Might as well be a cult. They try to brainwash you into buying their books. Complete scam! Just another social media site that is using YOU as the product and invading your privacy.

Written by Artistgirl on March 19,2019

My name is Diane T. I go by "artistgirl" in ITR. My clean and sober date is January 20th, 1990.
As soon as I came in, all those years ago, I immersed myself into this new way of living. Living in the Oxford House for over two years, going to face to face meetings daily, doing service etc. etc. Became my life. The bar life with drugs and drinking was over. I had surrendered completely. I knew that there needed to be a change. I wasn't getting any younger, I was 30 almost 31, the 80's were over and I was done.

A lot has happened since then. My Dad got cancer and died in '92, I went back to school for another Master's, I got Ovarian Cancer in '99 (stage 3-4), I have lost jobs, relationships, gained jobs and relationships.in general, life has happened big time. Recovery has taught me that I can pretty much get through anything a day at a time.

In 2011, I was having difficulty at work. My principal, at the time, (I am an educator) was extremely difficult on me. My program was at a bare minimum. My commute was long and with long days created a situation which was not conducive to going to meetings at night anymore. I was exhausted most of the time. I was grieving a long-term relationship and other elements in my life.

I don't remember when or why I discovered ITR. It was sometime at the end of 2011. I started attending meetings. There wasn't an NA group nor AA group at the time. Kenny was still chairing meetings and asked me to sub for the noon AA meeting on Saturdays. This meeting is still going on. I enjoyed it a lot and once the chair, who was chairing it at the time left, Kenny asked me to continue to chair that meeting.

I remember one time, I arrived at 11:55 to chair and Kenny was worried that I wouldn't show up. Since then, I could probably count on one hand how many times I have not arrived to chair a meeting after ten of the hour. LOL

Now back then, there was one huge AA group on ITR but no group like GSAA is now. Our group started to form and by March of 2012 we had our GSAA group. I was the first chair of the group and we had few meetings on the schedule. We quickly began filling up the schedule, getting chairs, having business meetings every two weeks, formed the trusted servants group, etc. etc. Etc. Everyone brainstormed names for our new group. Joe came up with Global Steps and we loved it. We were a global AA group with live video meetings!

My program skyrocketed. I was attending meetings regularly again, doing service and in general I was in the middle of the bed' again. I have not left since then. There is a funny thing about our meetings here. There is a strange intimacy that happens in our meetings. We get to know one another really well. There are people who know me better on here than anyone who I have seen over the years in face to face meetings. For me, these meetings are just as good as face to face. I do not believe they are just as good for newcomers though. I had loads of experience in face to face before coming on here. Thus, I had a strong foundation.

Online meetings is a different venue, however, we come as close as possible to an person meeting. We work on hard sticking to the traditions, principles and the typical norms of AA. This leads us to a precarious situation i. E. how do we negotiate global norms and integrate these norms into one group? This has been one of the stumbling blocks for us. Someone will say, "Well, we do it this way," and another person will say, "No, that's not right we do it another way." I have done the same in the beginning. As time went on, I realized how important it was to the simple and the basic because everyone had a different way of doing things. Or, we needed to become more open to hearing and integrating different norms. It has been a delicate balance to say the least. We needed to become culturally proficient and culturally accepting and at the same time sticking to AA traditions and principles.

In 2013, I came up with the idea of having a women's group where any 12 step program would be accepted and supported. It became Soul Sisters. I do not take credit, however. I believe that this came through me as if a higher power whispered to me. I heard the whisper that is all. I do not remember how this idea came to me or when. All I know is that this group has four meetings now and over 2000 members now. It is important for women to have a safe place to talk about whatever they feel is important and not to be tied to any one tradition or program. This has worked and thrived. We have great chairs who are dependable, take these meetings seriously and are committed to helping women in recovery.

A few years ago, I met Kenny and RT here in Washington DC (among other members as well.) They treated us to dinner and to a comedy show about recovery. This was one of the highlights of my life as ITR has become so special to me. I completely and one hundred percent value not only this online site but Kenny and Rt as well. I consider them my spiritual Dads. I go to them for advice periodically and I listen carefully and take their advice. I have huge respect for them, ITR and our GSAA AA group. I would do anything for them because they have given me so much. I would do anything for GSAA because it has given me so much. And I would do anything for anyone in our group and my friends on here.

I have close friends, I have my sponsor on ITR, I have met many people from ITR and in general my program continues to remain in the forefront of my mind. I still do face to face of course and not only celebrate sober milestones on ITR but in person meetings as well.

In our GSAA group, we have had some minor problems with personality clasheswell, some have been major. Perhaps, this is due to this forum. Whatever, the reason is, the simple saying principles over personalities stays constant and is a valuable tool. I have earned my seat in AA, in recovery, in GSAA and in our women's meetings. I will not let anyone take my seat away as everyone has seat if they want recovery as bad as I do. All it takes is a little willingness, a dash of gratitude, a sprinkle of open-mindedness and a cup of honesty and you may have a seat at this beautiful table too!

Thank you so much for allowing me to share my experience, strength and hope.

Most Sincerely,

Diane T.

In The Rooms is a platform that helps a lot of people and has great potential, but is full of sick people and run by greedy control freaks. I had several bad experiences with the platform.

1). GSAA (Global Steps AA) is a profit generating organization and they are the main contributor. There are several chair people and the organization has horrible conflict resolution policies, no transparency and practices favoritism, discrimination and cronyism.

2). I was personally cross talked by several GSAA members. Two of them were chair people and they were way out of line. Scottissobernow and ArtistGirl were abusive towards me and Karen14 gave me a massive runaround when I asked for reassurance that they would leave me alone. What I was given is one-sided restrictions saying I had to avoid meetings they were chairing, but they could continue to do whatever they wanted.

3) Intherooms.com charges high rates for their meeting hosting and they also make money off paid advertising. I asked several people, both owners, a few chair people and and their support department how much it would cost to run a meeting of my own on the platform and they were extremely evasive. I heard from one person $150 per meeting per week, which comes to something like $15,000 a month at a guess, but whatever it is it is far more than they need to run the platform especially because all of the workers are volunteers.

4). With high profits, zero transparency and free service workers, they are taking advantage of people on all levels.

5) I confronted Karen14 and eventually one of the owners Kenny (Mr_Clean) about how I was abused by ArtistGirl and Scottisobernow and the final response was they banned me from the platform, without notice, explanation or discussion.

6). The issue that I was banned over was of a religious nature. Scottissobernow brought up the topic of religion and how AA is not a religion in a meeting. I am a self-taught Omnist Reverend and I agreed with him and gave a brief explanation in support. ArtistGirl was chairing the meeting and decided to discredit me, saying "Don't let that confuse you, AA is not a religion". I messaged her directly and she was rude and dismissive telling me I need to talk to my sponsor and that we are not allow to teach people in our shares.

7). I have severe abuse traumas and the next morning I warned her that if she spoke to me that way again I would get her tossed off the platform. Scottissobernow retaliated, shaming me in a meeting and although he did not mention my name I knew he was talking about me front of hundreds of people instead of talking to me in private and it traumatized me, adding to my issues.

8). I took a long break from AA meetings on ITR and after a few months I spoke to Karen14 for over 3 days trying to gain assurance that the conflict was over. She was completely indifferent and insisted that I had to bring up my issue in front of a committee and supply evidence, which does not exist because ITR does not store any chat messages. I was told not to contact anyone directly, but was not told what would happen if I did even though I asked.

9). Ultimately, 4 people got away with discrimination and abuse, I was told by another member that I was accused of trying to create a cult, of trying to profit off the members and for practicing bullying for speaking up for myself, and told these were cyber crimes on the platform.

Ultimately, I still feel the platform helps a lot of people, but they are also very cult like and are taking advantage of the suffering with huge profits, horrible conflict resolution practices and zero transparency.

Sincerely,

Reverend Jeff Rounds

Horrible site! Within minutes of opening my account with InTheRooms, and before I had the opportunity to add any information to my profile, I received countless emails from people who (judging from their suggestive profile pictures) were using InTheRooms as more of a dating site. Within a week of opening my account I received an email from InTheRooms administrators scolding me for not being available to assist another site member who was at risk if relapsing. NOT healthy! TOTAL meat market!

"i think its the worst for recovery, the owners of the site allow terrible behavior, and nudity that are posted by some of the people on the site horrible experience...