Originally Posted by
bbthumper 
Indeed. Most newcomers are quite familiar with the drama of alcoholism. They need to hear about the solution and be filled with hope when they come to a meeting.
As the saying goes "take your problems to your sponsor. Take the solution to the meeting."
I cannot agree more, especially the last sentence.
Some people do need to hear war stories to be convinced that they can get the help they need through AA. So when I tell my war stories in a meeting (which is pretty rare) I always following them up with a success story. As the BB says "what it was like, what happened, and what we are like now". If all you do is tell your drunkalog, you are doing a disservice to AA and the newcomer, IMHO.