In my HG we say: "The group conscience requests that all present refrain from domination, advice-giving, double-dipping and crosstalk -- which we define as directly addressing, commenting on, or responding to another member's sharing." (We also do offer a First Step meeting weekly, so that newcomers have a place to go where they can ask questions, etc....)
There's a women's AA meeting I attend at which they say: "Please keep your sharing brief, as there may be others who want or need to share, and please avoid advice-giving, double-dipping and crosstalk, so that everyone feels free and safe to share."
I've heard it said many times, when this topic comes up at meetings or in group consciences around here, that it has to do with helping people feel comfortable and safe -- so that people know that they are not going to be questioned, disagreed with directly, told what to do, or silenced/discouraged in any other way. And a lot of people I know who have lived with or around alcoholism a lot of their lives do seem to have had the experience of it not being acceptable or sometimes even safe -- emotionally and/or physically -- for them to talk honestly about what was really going on and how they were feeling about it.
Now, obviously, not feeling safe or comfortable saying what's on my mind is not a problem I've ever had myself (......and I'm just so sure that you're all totally shocked to hear that!), so I can't personally vouch for how valid this reasoning is -- and, in fact, in the beginning I thought is was pretty silly -- but, at this point I've heard it said by so many people, so many times that I've got to believe it's very true and quite important for a lot of them!
freya